The Healey administration recently issued a sweeping and forward looking executive order (EO) promoting and protecting biodiversity in Massachusetts. This order recognizes that in preserving biodiversity we are really protecting ourselves. The EO succinctly states the obvious, that “living systems filter our air; clean our water; provide food security; provide economic opportunity; regulate climate by removing carbon from the atmosphere; provide resiliency against the worsening impacts of climate change like extreme weather events, heat, sea level rise, and flooding; provide recreational opportunities; and provide a range of other ecosystem services.”
Underneath this order, not stated expressly but implicitly recognized, is that we are losing the battle to preserve the very resources that protect our ability to live and thrive here. While Massachusetts has some of the most stringent environmental regulations in the country, here on Cape Cod we continue to lose wetlands, experience periodic water shortages, have declining surface water quality, and are losing critical habitat to the bulldozer.
As compelling as the case may be for addressing biodiversity protection, the news reports surrounding the announcement of the EO focused more on another EO issued the same day prohibiting the purchase of single-use water bottles by state agencies. Yes, I think that reducing the use of plastics in all packaging, not just in water bottles, is a move in the right direction. That said, water bottles have become a symbolic lightning rod cynically used by some to draw attention and support away from issues like protecting the biodiversity upon which our food supply, to pick just one example that touches us all, relies.
The public focus, and manufactured outrage of some, on the state moving away from single-use bottles is emblematic of the challenges we face in developing a societal response to the very real impacts of climate change. The Healey administration has launched some very forward-thinking new initiatives to advance our response to climate dangers, yet what gets the attention is moving away from a product packaging that didn’t even exist that long ago. People weren’t dying in the streets from dehydration 30 years ago before single-use plastic bottles became ubiquitous, and they won’t be now. They will, however, continue to suffer from excessive heat, record floods and severe storms until and unless we move past the myopic outrage about water bottles and get serious about converting to a less carbon intensive economy and part of that is surely getting a lot smarter about packaging and moving away from a single-use-throw-away approach to life.
Collectively, we need to do our part to keep the conversation focused on the big stuff that requires our attention like protecting biodiversity, maintaining critical habitats, and restoring water resources. That is where our focus remains here at APCC and where we can use your help.
