In our new miniseries Cool Ideas for a Long Hot Summer, we're working with Arizona State University’s Global Futures Lab to highlight bold ideas about how to mitigate and adapt to climate change. 

On this episode, host Kimberly Quach is joined by ASU associate professor David Manuel-Navarrete to talk about his Solar Canoes Against Deforestation project. Working closely with Ecuadoran engineers and the Kichwa and Waorani people, Manuel-Navarrette’s team has been helping to develop a solar-powered canoe that can bring renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure to the Amazon. The story of the canoe offers lessons about how to meaningfully work with communities to understand their needs and co-produce solutions. 

Resources: 

• Learn more about Solar Canoes Against Deforestation and watch this video to see the canoe in action. 

• Want to learn more about co-producing sustainable climate solutions? Check out some of Manuel-Navarrete’s recent publications.

• Embodying relationality through immersive sustainability solutions with Indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. 

• Fostering horizontal knowledge co-production with Indigenous people by leveraging researchers' transdisciplinary intentions.

• Leveraging inner sustainability through cross-cultural learning: Evidence from a Quichua field school in Ecuador.

• Co-producing sustainable solutions in indigenous communities through scientific tourism.