With the fast approach of a planning deadline for Suffolk County’s mosquito control effort for 2019, there is a renewed call for a stricter limit, if not a total ban, on a chemical used to control the stinging menace’s populations. 

Methoprene spraying of salt marshes is a favorite technique of the county Vector Control Department, whose responsibility is to limit annoying and potential disease-carrying mosquitoes. Its methods have long come under fire from environmentalists concerned that the wholesale use of pesticides and other compounds causes excessive harm to other wildlife. This year, activists, the East Hampton Town Trustees, and the Nature Conservancy banded together to do something about it.

In a pilot program at Accabonac Harbor in Springs, volunteers conducted weekly mosquito larvae counts. After the data were entered on a smartphone app, the Nature Conservancy passed it on to the county, which had agreed to limit methoprene application as a trial based on the sample results. The program was, surprisingly enough, among the first evidence-based mosquito control efforts here; given the size of the county and limited staff and money, actual sampling was limited. Now, armed with information, the county Vector Control Department can make informed decisions about when and where to spray.

The problem with methoprene is that it appears to harm non-target insects as well as crustaceans. Strict restrictions on its use have been put in place in other areas, such as New York City’s Jamaica Bay. An increasing number of environmentalists and groups on Long Island, including Defend H20 and the Accabonac Protection Committee, would like to see it curtailed here. Bills are pending in the State Legislature to do just that, and a petition calling on Suffolk Executive Steve Bellone to end its use is circulating.

Vector Control has long sounded the alarm about mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile virus. However, given its rarity, that focus could be misplaced and its resources might be better directed to the demonstrated health risks posed by an exploding tick population. Mosquitoes may be irritating, but the real health crisis here right now comes from blood-sucking pests that crawl, not fly.

What the Accabonac test demonstrates as well is the power of cooperation among citizen volunteers, private organizations, and government officials. Agencies such as the Suffolk Health Department, the Department of Public Works, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation are stretched thin by tight budgets and vast and complex responsibilities. By gaining better knowledge of mosquitoes’ breeding, the county can further reduce the potential harm to other organisms or, we hope, eliminate the use of methoprene altogether.

Giving the public a way to get skin in the game to make a difference can be an asset both for policy and a healthier environment. Much credit is due to Suffolk Legislator Bridget Fleming for backing the mosquito larvae sampling. The program should be a model for other public-private collaborations to come on a range of issues.

The report was at the top of news websites and on front pages everywhere by Saturday morning. But if you were anything like us, with our copy of The Times languishing in the driveway, you might have missed it. Burying bad news is nothing new; the government joke from Albany to Sacramento is to announce something on Friday afternoon before a long weekend if you want to be sure to get it ignored.

A rapidly warming earth, however, is hard to ignore, and that’s an understatement. Thirteen federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, and the State Department, agree and prepared the fourth National Climate Assessment. It paints a terror-inducing picture. And, just so our readers can grasp how fully the Executive Branch is behind this, we briefly list the remaining 10 participating agencies: Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, Interior, Transportation, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Agency for International Development. Eight of the agencies’ heads are members of the cabinet, reporting directly to the president. For his part, Mr. Trump has dismissed the report as “fine.”

The key points in the assessment are:

• Climate change creates new risks and makes existing vulnerabilities worse, with challenges to health, safety, quality of life, and the economy.

• Without sustained global effort, economic growth in the United States will be impeded and the infrastructure affected negatively.

• The true effects of climate change are difficult to predict, due to the interconnection of natural, built, and social systems around the world.

• Current emissions-reduction programs do not approach the scale necessary to avoid substantial damage to the economy, environment, and health.

• Negative impacts on the quality and quantity of water are already being felt, with costs to agriculture, energy production, industry, recreation, and the environment.

• Extreme weather, poor air quality, and the transmission of diseases via insects, pests, and food and water contamination already threaten the well-being of the American people, particularly vulnerable populations and indigenous peoples.

• Fire, extreme weather, and drought endanger the sustainability of the food supply and price stability.

• Coastal communities are at risk of floods, ocean acidification, decreased fisheries, and environmental losses. 

• Tourism and recreation will be degraded by the multiple effects of climate change.

Regional economies that depend on a healthy environment and a favorable climate will be increasingly vulnerable. Stronger hurricanes can take out power, with cascading bad effects on hospitals and waste treatment plants, and upend local food production. The East End certainly fits in this category, as a raw sewage overflow brought about by heavy rain this week forced the closing of the waters around Greenport.

