From fighting climate change to safe storage of solid waste, New Hampshire lags behind its New England neighbors when it comes to environmental protection — a state ranking conducted by the group Climate XChange found it had enacted the fewest climate policies of any Northeast state. Founded in 2021, the New Hampshire Network is out to change that. It brings together 35 member organizations to advocate for state and local policies that would reduce carbon pollution, safeguard the air and water, and transition the state to a clean-energy future.
The Network was created to increase coordination among the state’s environmental groups, and to mobilize ordinary pro-environment New Hampshirites to make their voices heard. It hosts regular meetings with experts and state lawmakers, and organizes its membership to contact their representatives and urge them to support or oppose new legislation. The group also is working to boost outreach to low-income rural communities, which often have urgent, unaddressed needs on climate resilience and energy issues.
NH Network members join members of Citizens Climate Lobby for their summer conference in Washington, D.C.., June, 2024. (Credit: TK)
The Network, which has no paid staff, is led by a core group of nine volunteer activists who serve on a steering committee. It also has a membership of roughly 1,500 ordinary New Hampshirites, who receive regular email communications. Among the most successful of the Network’s initiatives is the Ten Towns Toolkit, used in 54 towns and counting, which gives local activists a menu of actions they can take to pressure their towns to do more to curb plastic pollution. Among them: Passing a resolution to join the international movement Plastic Free July; and working with the town’s Solid Waste Manager to start a “Recycle Right” campaign. The Network also provided input for the state’s ten-year energy strategy proposal released in 2022, urging a faster transition to clean fuels. Still, the Network measures success not just in policy changes, but in its ability to get ordinary people involved in the process. Leaders say it’s helped hundreds of members to contact lawmakers on key bills.