It has been an exciting couple of weeks for South Fork history buffs. A rare copy of the Declaration of Independence with a strong East Hampton connection sold at auction upstate on Saturday for $1.5 million plus fees. Southampton Town officials are considering a historical designation for part of the hamlet of Bridgehampton. And in East Hampton Town, there is movement on new rules that would protect landmark houses from demolition.

The town plan is modeled on one implemented recently in East Hampton Village. It gives certain homeowners the right to build an additional residence on a property in exchange for lasting protection for a historical structure on the same site. This seems a fair tradeoff. Owners would be able to expand without having to build on to a lovely old existing house in a way that would diminish its significance. So far 13 property owners have been positive in response to the town’s outreach.

As much as any other factor, our history has made us what we are as a community. To the extent that brick-and-mortar reminders of the past can be preserved, they should be. This plan is a good way to begin to do that.

Giving Tuesday came and went here this week with myriad pitches floating in electronically and a few coming to the old-fashioned mailbox. Guild Hall went a step further, trying a live event streamed on Facebook from noon to midnight. During the day, Guild Hall staff went before the camera to talk about what they do. East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. stopped by. Music and readings came later on. With the help of a video feed made possible by the LTV technical staff, viewers were able to join in on and off during the day, and a dozen or two were hovering when we watched.

Guild Hall’s was the most technically sophisticated fund-raising approach of the season; a final accounting of how the live stream did financially will take some time and be instructive. However, taking a look behind the scenes and getting a feel for the people who make it all happen was productive.

The sheer number of local organizations to which year-end donations could be made is staggering. They range from the very small, like Elsa’s Ark, which primarily aids stray and feral cats, to the very large, like Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and the big arts institutions, like Guild Hall, the Parrish Art Museum, and the LongHouse Reserve. In between are many worthy institutions, such as the Montauk Playhouse, the public libraries, Meals on Wheels, East End Hospice, and the several historical societies.

Guild Hall shined a light on its own role in the community by taking its message online for half a day and half a night. It also helped remind viewers of the many choices they have when the charitable urge strikes.

East Hampton Town’s decision to remove a horse barn on land it bought in Amagansett in 2014 has raised a bit of skepticism. Though some might consider tearing down a barn wasteful, it is the right decision.

The parcel, 19 acres on the north side of Montauk Highway bordered by the Long Island Rail Road tracks, is just east of the hamlet’s downtown. Until its purchase with money from the community preservation fund, the property was under review for a 79-unit luxury development. After the town took title, various ideas were floated for its use, but none could be settled upon, with the poor quality of its soil a deterrent for farming. As time went on, the barn, not all that well constructed to begin with, began to decay.

When voters authorized the community preservation fund in 1998, the understanding was that the money, from real estate transfers, was to be used for open space acquisition for environmental, agricultural, and recreational reasons and to reduce the eventual buildout of East Hampton, countering losses of natural habitat as well as limiting the ultimate number of residences and commercial structures. A secondary purpose was historical preservation. A year ago, East Hampton voters also approved the use of up to 20 percent of annual C.P.F. income for water quality improvements.

As an aside, consensus on the official name of the property is yet to come. The Connecticut developer called the project 555, a nod to its address and that the rental of the apartments would have been limited to those 55 and older. Its previous owner called it Ocean View Farm, though nothing much had grown there in quite some time. The bid specification for the barn’s removal refers to it as the Putnam site, referring to the corporate name of the would-be Connecticut developer. 

Razing the barn makes financial sense for the town. The cost of maintaining the building in its present condition is not obviously legal under the community preservation law. Leasing it to a private party as a horse stable or for storing farm equipment would also appear to be prohibited, but were that legal it might bring its own set of problems for officials. To the extent that some of the wood and windows could be reclaimed, town officials should try to do so. However, removing the barn and planting the area with a cover crop, at least for the time being, is the right approach.

We strongly support the property’s use as an active public space. A walking path on the periphery has been envisioned, leaving room for the annual Soldier Ride convergence there and other worthy events. Another appealing use would be for a portion to be set aside for community garden plots. If the town goes ahead with the massive and arguably necessary new medical facility on Pantigo Place, the ball field there could be relocated to the Amagansett site. There are plenty of good options. Getting rid of a horse barn, which under the best of outcomes would benefit few residents, is just the beginning.

