How else can you say it? Capitalism always opposes Sustainability. The ways in which our modern, global society is structured on top of the economic base of Capitalism has driven us into the ground – Literally! And unfortunately, we took everything we found there. We are constantly hearing about how multi-national corporations have no regard for the Earth’s finite resources. Their shortsighted pursuit of the dollar has changed the trajectory of an entire planet. The damage has already been done.

Anyway, the good news is: there are people working on and with it! Before coming to LivingLab: Nantucket I subscribed to a certain view that there is no escape or hope from the stormy prospects of Climate Change. That all changed at 2 specific moments. The first was during a Monday Dinner presentation with Sarah Oktay, she was the first person I had ever heard say with conviction that sea-level rise and climate change is inevitable. A scary thought, but she wasn’t trying to scare us, she was accepting and preparing for reality. The second inspiration moment on Nantucket was during Paul Kirshen’s lecture about Adaptive Infrastructure – Urban and Regional Planning of the future! Regional Planning is the field I want to pursue and it was thrilling to hear about the efforts to modernize our built environment.

To live with sea-level rise, intense and frequent storms, and warmer climate; Its going to happen! The best we as individuals can do is educate ourselves on what day-to-day practices are sustainable for our local environment and how we can create connections to promote scientific knowledge and understanding. Thankfully, thats exactly what we are doing on Nantucket!