The Environmental and Community Health Benefits of Green Burials—Tuesday, May 13, 6:00-7:00 PM.
✔ NH Network Presents: Local Action, Global Impact
Using the Power of Communities to Move Us Forward!
December 5th, 2022
Slides: Plastics and Carbon Cash-Back
Slides: Solar Project Warrant Articles
Resources, templates, and links document: https://bit.ly/local_actions
Taking action on Plastics: Proclamations, resolutions, warrant articles, surveys, community conversations, collaborations – they can all begin with us, citizen activists!!
Presentations from members of NH Network’s Plastics Working Group:
Christina Dubin, Portsmouth: Beyond Plastics, Surfrider
Bonnie Christie, Hopkinton
Kristine Baber, Dover
Mary Armstrong, Harrisville
Taking powerful action on Climate: A citizen's petitioned warrant article for your town!!
What 37 NH communities have done, and how you can help yours do it too. Congress is listening!
John Gage, Windham, on New Hampshire’s carboncashback.org climate warrant article project
Select Board-Sponsored Warrant Articles: A citizen's petitioned warrant article for your town!!
What NH North Country communities have done to get Solar Projects deployed, and how you can help yours do it too.
Melissa Elander, Clean Energy NH, Energy Circuit Rider (North Country)
Candidate for NH Governor Senator Tom Sherman, NH Representative Kat McGhee, and NH Senator David Watters joined the New Hampshire Network for a conversation about environment, energy, and climate policy - past and present. A personal look at how these influential veteran legislators prioritize policy options and work to get things done in the NH State Legislature, and their recommendations to control energy costs while addressing related concerns.
This election cycle is as significant as any in our lifetimes. How will we in New Hampshire approach our urgent environmental challenges over the next few years? OUR CHOICES WILL MATTER! Come pull up a chair and chat with three prominent leaders as they ponder NH’s environmental future with us. What are your priorities for protecting our landscapes, precious natural resources, and quality of life? What policies will best take us forward into an uncertain but opportunity-rich future?
Soaring energy bills are top-of-mind in New Hampshire these days. Can we blame them all on the war in Ukraine, or are they a result of policy action and inaction over a number of years? Two experts on the NH energy scene discuss how we got here and explore ways to remedy the situation.
Sam Evans-Brown, Executive Director, Clean Energy NH; Former NHPR “Ask Sam” expert
Donald M. Kreis, NH’s Consumer Advocate
Moderator: Joe Kwasnik, Former Chairman, Board of Directors, NH Electric Coop; Manager of NH Network’s Legislative Working Group
We’ll hear the backstory of NH and federal energy policies along with international developments which have resulted in today’s high energy prices. We examine the paths taken or not taken, and consider possibilities for the future.
Saturday, June 18, 2022
What we’ve accomplished this year – and what’s up ahead
Hear from our members and our partners
Presentations (see below) and round-table discussions
Future planning: The NH Network needs your vision to grow & stay healthy!
Robert Dewey, MD, Vice Chair of NH Healthcare Workers for Climate Action, past president of NH’s affiliate of the American Heart Association, “A climate emergency is a health emergency.”
Slides: How Does Climate Change Affect our Health?
Jonathan Jarvis, Director of State Operations & Correspondence for the office of Senator Jeanne Shaheen, “How your Congressional Office can be a resource in obtaining Federal funds”
Slides: How Your Congressional Office Can Be A Resource In Obtaining Federal Funds
• Dan Weeks, Vice President for Business Development of ReVision Energy, NHBSR Board of Directors
“Mobilizing New Hampshire’s business community to combat the climate crisis”
• Susan Kaplan, Founder of Sustainable Futures Consulting, UNH Instructor of Sustainability in Action; Member and Volunteer with NHBSR. “How members of NH Businesses for Social Responsibility improve their sustainable practices”
• Cynthia Walter, PhD, retired professor of Biology, “Growing Grassroots Solutions to Plastic Problems” with the Ten Towns • Ten Actions Toolkit
Slides: Growing Grassroots Solutions to Plastics Problems
• Jon Swan, founder of Save Forest Lake (Dalton, NH): “How to strategically defeat a new landfill development in 1155 days or less.”
