Seeing Decarbonization through the Lens of Deindustrialization

Daniel Evrard, a PhD student in sociology and six-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, discusses his life path and research focus.

Date: October 21, 2026

GSAS PhD student and Air Force vet Daniel Evrard in Harvard Yard.

Daniel Evrard is a PhD student in sociology whose work explores the impact of decarbonization on fossil-fuel-producing communities. A six-year veteran of the US Air Force, he discusses his experience maintaining the workhorse C-130 cargo aircraft, how growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts, shaped both his life path and research focus, and how looking through the lens of deindustrialization can create new opportunities to support members of communities undergoing decarbonization.

Master of the Flightline

I enlisted in the US Air Force in the summer of 2009, and I completed technical school to become a C-130 crew chief the following spring. After I graduated, I was assigned to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, where I stayed for the remainder of my military career. The C-130 is probably one of the older cargo aircraft in the US military, but it is also one of the most reliable and recognizable. If you look at videos from Vietnam, for instance, you’ll probably see C-130s conducting tactical airlifts. They have these massive tires and four engines with really big propellers that allow them to land on short dirt runways.

The C-130 is a customizable platform, and I worked on two of its variations. One was the EC-130 Compass Call. Instead of hauling cargo, it’s filled with stacks of top-secret computers. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the Compass Call would fly over convoys to monitor radio traffic for attacks, while also emitting electromagnetic pulses that could jam remote-controlled roadside bombs. The second variation I worked on was the HC-130J Combat King, which transports pararescuemen performing combat search-and-rescue operations. These aircraft also conduct in-flight refueling for helicopters.