For years scientists from NOAA and the Oceanographic Institution at Woods Hole, have described Cape Cod's shores as ever-changing due to natural erosion and that, like other seaside places on the East Coast. I think of the Cape as an ameba which changes form to suit its host environment. The problem is how do we define "environment." Humans and the land are intertwined. We are our environment.
Meanwhile, lawsuits, proposals, local, state and federal intervention have tried to reverse the sea's reclamation with only varying degrees of success. Yet human nature, firmly rooted in centuries of willfulness, moves forward without using the peripheral and long-term vision necessary to work with nature, not against it.
Most scientists, environmental experts, many politicians and a majority of Americans agree that we need to stem the use and exploration of fossil fuels to lessen climate change's impact. The extremism seen in American politics; the "push-me, pull you" tug-of-war going on between parties doesn't bode well for our country's future. These politicos and their supporters present few or no practical solutions to our most pressing problems, climate change being one of them.
Sadness has loomed large lately here on the Cape, in my community and among my friends. People re-locating inland, older friends passing, and health issues curtailing normal activities have affected us. As the older generation dies or leaves, who will be left to pick up the cause, the tattered remnants of social activism, here?
We grieve, e.g. a home being destroyed by fire and weather; drug-users senseless deaths; rising car accident statistics and cancer-stricken families, as we should. However, where is the grief for the next generation and what they may be dealing with sooner than later?
A recent opinion piece in The Cape Cod Times alluded to those who seek alternative energy sources as "neo-tribal" (an objectionable term which caught my eye meaning impractical people who want to return to the days before fossil fuels and to living off the land). This negative thinking inside their comfortable box which supports fossil fuel dependence, ignores the long-term consequences, and has brought about the threatened world we live in today. More so, such recalcitrant belief about the environment and our indigenous populations only closes the door on alternative clean energy solutions and dismisses much-needed respect for our natural world.
Evidence has emerged that a large U.S. based oil company knew of the impact on our world's climate of burning fossil fuels as early as the sixties. Is it too late to stop climate change? The pandemic of the Zika virus is already at our doorsteps and Congress is still fighting funding to prevent the virus from spreading here. I try to remain hopeful but when I read public opinions written by those who should be aware of the inevitable I begin, like so many here, to worry about the future of Cape Cod.
I don't have children. I do, however, care about children and want a better life for them as they grow older. I've become involved with activism via social media along with some direct participation because I know the innocent deserve better. And, in the midst of the grief, sometimes raw and unspeakable, some feel in the present, instead of turning inward and becoming insular, we must re-channel our anger, our sadness; our fear. That is by helping our planet and encouraging others to accept what we cannot change and change what we can.
Let this sink in: we must reclaim our country, our planet and think forward to ensure environmental change for the better. Recent reports have cited by 2100 our coastal areas here and around the world will be inundated by as much as six feet of flood waters (NYTimes NY Times March 30, 2016 ) due to melting ice caps and rising seas. Millions may lose their homes, families; their ways-of-life. A worldwide depression will be on the heads of those who refuse to accept this.
Step out of your comfort zone, deniers, and learn all you can before your most precious assets are washed away. I'll leave it to you to define your "assets."
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