“With a real frost in the air and a mad-dog bite to
the wind, winter is no longer just a concept. A new moon has the tide kicked
way up. Waves acting like winners at a poker table greedily pull piles of beach
into their lap. On the south side, waterfront home owners are finding the water
much closer. Many have lost up to a staggering twenty feet of land this autumn,
and in places, sloping dunes that once led gently toward the beach have become
ten-foot-high bluffs. Swept-away beach stairs and walkways have gotten hurled
back at the crumbled dunes up and down the beach. And it’s not even officially
winter yet; such has been the strange tantrum of a mostly warm autumn.”—American
ecologist, nature writer—and MacArthur “genius” Fellow—Dr. Carl Safina,
The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World (2011)
(Photo of Carl Safina taken by Carl’s Crew on Feb. 7,
2011.)
