Enviroment

Hawks, Owls & Eagles of MA with David Williams

~ Sawyer Free Library

How many different kinds of Hawks, Owls, and Eagles do you think frequent Cape Ann during the year? Join the Sawyer Free Library on Thursday, January 30 from 5:00 to 6:30 pm to find out!

Using interactive maps, photos, and more, David Williams‘ presentation will take a season by season approach to examine the more than 20 hawks, owls, and eagles that frequent our area. Some of these Raptors are common nesters in our area, some are Winter visitors, and some are rarities that cause excitement. Tips on identifying these birds of prey will be shared as well as how to respectfully find and view these special birds.

The event will take place at the Sawyer Free Library located at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester. All are welcome. Registration is requested at SawyerFreeLibrary.org For questions email jwilkins@sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

EARTH DAY ALL MONTH AT SAWYER FREE

~ Sawyer Free Library

SAWYER FREE LIBRARY PRESENTS EXCITING MONTH-LONG LINEUP OF ACTIVITIES CELEBRATING EARTH DAY 2024

As the global community gears up to commemorate Earth Day 2024, the Sawyer Free Library proudly presents a month-long extravaganza of activities aimed at celebrating and advocating for environmental consciousness.

In celebration of Earth Day 2024, the Sawyer Free Library is excited to unveil a diverse lineup of events and initiatives throughout April. From educational workshops to reading challenges, the Library endeavors to inspire and empower individuals to embrace sustainable living and make meaningful actions in their own lives to protect our environment.

Throughout April, the community is invited to participate in a variety of events designed to promote environmental awareness and stewardship. Highlights of the Earth Day 2024 lineup include:

Sustainability Reading Challenge: In collaboration with TownGreen, the Library invites community members to participate in a Sustainability Reading Challenge. From March to April, individuals are encouraged to read books aligned with the United Nations Sustainability Goals, with the chance to win a $25 Holy Cow gift card. These goals serve as a blueprint for addressing global challenges such as poverty, inequality, and climate change.

Plant a Garden: Discover the joys of gardening with the Sawyer Seed Library. Select from a diverse array of vegetable, herb, and flower seeds to cultivate your own garden. By nurturing these plants from seed to harvest, participants contribute to a thriving community of gardeners and expand the Seed Library’s offerings for future generations.

Indulge in “Holy Cow Ice Cream“: Grab a spoon and satisfy your sweet tooth. Award winning Holy Cow Ice Cream created a new ice cream flavor celebrating Earth Month in partnership with the Sawyer Free Library and Cape Ann Climate Coalition. Available throughout April at Holy Cow Ice Cream Cafes across the North Shore, this special chocolate and raspberry-flavored all-natural treat embodies the organizations’ commitment to environmental advocacy and the understanding that every day is earth day. A portion of sales of this limited time special flavor will support the Cape Ann Climate Coalition’s educational programs.

In addition to these exciting initiatives, the Sawyer Free Library will host a series of captivating events, including workshops, educational talks, and family-friendly activities. Highlights include “Start Your Own Kitchen Herb Garden” with Backyard Growers, “Tree Talk” with 400 Trees, “Earth Month Musical Storytime” and a “Recycled Art Workshop” led by a local artist.

All events are free and open to the public, with registration required for certain activities. For more information and to view the full schedule of Earth Day events, please visit sawyerfreelibrary.org.

As the Sawyer Free Library continues its commitment to sustainability, it looks forward to the official opening of its new and modernized space in the fall of 2025. Designed to achieve LEED Gold Certification and Mass Save Path 1 Net-Zero-Ready Verification, the renovated library will exemplify energy efficiency and renewable practices. 

The Sawyer Free Library knows that every action we take individually and collectively toward making our environment resilient and sustainable is a step toward a net zero-impact future. To learn more about or to invest in the 2025 Sawyer Free Library’s sustainability features and programs, please visit sawyerfreelibrary.org/sustainability. 

ELECTRIFY EVERYTHING

~ Sawyer Free Library

The Sawyer Free Library is pleased to host the Cape Ann Climate Coalition on Thursday, January 25, from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at 21 Main Street for an interactive presentation on the benefits of electrifying everything in your home.