Among national challenges will be the $1 trillion in coastal real estate that will be increasingly at risk. Again, this is a huge looming issue here.

Wind, floods, and temperature spikes will impact military bases and production facilities in all 50 states. Rising temperatures will decrease electricity generation and at the same time increase demand on the grid for air-conditioning and refrigeration, which could lead to blackouts. 

Airborne allergies are expected to increase. Higher ozone levels will bring yet more health risks. The rate of Lyme disease and other tick-borne afflictions will grow. Even mental health effects are anticipated as the result of economic changes and evacuations. And some large-scale impacts may last for thousands of years, such as the loss of coral reefs, the disintegration of ice sheets — and sea level rise. 

It all depends on the present. Adaptation, such as East Hampton Town finally is thinking about in several studies and dedicated coastal committees, can occur at the state and local level. Mitigation, however, requires a national and global strategy. Fossil fuels used in cars, industry, and power production supply about 85 percent of all the greenhouse gases in this country. New technology, alternative sources, and a price on carbon are among the potential solutions.

A side benefit is that efforts to limit climate change in the future can have immediate benefits for air quality, public health, reduced crop damage, and increased energy independence through greater reliance on American made sources — something the Department of Defense likes.

Adaptation will take money and equal amounts of will, the assessment concludes, and in some cases, lots of it. However, changes now can reduce the cost of future climate impacts by more than half. The long-term savings speak for themselves at every level of government.

The authors could have had eastern Long Island in mind in observing that communities have tended to deal with current risks and not prepare for the future. For example, responses in the coastal zone have been centered on making buildings and infrastructure somewhat less sensitive to climate effects rather than addressing the expected scale of future change and emergent threats. These include reducing costly taxpayer exposure by preventing building in high-risk locations and retreating from at-risk coastal areas. 

What a gift we could leave our children and our children’s children if we could make long-term investments now to not saddle the coming generations with the wreckage of our own inaction — and the bill to pay to make it right again, if that were even possible.

Reaction to the online giant Amazon’s announcement last week that it would develop one of two new East Coast headquarters in Long Island City has largely been along two lines of thought: What would it do to Queens, and did the city and state give away too much in tax breaks to reel in the company. A lot has been said about New York City’s deep pool of professional and tech talent, as well as the cultural attractions that might keep Amazon’s staff happy. 

Nothing much has been said yet, to our knowledge, about that other big draw for city dwellers, the East End of Long Island. It might be that one of the important factors Amazon considered was what its higher-level employees could do on the weekends. Buffalo? Tampa? Clearly, Jeff Bezos didn’t think so.

The Amazon work force’s average age is 31, according to a 2017 estimate. We might be half-serious pointing this out, but 25,000 new well-paying jobholders still in their party-hearty years less than 100 miles from East Hampton would be no small thing. Look out, Montauk, it’s clear enough where these folks in their helicopters, seaplanes, and self-driving Ubers are going to be headed. 

Having sucked the vitality out of the United States retail scene, the company’s minions are now going to be filling our beaches and clogging the longboard lineup at Ditch.

Welcome, Amazon, indeed. East Hampton: What are you going to do to get ready?

At some point in the last few years the traffic on South Fork roads passed a critical point: Nightmare drives are no longer just in summer; they can occur almost any time of year.

Consider Monday of this week, when a utility pole down across Route 114 in Sag Harbor near Lincoln Street stopped travel in both directions. This had an immediate effect on morning travel times, as drivers backtracked and then had to find alternate routes. Montauk Highway eastbound was far worse than normal; back roads were packed — all this on a Monday in November.

Taking a look at the a.m. tie-up on Monday, it was, as usual, mostly the so-called trade parade — vans, trucks, and delivery vehicles — heading for East Hampton Village and points beyond to provide materials and services for a resort and weekend home community that are no longer able to be provided by nearby businesses. It is an odd reality that fresh baked goods now come from bakeries in Queens, labor from mid-Island, and schoolteachers from farther than that.

The difficulty in getting to the South Fork hurts most businesses by limiting the pool of potential employees, especially as real estate speculation has mopped up so many of the once-affordable places to live. Better work force housing should be a critical long-term objective for the South Fork towns and incorporated villages, but leverage must also be applied to transportation.

A new local rail shuttle, to begin service in February, is a start and may serve white-collar workers and those in health and retail. It will have only a negligible impact on the twice-daily construction and services flow, none on trucking. Implicit in the shuttle concept is that buses or other means must be found to carry passengers the “last mile” to their homes and workplaces, thanks to the decentralized nature of workplaces here, as well as residential areas.