Voters expressed themselves loud and clear on Election Day, as Democratic candidates enjoyed huge wins, including governorship in Virginia and New Jersey and in many other contests. In East Hampton, it was the same, with Peter Van Scoyoc and nearly the entire Democratic slate winning strongly. In Southampton, forgetting for a moment the politically mercurial Jay Schneiderman’s re-election as supervisor, voters rejected a Republican incumbent, instead awarding seats on the town board to two Democrats.

As he did in races elsewhere in the country, President Trump cast a shadow across the polling places. The East Hampton Republican Committee chairman posed for a photo with a cardboard cutout of the president during an inauguration celebration in January, which helped set a negative tone. This was going to be a hard fight anyway for a variety of reasons having nothing to do with a deeply unpopular president. For one, registered Democrats now outnumber Republicans in East Hampton Town in 18 of the 19 election districts. But in off-year elections like this, turnout plays the biggest role, and Democratic voters, and those energized by their dismay about the country’s direction, had an edge for that reason as well.

Digging into the numbers in East Hampton, Mr. Van Scoyoc’s win on Tuesday rivaled that of the outgoing Supervisor Larry Cantwell’s re-election two years ago, when hundreds of thousands of dollars in airport-related money that went to Republicans outraged many voters.

It also did not help that the Republicans’ standard-bearers here had counted on their experience outside of elected office. Asked to select town board members, East Hampton voters have generally favored candidates who came up through the ranks of public service on the many appointed town boards or committees.

The past three election cycles in East Hampton have been difficult ones for the Republican Committee and its chairman, Reg Cornelia, who said he would step down at the end of the year. Monolithic government, even at this level, carries great risks, however, and it is important that the G.O.P. rebound by recruiting popular centrist residents to carry its message forward.

Although voters approved a referendum last year that allowed up to 20 percent of the East Hampton Town Community Preservation Fund’s annual income to be used for water quality projects, there have been few indications of how that might work in real life. Now, as the managers of the Whalebone Village affordable housing development in East Hampton have asked the town for up to $376,000 to upgrade its septic system, the lack of guidelines is apparent.

East Hampton Town already is set to begin using preservation fund money as rebates for property owners who upgrade their private septic systems; the application process has begun. Grants of up to $16,000 per property, or 100 percent of the cost of replacement, are available, depending on how close an inadequate system is to one of the bays or harbors.

Specifics about how preservation fund money could be used were vague when voters approved diverting some of it to water quality. The risk was that officials might spend it unwisely, hampering the fund’s original purpose, which was to preserve open land and historical places. 

The East Hampton Town Board should proceed very carefully. As was pointed out by Paul Giardina in his unsuccessful councilman run, other sources of funding for such undertakings may be available, if they are untested here. Moreover, very little scientific information has been presented to prove that the project proposed for Whalebone Village is actually worthwhile. Whalebone was built not all that long ago and met the environmental standards of the time. Now, its managers are telling the town that the waste systems installed to meet those standards are inadequate. Were the standards wrong or is something else at play? Either way, it needs to be cleared up. It also is important to remember that lack of guidance about how preservation funds could be used led to the biggest financial scandal in Town Hall history and the resignation of Supervisor Bill McGintee in 2009.

Whalebone Village must do more than show up at Town Hall with its hands out. At a minimum, the board needs to require impartial environmental and financial analyses before considering whether to direct so much public money its way. 

President Trump again made it plain this week, in moving to drastically cut the size of two protected areas of public land in the West, that he favors exploitation over historical and environmental protection, and over the survival of Native American cultural sites and artifacts. In Utah, he announced Monday that the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments would be reduced to a fraction of their former selves. This is a sad day for those who care about open spaces and America’s wild lands.

Court battles are sure to follow the White House’s decision to reduce the monuments by a total of about two million acres — the greatest such diminution in United States history. One of the opponents’ arguments will be that only Congress has the legal right to shrink national monuments.

Mr. Trump framed the move as a return of authority to local elected officials and away from Washington. But it really is further pandering to anti-government zealots while handing a victory to Republican lawmakers, oil and coal companies, and others.

If Mr. Trump thinks about it at all, his is decidedly an anti-human health and anti-environment administration. Just this week 15 state attorneys general sued the federal Environmental Protection Agency for its failure to meet clean air law requirements on smog. The suit was in response to the E.P.A.’s refusal to follow through on state-by-state plans to reduce air pollution. 

