Swim returns to environmental roots

The environmental concern that spawned the Swim for Life is even more urgent today.In 1988 my friend Walter and I were hanging out and swimming regularly at the Boatslip beach – back then there seemed to be time for that, when beaches around New England were closing due to medical wastes washing up. Not in Provincetown Harbor. Across the expansive waters Long Point Light beckoned us to test our resolve by swimming across the sparkling bay. In late August we found a boat to follow us and we arrived at the harbor beach exhilarated. No blue fish nibbled on us as we were warned.We decided to invite others to make this exquisite journey, and the first Swim for Life was created to raise funds for a disease that was ravaging the community – HIV/AIDS.I look back thirty-one years later and think about the evolution of this event and the risks we faced: hypothermia, unprepared swimmers, swimmers swimming in the wrong direction, swimming into a sunfish and a vegetarian basking shark, all seemingly life threatening at the time. And then the sad day when an entangled whale appeared right before the start of the Swim and we were forced to alter the route to start from the Boatslip beach, swimming out half way across the harbor and back. Unfortunately, the whale did not collect pledges.In the mean time, the water temperature of the harbor has increased to an unprecedented 70 degrees during the last couple swims and the seal population has exploded. The white sharks followed. Nature is forcing us to take notice. Climate change is colliding with the town’s economy as whales and lobsters edge their way north for colder feeding grounds. Flooding is the new normal in town and historic buildings are being raised in response to sea level rise.The image for this year’s 32nd Swim for Life, set for September 7, a frog created by Truro artist Vicky Tomayko, was chosen as a symbolic sign of our vulnerability to a transforming climate and our resilience to respond. Frogs are ecological indicators that are sensitive to an unpredictable climate. They breathe partially through their skin and are amphibians – water to land. Our harbor is designated a harbor of refuge. As the Swim for Life returns to its roots and assesses the risks of swimming across the harbor’s 1.4-mile distance, and the town monitors the economic, environmental and cultural effects of global warming, let us embrace and guide the community’s response as we move into unchartered territory.   www.swim4life.orgSwimmer and kayakers may sign up here.Volunteers sign up here.