Last week was a good one for the Cape’s environment. Town meetings in Mashpee and Orleans decisively approved important articles that support improved environmental quality. In Mashpee the town voted to fund the next round of wastewater management and Orleans acted to reduce pesticide use. Both towns took the next steps in their long journey, one we are all on, toward fixing the effects of past environmental insults and living in greater harmony with nature.
While no single town meeting action, by itself, can solve the ills of the past, each represents progress. Doing better by the environment is a long slog that requires patience and perseverance. It also requires personal commitment and always asks something of each of us, perhaps as minor as changing from disposable cups to reusable ones, to rethinking how we manage our landscape, to sometimes stepping out into the public light and leading the charge for change.
Because the challenges are so daunting and the work required so profound, it is important to step back and not just recognize, but celebrate, successes such as those witnessed in Mashpee and Orleans, and those hoped for later this fall on wastewater at Dennis and Falmouth town meetings. Celebrating success is energizing and will sustain us all during the fight to take the next necessary steps on the road to being better environmental stewards in our own lives, homes, yards, and communities.
Keep going.