Under Scott Pruitt, the Trump E.P.A. has made a mockery of its name. Mr. Pruitt has spent much of his early tenure gutting regulations, ignoring science, cutting staff, and naming industry insiders to key positions, while, according to news reports, spending his days meeting privately with corporate executives seeking to relax environmental rules.

And who could forget the administration’s abandoning the Paris climate agreement, which now leaves the United States and Syria the only nonsigners?

As 2018 approaches, activists are gearing up to take on Mr. Trump and the Republican Congress at the ballot box. Concern about how we treat the planet and respect its natural resources should be at the top of the issues of interest to voters. 

For South Fork voters there is really only one choice for Suffolk legislator: Bridget Fleming. Her opponent, Heather Collins, has hardly campaigned and her candidacy appears to be little more than a placeholder for the Republican and Conservative Parties, whose ballot lines she occupies. Ms. Collins is an assistant clerk in the Suffolk County Board of Elections, an office ripe with political patronage. She lost twice to New York Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. after he switched to the Independence Party. She also has declined invitations to appear at local debates, which all but confirms her as a wasted choice.

On the other hand, Ms. Fleming, the incumbent, seems to have been everywhere this election season. She took part in a prescription drug collection day here recently and was genuinely enthusiastic about the results. She marched in a suffragist recreation event in East Hampton this summer. She has helped lead the way on the county’s new water-protection measures and alternative mosquito control, and is pushing the restoration of the Cedar Point Lighthouse. She has more than earned a second term.

For district attorney, Suffolk voters have a choice between Timothy Sini and Ray Perini. Both graduated from Brooklyn Law School, though almost 30 years apart. Mr. Sini, 37, the Suffolk police commissioner, was an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of New York. Notably, he has been endorsed by his boss there, former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara, who said he “served with distinction and honor, prosecuting hundreds of cases that put dangerous criminals behind bars.” Mr. Sini’s campaign is managed by David N. Kelley, another former assistant U.S. attorney, who has a house in Springs. Mr. Sini appears to be the better choice to renew public trust in the district attorney’s office following the pending departure of Thomas Spota amid scandalous clouds.

There is an interesting contest for Suffolk sheriff, too. Lawrence M. Zacarese, an assistant chief of the Stony Brook University police, and Errol Toulon Jr., a former New York City deputy corrections commissioner, seek to follow Sheriff Vincent DeMarco in the job, which includes running the county’s two jails, as well as programs to help former inmates return to life on the outside. The sheriff’s office also works on gang resistance, bullying awareness, and with local police departments on distracted driving. 

There is reason for enthusiasm about Mr. Toulon’s candidacy. He knows what he is doing: He spent 22 years with the New York City Department of Corrections before becoming its deputy commissioner of operations. He would be the first African-American to be elected to a major Suffolk office, which would have little bearing on the job he would do except that it sends a strong message of inclusion that is needed in this diverse county. The Star endorses Mr. Toulon.

Conventional wisdom might be that a bitter primary only benefits the opposing political party, but following a surprisingly lively battle between supporters of Zachary Cohen and Jeffrey Bragman for a Democratic slot on the East Hampton Town Board ballot in November, that assumption could use some rethinking. 

Judging from many letters to the editor and even more sharply worded road signs calling him out for this or that, Mr. Cohen clearly irritated some of the people on the political scene here. The barroom brawl was hardly one-sided: Mr. Bragman took some hard hits of his own, aimed at his role in the long-ago Shadmoor development deal and in arguing against the construction of a children’s wing at the East Hampton Library. 

The case for Mr. Cohen’s challenge, however, was never sufficiently clear, certainly not obvious enough for him to pull off what would have been an upset. Mr. Cohen successfully petitioned after failing to receive the Democratic Committee’s endorsement, but primary voters tend to be the party faithful and perhaps the outcome was preordained. 

We read Tuesday’s result this way: Even though he put up good numbers, none of Mr. Cohen’s surrogates’ punches directed at Mr. Bragman landed with enough force. This may be bad news for the Republican supervisor and town board candidates, two of whom are virtually unknown to voters, and one is embroiled in a messy lawsuit in which his own ethical compass could be an issue. 

