Living on an island is no easy task, but for those living in small island nations, extreme weather and sea level rise due to climate change pose uniquely disastrous threats. At least, that’s what Vineyarder Duncan Pickard hopes to prove.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration together awarded the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) more than $170,000 in grants this month.
The Martha's Vineyard Commission and town of Oak Bluffs have been awarded grants from the state for projects to help bolster the Island against climate change.
A team from the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Woods Hole recently completed a Martha’s Vineyard climate risk assessment, looking at how a two-degree increase in global temperatures could impact several climatic factors on-Island.
As the national insurance market retreats from areas ravaged by wildfires and storms, Island insurance agents say Martha’s Vineyard is increasingly being considered a risk by the companies writing homeowner policies.
As climate change intensifies and the ocean around the Vineyard rises, scientists and Island officials are concerned that salt water could permeate through the Island’s ground water, threatening the potability of its only source of drinking water.