Yes, there was something exciting in the atmosphere as Club #25 members gathered in the Holiday Inn’s Lyric Conference Center for today’s meeting. A twinkle in President Steve Yorde’s eye told us something special was about to happen. What was it? One look at Phil Strom’s maroon and gold tie along with his maroon and gold baseball cap provided the clue. On this day, later in the afternoon, UMD’s hockey team would, for a third consecutive year, vie for the NCAA Hockey crown! Go Bulldogs! Even Past President John Baumgarten got in the act when, following the singing of the National Anthem, he rendered his piano version of the Bulldog Fight Song. Those who knew the words sang along. It was a wonderful start to another exciting meeting for the Duluth Rotary Club.

 

It was interesting when Jeff Fifield preceded his invocation with a Bulldog cheer. No, he did not have members pray for a Frozen Four victory. He left it unsaid that the players would have to go out and earn that on their own, but one could almost tell that asking our Higher Power to bless the team was in the back of Jeff’s mind. This meeting was off to a great start!

 

Hockey enthusiast Past President Phil Strom was our Fellowship Reporter. He began by introducing today’s guests: Brett Hungerford, guest of Dave Holappa; and Julia and Angelina Sonnen, guests of the Club.

 

This being the first regular meeting of the month, it was time to introduce Club #25 members who are celebrating birthdays this month. The list included Kjell Knudson, Mike Zlonis, Dick Fischer, Tom Wheeler, Tim Mowbray, Sandy Hoff and Al Makynen. Rotarians in the news included Chana Stocke who was recognized again as a Top Producing Loan Officer by the Minnesota Housing Officers Group; Steve Burgess who was in the DNT as the new Board Chair of APEX; Port Director Deb DeLuca (and wife of Rotarian Eric Dott) was quoted in the DNT in anticipation of another tremendous iron ore shipping season. Al Makynen was thought to have been seen in the DNT while attending one of Essentia’s neighborhood informational meetings. Al claimed it was a case of mistaken identity, but he contributed to the Golden Can anyway. John Foucault received a round of applause in recognition of the 25 years he has operated his computer software business, Points North, which he has now sold.

 

Next, Fellowship Reporter Phil had Club members recall those years gone by when UMD’s hockey team was previously among the most highly ranked teams vying for the NCAA Championship. Yes, Skeeter Moore was among the names mentioned. Who can forget? “Leave Skeeter Alone!!!” President-elect Michelle Buria was called to the podium to be recognized for her dedication to the Rotary Foundation. Michelle was presented with her first sapphire for her contribution.

 

Additional announcements included reminders to members about upcoming events: The Foot Loose Friday event sponsored by Harbortown Rotary on May 10, and Club #25’s Dinner and Auction scheduled for May 9. Chana Stocke announced that two tickets to a Cher concert in Minneapolis will be among the items available at the auction.

 

Dr. Jim Monge was next up as Chairperson of the Day. He introduced retired dentist Dr. George Erickson. Dr. Erickson’s background includes a time when he was an Alaskan bush pilot and a long list of professional memberships. He is also a prolific writer of five books in the field of energy options. Dr. Erickson’s current forte is speaking and writing about climate change and the imperative need to reduce the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere. His strong recommendation: It is time for the United States to convert our energy generation to nuclear power plants. Dr. Erickson began his remarks by stating up front that what he had to say was not a “good news” presentation. When he began to study the dangers of so much CO₂ in the atmosphere, Dr. Erickson stated he was a wind and solar power advocate. Additional study convinced him that these two energy options were not the answer to our country’s (and the world’s) needs to accomplish this gigantic task. His further research and study convinced him that the safest way to reduce CO₂ emissions was to enlist the expertise of the nuclear scientists. The evidence is clear – we, as a world, are on our way to a major calamity if we do not change our methods of creating energy. He gave examples that included the disappearance of the Arctic and Antarctic ice regions being among the most observable. “Making money seems to be the main barrier to the changes needed to solve this problem. Both sides of the political aisle – conservative and liberal – and the lobbying forces behind our legislators inhibit decisions that are paramount if we are to tackle climate change.” Dr. Erickson gave example after example of how the world’s oceans are slowly being destroyed by the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere. He cited facts to confirm that nuclear energy can be produced safely, and that doing so will significantly diminish the amount of CO₂ that our current energy producing methods are contributing to the atmosphere. Why has it been so difficult to effect change? There have been two major nuclear disasters – Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi. These are the two events that dissenters use to lobby against nuclear power. Dr. Erickson provided his listeners with information about these two events and alluded to how France as a nation is providing its population with dozens of safe nuclear-powered sources of energy. He cited examples of how wind power and solar, while popular with many climate-change advocates, will not begin to fill the needs of the nation. He spoke also of how these two sources of energy have had multiple weather-related problems.

 

Concluding his remarks, Dr. Erickson reminded his listeners that we will be passing this CO₂ problem on to our children if we do not take action now. He said, “I know this may have been a difficult speech to listen to but, sometimes medicine doesn’t taste good.”

 

The applause that accompanied Dr. Erickson’s conclusion testified to the appreciation Club #25 members expressed for his presentation.

 

President Steve concluded the meeting by mentioning the book that will be given to the Piedmont Elementary school in honor of Dr. Erickson. The 50/50 drawing was won by Steve LaFlamme.

 

 

 

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