Land conservation plan is good for Hartland

Tim Rockwood’s recent letter about the Pohl project in Hartland (“Hartland preservation plan is short-sighted, Forum, Feb. 27) raises some questions about land conservation and the future of Hartland. It also contains some misperceptions that should be addressed.

The money that taxpayers are being asked to release is already in the Hartland Capital Reserve Fund and will not come from additional taxes. Although the land sale is private, the terms of the conservation easement would guarantee that the public would be able to continue to use the land for approved recreational and agricultural purposes. Hartland would essentially gain a permanent 68-acre park, close to the village center, for its $100,000 investment. Quite a bargain!

Should the Upper Valley Land Trust purchase the land, as is proposed, it will set up a fund to cover maintenance costs. The existing trails on the property are maintained by volunteers in the Hartland Winter Trails at no cost to the landowner or the town. If this project is successful, year-round recreational access to these trails will be guaranteed for current and future Hartland families.

Affordable housing is an important component in Hartland’s future. Under the proposed plan, seven acres of the Pohl property would be set aside for future community housing.

The key question is, “In 100 years, what do we want Hartland to look like?” We have the option to preserve 68 acres of it in its current undeveloped state as a public recreation/agricultural area within easy walking distance of Hartland Three Corners, while still providing seven acres for centrally-located affordable housing. Hartland voters can make that choice at Town Meeting. Let’s seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Rob Anderegg

Hartland

The writer is a member of the Hartland Conservation Commission.

Lebanon candidate
deserves support

Residents of Lebanon, I hope you will join me in supporting Richard Ford Burley in the upcoming election for School Board. Richard and I serve on Lebanon’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Commission, and I have witnessed the valuable skills Richard brings to the discussions: compassion for underserved and underrepresented populations, particularly neurodivergent people; and meticulousness in examining the language of city policy, evaluating the processes by which the city and its bodies operate, and writing the minutes of the commission’s meetings. Richard’s attention to equity and safety for all people serves our community well, both here and on the Planning Board where Richard also serves, and I am sure those skills will translate well to the oversight of one of our community’s most important institutions.

The Lebanon School Board election takes place on Tuesday, March 12; I urge you to go to the polls and vote for Richard Ford Burley.

Devin R. Wilkie

Lebanon

College leaders
don’t care for dialogue

For all their rhetoric about promoting dialogue across difference, the higher ups at Dartmouth College are clearly interested in nothing of the sort. Perhaps no recent event illustrates this better than the administration’s response to the ongoing hunger strike, which eight students began on Feb. 19 (six of the students ended their strike on Feb. 26, while two will be continuing indefinitely). The eight undergraduate strikers penned an open letter outlining their demands, which address the arrest of two student protesters, the administration’s inaction regarding anti-Palestinian hate crimes on campus, the college’s investments in apartheid and proposals for a more environmentally sustainable Dartmouth. In response, the Beilock administration states it will not respond to the strikers’ demands.

Two of the strikers, Kevin Engel and Roan Wade, were arrested on Oct. 28 for participating in a peaceful sit-in in front of the administration building. Prior to the arrests, students framed the sit-in as a “physical action” in the tradition of peaceful civil disobedience. The action followed weeks of failed attempts to speak to Beilock about students’ concerns over the college’s ties to apartheid. Following the arrests, Beilock released an incendiary statement claiming the college had no choice but to interpret “physical action” as “a threat of violence.” Rather than demonstrate a commitment to fostering dialogue on campus, Beilock is far more interested in misrepresenting students to criminalize opinions she disagrees with.

Engel and Wade’s trial began on Feb. 26 and will resume in the near future. This farce would end immediately if Dartmouth, as the University of Chicago, Northwestern and the University of Massachusetts have recently done, drops its charges against nonviolent student protestors. Whatever the trial’s outcome, Beilock’s actions at least clarify where the administration really stands on its professed commitment to “discussion across differences.”

Danny Keane

Norwich

The writer is a graduate student at Dartmouth.

Dartmouth protesters
cross a line

I empathize with the Dartmouth hunger protesters: the arrest of Wade and Engel does not look like the creation of a “brave space.” However, the hunger strikers did not choose to limit the scope of their protest to this issue. The students also spotlighted the humanitarian crisis of the displaced Gazan people and their families. I could easily get behind these concerns also. But to include divestment based on the charges of apartheid, but only for the State of Israel, crosses the line.

International law defines apartheid as a crime against humanity in which one racial group dominates another through intentional, systematic and inhumane acts of oppression. Fifteen countries are currently accused of apartheid, including the sanctioned countries of the former Soviet Union, Iran, North Korea and many of America’s trading partners, such as China, as well as the United States itself. Nevertheless, the protesters single out Israel for divestment without including China, Saudi Arabia, and the United States or any of the other countries in the world who have been accused of apartheid.

So even if you believe Israel’s treatment of Palestinians rises to the level of apartheid, singling out the Jewish state for condemnation and divestment while ignoring all the other Muslim- and Christian-majority nations accused of the same crime is the very definition of racism.

The Dartmouth protesters had an opportunity to engage in a hunger strike for free speech on campus, middle Eastern peace, a military pause to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza, a demand for Israeli hostages to be returned unconditionally and unharmed, the unconditional surrender of Hamas, the continued legal prosecution of Netanyahu by Israel, and the protection of both Jewish and Palestinian students on campus, all reasonable measures. That opportunity was squandered by protesters who embraced the antisemitic policy of BDS for no other country in the entire world, except Israel.

Aaron Osofsky

Hanover

Vermont explores
thermal energy

In both Vermont and New Hampshire, one of the largest uses for fossil fuels is heating buildings. In Vermont, 34% of total greenhouse gas emissions come from heating, and in both states heating is second in emissions only to transportation. While many are aware of efforts to reduce carbon emissions from transportation and electricity, most people haven’t heard of one of the most effective ways to make our statewide heating systems more climate-friendly: thermal energy networks.

Thermal energy networks involve connecting nearby buildings to one heat system, often incorporating ground-source geothermal heat pumps. In winter, these pumps take advantage of heat deep underground, where temperatures stay around 55°F year-round. By circulating liquids through underground pipes, warm temperatures can be brought to the surface, significantly reducing the need to use fuels or electricity for heating. This process consumes only a fraction of the energy expended by air-source heat pumps and is much cleaner and less expensive than oil, propane and gas. Beyond allowing one geothermal system to heat multiple buildings, thermal energy networks facilitate the transfer of excess heat or cooling produced by one building, such as a data storage center or an ice rink, to others within the network. The result is a remarkably efficient and affordable heating and cooling system.

New York recently required that its largest utilities build thermal energy networks. Let’s not fall behind. In Vermont, the state Legislature is currently considering two bills, H.669 and S.252, that would make it easier for utilities and municipalities to develop thermal energy networks. We should support these bills and do everything we can to bring our heating systems across both states into the 21st century.

Eli Hecht

Norwich