92 Tk
There is a strip of sand that can hardly be
called a beach, and on a cool afternoon at the
beginning of September, seven kids were
splashing through the waters at the edge of
Grand Traverse Bay in that part of Lake Mich-
igan that cuts into the lower half of the state
of Michigan, providing a pinkie finger to the
state’s mitten configuration. Not far from
where there once was a beach, you can see a
dock submerged just below the surface. The
water is so clear you can count the boards.
This is where Lake Michigan had come to rest
at the end of the summer of 2019.
According to the Army Corps of Engi-
neers, water levels in the Great Lakes hit re-
cord highs in 2019, and the combined levels of
Lakes Michigan and Huron was thirty inches
higher than its customary average in August.
This is a consequence of heavier than usual
rainfall, and then a heavier than usual snow-
fall, resulting in a heavier than usual snowmeltThe new normal is here, in Traverse City,
Michigan, as it is in thousands of
other places, large and small, while the
climate crisis poses the chilling existential
question: Are the political system
and institutions of the United States
strong enough to confront it?
THE
FIRST ELECTION
AT THE
END OF THE
WORLD
By CHARLES P. PIERCE
ILLUSTRATION BY Matt Chase
There is no beach
where there once
was a beach.