A road system that recognizes that current traffic conditions are going to persist is essential. Everything must be looked at, including replacing the Water Mill and Wainscott stoplights with blinking lights, at least during morning and afternoon hours. Studying whether the high-tension electric lines north of Montauk Highway could provide a backbone for a new service route must take place. And, as has been suggested before, using some of the Long Island Rail Road right of way for vehicles might be reconsidered. Overnight parking for work trucks near the shuttle stations would help, though few would be in neighborhoods where they would be welcome.

Bike paths, trains, and walking are all terrific notions, but getting the tradespeople in loaded vans to job sites will for the foreseeable future require the roads. And, as houses get ever bigger and more technically complicated, the trade parade is only going to get bigger. Answers will require a lot more than roadside beautification or litter patrols. The sooner we get going the better.

Despite the ease of online shopping, there is still reason to buy locally, especially during the December holidays, when seeing, feeling, and, in some cases, tasting or smelling something nice for a friend or loved one can’t be topped. To fill your list, we want to suggest some of the East End’s many bazaars and gift fairs organized by charities and churches. 

The list of places where your dollar goes to help good causes is too long to complete here, but a rundown of holiday events is included with this issue. A few we can recommend to get a jump on shopping are the Clay Art Guild show at the Bridgehampton Museum Archive and a Christmas fair at the Montauk Community Church. The Ladies Village Improvement Society will stay open late on Friday, Nov. 30, for after-work browsing. Dec. 1 and 2 offer a whirlwind of events, with gift fairs at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Bridgehampton, Ashawagh Hall in Springs, and, if you need to take a break from the Tanger mall, a wood-carvers sale at the Suffolk County Historical Museum in Riverhead. Temple Adas in Sag Harbor has a Hanukkah party and shopping on Dec. 2, and in Amagansett the Life-Saving Station hosts an artisans market that afternoon.

Think of shopping locally as a one-two punch. You get unusual gifts to give and get a feeling of doing good at the same time.

Public conversations about climate change tend to focus on extremes. There are those who understand the science and those for whom no amount of evidence will be enough. There is also an insidious middle ground.

This was demonstrated last week during a meeting about the Deepwater Wind project to set 15 electricity generating turbines far in the ocean, bringing a supply cable ashore somewhere in East Hampton Town, probably in Wainscott. Many of the comments at the Nov. 5 session were skeptical: What would the project’s effect be on fishing? Would commercial harvesters be compensated if they lost gear or saw valuable catches decline? What about utility rates? What if more turbines were to follow? Elected East Hampton Town Board and Town Trustee officials spoke apprehensively, asking that specific questions be answered in a required impact study to be completed by next fall. 

It is tempting, perhaps, for officials to try to steer clear of polar opposites when policy decisions have to be made. It was easy for the board some years back to declare that East Hampton Town would go to 100-percent renewable energy, first by 2020, and when that was too soon, to push the goal out 10 more years to 2030. In practice, however, the town has tried to steer a center course. East Hampton has adopted incentives for home solar installations and added hybrid vehicles to its town fleet. But it has tended to sound a lot like the opposition on the Deepwater Wind farm. 

To a large degree, the town has behaved as if nothing were wrong at all, allowing continued building in coastal areas threatened by sea level rise. It plans costly sewage treatment for downtown Montauk, which will be financially dependent on the continued existence of the imperiled “first row” oceanfront hotels and residential complexes. And officials appear to have doubts about offshore wind. What they need to realize is that calling for caution at a time of immediate crisis is calling for nothing at all.

Global warming is happening, and with it devastating ocean acidification that is affecting fisheries. Those who delay urgent action are, in effect, siding with those who think it is all a hoax. A massive United Nations study released in October warned that there are only 12 years to keep global warming from hitting an additional 1.5-degrees Celsius — after which things get worse — much worse. Unprecedented changes will have to occur to stave off drought, floods, extreme temperatures, and hundreds of millions of people plunged into poverty once a 2-degree Celsius rise is neared. Cutting power emissions is not the only answer; carbon capture and shifts to electric transportation will be key as well. 

Deepwater Wind and its new Danish parent company believe there are powerful, market-based ways to help fight climate change. This is not to say that Deepwater should have carte blanche to do whatever it wants; a forthcoming impact study will look at the parameters of the project. At the same time, with an irrational, venal leader in the White House who is eager to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreements, it is important that state and local leaders recognize the dire stakes.

