NEXT MEETING: March 20, 2015

WriterCoach Connection Richmond Update 2015

Since 2001, WriterCoach Connection has sent teams of trained community volunteers into secondary school English classrooms to work one on one with students on their writing assignments. The program has been in Richmond for 3 years and the presentation will provide an update on the program in the Richmond schools WriterCoach Connection serve, including key successes and challenges. Results from WriterCoach Connection’s pre-coaching and post-coaching student assessment will be discussed, as well as survey results from stakeholders; students, teachers and volunteer coaches.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Alan Baer passed out information on the upcoming District 5160 Assembly. It will be April 25 at Solano Community College in Vallejo from 8:30am-2pm. Great opportunity for new Rotarians and Club officers to know a bit more about Rotary. Sign up at: www.rotary5160.org/calemdar/events-calendar
• Come Celebrate Richmond Rotary’s 95^th Anniversary at Alan Baer’s home on April 4th (our Anniversary is April 1st…no fooling!) Let Alan know if you will be attending so he can make sure there are ribs for you! Bring a special dessert and make it a real party.
• Bill Kozial’s Sunshine Report included greeting from Charley Wong who misses all of us.

Hank Covell reminded us all of Dave Calfee’s Celebration of Life on March 28. Please let Hank know if you will be attending so they can plan for the crowd.

MEETING OF March 13, 2015

Welcome

Prez. Stoney welcomed all who were lucky to be present on this Friday 13th.  Liliane Kozial led us in the Pledge. Stoney offered a Moment of Silence for Freedom, Peace and Justice. Sid Chauvin offered, ”The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement!”

Recognitions and Happy and Sad Dollars

• Erle Brown celebrated his 80^th Birthday in Mexico ingesting liquids to enhance his boyish looks and gave a check to the Foundation
• Dan Sanders was happy to be back at the Club after recuperating from his broken arm.
• Jim Young was happy to be back from Paradise, but even happier that Tom Waller married his lovely Russian lady friend and presented Tom with a bottle of libation to celebrate.
• Hank Covell bemoaned his generous gift to PBS after realizing he could only write off a few dollars of the contribution. Hank you did get a lot of stuff and some entertainment!
• Connie Tritt was happy to be at the Club, but will now go in the Black Hole for 34 days during Tax Season
• David Brown was happy that he and Cheryl got to celebrate Erle’s birthday especially since Erle paid.
• Sid Chauvin reported his daughter has a health scare after giving birth, but is happy that all is well now
• Your Scribe is proud that his alma mater Valparaiso University is headed back to the NCAA Big Dance. That’s right Erle!

PROGRAM

Bay Area Climate Action

Nick Despota gave a quick overview of the shifting public opinion around climate change. He suggested that we can look at the issue through 2 different lenses: on the one hand, its technical and economic aspects; and on the other, the moral obligation to act. According to a recent poll, that obligation is felt by a majority of Americans.

Nick then introduced our speaker Judy Pope, with 350 Bay Area. 350 Bay Area is a grassroots activist group whose mission is to achieve deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the 9 Bay Area counties and beyond.

Judy kicked off with good news about climate change: we know what we can do and how to do it. More good news: California became a leader in the effort to limit climate change with the passage of AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, in 2006. AB32 established a state-wide cap-and-trade program, set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, set transportation and building energy standards, and established a goal of achieving a statewide renewable energy mix of 33% by 2020.

Judy said that a clear path to limiting the impacts of climate change—already evident in extreme weather events—is through a rapid transition to using only electricity generated by wind, sun and water. At the same time, we must sharply curb the use of coal, oil and natural gas. Citing an internationally agreed-upon goal of limiting global warming to 2° Celsius, she said that 80% of the known petroleum reserves must remain in the ground. Judy also stated that the risky practices of fracking and the transportation of highly explosive grades of crude oil by rail must be stopped.

While the details of the climate change issue are complex, the pathway to a cleaner future is not: we must quickly curb the use of fossil fuels, replacing that energy source with electricity from renewable sources wherever possible. The technology to do that is already available.

- The Menehune, Rotating Editor