What I’m Thinking

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...

Welcome to 2026. We made it! So now what? For us at APCC, the plan is to work even harder at making a positive contribution to our community. What that looks like for us is: tireless environmental advocacy, especially around enhanced land conservation efforts;...

Cape Cod gives an awful lot to each of us. The Cape provides us a place to live, a place to vacation, a place to yearn for when we are elsewhere and a place where family memories are forged through generations. What does it ask in return? If it could speak for itself,...

Today's release of the seventh annual State of the Waters report is an opportunity to focus on one of the highest priority issues for most Cape Codders. What is happening with our water reflects the land use and waste disposal choices made over the decades. As has...

"I have hope, because I believe in the truth of what the great American writer James Baldwin said. He said, ‘In this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.’" - Bruce Springsteen In this week of Thanksgiving, despite the challenges...

Every so often events conspire to give people a chance to put their actions behind their words. The recently announced findings of the hearing officer recommending that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s denial of the application by Holtec to...

Mashpee voters overwhelmingly approved a town meeting article (80 percent yes) and the associated debt exclusion (75 percent yes) that gave the green light to a community treatment system to reduce nutrient loading to Mashpee Wakeby Pond. While great for Mashpee...

Almost 500 people gathered at Mashpee Town Meeting Monday night to resoundingly vote yes on a wastewater treatment system for Mashpee Wakeby Pond. Both the outcome of the vote and the turnout restored a little of my faith in our ability to come together and...

If your town has a fall town meeting, and many do in the next few weeks, you need to go. Why? The thought here is that the importance of decisions made locally has never been more important that it is now. The federal government is shut down, and the states are...

APCC is widely known for batting above our weight. Part of the reason our very talented but relatively small staff can cover so much ground is the help we get from our dedicated volunteers. Over 300 volunteers give their time to support our work in every way...