Green Energy vs. Indigenous Rights: The Hidden Costs of Sustainable Energy

Course Description

This mini-course explores how the transition to green energy can affect Indigenous rights, laws, and local communities. Around the world, governments and companies are turning to renewable power to address environmental challenges. Globally, many of these projects are located in areas rich in natural and cultural resources, with a significant number of green energy projects being planned and built in Indigenous territories. While labelling these initiatives as “sustainable,” they can sometimes overlook the histories, needs, and perspectives of Indigenous Peoples.

National and international legal frameworks recognize Indigenous rights and support consultation processes. However, enforcing these laws has proven challenging, as many policies prioritize state control or corporate interests while presenting resource development as necessary for economic growth. When this happens, private actors can benefit while inequalities for Indigenous communities deepen.
This course invites students to ask three key questions: How do sustainable energy projects affect lands, environments, and everyday life for Indigenous Peoples? How do laws balance economic goals with rights and cultural survival? Finally, how can Indigenous resistance challenge who has authority over land, identity, and knowledge?

This mini-course introduces students to core ideas in border studies, legal studies, and political economy. Scholars argue that development projects can repeat colonial patterns by dismissing Indigenous knowledge systems and governance structures. These ideas show how “borders” are not only physical boundaries, but also legal, cultural, and economic limits that define who is included and who is ignored.

Throughout the week, students will examine examples of consultation processes, environmental regulations, property laws, and community responses to large-scale energy projects. They will explore how traditional forms of decision-making can be affected when governments and corporations control access to land and resources. Short readings, discussions, and group activities will help students identify key issues and compare different viewpoints.

By the end of the course, students will be able to recognize challenges faced by Indigenous communities when confronting "green energy" and sustainable” development. They will understand how legal systems, green energy transitions, and national priorities can conflict with Indigenous rights and worldviews. Students will also consider how acts of resistance reveal the limits of current policies and point toward reforms that place Indigenous Peoples at the center of environmental planning.

Land, identity, and energy are deeply connected. This mini-course encourages students to question what “green energy” means, who is benefiting from it, and whose voices are we leaving out. Through reflection and discussion, students will gain a clear understanding of how today’s environmental choices shape tomorrow’s social and cultural landscape