President Joyce opened the meeting  with the  singing of the Star Spangled Banner

Kathy Waugh then read The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost for a wonderful inspiration, and Dave Keosaian led our singing of  “In The Good Ole Summer Time and The Sidewalks of New York, accompanied by Jody Tull.

We had three guests at the meeting. Steve Schram introduced Scott Westerman, son of long-time member Scott Westerman and Steve’s roommate at MSU and Tom Wright, a colleague from Michigan Radio. Caroline Hiatt’s guest was Bonnie Simell, the state representative for Braver Angels, a non-profit encouraging dialogue with diverse political thoughts.

After Joyce thanked the meeting team, Roy More described the continuing planning for the GPO. Peg Talburtt discussed auction items showing Cat Meyer donation of Bee Basket—adding quite a buzz to the evening—and Greg Stejskal stressed the need for volunteers – please register online or in person at lunch.

John White then gave us the latest Moment in Rotary History, which includes a who’s who of Rotary……in 1992! Downs Herold, a Rotarian since 1979 and a past President and Secretary was featured.

Kathy Waugh then summarized the results of the latest member survey:

• 42% responded.
• 43% time spent that they spent 1-5 hours on Rotary activities outside of lunch per week.
• 64% of the time spent on Rotary activities outside of lunches are committee meetings.
• 74% attend lunch meetings to see their friends.
• 74% asked for more speakers on local topics.

For a more complete report, click here.

Lakes getting warmer

Steve Shram then introduced our speaker Lester Graham.  Lester is an environmental reporter, wildlife and birding photographer, and co-author of Cheers to Michigan, which celebrates Michigan’s cocktail culture.

He spoke to us about how climate change is affecting our state. Here are some of the information he shared with us:

• Large lakes around the world are warming.
• Large lakes like Lake Superior are warming faster than the ambient air around them.
• White fish eggs are being destroyed due to lack to overlay ice not staying frozen.
• Fish are not getting the nutrients they need and are being deformed.
• Sun getting down to the bottom of food change affecting diatoms, possibly affecting total fish chain.
• Ice fishing is decreasing due to variable (lack) ice conditions – fewer ice-covered days.
• Insects and birds need to seasonally come out at the same time to support each other (stone flies are sometimes at the wrong time)
• Storms are becoming more intense.
• Wetlands are becoming more important to reduce flooding/sewer overflow of intense storms.  Graham noted that state support of wet lands is even more important now that the Supreme Court has reduced wetland support.
• Toxic algal blooms are spreading in Lake Erie and inland lakes.
• We’re seeing more insect-borne illnesses.

As always, we ended with The Four Way Test.

Of all the things we think, say, or do:

• Is It the Truth
• It is Fair To All Concerned
• Will it Promote Good Will and Build Better Friendships
• Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?