PRESIDENT'S  POST

Posted by Douglas McLean
The meeting today was well attended with 29 members and guests. 
Our speaker was Dr Michael Asten who covered the topic "What Is Foretold About Global Temperature Change?"
 
Dr Asten presented a number of graphs and studies which have been tracking the movement of glaciers in three regions, Europe, China and Iceland plus the penguin colonies in Antarctica over two thousand years to see how they have ebbed and flowed over this period. The evidence indicates periods of warming that align with the growth in the Roman Empire, Renaissance, Age of Enlightenment and periods of cooling that align with the Dark Ages and the Black Plague.

We are currently in a period of warming and a correlation with the levels of CO2 gases (greenhouse gases) may not be the only reason for the warming we are experiencing given data collected from CO2 ice core samples across the millenniums. Dr Asten emphasized he is approaching this issue in a non-political manner and some projections indicate a cooling period will commence within the next few decades but unfortunately the proof will not be available until early next century.

Based on the number of Members asking questions at the end of the presentation, it was indicative of the level of engagement.

 

We also had an update from Rashi Kapoor on Youth Services projects and a couple of very entertaining video clips from her recent wedding in Bali, with her husband Rajool who joined us today as well.

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Events

·      The Salvo Hawks will play a Grand Final match on Thursday 31st August at ETU Stadium, Port Melbourne starting at 11 am with David Mcnamara and I hoping to attend.

·      Next meeting at Kooyong is Tuesday 5th September and the guest speaker will be Helen Worladge from the Education Chances Foundation, which Hawthorn Rotary has been supporting for a number of years now.  Helen will provide us with an update on the Chances programs they are working on for the benefit of the Boroondara community.

·      District Governor Ron Payne will be the guest speaker at our meeting on 19th September at Kooyong.  The lunch meeting will be followed at 2pm by a Board meeting to be attended by Ron as well.

·      Auburn High School Mock Interviews will be held again this year with Year 9 students on 13th and 14th September; Rashi has indicated 26 members will participate and 133 students are scheduled to attend.

·      Rotary Club of Nhill weekend 25th & 26th November. Save these dates in your diary as we are planning a Club visit and the Nhill Club will organise a special dinner with the local Myanmar community.  Noel Halford has organised a group booking at the Zero Inn Nhill, contact details (03) 5391 1622.

·      Rotary District Conference Bendigo Weekend 12-14 April. David Pisterman has organised accommodation for the weekend and I will ask David to update members at next week’s meeting.

We are in the final days of winter and are looking forward to spring on Friday and hopefully the return of our interstate members.

One final thought:  if you have friends who are interested in the topic of a guest speaker, by all means invite them to our meeting;  it will give them a chance to experience Hawthorn Rotary’s unique welcoming culture.

Doug McLean 

President 2023-2024