by Gail Pellett
We have just witnessed one of the most expensive presidential races in history, yet neither candidate did much to address our existential climate and biodiversity crisis.
This, despite that in September Hurricane Helene left more than 230 dead in its path and massive destruction of houses, businesses, and landscape. And leading into election week, floods in southern Spain caused by a years’ worth of rain in one day left communities inundated with mud and cars, homes and businesses ruined. Again the death toll reached more than 200, as people had little warning of the deluge.
ChangeHampton has already grown a pollinator garden just outside the back door at East Hampton Town Hall, which is so popular that Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez says she’s seen people taking wedding photos there. Next on ChangeHampton’s plate is a plan to turn the lawn surrounding Town Hall into a meadow.
In the past fifty years we have lost some two-thirds of our birds…and across North America a similar percentage of our wildlife. No need to tell the fishermen of the East End what’s happened to our shellfish and marine life. Yet there was no mention of these catastrophic losses from the campaign trail.
ChangeHampton Acts Locally
In 2021, a group of our East Hampton neighbors began gathering to complain about the horrible noise and air pollution of leaf blowers. With some research, we discovered the real danger to human and ecological health posed by all blowers.
Noise pollution was obvious and is linked to heart disease, while endangering our mental health and the he force of air that blows up a mix of pesticides, fertilizers, mouse and animal feces and other particulates contributes to unhealthy air pollution.
But something else is at stake. Blowing leaves from their natural resting place causes the destruction of critical habitat for all kinds of beneficial insects, like our native bees, butterflies and moths, and, consequently, birds who feed off these insects. Our survival depends upon these pollinating species.
The outbreak of disease-bearing ticks and mosquitoes is due to the imbalance of their natural predators — birds and other insects.
What Happens in Our Yards Matters
Our neighborhood group of concerned citizens knew that, while we may not be able to influence federal policies, we can all be actors for change in our own yards, and our own communities.
What we do in our yards affects habitat and biodiversity. It affects the quality of ground and drinking water, bays and oceans. Our group began looking at all the landscaping practices that surrounded us.
Re-imaging Landscapes; Changing Minds
We formed ChangeHampton to encourage healthy, non-toxic, biodiverse, resilient and sustainable landscaping practices. We created a 4,000 sq. ft. Community Pollinator garden at East Hampton Town Hall — an educational model for our community and a public-private partnership with the Town of East Hampton. We also created a website (www.changehampton.org) to provide “how-to” information, a native plant data-base, and connection through newsletters. We have also produced events like the one this past October — Toward a New Land Ethic — principles and practices for ecological and human health.
Toward a New Land Ethic
As our values about stewardship of the land have deepened, we acknowledge the influence of indigenous teachings about our broken relationship to nature.
And we have been influenced by the writings of Aldo Leopold, a writer, philosopher and environmentalist who wrote about extending our notion of ethics — care and respect for members of our community for the common good — to our relationship with the land.
For Leopold, the relationships between people and land are intertwined. Care for people cannot be separated from the care for the “land” and all living organisms: soils, waters, plants and animals.
Thus, a Land Ethic is a moral code of conduct that stems from these interconnected, caring relationships.
We have come to see that our very survival, our quality of life, our health and the health of our families is all dependent upon becoming change agents to transform our relationship to nature.
Rather than destroying it at every chance, we can actively restore habitat — by reducing lawns, avoiding all pesticides and chemical fertilizers, by planting native trees, shrubs, plants, and grasses and inviting pollinators. We can learn to love leaves. They are the best fertilizer and soil producer in nature. They provide habitat for our future.
“Toward a New Land Ethic” is a call to action to see ourselves as part of nature, with a responsibility towards not just conservation, but restoration.
Building Community
We will survive only as a community and we welcome all East Enders to join us. Sign up on our website (changehampton.org) to receive informative newsletters, find out about events and about our new 2025 model for the future: a series of Native Grassland Pollinator Meadows, on the East Hampton Town campus. And stay tuned for our new podcast in 2025. If you’d like to volunteer, or donate, email info@changehampton.org.
Gail Pellett is a writer, documentary filmmaker and founding member of ChangeHampton. She has lived part-time in East Hampton for almost forty years.
Climate Local Now is a partnership between the East End Beacon and two leaders of a grass-roots group inspired by the science of Project Drawdown to advance local climate solutions.
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