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On both coasts, communities facing the uncertainty of future sea level rise, no matter how great this might be in the next few decades, are promoting changes in energy use.

On Martha's Vineyard, as in other towns, planners also face a public that may not see how the effects of global climate change would impact their locales.

The local newspaper reports that efforts to enact energy requirements are still problematic, even though people are aware of global warming:

"West Tisbury architect Kate Warner - who founded the nonprofit Vineyard Energy Project and owned the first hybrid car on the Island - said the Vineyard as a whole is still addressing the energy challenge better than the average community in the country. But given its liberal leanings, the beauty of the Island and the depth of passion for causes, she thought the Vineyard would have been a leader in the renewable energy movement.

"On the Island, with such a low elevation and a reliance on boats, I was sure that everyone would want to jump on board and help out," Ms. Warner said. "But I've found it hard to get people interested in the global warming issue because it's too overwhelming, too depressing, and too long term," she continued.

"All of these things we are doing are steps in the right direction, but we need to do so much more to meet the challenge. We are not moving at the rate of the urgency of the problem, which is quickly going to disrupt our quality of life."

At this point, most Vineyard residents are familiar with the concept of climate change, also referred to as global warming. The burning of fossil fuels add gases into the atmosphere that create a greenhouse effect, trapping heat and raising the overall temperature of the earth.

While the exact effects of the overall warming are still unknown, large glaciers and ice caps are already melting and will result in a substantial rise in the level of the oceans. Widely published models of sea level rise put much of downtown Edgartown underwater sometime this century..."

You can read the whole article here:

Energy Conservation Lagging on Vineyard

Date: November 24, 2006.

The Vineyard Energy Project has a number of links to energy efficiency articles:

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