November 5, 2019 โ To wake up in the Northeastern United Statesโas California blazes and Japan digs itself out of typhoon damageโis to experience an uneasy gratitude for all that is not burning, battered or underwater. Seven years out from Superstorm Sandy, we know not to get cocky, but thereโs a relief in being able to worry about work and more pedestrian finances instead of evacuation plans, or ordering the right kind of smoke mask. Itโs a small luxury in climate-didnโt-come-for-me-today compartmentalization.
But deep down, we know better. And if the national discussion hasnโt moved to climate change in the Northeast yet, it soon will. The effects are already profoundโthey just happen to be underwater.
Fourth-generation fisherman Al Cottone holds no illusions of being spared climate impacts in 2019. He captains one of the 15 fishing boats still active in the waters around Gloucester, Massachusetts. Not a decade ago, there were 50. To fish in the Gulf of Maineโthe ocean inlet spanning from Cape Cod up to the southern tip of Nova Scotiaโis to navigate one of the fastest-warming bodies of water on the planet. โItโs not something you see with your naked eye,โ Cottone told me. โBut fish are definitely reacting differently, and Iโm attributing it to climate change. Weโre seeing them in deeper waterโtheyโre trying to get the right temperature at depth.โ