The problem for the Republicans is that Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, Tuesday’s top vote-getter who will run for a second time for town board, and Mr. Bragman have had their names before voters in advertising, lawn signs, news stories, a debate, and on social media for weeks. Negative or positive, there has not been equal attention paid to their challengers.

A functional democracy requires strong opposition. Waiting for the Democrats to self-destruct in the primary might have been part of a deliberate Republican strategy, but the G.O.P. candidates must now work overtime to catch up by Nov. 7. Getting themselves better known is something they will need to tackle head-on if they are to mount a credible bid on Election Day.

Incredible devastation has been the story of the 2017 hurricane season. With two Category 5 storms making landfall in the Caribbean, the period has been improbable, at least in terms of the historical record. Yet researchers have been saying for some time that years like this were possible, if not likely, as the oceans rapidly warm thanks to climate change.

The world’s oceans have gotten steadily warmer since the Industrial Revolution. And while the difference from one decade to another might not be enough to notice if you dip your toe into the sea, modest shifts over such a vast scale can have profound impacts on weather. The argument is that as seas and atmosphere get warmer, more water vapor is drawn into hurricanes, potentially making them larger, more powerful, and more destructive.

Hurricane Harvey was called a 1-in-1,000-years event, but because it was fueled by a Gulf of Mexico already affected by climate change, the rains that flooded Houston and its surroundings may well have been made worse by global warming.

Looking forward, powerful storms will become more frequent. At the same time, as sea level rises, hurricanes and other extreme coastal weather events will roll in on a much higher plane. One climate scientist we spoke to described it as akin to a slowly rising basketball court, “Given enough time, even guys like me will be able to dunk.”

Despite what has been said about future weather, public policy has been slow to respond. Starting at the top, President Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord, now leaving the United States and Syria as the only nations not part of that agreement. At the village and town level, local governments are unable to say no to unwise development in vulnerable low-lying areas and are doubling down on infrastructure improvements in places where retreat from the shore is the only sensible path. In the middle, there are the states that can find the money to build bridges but not to aggressively deal with long-term risks on the coasts.

This week, as Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico, leaving what is now called a humanitarian crisis, passed off Long Island, another storm, Lee, reformed in the Atlantic. It was only a matter of days after Category-5 Hurricane Irma’s raging path across the Caribbean and South Florida.

Whether or not these storms can be directly tied to climate change, scientists say the trend is clear: More powerful hurricanes will be the inevitable result of a warmer ocean. Appreciation of the danger ahead must guide land-use policy on the East End.

The East Hampton Village Trustees appear willing to listen to ideas about how to lessen leaf-blower noise. However, as the board considers what primarily is an annoyance, it should also think about a safety problem on village streets — massive landscaping trailers parked in the lanes of travel as workers tend to adjacent properties.

It seems as if the number and size of landscaping trucks and trailers have grown with every season. Officials look the other way when they are left on narrow streets, often in no-parking zones, forcing passing vehicles into the oncoming lanes, especially in the estate sections of the village. 

Unlike officially permitted roadwork or tree trimming, for which the law requires workers to be stationed to direct traffic, these mowers and hedge clipping crews disappear from view the moment their trucks stop. The practice is a clear hazard and arguably illegal: New York traffic law prohibits leaving vehicles unattended in state rights of way; village law allows temporary stops for loading and unloading only.

Not all that long ago, a landscape worker lost his legs here when a passing vehicle squeezed him against a trailer he had left parked in a traffic lane. Pedestrians and bicyclists are similarly at risk, as they move around these obstructions. 

Oddly enough, village police are quick to ticket personal vehicles parked in the roadway, but not so commercial vehicles, which present far more of a hazard. The message is: Don’t try this at home, though it’s okay for the folks who mow your lawn.

Left to their own devices and without bother from law enforcement, landscapers have doubled down, using ever-larger equipment and not trying to back into clients’ driveways even when there is adequate space. Of course, their clients might share some of the blame; many have illegally blocked off public portions of the shoulders or grassed margins of the roads, where work vehicles might otherwise pull off safely. The bottom line is that the fact alone that a truck that is too big to park properly does not give its operator the liberty to leave it wherever he or she wants. 

It is fine that the village might want to do something about the noise from leaf blowers, but officials should not ignore the ultimately more serious problem with the trucks that carry them.