“We must become the change that we envision.”

(Quote from a workshop participant)

“Sustainability is a sense of community.”  

(Quote from a workshop participant)

“People have to find a compelling way to bond with their communities,

rather than with things.”

(Quote from a workshop participant)

Valued Ecosystems Powerpoint Introduction

Summary of the workshop’s vision for Valued Ecosystems on Cape Cod:   Cape Cod will be characterized by healthy and diverse ecosystems, and human and natural systems will interact in mutually beneficial ways. Resource-based employment will grow, and the environment will prosper.  Development and redevelopment will protect and restore habitats, species, and ecological functions.  Growth centers will strengthen community bonds and enhance resident and visitor experiences.   Automobiles will be deemphasized, walking and biking encouraged, and transit ubiquitous.  Renewable energy will be harnessed, and a fossil-fuel-free future will be in reach. Private property will be managed with the public interest in mind, and ecological, spiritual, and aesthetic considerations will influence economic decisions.  Wastes will be transformed into resources. Nutrients will be recycled, aquifers cleansed, surface waters revitalized, and fisheries replenished.  Visionary leaders and an informed public will make the institutional and behavioral changes required to value the goods and services provided by living organisms and their physical surroundings.

s, and human and natural systems will i

Breakout Group 1 Discussion

Imagine Cape Cod in 2020: The government becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate interests, and it offers up some pristine coastal property for development in 2020.   Imagine this land represents one of the Cape's remaining wild places, and it is surrounded by recreational areas and critical fisheries habitat.   Imagine the government waives all environmental permitting requirements.   What do we mean by view?   What do we mean by worth?

Early people valued inland areas because they were safer.  Why measure everything in terms of market value and degrees?

If we saw wind turbines on Nantucket sound generating clean energy, it would be worth a great deal in synchronicity of values, worth more than the blood of people lost in battle.

What is the value?

• The view is worth nothing unless it can be shared.   We’re becoming a self-absorbed culture.
• This has happened to many ocean views.  It is proportionately worth more as the number of people who can see it rises.  Its value is higher proportionately by the number of people positively affected by it (animals too). 
• Ocean view implies buildings which have a negative impact, such as nitrogen loading.
• Looking back at a coastline spoiled by houses reduces the likelihood that it can be shared.        
• People come here for the natural environment, but when they get here, they destroy what they came for - for example by installing docks.       
• There used to be strict “peer pressure” from other members of the community.
• Local boards have become more interested in the rights of the applicant than the public benefit.
• This is part of a national libertarian shift.  Poor policies (zoning bylaws)  were put into effect in the past (acre lots) instead of encouraging town centers with open space.

What is a view from the ocean worth?

• Tourism
• How much would people pay to leave a lot undeveloped?
• Other shorelines have high rise buildings – Cape Cod doesn’t.
• Cape Cod shared the “life-affirming design values” of our culture.
• “You can swim in the water for nothing... but to look at the water… that’s going to cost you”.
• Cape Cod culture is changing towards private property/ownership – individualism.
• The sense of community of the past is eroding; market value is becoming dominant value.  
• Could we have community docks? (Private docks are actually on public land anyway)             

       1st monitor resources/land and people’s needs and wants

       2nd create harbor management plans

• We need an indicator to measure the sense of community:

      1.  How many people know the names of the 3 neighbors on each side of them or actually get involved

      with them?

      2.  How many communities have community theatre, etc / poet’s view of community - “Eyes light up when you walk in the room” – we need both poet’s and academic’s definition.

      3.  People bonding together to save land.   “Save land” – powerful word – save from what, for who, by who, for what?

      4.  Level of interest in serving on town boards - voting rate.

      5.  A native Cape Codder left in the 1950’s and grieved the loss he saw when he came back a few years ago.

• If we want a sustainable Cape Cod, we need to change behaviors – but how?
• We need to be environmentally literate (more strategic and systematic than now)   Root of word educate – to lead out – implies people must change.

Facilitator’s notes for Breakout Group 1:

• Historical Perspective – Early settlers valued warmth, inland safety.
• What does “value” mean other than money/market worth – elation is worth a great deal – synchronicity of values.
• Worth nothing unless it can be shared:

1.   “Hyper-individualistic culture that has lost its soul” – increases by number of beings it is shared with.   “All me” syndrome.       

     Negatives that correlate with Ocean View – looking out; looking in.

2.  View from the Ocean? / From the Beach?   Factors again shared with positive value – Alignment of sense of design with culture

      – “Life Affirming”.   Two strikes against us already – Culture / private property, private ownership, etc. is eroding 

     “community”   The “all me” market system is eroding this.

