What solidarity looks like in two New Hampshire towns

Community leaders in the North Country of New Hampshire have a long history of resisting landfills.

Neighbors in towns like Bethlehem, Dalton, Littleton and Carroll don’t want their community to be treated as the dumping ground for the region. In the heart of the White Mountains, these towns have seen proposals for new landfills and landfill expansions year after year.

And year after year, community leaders have organized their neighbors to fight back.

At this year’s town meeting day, those years of hard work paid off.

Right now, a landfill is proposed right next to Forest Lake State Park in Dalton, and when it leaks—as all landfills eventually do—it could pollute the lake and drinking water for surrounding communities.

But on town meeting day, two neighboring towns came out in solidarity to vote against the landfill. Littleton and Carroll, which border Dalton, each passed a non-binding resolution calling on their towns to oppose the proposed landfill.

In both towns, neighbors voted to oppose the landfill by a 3-to-1 margin.

Community leaders in the North Country have been building the skills and the power they need to stop landfills for years. When communities have everything they need to make change, they can claim their power and own it for a lifetime.

Congratulations to the local leaders who aren’t giving up the fight.