350NH Joins Grassroots coalition to Keep NH Tar Sands Free

Members of 350NH joined on October 17th with members and friends of NH Audubon, National Wildlife Federation,350.org, and others to plan several campaigns opposing any Tar Sands presence in New Hampshire.

Our group first discussed a campaign to place a Tar Sands Free Resolution on the agendas for the Annual Town Meetings that occur in many NH towns. Carol Foss presented a draft resolution which could be tailored to suit individual towns. Details regarding the process for getting a warrant article on the Town Meeting agenda were reviewed. During the actual Town Meetings in March, individuals would need to make a brief presentation about the warrant article. This would be followed by general discussion and comments, and then voted on by the registered voters who were attending the Town meeting.

We then moved on to discuss plans for a series of “teach-ins” to be held on college campuses, that would bring together interested college students and members of the surrounding communities. Katie T. from UNH provided the student’s perspective, which helped decide on a tentative start date (the beginning of second semester in late January). She suggested a format of a week-night, 2.5 hour event, with 3-4 speakers on different aspects of the Tar Sands situation in NH. We agreed on a primary goal of having diversity of speakers (e.g. a student, an older voice, an Indigenous person affected by Tar Sands).

Katie informed us about the PowerShift meeting occuring in Pittsburgh PA the weekend of Oct. 19-20. Several UNH students plan to attend to learn, brainstorm, and organize with students from many states. David Stember expressed the possibility that UNH students might do much of the organizing for the campus-based teach-ins.

Before the meeting ended, we briefly discussed other ways to inform NH residents about the proposed Tar Sands pipeline that would run through Northern NH. Ideas included posters, stickers, lawn signs, a big press event, letters to the editor (especially around 4 bills being proposed at the State House). The meeting concluded with a sense of urgency and determination. There is a lot of work to do to bring the plans to fruition. Working together as a coalition of organizations concerned about New Hampshire’s environment, we can get so much accomplished!