While it finally feels like winter, my mind has gone to spring, but not just because spring brings with it longer days. On Cape Cod, spring is also the heart of the town political season. The seeds for what we want to see from our towns need to be planted now in order to bear fruit.
The deadline for spring town meeting articles is fast approaching. If you want your town to invest in open space, fund water quality improvements, provide conservation protection to municipally-owned land, improve stormwater management, or otherwise commit to making environmental improvement—now is the time to get warrant articles submitted, so they can be voted on in the spring.
Nomination papers will also soon become available for people wanting to run for local office in spring 2025 elections. People matter, and who is elected to town select boards matters a whole lot. It is not too early to find environmentally conscious candidates to run for open seats, and to contest those seats where incumbents have not prioritized environmental stewardship.
The time is now for the citizens of Cape Cod to lay the foundation for the environmental improvement we all hope to see locally in 2025. As I have said in the past, progress locally relies on people like you who are reading this column to act. Rather than wishing someone else will do something, take on the task you see as undone as your own.
