A few web sites besides the publisher’s published previews of the book prior to its October 1 release. This passages caught my attention:
“The Drowning of Money Island is an intimate yet unbiased, lyrical yet investigative rediscovery of a rural hometown ravaged by sea level rise and economic hardship, and the increasingly divisive politics those factors have helped spawn. In the end, the book offers a glimpse of the future of coastal retreat in America—a future in which the wealthy will be able to remain while the poor will be forced to leave”.
I had a strong hunch that if I took time and looked analytically then a response strategy would emerge in the midst of chaos and stress. Heavy dock construction continues on the creek. I focused on a “go dark” strategy with regard to the ways I am monitored. Buy time, protect myself, and rebuild a life elsewhere.
Commercial dock construction continues.every day at Money Island.
On this day the Trump announced a sweep of undocumented residents, I thought about the past false accusations that I harbored Mexicans here at Terrapin Station.
Wild asparagus. Maybe tomorrow I will plant some seeds to test new culture areas.
Morning Glory on a dead stalk growing in front of my abin.
A beer at sundown.
The dogs love swimming. We walk twice on most days.
A fantastic article by MIT Technology Review republished on Medium.com last month summarizes the best available information we have about the macro political-economic forecastfor the remainder of my life.
“The next 30 years are likely, instead, to resemble the slow disaster of the present: we will get used to each new shock, each new brutality, each “new normal,” until one day we look up from our screens to find ourselves in a new dark age — unless, of course, we’re already there.” This describes the flow of one unbelievable action after another that I’ve lived through here at Money Island.
(People will) “become used to random acts of violence as angry and sometimes starving citizens act out against increasingly repressive governments struggling to maintain control.” No doubt this describes the actions of the watermen we’ve seen already and includes future landowner actions against land use regulators.My story already includes examples of government in this highly distress community using violence and brutality to maintain controlover citizens – especially environmentalists!
“Revolution or collapse — in either case, the good life as we know it is no longer viable.” A reference to the book “Collapse” by professor Jared Diamond is appropriate and useful here.
“This is not our future, but our present: a time of transformation and strife beyond which it is difficult to see a clear path.” It is unrealistic to expect others to understand the issue and agree on the path forward.
The message is clear. For the past few decades I have been focused on being a positive force for change. Baysave tried to prevent disaster by working with people and government. The motto “think globally but act locally” made sense but was ultimately wrong. Now it is clear we must change to plan for the future as it will be; not the future that we hope will be.
Do not expect to see actions in the common good
Do not expect government to be a partner
I see daily violations of law now. More than in the past. Even as I write this blog post. It makes no sense to “report it”. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way. It used to be that my manual photography would randomly catch an illegal act in the background of a shot. Now today’s security cameras record it on a daily basis. I wonder if they know or care.
Today I installed air conditioning in the bedroom. It is transformative to my quality of sleep yet I’m still only up to about 5 hours tonight. Fitbit tells me that my average is less than 4 hours. I don’t understand why my body acts more strongly now to bug bits and allergens in the air. Google gave me no new insights.
I suppose the bottom is a good place to start. The only problem is that you can only hope that you are at the bottom. God, could it really get worse?
Today I was falsely convicted of a crime in New Jersey. A pretty stupid crime. If I had to choose among crimes, this would be pretty lame and embarrassing. I didn’t turn over records because I did not have them. Why? Because the records were supposed to be for crabs bought and I didn’t buy any crabs. So I didn’t have any records for what didn’t exist. Sounds simple and like vocal to me. But here in New Jersey there must be something in the water.
Jesse’s sunset photos from last week. That’s my place on the left and on the far right.
I spent time formulating a ‘go forward’ strategy that includes “going dark” on Facebook. Ifaced at least three lawsuits based on Facebook and I’m weakened and battered. Blinkist helps. Talked with Lori, dad and John.
This blue heron is a daily guest. I wonder if this is the same one that escaped the eagle attack?
farmed striped bass at Whole Foods is tagged. $10 a pound. We have a ton of these here in the shallow water but they are illegal to harvest.
