Net Zero Nations (NZN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to dismantling structural poverty for Native People by weaving together cultural values, eco-friendly home ownership, community solar gardens and local food production to create sustainable communities. These regenerative communities promote generational wealth and a carbon negative world while addressing inefficient housing, crippling energy costs, and food scarcity. They will redefine equity creating the foundation for people living on the reservation to acquire assets and retain community wealth. 

NZN envisions a Reservation without poverty, where everyone can unlock and share their amazing gifts and talents to heal, live, eat, increase income, and grow together. Reservation challenges are highly complex, and we believe each community member has the solutions to best solve them.

Net Zero Nations was co-founded in 2022 by a Mother/Son Team Natalie McArthur and Nate Greenlaw.  Natalie learned very early in her social work career that stable/affordable housing and food security were necessary for anyone to self-actualize and become a contributing member of society. She was keenly aware of the gifts and talents people possessed, yet witnessed so many people fall through the cracks and plummet right back to ground zero when their housing situation became unstable.  Even the most stellar programs and services failed when there wasn’t stable/affordable housing in place.

Nate was a high school student during the mid-1990’s when Natalie founded and directed the Anishinaabe Center.  The center was in the border town of Detroit Lakes, MN and served as a cultural outreach, resource, and referral center for people living off-reservation.  Nate volunteered as a tutor for students seeking to improve their math and reading skills along with those seeking GEDs. He too, became keenly aware of the postponement and often failure of other’s goal attainments when their housing became unstable.

It was during this period that they both committed to finding a solution to the persistent housing crisis in Indian Country.  After many years of research and working with teams of experts in the disciplines of high-performance construction, passive house design, energy modeling, HVAC manufacturing and installation, insulation and air sealing, plumbing, electricity, solar design and manufacturing….a housing solution was created!

They immediately began sharing every aspect of the housing solution with local tribal governments and housing authorities about the benefits of net-zero construction and how it solves so many of the housing and energy problems every reservation is challenged with. There was always great interest, yet rather than commit to the difficult task of “systemic change,” tribal governments and housing authorities continued to follow the status quo of hiring the same architects, with the same wasteful designs and the utilization of obsolete construction methods. Their path of least resistance sustains the same deplorable houses being built along with the crippling energy bills our people struggle to pay.

Rather than spend any more precious time or resources getting them to “see the light and do the right thing for the people,” they committed to do it for the people, as the non-profit, Net Zero Nations. It was at this turning point they expanded the vision to include other necessary requirements to dismantle structural poverty on the White Earth Reservation.

Without stable/affordable housing and food security, it is next to impossible for anyone to self-actualize and become a contributing member of society by sharing their gifts and talents. Instead, one is confined to live in “survival mode.” Since 1867, the White Earth Nation has suffered from inefficient energy and housing infrastructure. Systemic change is difficult in and of itself and for all reservations it is nearly impossible to achieve. In its July 2023 addition, Tribal Business News published an article SOLVING THE PUZZLE… HOUSING IN INDAIN COUNTRY reporting that “aside from the $50 billion it would take to build enough housing for all American Indians that need it, the most decisive piece of the puzzle is strong tribal leadership.”  Tribal housing success begins with a sovereign tribal council declaring a need and supporting homeownership. However, very few tribal governments have committed to changing their “Mode of Operation” within its infrastructure to resolve its’ housing/energy/public health crisis.

This unique situation required a unique response to change it. Net Zero Nations created pathways to remove the barriers of structural poverty by meeting the need and demand for Net-Zero housing, energy independence, food security and sustainable living for the people living on the White Earth Reservation. The pathways leading to a sustainable community of energy efficient net-zero homes and buildings, renewable energy, and a farming cooperative are major steps to achieve energy and economic independence for people living on the reservation. Along with it promoting a carbon negative world. 

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This life-changing community will be completed in the next 3 years and financed through grants and donations.  Miigwech for all the ways your involvement strengthens Net Zero Nations’ work to create a more just and equitable world.  Please go to netzeronations.org today to support this work!