2025 was a tough year for the environment. Regulatory pullbacks were the norm. Some were explicit rollbacks that lowered clean air and water standards. Some were overt and obvious political statements, like the complete retreat from efforts to manage and mitigate changes to the climate. Others have been more discreet and insidious, like redefining what had been dirty to now be clean. How does no longer considering the value of lives saved by reducing pollution in a cost benefit analysis sit with you? Do you feel safer and better protected? I don’t.
While things have been rough for the environment at the highest levels of government, the picture can be brighter at the local level—that is, if we collectively make it so. The weakening of broader environmental standards will reduce the quality of life of Cape Codders in due time, the reality remains that locally we can still make our environment better. We as voters will decide on many local projects that include wastewater investments, stormwater control, land acquisition, wetland restoration and wellhead protection.
Rather than throw in the towel because things are negative at the federal level, we all need to channel our energy into making progress locally. Now is the time when town meeting warrants are being set, local candidates are stepping forward, and environmental spending in municipal budgets is determined. Now is the time to speak up for the environment and to make sure that the federal retreats are not replicated locally.
So much of what goes on around us is beyond our control. The only way forward is to control what we CAN control. As individuals acting together, we can control a lot about what happens locally. Rather than wring our hands over things we cannot change right now, let’s focus on making things better in our own back yards.
