Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School next week will participate in the largest teach-in in history — Focus The Nation, an unprecedented study of global warming solutions.

“Critical decisions need to be made on global warming . . . the youth who will inherit the crisis need serious education on the issue,” said James Speth, dean of Yale school of forestry and environmental studies.

The teach-in kicks off Wednesday night with a Webcast with actor Edward Norton and Stanford climate scientist Steve Schneider among the panelists.

“Book clubs are frustrating affairs,” says Philip Weinstein, a professor of English at Swarthmore College who will be running one of these irritating to-dos starting Thursday in Aquinnah and traveling through five town libraries during the spring. “But they’re provocative, too,” he qualifies, sipping tea in the brightly-lit front room of his Aquinnah home. Mr. Weinstein hopes this will be particularly true of the up-coming discussions, which will take in five novels dealing with race in the American experience.

Surfcasters Groups Meets

For Awards, New Officers

The Martha’s Vineyard Surfcasters Association will hold its annual banquet and awards ceremony Saturday, Jan. 26 at noon in the Baylies Room of the Old Edgartown Whaling Church.

President Jeff Sayre said the event is open to members and all those who are thinking of membership.

The association is a recreational fishing club now in its 19th year. The group has 150 members.

An awards ceremony will honor the top club anglers of 2007.

The Safe Haven Project got four aces last Saturday night in Oak Bluffs when more than a hundred friends and supporters showed up for a couple hours of gambling.

The event, a first for the nonprofit organization, was Casino Night at the Oyster Bar Grill on Circuit avenue.

Blackjack dealers wore stiff white shirts and dealt like the professionals from Foxwoods. “Oh, they are all local,” said Deanna Ahearn Laird, a longtime supporter of Safe Haven and volunteer on the camp committee.

MARGARET KNIGHT

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

As of Tuesday, Peter Wells has the right to send the Chappaquiddick ferries back and forth between the slips on either side of the Edgartown harbor channel. The two ferries aren’t his yet, but that’s almost a technicality at this point.

JOHN S. ALLEY

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

By LYNNE IRONS

Every week I have a few moments of angst concerning writing material but have never been one to experience a loss of words for very long.

Late January is the coldest point of the year, and it leads into the snowiest. Such harsh weather is a two-edged sword for birders.

The number of birds declines as some move south and others succumb to the cold; what birds remain sulkily conserve their energy in sheltered spots; and the process of looking for birds is a chilly one for all parties concerned.

In the forest, the dead sometimes stand tall and refuse to fall.

Don’t mourn for these deceased; they are a sign of healthy woodlands, wealthy with wildlife. In truth, there is life in tree death.

Women’s Workshop Set

On Financial Planning

The Martha’s Vineyard Women’s Network will hold a breakfast meeting on Jan. 29 at the Baylies Room in the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown from 7 to 9 a.m.

Jennifer W. Marlin and Margo Urbany-Joyce, both assistant financial planners with Ameriprise Financial, will address the concerns of women and their specific issues that may affect them in financial planning.