Wisdom of our elders

Wisdom of our elders

A tribute to four, each at least a half century older than me, who taught me a lot.

Every summer my dad got a week or two off from work and we'd head off to Paradise. That's what a cabin on a small Cape Cod pond seemed like after another year in New Jersey.


Nothing against Jersey, it was a great place to grow up. but our family home didn't have beaches a mile away, or fishing and night skies so un-polluted by light that you could see stars, planets, and shooting stars.

All this and a jovial man named Walter Preater – Uncle Walt to us since his wife Aunt Ethel was my father's cousin. When the Old Colony Railroad stopped its passenger service to Provincetown at the tip of the Cape during the Great Depression, Uncle Walt took his mattress full of savings and bought several of the shuttered train stations.

He had them towed to five-acre Moll's Pond in Eastham to form a charming little tourist camp. Cousin Leonard and his (my) family became regular renters. Uncle Walt cheerfully took credit for the pond, its fish, the starry sky, and oh yes – he told me that he personally put all the salt in the ocean. He also described "Jingle Bells," a pickerel who had snapped so many fishing lines that the hooks in his jaw announced his arrival.

My faith in Walter's origin stories vanished around the same time that I dismissed Santa Claus's toy supply chain theory. But his simple descriptions of catfish, tadpoles, bullfrogs, surfcasting for bluefish, and more had me hooked.

For me, he was an early inspiration for what became my life's work.

Fighting the long fight

Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1985. (Credit: State Archives of Florida)

I never met Marjory Stoneman Douglas, but she taught me a lot. At age 57, she abruptly changed careers, from a barrier-shattering newspaper reporter to the undefinable job of hellraiser.

And that second career very nearly lasted another half century. Speaking, lobbying, writing, cajoling and never letting up became trademarks. Her graceful and passionate writing made a steaming-, gator-, snake- and mosquito-ridden swamp —the Everglades — worth fighting for.

In recent days Marjory Stoneman Douglas's name is better known for the Parkland, Florida, high school named in her honor, site of the nation's most lethal school shooting in 2018. She died 20 years earlier fighting for the Everglades nearly to the last day of her 108 years.

The Everglades are far from saved, but thanks to Douglas, they're still far from lost.

A science nerd for the ages

I briefly befriended Dan Smiley when I was eight, which means he would have been around 60.

The Smiley family built the Mohonk Mountain House, a ramshackle throwback of a resort hotel on 8,000 protected acres 90 miles north of New York City. The Smiley's founded Mohonk in 1869, and they still run it today.

I remember Dan Smiley as tall, bespectacled, and wearing a plaid flannel shirt and the ancestor of what we now know as cargo shorts, backed by high white socks.

He was the very image of a nature nerd, and showed me taxidermy of skunks and flying squirrels and explained how 1960's cartoons had done them a great disservice.

It was years later that I learned that Dan Smiley made detailed records of wildlife sightings, bird migrations, seasonal changes and the daily temperature and pH levels of Mohonk Lake. The latter stands as the oldest continuous record of acid rain damage in North America.

The distinguished gentleman

Senator John Warner

US Senator John Warner. (Credit: U.S. National Archives)

I didn't meet John Warner until I was more than 50 and he was around 85. He was a Marine flyer in World War II and Korea, Secretary of the Navy under Richard Nixon, and a five-term U.S. Senator, but in some circles, he may be best known as Liz Taylor's sixth husband.

In his Senate career, Republican Warner became one of the last bastions of cooperation, crossing the widening Congressional chasm on guns, LGBTQ rights, climate change, and more. After his 2009 retirement, Warner stumped for action on climate for the Pew Charitable Trusts, where I worked from 2009 to 2011. But by that time, no Republican who was still in office dared be so bold.

John Warner died last month, pre-deceased by any shred of climate integrity in his party's leadership, but a sign of hope that confronting climate change can once again be a two-party effort.

The geeks may not inherit the Earth, but they're surely pulling their weight in protecting it.

Peter Dykstra is our weekend editor and columnist and can be reached at pdykstra@ehn.org or @pdykstra.

His views do not necessarily represent those of Environmental Health News, The Daily Climate, or publisher, Environmental Health Sciences.

Banner photo: Dan Smiley, courtesy of Mohonk Preserve

a row of flags in front of a building.
Credit: Mmoka/Unsplash

World climate talks resume without U.S. as global negotiators assess new path forward

The United States skipped a major round of United Nations climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany this week, leaving other nations and U.S. civil society groups to navigate the talks without the world's largest fossil fuel producer at the table.

Bob Berwyn reports for Inside Climate News.

Keep reading...Show less
Smoke billows from an industrial chimney at sunset near several homes.

Judge rules EPA overstepped in cutting pollution grants

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from canceling $600 million in environmental justice grants aimed at helping underserved communities reduce pollution.

Rachel Frazin reports forThe Hill.

In short:

  • The grants stem from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which set aside $3 billion for environmental justice programs.
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Biden had planned to distribute the $600 million through regional groups, which would fund local efforts, before the Trump EPA terminated the grants earlier this year.
  • Judge Adam Abelson ruled the EPA's cancellation exceeded its authority “precisely because they are ‘environmental justice’ programs."

Key quote:
The move included a “lack of any reasoned decision-making, or reasoned explanation.”

— Judge Adam Abelson, U.S. District Court

Why this matters:
Underserved communities often face the greatest environmental health risks and climate impacts. These grants were designed to help local groups respond to long-standing environmental harms and health risks, and canceling them would have cut off vital support just as cleanup efforts were beginning to gain traction. The Trump administration has also attempted to cancel a similar $20 billion program that would fund climate-friendly projects.

coffee mug near open folder with tax withholding paper.

Senate Republicans move to cut clean energy tax credits despite bipartisan benefits

Congressional Republicans are advancing a tax plan that would slash incentives for clean energy and electric vehicles, drawing criticism from advocates and some GOP members whose districts benefit from green investments.

Alexa St. John reports for The Associated Press.

Keep reading...Show less
A stream running through green forested hills.

Brazil moves to auction vast oil blocks despite climate and Indigenous concerns

Brazil is set to auction off oil and gas exploration rights in a massive offshore and Amazon region sale, prompting backlash from Indigenous groups and environmental advocates just months before it hosts the Cop30 climate summit.

Constance Malleret reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
An image showing a downpour with a caution sign.

New research links stalled jet stream to rising summer weather extremes

The number of extreme summer weather events driven by trapped atmospheric waves has tripled since 1950 due to climate change, new research shows.

Seth Borenstein reports for The Associated Press.

Keep reading...Show less
Farm machinery helping harvest turnips.

How agribusiness lobbying boosts corporate control over food and climate policy

Industrial agriculture companies spent hundreds of millions lobbying Congress ahead of the stalled farm bill debate, further distancing everyday Americans from decisions shaping the nation’s food systems and climate future.

Brian Calvert reports for Civil Eats.

Keep reading...Show less
Steel mill under a cloudy sky.
Credit: Michi/Pixabay

Steelmaker retreats from clean energy plans as hydrogen costs and politics shift

Cleveland-Cliffs is scaling back plans to build the nation's first green steel plant in Ohio, pivoting away from hydrogen and back to fossil fuels as federal incentives face repeal and political winds change in Washington.

Alexander C. Kaufman reports for Canary Media.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.