Martha's Vineyard Opinion | Vineyard Gazette

Fate of the Land Is in Our Hands

Brendan O'Neill | Thursday, August 12 2021 - 4:29pm

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission is taking an important step to address the Island’s growth crisis through a new carrying capacity study.

Climate change

Letters to the Editor

Letters To The Editor

HELPFUL ISLAND

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Happy holidays to our readers. We are this week’s editors of Sophomores Speak Out, and we have an interesting range of topics for you. We worked on a unit in class about Israeli and Palestinian peace, and you will be able to read the opinions of a few selected sophomores about that situation. We also have pieces written about teenage drama, history, the meaning of history and the crucial budget issue at the high school. We hope you can read over and appreciate the voices of the sophomores of Dr. W’s global history class at the high school. Peace on earth to all.

Fall’s Last Call

The final days of autumn bring a hard clarity to the Vineyard. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees, whose branches trace black lace against the sky. When the sun shines cold and bright and the wind blows hard out of the northwest the water between the chops turns a deep green jade, topped by foaming whitecaps. Intrepid sea ducks surf the waves like so many boys of summer. Above the soft brown of the Island shoreline, a light blue sky rests like a theatrical backdrop.

Open Door Policy

Last month the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) chose Cheryl Andrews-Maltais to lead its sovereign nation.

In her campaign, Ms. Andrews-Maltais stressed openness, an approach that comes at a good time for the tribe and the Vineyard community beyond.

Brazilian Retreat

Immigration is a main topic for discussion in the presidential debates these days, and with the Vineyard’s own substantial population of Brazilian immigrants, it is a topic that hits very close to home.

To Protect Coastline, No One Size Fits All

Dr. Charles Shabica

I was pleased to read your editorial Shifting Sands in the Nov. 16 issue of the Gazette. Sediment management is a critical issue facing most of the world’s coastal communities. In a 1988 report to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission I wrote: “The Martha’s Vineyard shoreline is undergoing a process of coastal evolution caused primarily by rising sea level. The dominant theme is shoreline retreat due to submergence and wave erosion of the shore land.