On the South Fork, the looming threat is sea level rise. Under estimates of moderate warming, in 60 years Napeague will be gone, making Montauk an island of its own and nearly every part of downtown Sag Harbor will be underwater. But even before that the impacts will be near catastrophic.

There are no simple solutions, of course. The town board and trustees assumed the responsibility for reacting to climate change when they asked for the public’s vote. It is past time for them to take an active role. If they see a better way out of this global crisis, we are all ears.

In what has been a quiet tradition for many years, the East Hampton Presbyterian Church has put on a free Thanksgiving dinner for anyone who wants to attend. This volunteer effort is but one of the good things that happen year round and give us a strong sense of pride in our community.

Not all good works emanate from our religious institutions, of course, but we were reminded of their central role, even now in the 21st century, after the shooting attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Five days after this tragedy, leaders of the houses of worship here gathered with public officials and a crowd numbering in the hundreds — more than the sanctuary could seat — at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons in a spirit of togetherness at which believers and nonbelievers alike felt welcomed and reassured. Perhaps the most moving moment was when 11 members of the East Hampton Clericus, from across faiths and denominations, lit candles, one for each victim.

That sense of fellowship, albeit at a far less painful time, can be found in the winter soup dinners at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church’s Parish Hall. These gatherings, with soups donated by local restaurants, are free; the first of the season was held last night.

On Sunday, the community has again been invited to the Jewish Center of the Hamptons for an interfaith Thanksgiving service that the Rev. Leandra Lambert of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church will lead. Then, next Thursday, the interfaith dinner in the East Hampton Presbyterian Session House will take place from noon to 2:30 p.m. for those who may be alone, unable to cook, or simply wish to celebrate together with others. Then there are the volunteers who make this event and so much more in this small town happen. For them, the takeaway is a feeling of doing something good — and there is nothing better than that.

David Lys’s sweep of East Hampton Town’s 19 election districts in the unofficial results in Tuesday’s vote can be attributed to several factors. Top among them are his strong friendships and how active he has been both inside and outside of town government. Given the Democratic registration edge, the outcome might have been preordained following his victory in a September primary. The margin by which he surpassed Manny Vilar, the Republican candidate, tells another story.

Up to Election Day, Mr. Lys had been a registered Republican for as long as he had been able to vote. This was, he explained, a nod to his father’s views more than anything and because political affiliation meant little to him. It was enough for some on the Democratic side to grumble, and eventually David Gruber tried and failed to wrest the party’s nomination from him in a bizarre intraparty struggle.

For Mr. Vilar, David Lys was always going to be a difficult man to beat. Throughout the long campaign, Mr. Vilar was always a gentleman; he did not engage in impugning others’ characters. For the most part, he and his supporters ran a dignified race.

If the splinter Reform Democrats had succeeded in getting Mr. Gruber’s name on the ballot, the outcome might have gone the other way. The general election did not, in part because Republican-leaning East Hampton voters were comfortable voting for the overtly nonpartisan Mr. Lys, which could explain the resulting landslide. The party Mr. Lys was registered with did not seem to matter.

Though he was initially appointed over some objection to fill Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc’s vacant seat, East Hampton voters have now given him a solid thumbs up in his first victory at the polls. They may also have sent a message to both parties that the political tribalism infecting much of the rest of the country is notably less welcome here.

Expect Mr. Lys to operate with greater authority now. He has a number of areas he wants to pursue, top of the list being places to live for year-round members of the work force. With the strong voter backing he now has, he can press forward on the issues that matter to him most.

You know the feeling. You are walking along Main Street or Newtown Lane in East Hampton Village on a hot summer day and a cold blast of air slaps you in the face as you pass a boutique’s open door. Do you shiver and keep moving or are you drawn inside by the icy come-on?

The question could be moot soon: The village board is thinking about banning the energy-wasting practice of keeping doors open while cooling systems are operating. New York City passed a similar law in 2015. Exceptions in the Big Apple are made for restaurants with sidewalk dining, something that could be part of a local law. Property owners, commercial tenants, and the general public will have a chance to weigh in at a hearing for which a date will be set shortly. The law seems likely to pass; this is a village that recently took on plastic drinking straws and banned foam containers for take-out food.

Strict limits on the piles of free magazines that marred the business district will go into effect soon. At the same time, the village board is taking another hard look at noisy and polluting leaf blowers. It will also consider whether to join East Hampton and Southampton Towns in mandating nitrogen-reducing septic systems for new construction projects. Together, it is clear that officials are doing their part to improve the village’s environmental and quality of life stewardship.

