Community Climate Conversation: The Future of Transportation in Belfast & Waldo County
2023-02-09 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Did you know transportation accounts for 49% of greenhouse gas emissions, both in Belfast and statewide? Join us for this program in our series of community climate conversations that began on June 14th, 2022 seeking public input to develop a climate action plan for Belfast.
The event, co-sponsored by All of Belfast Climate Dialogues (ABCD), a project of the Belfast Free Library and the City of Belfast Climate Crisis Committee (CCC) will take place in the Abbott Room of the Library. A hybrid zoom option is available. To register please go to http://belfastlibrary.org/abcd-events/.
Electric vehicle use, transitioning buses and municipal fleets, reducing vehicle miles traveled through increased access to broadband, public transit, and opportunities to bike and walk… these are all part of Maine’s strategy to reduce transportation emissions.
What about Belfast and Waldo County? Come learn about what has already been accomplished and what opportunities are available, hear what others are doing, and share your questions, ideas, and priorities.

Community Composting: A Panel Discussion on Zoom
2023-02-28 18:30 - 20:00
A panel discussion with Panel: Scott Hesse, Davis Saltonstall, and David Wessels
Register for the zoom link here
Food waste is a major contributor to climate change in the U.S. Maine, to its credit, has led a national campaign to recycle food waste, and the state Climate Action Plan supports community composting. Belfast has considered piloting a community site, but has not succeeded long-term. Residents have proposed it to the BGC, but the club doesn’t have sufficient capacity. Food and garden waste is recycled locally by many home gardeners, but the food waste problem cannot be dealt with at scale by individuals. https://www.maine.gov/climateplan/
This interactive program invites members and neighbors to learn about and discuss the options.
This program is part of the 2023 Belfast Garden Club Evening Lecture Series presented in collaboration with All of Belfast Climate Dialogues, a project of the Belfast Free Library.
For more information visit

Rx for a Chaotic Climate: Healthy Soils with soil scientist Laurie Osher
2023-03-28 18:00 - 20:00
This is is third installment in the winter Belfast Garden Club Evening Lecture Series co-sponsored by All of Belfast Climate Dialogues, a project of the Belfast Free Library, focusing on the effects of the Climate Crisis on local environments.
The talk will be offered on Zoom. Register for the Zoom link.
In recent years, Mainers have noticed chaotic weather patterns caused by climate change. In this program, state representative and soil scientist Laurie Osher will discuss the impact of climate change on our $3.6 billion agricultural industry, and describe how land management practices can be improved to decrease that impact.
For complete listing visit ABCD Events

Sustainable Communities Event at the Belfast Boathouse
2023-06-01 12:30 - 16:30 | Belfast Boathouse
Starting at 1:00 PM we will hear about the City of Belfast Climate Action Plan and takeaways from the ABCD’s Community Climate Dialogues, sponsored by the Belfast Free Library. Efficiency Maine will provide an overview of opportunities for investments in home heating and energy efficiency solutions. Methods to create sustainable landscapes in your yards and in the broader community will also be covered. Exhibits will be open from 2:30 – 3:30 and the afternoon will end with a “Call to Action” panel discussion on what individuals and the cities in which they live can do to strive for greater climate resilience and a more sustainable future.
The event is co-sponsored by the Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition and the All-Belfast Climate Dialogue (ABCD) a project of the Belfast Free Library.

Community Resilience for the Climate Emergency
2023-07-19 18:00 - 20:00 | Abbott Room
The Peace & Social Justice Forum/Waldo County , in coordination with the All of Belfast Climate Dialogues project of the Belfast Free Library, and the Possibility Alliance, will host Dr. Peter Kalmus, an award winning author and climate scientist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in California. He has said that “Global Warming is happening with a rapidity that leaves me speechless” and is dismayed that our government is not placing this existential threat at the center of the challenges that we are facing. Moving beyond fossil fuels and how we as individuals can work toward this goal, while living fulfilled lives is the question he and his family have been grappling with.
Dr. Kalmus will be sharing his personal journey in this essential work, as well as discussing how we can respond as individuals both locally, and in collective ways to move us toward a fossil free future. His award winning book is titled “Being the Change : Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution.”
Click here to register for the Zoom option for this hybrid program.