3.  Embankments and marshlands, does not equal “docks” as a metaphor.   Cultural shift from “relatedness” to individual

     ownership on “commons” – scrutinize this process.  1600 – 2004 “Trend”.  “Wildness” people?  What has been the role of

     permitting boards?   Ego; etc. has led to the applicants’ ego, etc., being more “valuable” than the “wilderness” - open space.  

     Desirable set of indicators to measure the sense of “community”.   “Wildness” broadens community from just people to whole 

     ecosystem.   Evidence of community.

4.  Examples in Falmouth – people have banded together to “save” a piece of property – Coonamesset River.   “Save” from what, for what, by whom, for whom?

• We grieve the loss of the way Cape was (cost is infinite).   How do you change behaviors?  It takes more than information. Book - “Fostering  

   Sustainable Behavior” Author: Doug Mohr – 1/24/05.   Be strategic in our  “education” methods, involve people in role playing.   Envision

   long term future.   Latin root of education “E (out) Du Care (lead)” = from what, to what?

Resources:

Conference:    Bard College ( www.bard.edu ) June 5 th – June 7 th , 2005

                   Resurgence Magazine ( www.resurgence.org )

                   Miriam’s Well ( www.miriamswell.org )

Breakout Group 2 Discussion  

Imagine Cape Cod in 2020: a gallon of gasoline costs $10 in 2020, and this price is not a reflection of resource scarcity or inflation.   Is $10 a good thing?   Would $10 determine the type of fuel we use?

The cost of a barrel of oil does not reflect the true cost of securing it (now or in the future).   It’s strictly a spot market cost determined by global demand. Will $10 determine the size of our cars and help us realize public transportation goals? Would high fuel cost be a good thing for Cape Cod?

• Denser village centers could perhaps reduce driving but could also cause loss of % of  hospitality industry.
• Government policies regarding energy and its costs will dramatically change way before gas reaches $10.
• The cost of extracting oil will continue to increase, as will delivery costs.
• An increase in fuel price may, contrary to what we’ve been saying, create greate imbalances.
• Goals of smart growth and public transportation may not be met, and the result would be even greater differences between the haves and have nots.
• Even if government policies don’t change, more hybrid cars will bepurchased.  
• Consumer debt will rise as lower-income consumers load their fuel purchases onto their credit cards.   
• Maybe we’ll begin moving to a “hydrogen economy” with many positive energy alternatives put into place driven by consumer demand.

Imagine Cape Cod in 2020: the need for homeland security suddenly diminishes, and the federal government announces that in 2020 it plans to donate the Massachusetts Military Reservation to help local communities meet critical needs.   Imagine that the government promises to remove all existing structures and buildings, in exchange for being freed of its liability for groundwater remediation.

How clean is clean enough?

• Fishable, swimmable, drinkable.
• The appropriate level won’t harm organisms or be lethal for animals. 
• How do other species deal with pollutants?  We need to value them.
• New detection techniques let us find things we didn’t find before.
• How do we deal with the uncertainty about what is an appropriate level of cleanup ?
• There are contaminants in the pipe itself.
• Pollution control is very expensive - and what pollution would be generated during the cleanup?
• Wind energy for cleanup – we shouldn’t be creating pollution while cleaning up existing contamination.
• We need to have a dual water system (potable uses and nonpotable uses).

How much land should be set aside?

• There are lots of endangered species out there – we need to protect them.
• We need to set aside lots of land for human and wildlife needs (water and habitat).
• We should preserve the entire 22,000 acres.
• The aquifer is so critical that it must all be protected.
• What about human needs?  We may need to develop some areas near the edge. We need to look at deconstruction/undevelopment/redevelopment before we develop any more open space.
• How much land do we need to set aside to have clean water?  Do we build drinking water treatment plants instead?

  What and how should we build?

