THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM
Dr. Steve Atkins, a NH and VT licensed psychologist and school consultant will provide us with a broad background on howthe opioid problem is impacting the Upper Valley. In telling us about The Opioid Crisis in Our Backyard, he will describe the scope of the problem and lay the foundation for future presentations describing the various resources in our region.
LAST WEEK'S ANNOUNCEMENTS
Julia Griffin offered a Happy Dollar in appreciation of a baptism ceremony she and Kathy Geraghty attended for the daughter of Jeremy Lambeth and his wife Anastasia.
President Liam McCarthy provided an update on the board meeting late last month that included an update on a grant we are participating in to help support a South African school where 260 disadvantaged African children score at or below the 20th percentile on standardized tests and an update on ACTS Honduras. He also announced that our books will be professionally audited this year and put out a plea for a Vice President and Secretary to serve on the Board. Liam reminded club members that at our October 16 meeting we will be hosting Rotary Exchange visitors from Alberta along with the Lebanon Rotary Club. The meeting will feature a presentation by our Alberta visitors on the club activities in their region and what their region has to offer visitors. Liam also reminded members that there will not be a luncheon meeting on October 30. Instead we will be hosted by Dartmouth College for a tour of the Rauner Library.
President McCarthy asked members to support Mike Urnezis’ effort to ring bells at Dartmouth’s home football games as a means of raising supplemental funds for Listen.
Richard Weiss won the raffle, which was (and will be for the foreseeable future) a $10 voucher for the lunch at Jesse’s. Evidently many of the prizes (including the one I offered of providing a reading of a year’s worth of these bulletins), were deemed unworthy.
LAST WEEK'S PROGRAM
Rosi Kerr, the head of Dartmouth’s Sustainability Office, provided an insightful presentation on the challenges the college faces in the installation of its proposed biomass plant. A Dartmouth grad with an English degree, Rosi went into environmental work after witnessing examples of how climate change was impacting the Native populations in the Arctic Circle. She offered an overview of how Dartmouth’s existing steam system, which was considered “cool” by engineers in the late 19th Century, is extremely inefficient by today’s standards. Worse, from an environmental standpoint, 76% of Dartmouth’s energy comes from #6 fuel oil with almost all of the balance coming from electricity. She reported that in seeking an alternative means of providing energy, the college “considered everything” and ultimately concluded that the best answer to the problem was to pursue biomass as a bridge to the future. She reported on efforts underway to increase the efficiency of the buildings themselves, which would be needed no matter what, and described the pushback the college is getting in its efforts to use biomass instead of fuel oil. In the end, Rosi acknowledged that whether biomass is good or not depends on how urgent the need is to address climate change, how wood lots are managed, and how the wood is used. Rosi emphasized that if the purpose of wood burning is to generate heat--- which is the case at Dartmouth--- it is a better solution that using wood to generate electricity, which would be less efficient and more costly. She gave us all a lot to ponder.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
October 16 - Our Friendship Exchange visitors from Calgary, Alberta, will give us a report on their clubs’ activities and some insights on their part of the world.
October 23 – Cam Ford, the Executive Director of Headrest will be offering the second in a series of talks on the opioid crisis in the Upper Valley.
October 30 - We will have a social gathering at the Dartmouth Library in lieu of our luncheon meeting, some details of which are described above.
November 6 – Graham Clarke will give us an update on Whaleback’s latest developments.
