We can generally say about any stretch of beach that the ocean giveth and the ocean taketh away... and if you spend enough time on our favorite beach, we see this happen from week to week. But of greater concern is the general decade over decade trend, and the news is not good. I recently Googled the "Negril Tree" that everyone is familiar with at Barry's Bar near SweptAway. I found a scholarly report about the recession of beach along what we know as Seven Mile; the report uses photographic evidence dating back to the '60's and '70's, as well as known soundings of the beach bottom out into those crystal clear, warm Caribbean waters. I'd have to dig the darn thing up again from the interweb, but I was quite discouraged at the findings.

I get it that we all have our own opinions about global warning and (my opinion) the cop-out term climate change. I've been personally building an awareness of my metaphorical footprint since reading 1970's Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth, though controversial, offered me no surprises given this awareness. I guess I'm saying that I might be hypersensitive to this issue, but that's my thing.

I appreciate the photo that captaind gives us at Cosmo's last month, but we need to also be aware that development and beach use, including sand compaction, power boat use, and other human activity, also affects the character of the beach over time. Over the years, I've seen the beach at SweptAway swallow the beach bars there, and spit them back out over the course of six months. The beach along the new development there has generally narrowed over the last 10 years since that expansion, near to Barry's Negril Tree. I'm quite sure that others have had the opposite experience based on when they had their toes in that sand, but I don't know how many of them have been there consistently at the same time of year as I have over the last 20 years.

Yes, storms and weather also take their toll, and there can be no arguing that those are cyclic over time. But I'd be really interested to see how those who have spent their entire lives there perceive these cycles... is the trend one way or another? The folks quoted in the article appear pessimistic, which gives me a bit of an answer. I, for example, grew up in east-central Wisconsin. I have memories of winters that have been harsh more often than mild... that has changed in my 60 years on this planet to be more frequently mild than severe (ok, last year was a real bear, but that has to be considered weather... not climate).

So yeah... I find what I'M seeing to be a bit disturbing.