Whether you rent or own, are ready to make decisions, or are gathering information for future decisions, you’ll want to attend this free discussion. Learn from Cape Ann residents about what you can do as a Cape Ann resident to “Electrify Everything” and make your home here on Cape Ann more energy efficient.

The event will feature a “Breakfast for Dinner” demonstration on induction cooktops. They will make pancakes, hot cocoa, and tea for everyone to eat and drink using induction cooktops; explain the benefits of cooking with induction stoves; raffle off a portable induction cooktop; and discuss the energy rebates and incentives for all income households, including tenant households. The event is free and open to all. Registration is requested at sawyerfreelibrary.org.

The Sawyer Free Library, temporarily located at 21 Main Street and online 24/7, is looking forward to officially opening its new and modernized space in the fall of 2025. The renovated and expanded 2025 Sawyer Free Library will be the first public building on Cape Ann that generates renewable energy from solar and uses no fossil fuels for the building’s site energy. The Sawyer Free Library is committed to achieving a LEED Gold Certification and Mass Save Path 1 Net- Zero-Ready Verification —a status achieved by minimizing energy demand, generating as much electricity on site as possible through solar, and securing a renewable source for additional electricity to achieve net-zero energy.

The Sawyer Free Library knows that every action we take individually and collectively toward making our environment resilient and sustainable is a step toward a net zero-impact future.

To learn more about or to invest in the 2025 Sawyer Free Library’s sustainability features, please visit sawyerfreelibrary.org/sustainability.

For more information or to register for the Electrify Everything presented by the Cape Ann Climate Coalition on Thursday, January 25, at 5:30 pm, go to sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

Author Talk with JoeAnn Hart: “Highwire Act & Other Tales of Survival”

~ Sawyer Free Library

Sawyer Free Library is pleased to welcome local author, JoeAnn Hart on Thursday, October 12, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 21 Main Street as she discusses her new collection of short fiction, Highwire Act & Other Tales of Survival.

The 2022 Winner of the Hudson Prize, this collection of short fiction has characters that struggle with COVID, ecological destruction, and grief as they attempt to find solace and restoration from a nature that is not always in a position to give back. In the profound stories from Highwire Act & Other Tales of Survival, the climate crisis arrives not just as strange and violent weather, but as upheavals in our political and emotional climates as well. As characters struggle for survival with COVID, ecological destruction, grief, or mental illness, they attempt to find solace and restoration from a nature that is increasingly no longer in a position to give back. And with science unable to keep up, fake suicides, fairy tales, and delusion are the thorny tools humans are left with to carry on, yet carry on they do. 

All are welcome for this special night with JoeAnn Hart at SFL at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester.

To learn more or if you have questions about the event, call 978-325-5500 or email moneill@sawyerfreelibrary.org. The event is free, open to the public. Registration is not necessary.

To learn about all the events happening at SFL@21 Main Street visit: sawyerfreelibrary.org

Sawyer Free Library Receives State Grant for Innovative STEM Programming 

~ Sawyer Free Library

Library to Launch Young Gloucester Scientist’s Club for Elementary and Middle School Students 

It’s full STEM ahead for Sawyer Free Library‘s young patrons with the launch of Young Gloucester Scientist’s Club, a new innovative after-school program made possible through a federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC).

The grant of $9,800 will expand Gloucester’s public library’s programming to promote interest in science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM) learning. The Young Gloucester Scientist’s Club supports the digital, scientific and technological goals of 4th through 8th graders aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. It will introduce young scientists to Gloucester community members with careers across a variety of STEM fields and connect them with Gloucester’s natural environment.

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) awarded Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) direct grants to public libraries at its July 7, 2022, board meeting. Federal LSTA grants are funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services. 

“Each community in Massachusetts is unique and has its own local needs,” said Robert Favini, Head of Library Advisory and Development at the MBLC. “These grants allow libraries to address those local needs directly, whether it’s programming for children and teens, helping residents find a path to citizenship, or protecting the town’s historic documents and artifacts.”