Climate Change and the Penobscot Bay
2023-09-21 18:30 - 20:00 | Abbott Room
Belfast Bay Watershed Program :
Climate is changing Maine ecosystems: Implications for land and water conservation – George Jacobson, Professor Emeritus of Biology, Ecology and Climate Change, University of Maine
Global changes in climate and the biosphere during the Quaternary Ice Ages of the past 2.6 million years provide important clues about our modern world and its future. George will discuss how long-term climate dynamics offer a framework for decisions related to conservation planning from local to global scales.
Since his arrival in Maine in 1979, Dr. Jacobson has been a member of the Climate Change Institute, and was Director of the Institute for nearly a decade. His scientific research has focused on forest responses to climate changes during the past 60,000 years. He has served as a Board member and chair of both the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy and the Forest Society of Maine. He was an external advisor on climate to the European Science Foundation, and the Finnish Academy of Sciences. From 2008 to 2014, he had the honorary designation of Maine State Climatologist.
This program is sponsored by the Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition. For more information visit http://belfastbaywatershed.org/

Book Discussion: The Power of Trees by Peter Wohlleban
2023-10-16 15:30 - 17:00 | Abbott Room
The annual world-wide ecumenical observance of the Season of Creation began on September 1 and ends on October 4. In the Belfast area St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church and St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church, in collaboration with the Greater Bay Area Ministerium, have presented a range of activities around the theme: “Listening to Trees: Witnesses and Prophets.” As a follow-up, the Belfast Free Library will offer a two-part book discussion on the book: “The Power of Trees,” by Peter Wohlleben.
In his beloved book “The Hidden Life of Trees”, German forester and author, Peter Wohlleben revealed astonishing discoveries about the social networks of trees and how they communicate. Now, in “The Power of Trees”, he turns to their future, with a searing critique of forestry management, tree planting, and the exploitation of old growth forests.
The series, co- facilitated by Kate Hanson and Cloe Chunn will meet on Mondays, October 16th and 30th, 3:30- 5:00 in the Abbott Room. Pre-registration is required; books will be available to borrow from the Belfast Free Library. To sign up stop by the main circulation desk or call 207-338-3884 ext 10.

Book Discussion: The Power of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
2023-10-30 15:30 - 17:00 | Abbott Room
This is the second discussion in the series, offered in conjunction with this year’s Season of Creation Theme, Listening to Trees: Witnesses and Prophets.
In his beloved book “The Hidden Life of Trees”, German forester and author, Peter Wohlleben revealed astonishing discoveries about the social networks of trees and how they communicate. Now, in “The Power of Trees”, he turns to their future, with a searing critique of forestry management, tree planting, and the exploitation of old growth forests.
The series, co- facilitated by Kate Hanson and Cloe Chunn will meet on Mondays, October 16th and 30th, 3:30- 5:00 in the Abbott Room. Pre-registration is required; books will be available to borrow from the Belfast Free Library. To sign up stop by the main circulation desk or call 207-338-3884 ext 10.

Resilient Garden Design with Irene Barber
2024-02-27 18:30 - 20:00 | Virtual Program on Zoom
This program is the second in the Belfast Garden Club Evening Lecture Series co-sponsored by the Belfast Free Library.
The program is offered on Zoom. Register for the Zoom link here.
Recently, dramatic, unpredictable seasons have been teaching us that we can’t keep using the same practices from 10 or 20 years ago and expect the same results.
In this presentation, Irene Barber from Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens will share how garden spaces can be high-performing resilient systems that play an active role in the grassroots effort towards
Barber is a seasoned professional gardener, landscape designer, and horticulturist who is always learning and excited to share the lessons with students, fellow plant people, and designers. With an AS degree in plant and soil science and a BA in communications, human behavior, Irene has brought her love of plants and people to her practice in horticultural therapy. As the adult education and horticultural therapy program manager at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, she produces up to 90 annual classes. Irene also runs a side landscape consulting and design business called Greenscapes Design LLC.

Solar 101 with ReVision Energy
2024-03-07 18:30 - 20:00 | Abbott Room
Want to learn more about clean solar energy but don’t know where to start? Join ReVision Energy’s Solar Design Specialist for an overview of all things solar! We’ll discuss how grid-tied solar works, the all-electric household model (including heat pumps, EV charging, and Battery Storage), and explain how we design and price systems. The cost of solar panels has dropped 75% in the past 10 years, and there’s still a 30% Federal Tax Credit for solar, so now is the time to explore solar energy for your home.
Local, Employee-Owned solar company, ReVision Energy, is excited to be partnering with the Belfast Library on a 4-part Solar Workshop Series to share our 20+ years of experience with the community. This Solar Workshop Series will give an in-depth look into 4 different areas of focus. We will kick things off with a Solar 101, where we’ll discuss how grid-tied solar and net metering works, the all-electric household model and explain how we design and price systems. From those building blocks, the following 3 sessions will focus on: Retrofitting & New Construction, Solar + Storage and Community Solar. We encourage anyone to join either all 4 sessions or to choose which best fits their interest and needs. There will be plenty of time at each session for Q&A.