Air-conditioning matters. The United States Energy Information Administration, a federal agency, estimates that air-conditioning accounts for about 17 percent of residential electricity spending. Houses with central air systems consume about twice the energy of households with window units. And home cooling in the U.S. releases about 117 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide each year.

Locally it is a big deal, too. PSEG-Long Island oversees the South Fork Peak Savers program in which ratepayers in Southampton and East Hampton Towns with central air systems can sign up to receive a free Nest brand remotely programmable thermostat; rebates of up to $500 are available for customers who already have a Nest or Honeywell Wi-Fi unit to control their home air-conditioning. Participants’ cooling settings can then be changed an imperceptible degree or two, maybe three, during the May-to-September cooling season when there is increased demand. A $25 per summer incentive is paid to participants in good standing, who will likely also have reductions in their power bills. (The incentive aspect of the program was misstated in an Oct. 24 editorial.)

From a macro point of view, the benefits are twofold: reducing demand on the electrical grid during the height of summer and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Many East Hampton Village residents are familiar with the dark smoke from the diesel “peaker” generators off Cove Hollow Road. We can assume that no small volume of those noxious fumes goes to power shops that keep their doors open wide. 

New York State and the Town of East Hampton are setting goals and taking steps to rely 100 percent on renewable energy as soon as possible. East Hampton Village can add to the momentum by continuing to insist that businesses can be, in effect, better citizens.

If candidates can be judged by the company they keep, David Lys will be difficult to beat. Aside from winning a lopsided victory over David Gruber in a September primary, he has been vouched for by, among others, Perry B. Duryea III, former town Republican chairman; Alex Walter, a former zoning board chairman who was Supervisor Larry Cantwell’s assistant; Zachary Cohen, a former town supervisor candidate; Tim Taylor, the head of Citizens for Access Rights, and nearly the entire town Democratic power structure and many Republicans alike.

In his close to six years in town government, Mr. Lys, who is running for a one-year term on the East Hampton Town Board, has proven himself thoughtful and hard-working. He does his homework and tries to listen to all sides. 

As have so many office-seekers before him, Mr. Lys has made a point of expressing his concern about affordable housing for the old and for young adults who would like to stay in the community but cannot afford to do so. To answer this need, he points to efforts for dispersed town properties where apartments and single-family housing could be built. Reworking the town’s unpopular accessory apartment rule could also help, he says.

Mr. Lys preaches the importance of exercise and recreation and sees them as a way to improve ties among community residents. If it would take raising taxes to create more parks and better walking trails, he would consider it.

On the environment, Mr. Lys supports the plan for a sewage treatment plant in downtown Montauk. However, he also points to stormwater runoff from roads and parking lots as a major concern. Using technology to map such sites with greater precision might make keeping them functional easier, he says. 

He supports a proposed change that would make resort and hotel owners responsible for providing extra parking when they expand. While Mr. Lys believes that the town’s registry requirement for rental properties is well intentioned, he concedes that its enforcement has been lacking. He would support raising fines for violations to help pay for more staff to make inspections and keep an eye on the Wild West world of online listings, particularly in the high season. 

On erosion control, Mr. Lys believes the owners of threatened properties may soon begin seeking alternatives to standing and fighting nature. These could come in the form of development incentives in which they agree to move a business or residence to higher ground. Summing up his philosophy, Mr. Lys says, “The worst thing a government can do is not to try.”

Facing him in Tuesday’s vote is Manny Vilar, a state parks police officer who took a crack at town supervisor in 2017. Now he is seeking a town board seat, positioning himself as a person who would ask tough questions and try to push the town board toward what he sees as middle ground.

Mr. Vilar has pinned his long-shot campaign on his endorsement by the town’s Republican Committee, unlike Mr. Lys, who is a registered Republican but is backed by the Democratic and Working Families Parties. Mr. Vilar says a monolithic town board is reason for concern, and he may have a point, but he could easily play the role of gadfly from the guest podium at town board meetings — something he has almost never done.

Mr. Vilar is extraordinarily affable and seems to know everyone from Montauk to Albany. These qualities alone do not make an effective town leader. In close observation, his out of balance ratio between noise and answers would not bode well for Town Hall. He seems to find almost everything in town government a big question mark rather than a challenge he might roll up his sleeves to solve. “I don’t know enough to make an informed decision” could be his mantra. Well, we do, and we think East Hampton voters do, too. 

Energetic and with sterling community ties, Mr. Lys is the right person for the job.