Keynote speaker Maggie Geist, Executive Director of the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod (APCC), spoke of the Association's perspective on what needs to be done to preserve or better the quality of life on the Cape. She informed the audience of the plague of nitrogen loading and its effects on the land and coastal waterways. She went over the history of nitrogen on the earth and how the available nitrogen has exploded since WWI. She translated the science 'stuff'so the audience understood how nutrient overloading can cause problems in ponds. She praised OPET's members for taking such a role in being Oyster Pond's advocates. Maggie Geist took the helm at APCC in 2000 after having served as science translator at Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

This was Dr. George Woodwell’s talk at OPET’s 1999 Annual Meeting. Dr. Woodwell said that the increase of the human population and the spread of technology give us humans the potential to significantly affect the environment. To set an example for living responsibly in a full world, Dr. Woodwell envisions his new campus building on Woods Hole Rd. to use no fuel combustion at all, to be powered by photovoltaic solar panels and by electricity from the grid traded for electricity produced by wind-driven generators to be placed at Otis. The building will have excellent insulation, be heated by electric ground-source heaters, will have no air conditioning but use air circulation for cooling. Lights will be fluorescent ones, computers battery powered. Water from roof run-off will be collected and used for irrigation; wastewater, he hopes, will emerge purer after on-site treatment than the drinking water from the municipal supply. Landscaping will be environmentally friendly as well as educational. The architecture of the present building will be preserved with an addition to the rear of the building. The expense for all this is enormous, but so are Dr. Woodwell’s enthusiasm and determination to achieve these goals.