Solar Energy: Retrofitting and New Construction with ReVision Energy
2024-03-28 18:30 - 20:00 | Abbott Room
Whether you have an existing home or are drawing up plans to build your dream home; learn from ReVision Energy’s Solar Design Specialist, Will Field, about how to prep yourself for solar and the all-electric household model.
Modern technology makes it cost-effective and sensible to build a 100% solar-powered home, with no utility bills and a minimal carbon footprint. At ReVision Energy, we’ve helped thousands of homeowners achieve their dream of living in a solar-powered home through retrofitting and new construction, whether we work directly with the homeowner, or with their builder or architect. We are excited to share our 20+ years of experience and advice with you, including next steps!

Solar Workshop Series with ReVision Energy- Solar + Storage
2024-04-11 18:30 - 20:00 | Abbott Room
“Join ReVision Energy’s Brandon Mazur, for a discussion about how people are making the cost-effective switch to solar combined with battery storage for backup power.
Learn how you can combine solar power with reliable battery storage to make your home resilient in the face of unknown health and environmental threats. When paired with modern, robust battery technology, today’s solar panels provide the ultimate resiliency package while reducing carbon pollution and our societal need to import dirty fossil fuels. With a rooftop array you can make 100% of the energy you need, while the battery storage ensures backup power when the sun isn’t shining, or the grid goes down.”

Belfast Garden Club Presentation: Controlling Stormwater Runoff with Fred Bowers
2024-04-16 12:00 - 13:00 | Abbott Room
Storm runoff can stoke soil erosion and damage plants. Luckily there are man-made solutions to erosion, which rely on fundamental natural soil processes. We’ll learn how to design rain gardens with consideration to natural soil and geologic processes, and about a possible demo rain garden for Belfast. Plus: other “green” options, such as eliminating impervious surfaces altogether, terracing, planting shrubs and trees in strategic places to soak up water or divert it, and other methods.
Fred Bowers is a Ph.D. soil scientist. Soils, topography, and vegetation were his research interests at Rutgers and the University of Washington graduate schools. In his 27-year career at New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, he was a research scientist in charge of stormwater and groundwater programs.
Click here to register for Zoom

Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition: Planet vs Plastics (part 1)
2024-04-18 17:30 - 20:00 | Abbott Room
Earth Day is Monday, April 22. Earth Day reminds us to think about our beautiful environment and all that we can and should do to preserve it. This is especially important this year when we have had continual reminders of how fragile life on this earth is and how human behavior has affected it.
This year, the national Earth Day organization is focusing on the reduction of the use of plastics – “Planet vs. Plastics.” The organization has set a goal of reducing plastic production by 60% by the year 2040. In keeping with this theme, BBWC and the Belfast Free Library have planned two programs that address the effects of plastics on our environment:
• Thursday, April 18, in the Abbott Room of the Belfast Free Library, will be the first of our “Planet vs. Plastics” presentations. At 5:30, there will be a showing of Earth Day posters created by area students. At 6:00, Plastic Pollution Solutions, a BBWC committee working to decrease the use of single use plastics, will discuss their efforts.
At 6:30, Dr. Charles Rolsky, Executive Director and Senior Research Analyst of the Shaw Institute in Blue Hill, will present a talk on the impact of plastic pollution on the environment and what we can do to help. Light refreshments will be served.
• Tuesday evening, April 23 will be part two of Planet vs. Plastics. At 6:00, we will show the award winning doumentary A Plastic Ocean, followed by discussion about what we can do to limit our personal use of single use plastics.

Earth Day Film Presentation: A Plastic Ocean
2024-04-23 18:00 - 20:00 | Abbott Room
Part 2 of Planet vs. Plastics programming co-sponsored by the Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition.
A Plastic Ocean is an award-winning feature length documentary brought to you by a group of dedicated scientists, film-makers, social entrepreneurs, scholars, environmentalists and journalists, that explores the fragile state of our oceans and uncovers alarming truths about the consequences of our disposable lifestyle.
A Plastic Ocean documents the global effects of plastic pollution and highlights workable technologies and innovative solutions that everyone – from governments to individuals – can do, to create a cleaner and greener ocean.
After the film we will have a discussion about what we can do to limit our personal use of single use plastic.
