“Happiness is not a goal, it’s a by-product of a life well lived.” – Eleanor Roosevelt – 1884-1962 – Former First Lady of the United States

 

“If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present.” – Roy T. Bennett – 1939-2014 – Author

 

“Being happy never goes out of style.” – Lily Pulitzer – 1931-2013 – Fashion Designer

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Scott announced that families are needed for hosting incoming Rotary Exchange students. Host families should be in the Champaign Unit 4 school district. See Scott for more information.

 

March 4 – Read Across America – see Michelle’s email for details

 

March 9 – Our first scheduled evening meeting is at 5:30 PM meeting at the Holiday Inn (no AM meeting that day)

March 15 – Eastern Illinois Foodbank Repack, Larry passed around the signup sheet.

The Sunrise Foundation Fund Drive continues now through March 15.

March 25 – Central HS Interact Trivia Event

April 1 – RYLA (Leadership training for HS sophomores)

April 15 – Newspaper folding for Humane Society (bring any newspapers to Ed Perry at any Thursday meeting.)

 

PROGRAM

Bob introduced Dr. Donald Wuebbles as our speaker this morning. Don grew up in Illinois and did his undergraduate and graduate work in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He then earned his doctorate at the University of California, Davis in Atmospheric Sciences.

Don served as head of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois, and now is currently an Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Illinois. Don is an expert in atmospheric physics and chemistry, with contributions to over 500 scientific publications including being a coordinating lead author in many national and international assessments. Don has received many major awards and served as Assistant Director with the office of Science and Technology at the Executive Office of the President in Washington, D.C.

This morning’s program was titled Our Changing Climate: A Focus on Illinois. Don strongly noted that our climate continues to change at a rapid pace. Severe weather is becoming more intense and sea levels are rising and oceans are being affected. The main contributors to this rapid change are human activities and the associated pollution. Climate will continue to change over the coming decades with significant impact on urban and rural areas.

Don presented many charts and graphs with historic and current information from the Illinois assessment report.  More precipitation, flooding, heat waves, drought, winds with more intense storms will occur in the decades to come. These changes will affect our public health, agricultural crops and livestock, water quality and quantity, animals, and changes in all of nature and plant life. More research is currently taking place on what can be done to better handle these changes such as creating agricultural crops that can hold more moisture in times of drought.

.As individuals we can become more energy conscious and efficient, continue to move away from fossil fuels and move towards other forms of power such as solar. We can speak up about the need to act now and continue to think about the future and how we can help slow down these climate changes. 

To access the Illinois assessment report please visit:
https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/illinois/stories-in-illinois/tackling-climate-solutions/

 

 

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  Mar 2nd Mar 9th Mar 16th Mar 23rd
Introductions Ata Durukan Ray Elliott Mary Hodson Darrell Hoemann
Reflection Rod Roberts Tod Satterthwaite Jarrod Scheunemann Jen Shelby
Greeters Ata Durukan Ray Elliott Mary Hodson Darrell Hoemann
Joe Rank Rod Roberts Tod Satterthwaite Jarrod Scheunemann
Notetaker Crane Conforti Perry Hodson

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee members listed in parentheses)

 

March 2nd – Club Assembly

March 9th @ 5:30PM– Kirk Banner, retired air traffic controller (including stints at Willard), will talk about AirVenture, the annual gathering of aircraft at Oshkosh, WI

March 16th – Peter Newman, Peak Wealth Planning, will discuss Common Mistakes to Avoid for Retirement (Jerry)

March 23rd – Marching Illini director Barry Houser (Joe)

March 30th – TBD

April 6th – TBD

April 13th @ 5:30PM – TBD (Lisa)

April 20th – Lorrie Pearson, Executive Director, Champaign County Forest Preserve District (Mary)

 April 27th – TBD (Tom)

May 4th – TBD

May 11th @ 5:30PM – TBD (Bob)

May 18th – TBD (Cary)

May 25th – TBD (Joe)

June 1st – TBD

June 8th @ 5:30PM – TBD (Charlie)

June 15th – TBD (Lisa)

June 22nd – TBD (Mary)

June 29th – TBD

 

 

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS

 

March – No club birthdays