The 8th annual Free Book Swap is coming up on Saturday, November 9th, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Wayne County Park Street Complex, 648 Park Street, near the Wayne Memorial Hospital. The event is a collaborative effort among local governments, area businesses, nonprofits, and individuals to provide a sustainably responsible outlet for repurposing mass quantities of books.

Books are donated and rehomed for free to the public without limitations or requirements. Any books left over from the event are boxed and shipped to Better World Books to promote global literacy efforts, or recycled at our county center. The Free Book Swap supports community building, fosters literacy, and demonstrates sustainable living.

Pictured, from left to right, are some of the SEEDS volunteers who help with the Free Book Swap: Denise Bussiere, David Ford, Jane Bollinger, Mary Anne Carletta, Kathy Dodge, Jack Barnett, and Jenna Wayne Mauder.

Since 2012, the Free Book Swap has handled more than 70,000 books and has grown every year. The event highlights America Recycles Day in Wayne County. Just over 20,000 books were donated in 2018. More than 11,000 books were re-homed locally and a 3,200-pound donation was shipped to Better World Books.

Spearheaded by SEEDS Board Member and founder of NaturED, Jenna Wayne Mauder (pictured), the Free Book Swap received a 2019 Environmental Award presented by the Northeast PA Environmental Partners—comprised of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Protection, PA Environmental Council, PPL Corporation, Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company, and Wilkes University.

The award recognizes the Book Swap for exemplifying how partnerships work together to get big jobs completed for the benefit of the environment and our community.

Here are the rules: Bring as many books as you want. Take as many books as you’d like. The goal is to see every book find a new home. Fill your arms, bags and boxes with literary loot!

Book donations can be dropped off at the Park Street Complex on Thursday, November 7, from 4-7 p.m., Friday, November 8, from 9-4 p.m. and Saturday, November 9, from 8-9 a.m. Please label the quantity on each box.

Once again, the event’s lead sponsor is the Wayne County Bar Association. Additional supporters of the Book Swap include: Brookfield, Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, Frey-Fetsock Funeral Home, Farm Arts Collective, Honesdale National Bank, The Cooperage Project, Platform Industries, Charles and Karen Lutz, Melissa Bell and Jeanne Genzlinger. SEEDS expresses its gratitude to all who help to make this event free for the public.

Book Swap volunteers and sponsorships are still needed! Contact Jenna@SeedsGroup.net for more information. Visit www.seedsgroup.net for more information about the Free Book Swap.

SEEDS thanks the Wayne County Commissioners for leading the way in adopting C-PACE, the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Program that enables business owners to fund energy efficiency upgrades as a tax assessment on their properties.

Wayne County is the first rural county and the first in Northeast Pennsylvania to join the program. Another seed of sustainability comes to fruition!

We're so proud of the work our past executive director, Jocelyn Cramer has done to nurture this opportunity in support of our regional business community and its clean energy options.

 

SEEDS and The Chamber of the Northern Poconos share a goal to increase the region’s green business practices and thereby work together to honor a member business for its sustainable initiatives that make our region a better place to live and work.
 
This year, the Green Business of the Year Award recognized the outstanding efforts of an enterprise that serves a broad range of community members and helps to preserve the excellent water quality that sustains everyone here. While many strong contenders were nominated, The CAR WASH on RT 6 (CWRT6) in Hawley, PA was chosen. Managing Partners of the business, Dave Edwards and Barbara Winsko, are pictured above, at center, at the awards ceremony.
 

Energy Storage: the Future of Sustainability
 
More than 30 people braved the rain on October 22nd to attend our forum on battery storage of energy, a vital part of a smarter energy infrastructure that must come in order to withstand future challenges. 

Daniel Friberg, Sr. Vice President of Engineering at Eos Energy Storage, a Zinc-Hybrid battery manufacturer, discussed advantages and disadvantages of various types of energy storage. Battery storage addresses the problems of fluctuating demand and production of energy. Large power plants such as nuclear or coal are not able to power up or down quickly as are gas, wind, or solar power sources. But, solar and wind are also vulnerable to variables in sun and wind supply. Large and small scale batteries can even out these fluctuations. 

Andrew Drewchin, a SEEDS board member and Founder of Gincgo, a local firm building software for the renewable energy industry, discussed microgrids. These are smaller scale “islands” of energy production and use, getting their energy from local sources rather than relying upon large and distant power plants and large power lines which lose energy over long distances. Microgrids are more nimble and resilient in a changing world. Andrew stressed that “Energy storage is a necessity in the transformation from fossil fuel to renewable generation and is here to stay.”

Gordon Smith, local solar installer and owner of Renewable Energy Solutions, talked about what you can do in your own home: on and off-grid battery options and planning for short-term or long-term back-up power.

Local champion of renewable energy, Jim Sanders showed pictures of his own Tesla back-up battery system. An app enables him to monitor his home energy situation from afar, which means less worry about electricity outages.



Pictured, from left to right, are Daniel Friberg, Andrew Drewchin, Gordon Smith, and Jim Sanders fielding questions at our Battery Storage Forum.

Pop Up Club Experiences Renewable Energy
 
Longtime SEEDS volunteers and renewable energy advocates, Jim and Pat Sanders hosted a group of approximately 25 middle schoolers at their home to teach them about renewable energy and to show them examples of how it can be used in a home.

The students got an up-close look at heat pumps, solar hot water and solar PV, an electric car, and a battery backup system, along with a geodesic dome greenhouse for off-season vegetable growing.

The experience was part of the Pop-Up Club, a program run by The Cooperage Project.