Susan Fuller, Director of NH Interfaith Power & Light, Earth Care Missioner of All Saints Episcopal Church, “How can we become better stewards of this planet?”
John Gage, State Coordinator of NH Citizens Climate Lobby, Co-founder of the NH Carbon Cash-Back Coalition, “Working together on climate solutions"
Joe Kwasnik, NH Network Co-founder, retired electric utility executive, and former chair of the NH Electric Cooperative, “Creating legislative opportunities for the next legislative session...a proactive approach”
Co-chair, Monadnock Sustainability Hub
Co-coordinator, Peterborough Renewable Energy Planning Team
Member, Peterborough Community Power Task Force
Dori regularly educates towns in her region about community power aggregation
Following Dori's presentation, more experts join for a Q&A:
Henry Herndon - Community Power Coalition of NH
Lisa Sweet - Community Power Coalition of NH
Sam Evans-Brown - Clean Energy NH
Members of the NH Network presented a snapshot of the Network's activities and demonstrated ways that folks can join & participate in protecting NH's environment.
Reinmar Seidler, PhD
Research Assistant Professor and Lecturer in Biology, UMass Boston
Manager-at-Large, NH Network
John Gage
New Hampshire State Coordinator for Citizens’ Climate Lobby
Climate Interest Group, NH Network
Susan Richman
Manager, NH Network
Communications Working Group and Plastics Working Group, NH Network
The Beauties and the Beasts
of NH Environment, Energy and Climate Bills
Three prominent lawmakers give their insights into bills that need our support or opposition:
• Senator David Watters
Dover (Senate District 4)
• Representative Kat McGhee
Hollis (Hillsborough-District 27)
• Representative Lee Oxenham
Plainfield (Sullivan-District 1)
Three prominent New Hampshire legislators discussed the Beauties and the Beasts —environment, energy and climate bills that have survived and crossed over to the other chamber of the New Hampshire Legislature.
We learned which bills should be supported, which should be opposed, and why. Our shared goal is to protect our environment, ensure a clean and resilient energy future, and meet the challenges of climate change in New Hampshire.
Attendees refreshed their focus, to continue our active support and opposition to legislation in the House and Senate for the second half of the 2022 Legislative Session.
Accelerating the transition to abundant and affordable clean energy for a safe climate future.
Dr. Charles Wheelan
Senior Lecturer and Policy Fellow Rockefeller Center for Public Policy, Dartmouth College
John Kondos
President, Home-Efficiency Resources LLC, En-ROADS Climate Policy Ambassador
John Gage
New Hampshire State Coordinator for Citizens’ Climate Education
The extent of future consequences from our climate pollution depends on what we do now. Is it possible to reduce our carbon emissions from fossil fuels to net-zero by 2050 as required to hold global warming to 1.5˚C? We evaluate our solution options with MIT Sloan School of Management and Climate Interactive’s En-ROADs Climate Policy Simulator, investigate the near-universally expert-recommended option of carbon pricing with a local leading expert, and provide actions that each of us can take to contribute to a successful personal, local, national, and global response!
A discussion with the authors:
Dr. Mary Stampone
New Hampshire State Climatologist
Associate Professor of Geography, UNH
Dr. Cameron Wake
Research Professor, EOS UNH
Lamprey Professor of Climate and Sustainability, UNH
Press release here: https://bit.ly/3ucJiSV
Report here: https://scholars.unh.edu/sustainability/71/
Monday, February 7th 6:30 - 8 pm (Virtual Event)
Moderator: Dr. Bob McLellan, NH Healthcare Workers for Climate Action
Susanne Moser, PhD, “A Practical Guide to Effecting Change & Messages of Hope” is a geographer (Ph.D. 1997, Clark University) who works in the US and internationally as an independent scholar and consultant from a base in western Massachusetts, the unceded ancestral homeland of the Nipmuc and Pocumtuc. Her work focuses on adaptation to climate change, science-policy interactions, climate change communication, and psycho-social resilience in the face of the traumatic and transformative challenges associated with climate change. She has served on scientific advisory boards for Future Earth, the International Science Council, the US National Research Council and contributed to IPCC and US national climate assessments.
