Letter to the editor
Winston Farm: Think globally, act locally
I’ve been thinking a lot about the destiny of Winston Farm lately, as Beautiful Saugerties (the community group opposing the massive development project proposed by the current owners) reboots in anticipation of the release of the Environmental Impact Statement required by the SEQR process.
If we look at it strictly from the point of personal preference, we will never be able to talk about it as a community and make a sensible decision. There’s a big divide between the folks who would love to have a waterpark and all the other commercial and residential development proposed for the property in their town and those for whom that would utterly compromise the traditional semi-rural small-town vibe they love about Saugerties.
But there is a point of view that transcends personal preference, or lifestyle, or old-timers vs. newcomers, or whatever you like to call the apparently polarized opposites. It has to do with our perceived vs. our actual relationship with nature and the way we feel entitled to use nature for our own purposes, as though we weren’t part of it but rather separate from and somehow “above” it, and as though nature herself didn’t call the shots in the end.
Because of this deep misunderstanding, our use, which has become abuse, of nature is leading us to the brink of destruction on a planetary level. Carbon in the atmosphere drives temperatures to heat up to dangerous levels, which drives the destructive flooding caused by more frequent and larger storms and longer, more severe droughts that contribute to the terrifying spectacle of immense and uncontrollable wildfires around the world. And that’s just one of many ways in which we’ve crossed the boundaries that enable life as we know it on earth to continue. There’s also diminishing biodiversity, decreasing access to clean air and water, and soil degradation, to mention just those relevant to Winston Farm, that are close to tipping points from which there’s no way back.
Winston Farm is one of thousands, even millions, of parcels scattered around the globe that, taken together, add up to a truly immense amount of habitat. Leaving all those small parcels undeveloped is regarded by some ecologists as the most important thing we can do to save the planet and its inhabitants. Winston Farm is one of those parcels that is at a crossroads. Will it be developed for commercial purposes that will enrich its three owners but speed up the rapidly approaching collapse of the environment and the economy by adding to the carbon in the air, decreasing biodiversity and threatening our water supply? Or will it remain a carbon-absorber, rich in habitat for plants and animals with regenerating soil and a source of clean water into the future?
This is our choice, and it has nothing to do with the “rights” of property owners or personal preferences when they are put above the needs of nature upon which our very survival depends. Being able to see this real choice doesn’t depend on how long you’ve lived here, it depends on how you understand the way the planet works and the danger we are putting it and ourselves in by even entertaining the idea of the kind of development of Winston Farm proposed by the current owners. Tell the town board to say no to the rezoning for this “business-as-usual” development that will speed up the bus we’re on as it hurtles towards the cliff. Support a regenerative alternative that will help us change course and have a livable future.
Janet Moss (Asiain)
Saugerties
