Upper Valley Projects
How can the transition from fossil fuels be socially just in rural, cold, and economically diverse regions like the Upper Valley? The Energy Justice Clinic works with a growing number of community partners in New Hampshire and Vermont to support a just transition to a net zero carbon economy.
Trajectory
We began our research collaborating with the town of Hanover’s Sustainable Hanover Energy Advisory Committee in winter 2020. Our original scope of research was to investigate how the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) plan was enrolling in New Hampshire and to identify justice and equity concerns. Working with Hanover led us to interview key CCA actors in California to understand the policy and equity dimensions of this mechanism to facilitate more local control of energy decision-making, including making a larger amount of renewable energy available to individual electricity consumers. Since then, we have helped organize local outreach events and written op-eds and academic articles. Currently, our projects are focused on dams and water infrastructure in Vermont, as well as the energy burden in the Upper Valley.
Our Collaborations
We collaborate with local energy initiatives on communication and project implementation, such as the Hartford Energy Commission, the town of West Fairlee, and the Sustainable Hanover Energy Subcommittee.
The Clinic conducted the Energy Burden Survey in the Upper Valley in collaboration with Angela Zhang, LISTEN Community Services, and Jon Chaffee and Woody Rothe, members of the Lebanon NH Energy Advisory Committee.
The Clinic co-organized a Symposium on Building Just Energy Transitions in northern New England with Vermont Law and Graduate School, Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainable Solution at U. Maine, and the Energy Transition Institute at U Mass.
COVER Home Repair Mural and Volunteer Work
Mini documentary depicting the COVER Home repair mural process by Christian Henrich '24.
Energy insecurity is a most pressing energy justice concern in our area of northern New England. This region has one of the highest energy burdens in the United States. Particularly in the context of rapidly rising energy costs, this means that economically precarious people must pay a large percentage of their income to heat and electrify their homes. Energy insecurity is often invisible, yet it holds negative health and social consequences (Hernández, 2016).
We collaborated on two related projects with COVER Home Repair on arts, weatherization, and community funded by a Better Communities crowd-funded grant matched by the state of Vermont and a Hopkins Center Arts Integration Grant at Dartmouth College that ran from Fall 2022-Fall 2023.
Capturing the Stories of Upper Valley Homeowners
Interview with homeowner Jeannie's recorded by COVER volunteer Ben Stevenson '27.
Student Experiences
Emily Henrich ‘23 discusses how community art activism is the first step in a push to codify diversity, equity, and inclusion in all stages of the energy process.
Ali Bauer '25, a student in Assistant Professor of Anthropology Maron Greenleaf's Environmental Justice class connects her COVER volunteer project with her in-the-classroom and EJ Clinic education.
Clamshell Alliance Mini-Doc 2022
The Clamshell Alliance in the 1970s to stop the Seabrook Power Plant was what NH consumer advocate Don Kreis calls “a watershed moment in NH energy policy.” This mini documentary was created by students within the Energy Justice Clinic at the Dartmouth College Irving Institute for a course taught by Dr. Sarah Kelly on Energy Justice (GEOG/ANTH) in Spring 2022.
Follow Our Work in the Upper Valley
Presentation at the Cavendish Selectboard Meeting
Throughout the spring term of 2024, our group of Dartmouth students worked with the Black River Action Team and Cavendish Connects to survey and map drainage infrastructure. We created a Survey123 questionnaire that can be used via the app or website to record the locations of culverts, ditches, and storm drains along with the condition of various aspects of the infrastructure and accompanying pictures.