Portsmouth High School Environmental Change Organization
“Harnessing the Power of Youth Influence for Environmental Change”
Christina Dubin, “Rethinking Plastic: Policies & Actions”
NH Surfrider Rise Above Plastics Coordinator, Sustainability Planner, UNH Carsey School
Patsy Beffa-Negrini, PhD, RDN, Introducing the Ten Towns ● Ten Actions Toolkit NH Network Plastics Working Group, Nelson Community Choice Aggregation Committee
Description: Globally, more than 380 million tons of plastic waste annually harm our health, pollute our environment, and hurt our economy. This panel discussion will highlight practical solutions individuals and communities are taking to address plastic pollution in NH, and launch the Ten Towns ● Ten Actions Toolkit. Our website contains a menu of actions, and contact information for technical support from our Ten Towns group of leaders. Learn how students in Portsmouth helped pass a ban on single use plastic, and how we can build momentum at a local level to demonstrate New Hampshire can break free from plastic.
Commit to taking action in your town!
Visit https://www.10towns.org/ to learn more and join the campaign.
Hungry for More on Plastics? Suggested reading: The New Coal: Plastics (www.beyondplastics.org); How Bad Are Plastics Really? (www.theatlantic.org)
Monday January 10th 5:30 - 7pm (Virtual Event)
Featured speakers: Lisa Sweet, Director CPCNH, and Henry Herndon, Herndon Enterprises.
Description: Community Power, made possible by recent legislative changes, enables cities, towns and counties to democratize their energy supply and have greater local control over sourcing electricity on behalf of their residents and businesses. Benefits can include lower costs, increased renewable energy, and development of local energy resources. Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH) is a new nonprofit, created to support cities and towns towards launching programs. This presentation (see slides and video) helped NH Network members and friends learn more about Community Power, CPCNH, and relevant legislation at the NH State House.
Hungry for more on Community Power? Take a look at Community Power: A New Way to Think About Your Energy Bill – https://www.cpcnh.org
CPCNH YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMozeeV4Ojtn6KxD5gMqkXA
The December meeting of the NH Network looked at electricity in NH with our featured speaker Brian Callnan, Vice President of Power Resources and Access at the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative. He presented some of the basics of electricity in NH, such as where NHEC’s electricity comes from, how the cooperative model works in energy, the challenges of transmission, and how regulation impacts the cooperative. A summary of how NHEC’s new Transactive Energy Business model — the utility of the future — will help members connect Distributed Energy Resources.
On Oct 31, 2021
The NH Network Plastics Working Group invited Dr. Vanessa Druskat to one of our early meetings to share her insights into the 'Emotional Intelligence of Teams'.
The second New Hampshire Network Summit was held on Saturday, September 18th. Groups across New Hampshire that focus on Environment, Energy, and Climate issues connected to amplify our collective impact.
AGENDA: NOTE: YouTube video of the Intro, Guest Speaker, and Panel Discussion is below, courtesy of New Hampshire Citizens for Progress.
Introduction and updates from NH Network members
Guest speaker Maine State Rep. Lydia Blume: A successful model – what Maine has done
Panel discussion: Past and current NH legislators and regulatory experts share their views on why NH has consistently lagged behind other NE states on energy efficiency, clean energy deployment, and carbon emissions reduction -- and how we can help bridge these gaps. Panelists: Consumer Advocate Don Kreis, Rep. Kat McGhee, former Rep. Bob Backus.
Breakout groups: What do you see as our needs and opportunities? How can we collaborate to increase our impact?
Plenary: Action steps and recommendations for NH Network’s future
Recording of the Fall 2021 Summit Introductions, Guest Speaker, and Panel Discussion.
Rep. Lydia Blume: from approximately minutes 27:00 - 1:04:00
Panel Discussion: begins at approximately minute 1:04:00
A successful model – what Maine has done
Past and current NH legislators and regulatory experts share their views on why NH has consistently lagged behind other NE states on energy efficiency, clean energy deployment, and carbon emissions reduction -- and how we can help bridge these gaps.
The New Hampshire Environment, Energy and Climate Network (“The NH Network”) held an in-person Summit on June 26th 11:00 am - 3:00 pm. This was an organizing event to bring together New Hampshire’s environmental, energy, and climate-focused groups to review the functioning of the Network and how the Network can improve its utility for the groups within New Hampshire.