By Karen Kendrick-Hands, Co-Chair of the Going Green Fellowship Group, Rotary Club of Madison, WI, USA
Wishing on a shooting star, prodding a caterpillar to unzip its feet, picking ripe berries without getting scratched, throwing pine needles on the campfire and watching them spark, and catching (and releasing) slippery bass: all this magic I share with my grandson at our cabin by the lake. I want him to be able to share the same magic with his grandchildren, sixty years from now. I am grateful to be a part of my club’s “Going Green Fellowship Group” where we create opportunities for service and education around solutions to the global warming humanitarian crisis. Rotary’s vow to eradicate polio demonstrates exactly the tenacity that solving climate change requires. For me, addressing global warming is consistent with Rotary’s ethic of Service Above Self.
I am excited that our club has two programs that will be webcast live for worldwide viewing and feature speakers underscoring the importance of Rotarians engaging to help solve Global Warming. We invite you to join us:
- Wednesday, 20 August , 2014; 12:45 – 1:20 PM CDT – Water, Polio and Global Warming
Dr. Jonathan Patz, Director of the Global Health Institute of the University of Wisconsin and a lead author on Global Public Health for the IPCC Reports, will address the relationship between water, global public health, polio eradication and global warming, to set the stage for a call to service. - Wednesday, 3 September, 2014; 12:45 – 1:20 PM CDT – A Revenue Neutral Carbon Tax
Dick Smith, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, will explain the economic and carbon dioxide reduction benefits of a revenue neutral carbon tax as a solution to mitigate global warming.
Following the webcasts, recordings of both presentations will be available online: http://ics.webcast.uwex.edu/Mediasite6/Catalog/Full/d6e8fe556f304712941050a8bb6bf98721.
Note: Before the event, make sure your computer can open Mediasite, which requires a PC or Mac, an Internet connection, and the Silverlight plugin. Test your media player with this link: Why Webcast?; download the latest version of Silverlight Media Player.
Service in Action 
I viewed the Water, Polio and Global Warming talk. Dr. Patz is very knowledgeable and gives a very good presentation about how climate change threatens to set back our Rotary effort against polio. The solutions call for all of us to get behind efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. As a unprecedented challenge to humankind and the future, this would be an outstanding additional cause for Rotary to champion. And it encompasses helping the poorest of the world’s population with water, food, health and security issues.
Thanks for your comment! Thoughtful Rotarians coming together to address the global warming humanitarian crisis is essential to success. The follow-up webcast Sept. 3 discusses the importance of placing a price on carbon. I hope you will tune in for that one as well, and share the word. Shining a light on this problem and Rotary’s role in finding solutions is an important way to light up Rotary. Here’s to synergistic cooperation.