The Crossroads

It was only a few years ago when we had the luxury of debating whether or not global warming was reality. There were conversations about whether the Earth’s warming temperatures were just a localized trend or a sign of something worse.

Today, the picture is clearer. Global warming, caused by greenhouse gases, is an unmistakable part of that picture, and the melting permafrost is releasing methane, one of those greenhouse gases, into the atmosphere. That could quickly accelerate a problem described in stark terms today by NASA: “There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause.”

A bigger problem now is climate change — it incorporates the warming globe but adds in various other changes in precipitation, wind speed and frequency of storms that will arise. A temperate climate like the East End of Long Island won’t be devastated by the worst impacts of rising air temperatures, but it certainly will get the resulting intense storms, rising tides and other effects. (And we haven’t even mentioned the local impact of Canadian wildfires, caused by drought conditions.)

Just a year ago, The New York Times noted that all 50 Republicans plus one Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, had combined to kill the Biden administration’s powerful response to climate change in the U.S. Senate. As the Times noted, “Few Republicans in Congress now outwardly dismiss the scientific evidence that human activities — the burning of oil, gas and coal — have produced gases that are dangerously heating the Earth.” But, pushed by those industries, they are now saying that any significant move to address the situation would be too damaging for the economy. “In short,” the Times concluded, “delay is the new denial.”

A quick look at the aforementioned headlines today, 12 months later, suggests that delay is just as fatalistic as outright denial. Any hope that it would be a generation or more before climate change began to take a measurable toll is gone. It’s here, it’s gathering steam — and none of us can pretend we didn’t see it coming. The disaster is now.

It has to change the nature of conversations that are taking place, internationally, nationally and locally. We simply don’t have the luxury of navel-gazing when it comes to green energy. The truth is, we’re making remarkable progress in moving from fossil fuel-based energy to renewable options — and the successes should demand more investment. There are legitimate concerns and viable debates about how wind energy, battery storage facilities and transmission lines are sited, but they must take place in the context of a growing crisis that demands steady progress.

The South Fork is at the cutting edge of this revolution, with a well-established infrastructure for electric vehicles, a groundbreaking wind farm going in just offshore, solar panels becoming a standard feature of many homes, and solar arrays being added on municipal properties. The positive impact can be immense — and it could help both usher in this new era and provide a template for other communities to adopt.

We are at a crossroads. In one direction, the ocean rises ever faster, gobbling up more waterfront properties, and vehicle exhaust combines with wildfire smoke to choke us and to seal in brutal heat. Hurricane season expands, more storms hit with greater ferocity thanks to warming water, which also kills what’s left of the bay’s marine life. Montauk becomes Shelter Island, accessible only by ferry.

The other path? Quite frankly, a lot of the above might still be true — it could be too late to head it off entirely. But that route offers some hope that the lessons we’ve learned, and are currently learning, don’t go to waste. In reality, it’s the only sensible path. We need to get on it and put the gas pedal — or, rather, the electric car’s accelerator — to the floor.