Gary Harcourt is a cabinetmaker by trade. He still views his work installing wind turbines as a side gig, albeit one that has brought him around the world, hoisting turbines over potato farms in the English countryside and working on test rigs in Vancouver. In November Mr. Harcourt raised his 50th turbine at the Allen Farm in Chilmark. It was the 12th turbine raised on-Island by Great Rock Windpower, the company founded by Mr. Harcourt along with Larry Schubert and Mr. Harcourt’s wife, Kathryn.

With the end of December comes the annual temptation to sum up the calendar year. But if the past 12 months offer any instruction, endings are just a prelude to new beginnings. In 2011, projects that lay dormant for years were revived (and sometimes reviled). Noble works sunk by a leaky economy were given new life. Coastlines eroded and beaches formed anew. Heroes returned. Protests resumed. Events seemed to transpire in a kind of cosmic roundabout.

There is much ado over eelgrass. On the Vineyard the modest sea grass has brought dredging projects to a halt, thwarted would-be pier developers and has down-Island towns considering millions of dollars worth of sewering to restore water quality to a level amenable to the light-sensitive plant. Why all the fuss?

Yesterday morning Mas Kimball of Oak Bluffs packed his bags for a three-day trip to New York. Specifically, Zucotti Park. It’s his fourth trip since October.

“You get the criticism, oh you’re just being idealistic,” he said one day earlier. “We love the way children are free-spirited and idealistic but then it’s beaten out of us as we get older. Luckily I’m 62 years old and it still hasn’t been beaten out of me.”