• Sustainable communities.
• Village centers.
• We should live near our needs for work, food, entertainment, community – not away from them; we need to design away from automobiles.
• Whatever gets built needs to work within the existing infrastructure.
• Distributed wind power.
• Tidal energy.
• No fossil fuels at all – too expensive, too many problems.
• Cluster wastewater treatment facilities.
• Reuse of water.
• Dual water systems – potable and nonpotable.
• Use biosolids for energy generation.
• Transportation: electric buses, bike and walking pathways to connect developed areas – reduce or eliminate dependence on the automobile; light rail.
• Any new community should be a walkable one.
• Avoid building roads over the aquifer.
• No spillage.
• Rather than develop undeveloped land, we need to redevelop with infill, and use transferable development rights.
• Directed growth.
• We need to solve the problems where they are, not develop in new areas to avoid them.
• We need to draw water from the base of the aquifer (mound), abandon coastal wells, direct growth to the coast, away from the mound.
• Creative zoning.
• We need affordable housing banks, like the land bank – affordable housing needs are driving sprawl, and must be addressed.
• What would the National Seashore look like if it hadn’t been protected?
• There is a very high public value associated with protecting the land; the cost to develop it should be very high.
• Development costs more than preservation, in terms of the services required.
• We could auction development rights in targeted areas to support open space preservation.
• We need to figure out how to grow our way out of existing infrastructure limitations – catch up by growing in the right way.
• Increased urban density would lower the costs of infrastructure.
• Skip infrastructure – use dry toilets, gasifying systems, reuse wastes as nutrients for fertilizer.
• We need to stop using our water supply to handle our wastewater.
• We need a fundamental change in the way people view waste (and view life).
• People are adaptable, more than they think.   Behavioral change is possible.   Fear of change is much greater than the actual obstacles created by change.
• How do you sewer coastal Falmouth?
• Taxes and hookups and usages – pay to pee directly, and via town pickup of some costs.
• Cleaning up the coastal environment should be part of the cost of sewering.
• We need to solve the problems created by our forefathers so our kids don’t have to.
• The costs are staggering, and it will only get more expensive.
• We need to reach others who hold different views – there is a large population of takers and not enough givers.

Suggested Action Items

Education:

• Promote public education at all levels.
• Ensure continuous publicity.
• Develop school curriculums.
• Develop an energy curriculum, and implement it.
• Encourage/promote “green schools”.   
• Public guides.
• Environmental public advocacy in the towns.
• Teach the importance of habitat and wildlife.
• Foster sustainable behavior, change peoples beliefs about what is possible in their lives (such as composting toilets, waste disposal, alternative

   energy sources, etc.).

Infrastructure & Technology:

• Increased use and availability of public transit.
• Pay-as-you-go waste disposal.
• Comprehensive recognition and utilization of the evolving technology that enables us to capture renewable resources, use energy more

    wisely, and develop new models for zoning.

Ecosystem:

• Ecosystem restoration.
• Monitor all bays and estuaries.

Incentives:

• Provide incentives to promote desired behavior.
• Property tax credits for sustainable development.
• Rebate program at waste disposal facilities for not exceeding you limit of waste.

Other:

• Organize and require a policy response from our public leaders.
• Enforce existing laws.
• Write new bylaws.
• Develop a municipal scorecard for sustainable behavior and score each town.
• Have your town join the climate protection program.
• Place a value on the visual quality of the environment to tourists (based on their    determination of what “good” is).
• Create an environmental footprint for Cape Cod (regionally or municipally).

Suggested Indicators of Progress

• Higher density zoning
• Miles of bike trails; % transit coverage
• Spills
• Population density maps
• Surface waters compliant/not compliant with Clean Water Act, i.e., fishable, swimmable, drinkable
• Are there existing dual water systems – potable uses and nonpotable uses that we can point to?
• Endangered species, listed species, critical habitats, etc.
• TDR zones and applications
• Cost of development vs. cost of leaving land in “natural” state
• Efforts to internalize wastewater discharge costs
• Land protection in wellhead areas
• # and type of various water handling, treatment, septic, toilet systems
• Biosolids volume, trash volume, compost volume, etc. – for energy generation
• Need for drinking water treatment
• Undevelopment
• Awareness of energy issues
• PV panel installations
• Generation of renewable energy credits
• Hybrid vehicle purchases/registrations
• Commuting
• Energy-efficient lightbulbs
• Mileage rates of various Cape fleets
• Energy efficiency in all sectors
•  Tourist visitation to the wind farm
• Ecotourism more generally
• Gallons of gas purchased
• Participation in ICLEI clean cities program
• Number of new/renovated green buildings
• Vehicle trips/year
• Biodiesel consumption
• Clean energy sector activity
• Scorecard for municipalities
• Increased transit
• Number of miles of bike trails
• Shellfish bed acreage
• Energy use rates
• Carbon sequestration rates
• Greenhouse emissions
• Nutrient/pollutant emission
• Outage rates
• Power quality
• Vehicle emissions
• Percent waste recycled
• Number of bays/estuaries being monitored
• Advocacy levels
• Air quality/water quality monitoring data
• Species diversity
• Wildlife inventory
• Value placed by tourists on local environment
• Ecological footprint
• Local food production (protein) – food self-reliance