On November 14th and 15th, theÌýNew England Municipal Sustainability (NEMS) NetworkÌýgathered in Burlington, Vermont for their annual fall meeting. NEMS is aÌýconsortium of New England cities and towns that collaborate to build more sustainable communities. Their vision is to create a sustainable New England by building strong connections among municipal sustainability professionals throughout the region, allowing members to accomplish more than would be possible alone.ÌýNEMSÌýis a recognized member of theÌý,Ìýand theÌýÌýserves as the backbone organization for the NEMSÌýNetwork, under the direction of Dr.ÌýDovevÌýLevine, Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Affairs, UNHSI Fellow, and Assistant Vice Provost for Outreach & Engagement at UNH.ÌýAs a result of NEMS' connection to UNH, numerous undergraduate and graduate students have engaged in applied learning experiences that simultaneously have a direct impact to sustainability efforts at the municipal level and provide transformative learning opportunities. These experiences include work on a broad range of sustainability topics including renewable energy, social justice and equity, carbon emissions and climate resilience.Ìý
The NEMS fall meeting focused on sharing and developing key actionsÌýconnecting community engagement methods to broader sustainability and climate-related efforts, with engagement experts from UNH's Carsey School for Public Policy (Dr. Carrie Portrie and Jo Field) and the NH Department of Environmental Services (Kurt Yuengling)Ìýprominently featured. Recognizing that sustainability and community engagement are tightly interwoven, members utilized the two-day gathering to discuss initiatives towards bolstering collaborative partnerships across New England in this vein. The meeting also includedÌýa tour of Burlington-basedÌýÌýwho are developing electric planes—!Ìý
For additional information in the NEMS Network, contact Dr.ÌýDovevÌýLevine atÌýDovev.Levine@unh.edu.Ìý