“We’re thrilled to be a recipient of this generous MBLC grant to fund the Sawyer Free Library’s newest program, the Young Gloucester Scientists Club,” said Library Director Jenny Benedict. “Sawyer Free Library plays a vital role in supporting young people to discover their interests and direct their own learning.” Benedict added, “The future of our local environment is dependent on young people today developing a strong sense of place and community and engaging in meaningful learning together to solve our most pressing environmental concerns.”

Children’s Librarian Marisa Hall, who developed the Young Gloucester Scientists Club and applied for the grant, said, “These funds give the Sawyer Free Library an incredible opportunity to expand our current STEM programs and encourage students to further explore their interests in the sciences. This project connects them to a sense of “place” by using our own community’s physical resources and social connections to introduce them to new and innovative STEM concepts and topics.”

The Young Gloucester Scientist’s Club features three components:  in-person programs, circulating STEM kits and online video interviews. The in-person family programming will introduce young people to Gloucester community members with careers across various STEM fields, providing mentors from various backgrounds. Programs will feature local sea, land and sky topics and will highlight our rich Maritime history and culture as Gloucester celebrates its 400th anniversary. 

The Club will take a hands-on approach to learning, build community connections and encourage youth to actively think like scientists by observing, questioning, and experimenting with the world around them. Kicking off in 2023, the library will host Afterschool Young Gloucester Scientist’s Club monthly meetings January through May. In the summer, it will feature a three-day Astronomy “Crash Course” and a series of four Young Gloucester Summer Scientist’s Club Field Trips.  All in-person programs will be held in the Library’s transitional space located on Main Street in downtown Gloucester as well as locations throughout the community.  

The “Young Scientist” STEM kits will provide participants with fun and engaging learning at-home activities. The hands-on kits will be available to check out and include accompanying guides with FAQs, discovery tips, parent conversation starters, and more. There will be seven types: Mini Drone, Microscope and Color Camera, Reflector Telescope, Space Rover Inventor, Coding, and Marine Biology Explorer Kits. Materials will be available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and, if needed, other languages to be inclusive and accessible to all interested participants.

The “Let’s Meet an Expert” online videos will feature interviews with Gloucester’s STEM experts and scientists conducted by young scientists. The videos will create connections to those working to explore, discover and protect Gloucester’s natural environment. Topics will include Ocean Conservation and Sea Turtle Rehabilitation (NOAA), SnotBots, Drones and Observing Whales (Ocean Alliance), Whale Protection (The Whalemobile), Astronomy (Gloucester Astronomy Club), Using our Natural Environment to Design Solutions for our Future (Biomimicry New England) and more. 

The schedule and specifics of the new after-school program will be forthcoming. For more information, visit SawyerFreeLibrary.org.

Twenty-one libraries received Federal LSTA grants for a total amount of $220,085 awarded. Grants are open to libraries of all types that meet the eligibility requirements. In addition to the direct library grant program, the MBLC uses LSTA funds to support statewide programs and services, including summer reading programs, research databases, the statewide eBook program, the Commonwealth Catalog and mass.gov/libraries which has information and resources for residents. LSTA is administered on the federal level by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in the Commonwealth by the MBLC. More information about LSTA can be found at www.mass.gov/mblc.

A Cape Ann Conversation on Climate Change with Bill McKibben on September 22

~ Sawyer Free Library

On Tuesday, September 22, 2020 from 7-8pm David Abel, Pulitzer-prize winning Boston Globe reporter, will interview Bill McKibben, environmental advocate, author and founder of 350.org, about lessons learned and future solutions concerning the climate crisis in our local community and beyond.

The event is free and open to all. It is taking place remotely and will be available to the public online with Facebook Live.  https://www.facebook.com/events/303825287628799/

A Conveesation with Bill McKibben is being presented by the Sawyer Free Library as a part The Civic Hub in partnership with Backyard Growers, Gloucester Education Fund, Manship Artist Residency + Studios, Maritime Gloucester, Ocean Alliance, and TownGreen 2025.

For more information about the event visit: sawyerfreelibrary.org or call 978-325-5500.