A Q&A with ACKlimate’s Kimberly Rose
ACKlimate, the community partnership organization at the forefront of amplifying climate change efforts on Nantucket, was born out of the 2019 Preservation Institute: Nantucket program. We recently caught up with Kimberly Rose, ACKlimate’s founder to hear what the organization is working on and where she sees the group going in the future.
Tell us about ACKlimate, the student-proposed idea turned organization that has a vision of inspiring the holistic and innovative adaptation of historic Nantucket for future generations.
ACKlimate Nantucket is a public-private partnership dedicated to supporting innovative and holistic approaches and communication addressing climate change and sea level rise for the Nantucket community and beyond. ACKlimate Nantucket was convened by the Osceola Foundation in September 2019 and continues engagement through Committee Chair, Will Kinsella, and former chair, Deborah Beale. Currently, ACKlimate Nantucket has 18 partners.
No one group, individual or government can rise to the challenges of climate change alone. The role of ACKlimate and its partners is to support and advocate, through research and feet on the ground, the continued push for communication and collaboration. It will take all of us as a community working together and leveraging our resources to look at climate change holistically and as comprehensively as possible. It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s compromise and trial and error to make sure that the people of Nantucket are safe and as resilient and prepared as possible. Right now, we are building a community-centric foundation that in 10 years we will be able to look back on and see the fingerprints of the individuals, organizations, businesses and government that worked tirelessly to get us to that point.
September 2020 marked one year of ACKlimate. What was the biggest takeaway from your first year of organizing?
It’s certainly not easy, but it is worth every inch when the work is for the better. Nothing is insignificant, from field research to social media posts and community events. Any moment that you can learn or talk about climate change is a moment when you can make an impression and help raise awareness. With the launch of the ACKlimate Admirals & Ambassadors Program and the youth branch Climate Crew in 2021, we are one step closer to ensuring that as many voices as possible are represented and focused on the important issues.
You hold your masters in Historic Preservation. How does this background guide your approach to solving climate-related issues globally? And locally on Nantucket?
“Sustainability and other climate-related topics are not separate from preservation—they’re the foundation. ”
Historic Preservation is, at its most basic form, about managing change. Preservationists recognize that change has to happen, but that does not mean we lose the connection to the past in the process.
Many historical materials are better for flooding than modern materials. For example, old-growth wood floors are more water-resistant than modern wood floors, and lime plaster is mold resistant while drywall is not. I read a recent study that found that human-made mass, such as our buildings, plastics and metals, weighed more than biomass, like plants and organisms. Adaptively using already-built structures is a preservation principle of Rehabilitation, and here in the United States, we have a Rehabilitation tax credit that encourages adaptive use. Sustainability and other climate-related topics are not separate from preservation—they’re the foundation.
Kim Rose, 2020 near her hometown in Tennessee
Nantucket is a National Historic Landmark, and this provides a high level of protection of its character in both the built and natural environment. The federal government provides resources illustrating ways to adapt buildings and entire properties to improve resilience for the area. Recommendations for rain gardens, native plantings, historically sensitive wet floodproofing and elevating are examples of how the federal government has begun paving the way for resilience. Of course, this does not end at the national level; local communities all over the U.S. are innovating ways that work best for their historical settings. Nantucket has been a leader in many ways throughout its history. It has the potential to be the leader for cultural landscape adaptive planning that the rest of the U.S., as well as international communities, can look to as an example.
Where do you see Nantucket in 10 years? What is ACKlimate (and its partners’) role in that?
According to the Town-adopted projection of NOAA High scenario, the projected sea level rise for Nantucket in 10 years is about 1.5 feet above Mean Highest High Water (average highest tide). With that in mind, I see Nantucket implementing the plans and projects that are occurring as we speak: Resilient Nantucket: 2020 MVP Grant, the Town of Nantucket’s Coastal Resilience Plan, and, of course, the Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge and work of Preservation Institute: Nantucket.
These plans are just the beginning of a climate movement for our island. We are continuing to see a rise in conversations on climate change as well as calls to action from the community. Nantucket is responding and proactively planning by following the discourse of the community, and that will continue to build as the community voices its questions, concerns and continues to get involved. One item I would personally like to see in the coming years is a cultural landscape study, which looks at the built and natural environment, and can assist with prioritization and further understanding of risk in a holistic setting.
“Nantucket has been a leader in many ways throughout its history. It has the potential to be the leader for cultural landscape adaptive planning in a way that the rest of the U.S., and even international communities, can look to as an example. ”
You have been integral to many of the Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge efforts. What does that partnership mean to you? To ACKlimate?
The partnership with the Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge means a lot to me because I know how special it is to work on a real-life project while earning an education. My undergrad and graduate field experiences were integral in preparing me for working after school, and strengthened critical-thinking skills and planning flexibility. For ACKlimate, the Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge is a way to support further the information exchange and collaboration that is at ACKlimate’s foundation. It is the students of today who will live with these challenges. Giving them a voice in the inspirational projects that will come out of the Challenge is paramount to building the knowledge, confidence and skill-sets the future will need.
If there’s one thing you want the community to know or take away from ACKlimate, what would that be?
We aren’t alone. The challenges ahead have the focus of the world, and it is our job to prepare as well as we can for the future. Now is the time to share resources and knowledge to help as many people as possible. It doesn’t matter how big or small you may view your impact; all that matters is that you do something.
To learn more about ACKlimate and getting involved, visit www.acklimate.org.
