There are 3 million shipwrecks worldwide, which serve as habitats for marine animals. In this presentation, Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser will show how her research on shipwreck communities helps us understand human impacts on the environment and plan for a more sustainable ocean. Free and open to the public. No registration required.
Prepared in time for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, The Revolutionary War on Cape Cod and the Islands brings together under one cover the facts and narratives about often little-known histories of the American Revolution on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, from the period 1761 (end of the French and Indian Wars) to 1783 (Treaty of Paris). Coordinated through the Cape and Islands Historians Committee, the book includes chapters by 24 contributors, including local historians Tom Dresser and Bow Van Riper.
Book topics include: accounts of the few battles fought on Cape and Islands, privateering, the serious splits between Loyalists and Patriots, British shipwrecks off of Cape Cod which resulted in favorable outcomes for the Patriots, the history of African Americans and Native Americans from the region who served actively in the War, and the stories of 10 important individuals from the region who played important roles in the Revolutionary period. The Revolutionary War on Cape Cod and the Islands was published by West Barnstable Press in August 2025 and is available in bookstores, libraries, and schools across the Cape and Islands.
For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.
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Road Closure Next Week for Library Construction, September 15th - 19th!
Due to construction work taking place at the 200 Main Street library next week, Greenwood Avenue between Main Street and North William Street in Tisbury will be closed to through traffic Monday to Friday from 7am to 5pm. The road will be open to abutters and residents only during these work hours.
Book synopsis:
Every year, we are dangerously warping the climate by putting gigantic amounts of carbon dioxide into the air. But CO2 isn’t merely the byproduct of burning fossil fuels—it is also fundamental to how our planet works. All life is ultimately made from CO2, and it has kept Earth bizarrely habitable for hundreds of millions of years. In short, it is the most important substance on Earth. But how is it that CO2 is as essential to life on Earth as it is capable of destroying it?
“The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything” explores how carbon dioxide’s movement through rocks, air, water, and life has kept our planet’s climate livable, its air breathable, and its oceans hospitable to complex life. Starting at the dawn of life almost 4 billion years ago, and working all the way up through today’s global climate crisis and beyond, he illuminates how CO2 has been responsible for the planet’s many deaths and rebirths, for shaping the evolution of life, and for the development of modern human society. And he argues that it’s only by reckoning with this deep planetary history that we can understand the cosmic stakes of our current moment on Earth—and how dangerous our experiment with the climate really is.
With groundbreaking research and a clear-eyed perspective, Brannen shows how a deep exploration of the carbon cycle across our planet’s history can shed light on the way forward for humanity, as we try to avert environmental catastrophe in the future. And it all begins with a richer understanding of the critical role of CO2 in our world.
Peter was a 2023 visiting scholar at the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, and is an affiliate at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He was formerly a 2018 Scripps Fellow at CU-Boulder, a 2015 journalist-in-residence at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center at Duke University, and a 2011 Ocean Science Journalism Fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, MA. His essays have been featured in the “Best American Science and Nature Writing” series and in “The Climate Book” by Greta Thunberg. Peter worked for the Vineyard Gazette from 2009-2012.
For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.
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Preserving Vineyard Homes for Future Generations explores the evolution of Vineyard vacation homes and the challenges of heirloom home succession. Tim Borchers will highlight the importance of creating a specific, practical, achievable, and measurable plan to preserve family properties. The presentation will also address the successes and failures of passing down family homes, emphasizing the need for proper planning to protect valuable properties and maintain family legacies.
As managing partner and founder of Borchers Trust Law, Tim Borchers is a sought-after public speaker and trainer on the topics of estate planning, family legacy, and trusts. He has developed numerous trademarked programs and resources that make the estate planning and probate processes more accessible, organized, and easily maintained, including but not limited to Inheritance Trusts™, TrustSupport™, and the Heirloom Ownership Trust™. As an accomplished writer and editor, he has authored a wide variety of articles on a range of estate planning topics.
He is recognized on Boston Magazine’s Top Lawyers list; honored on the Massachusetts Super Lawyers list; has held the distinction of and was one of the first lawyers in Massachusetts to be recognized as an Estate Planning Law Specialist (EPLS) as certified by the Estate Law Specialist Board, Inc.; and is an Accredited Estate Planner (AEP®) accredited by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils.
