An Indigenous reservation has a novel way to grow food – below the earth’s surface
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/03/south-dakota-reservation-food-desert-residents-transforming-crop-oasis
Excerpt: Near the southern border of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, a curved translucent roof peeks out a few feet above the dusty plains. ...below ground, at the bottom of a short flight of stairs, the inside of this 80ft-long sleek structure is bursting with life – pallets of vivid microgreens, potato plants growing from hay bales and planters full of thick heads of Swiss chard and pak choi. ...This is an underground greenhouse, or walipini, and the harvesters are members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. It is one of at least eight underground greenhouses that, over the past decade, have been built or are being constructed on the reservation – which has one of the highest poverty rates in the US. Some hope they can help solve the interconnected problems of the lack of affordable, nutritious food and the difficulties of farming in the climate crisis. Underground greenhouses, emerged three decades ago in Bolivia as a way of trying to help rural communities gain food security. Their conditions can be controlled to protect the crops from fierce storms and extreme temperatures. ... the Pine Ridge Reservation has long faced extreme weather. But the climate crisis is ushering in more intense rainstorms and heatwaves and residents on the reservation say the situation is becoming untenable. ...Traditionally, the Lakota people were buffalo hunters and keen gatherers. But after the US government confined them to reservations in the late 19th century, and the US army helped decimate buffalo populations, growing their own food was one way to adapt....