The Vineyard Way
Connected to Our Past, Committed to Our Future
Climate change is the defining challenge of the 21st century. As an Island community our climate risks are heightened. At every edge we face more powerful storms, a rising sea, and the permanent loss of low-lying land. In addition, the Northeastern United States will see higher seas and hotter, wetter weather than the global average.
Greenhouse gasses emitted from the burning of fossil fuels are heating up the atmosphere. As a result, the natural world is under increasing stress – the land, water, plants, and animals that support human life. This stress affects us in every way, from the food we eat, the buildings we live in and the way we make our living, to our personal and collective health and well-being. It is all connected. Resilience is the ability to withstand and recover from adversity and a key to successful climate resilience is to understand and balance those connections.
The climate change challenge is twofold: eliminate the cause – the burning of fossil fuels – and adapt to the impacts.
Writing the Story
In 2022 our six distinct towns, the Wampanoag Tribe, and community partners came together to write the story of a tight-knit community that rises to the climate challenge by developing a climate action plan, The Vineyard Way. To do so, we drew on our connections to nature and each other to consider climate-resilient actions for our homes, roads, beaches, education and workforce, energy, and food. We’re navigating uncharted waters, but we’re doing it together.
The planning team of more than 100 Island residents identified the following values to guide the planning process: healthy natural resources, equity and inclusion, community collaboration, resilience, and local action. Each of these values are things we want to strengthen and protect in the face of climate change.
