President Tom Arkell called the meeting to order. Don Fraser led us in Grace and Don Shaw got us off in the right note for our National Anthem. After a toast to the Queen and Canada, President Tom introduced the head table as follows: To introduce our guest speaker – Aurora Tancock; our guest speaker – Dr. Sergio Paone; our Sgt–at–Arms – Peter Lumsden; our Rotarian in the Spotlight – Coletta McGrath; to introduce our guests – Brian Stewart.
Brian introduced our guests – Paul Allan guest of Doug Geddie and Kevin Webb guest of Chris Bangham.
All Rotarians and guests sang Happy Birthday for Chris Bangham, Nancy Ferris-Hostick, Terry McDougall and Sam Walters.
President Tom announced that there would be a World Community Service Meeting at 7:30 pm on Wednesday April 16th at Ken Taylor’s home. He also recommended we read George Date’s recent article in Niagara Business Magazine.
Don’t forget the Hearts Gathering Children Concert at Brock’s O’Sullivan Theatre on Sunday April 27th (2:00pm –4:00pm). This concert presented by the Rotary Clubs of Lincoln and NOL. Tickets are $20. Contact Brock Box Office at 905-688-5550 ext. 3257.
Remember to help us celebrate the 19th Annual Niagara College Foundation Seafood Gala. For an evening of sumptuous cuisine, fabulous Niagara regional wines and wonderful entertainment at the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort Grand Ballroom on Friday, April 11, 2008. Reserve your tickets now at $225.00 per person for this exciting event at 905-735-2211, ext. 7551 or register online. Ticket price includes all food and beverage.
Marg Jarrell reminded us that on Wednesday, April 23 the four Rotary clubs will jointly host the ‘Night of 1000 Dinners’ at John Michael’s Banquet Centre. Tickets are $50 each ($20 of which is tax-deductible) and proceeds from this event will help purchase a dog that will be trained to find land mines. For more info call Marg at 905-934-4925 or Joyce Western at 905-684-3500 or Sam Walters at 905-682-7160.
Collected by Heather Combe
Heather Combe passed the basket for Happy Dollars. She started by putting in a happy dollar of her own to celebrate 20 years since graduating from Veterinarian College. Jim Denham put in “bragging coach” dollars to mention the Brock Students who won hockey at OPSA and also for those who won Vimy Awards.
John Snowling was happy to note that former Club Member Elisabeth Forsyth is now a member of the Waterloo Club. Henry Klassen was happy to remind us not to miss the Hearts Gathering Children Concert on April 27th(see above).
Liz Palmieri was happy to pay a dollar to remind us of the Singathon on April 26th 10am to 3pm at the inside entrance to Sears at the Penn (a tax receipt will be issued for all donations over $10).
Dave Feasby was happy to announce that he was able to get an MRI appointment in three weeks.
Norm Kreger was happy to invite everyone to join him on April 17th at 6:00pm at “The Office”.
Norma Medulun was happy with her Cruise through the Panama Canal but thinks we should raise the rates through the Welland Canal.
Dan Patterson was happy to tell us that in a recent survey, Niagara College ranked #1 in Student Satisfaction.
Kevin Webb was happy to visit our Club and proud to reminded us he was a Grantham High and a Niagara College Grad.
Chris Bangham asked us not to delete an e-mail we will receive regarding “Hiking for Hospice”.
Ed Silver was happy to pay for missing his birthday and Don Fraser was happy to be recognized as a founder of the South Club (see last weeks Gossip Sheet) but paid a dollar to remind us that Don Shaw was a co-founder.
Aurora Tancock was happy to have been away on a Cruise but happy to be back to Rotary.
Sam Walters, Dave Butler, Chris Bangham, Terry McDougall
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Sam Walters, Dave Butler, Chris Bangham, Terry McDougall |
Don Fraser drew the right to draw an ace but did not and the pot gets bigger.
Coletta was born and raised in Port Dalhousie, along with one brother Michael. Her parents, Kathleen and Joseph McGrath, came from Ireland in the early 50’s and settled in Port Dalhousie, where her mother still lives.
Coletta Graduated from Denis Morris High School and moved to Toronto where she attended St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto and received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology. She went on to receive a Masters in Policy, Planning and Administration from the Faculty of Social Work.
After graduating Coletta worked with Metro Toronto Community Services and the Provincial Ministry of Community and Social Services. In 1989 she accepted a position as Director of Community Services for Lutherwood, a child and youth mental health agency in Waterloo Region. Eight years later, Coletta began her own management-consulting firm – COMPASS Consulting Associates.
Coletta returned to St. Catharines several years ago. In March of 2006, after nine exciting years growing her own business, she decided it was time to stay put and work closer to home. At that point she successfully competed for the position of Area Director for Bayshore Home Health.
Coletta has a long and varied history of volunteer work. This past year she joined the Steering Committee for the St. Catharines Thorold Community Health Centre as well as the Board for the Brain Injury Association of Niagara. She has also accepted an invitation to sit on the Prosperity Council here in St. Catharines. Coletta is a founding member and recently retired Board member of LifeLease Residences St. Catharines Corporation.
Coletta is now back living in Port Dalhousie, with her Partner Ellis Katsof. Ellis is the Executive Director of Transitions for Youth, a Children’s Services Agency in Burlington, and is a Board member of the Rotary Club of Burlington-Lakeshore as well as chair of their Vocational Services Committee.
In addition to her volunteer work she spends her spare time reading, exercising, dancing, and learning about and exploring Ireland, a country she loves dearly and has visited regularly since the age of four.
Dr. Sergio Paone - Biofuels & Ehtanol Production
Aurora Tancock introduced our guest speaker, Dr Sergio Paone. Sergio received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Toronto and work on the front lines of the environmental movement in Western Canada and for a time lived in Tofino, British Columbia, where he served on City Council. He is an advisor to the Green Party in Ontario and is also a Lab Coordinator and Instructor at Brock University. He is married to Fiona and is also Aurora’s brother.
Dr. Paone’s topic today is bio-fuels. Sergio reminded us that bio-fuels preceded Gasoline in the early history of the Automobile. Henry Ford’s Model T was originally designed to run on ethanol and gasoline and Rudolf Diesel designed his engine to run on bio-diesel made from peanut oil. Ethanol bio-fuel can be made from substances such as sugar and cellulose and while diesel bio-fuel can be made from palm oil and peanut oil. We are currently in the midst of a major growth in global bio-fuel production. Diesel production stands at 10 billion litres while ethanol production is at 40 billion litres. Brazil and the USA make up 90% of the ethanol produced.
There are three factors driving Ethanol production in the USA. They are economic, environmental and the Fear Factor – Homeland Security.
The elimination of the fuel additive MBTE is clear but the CO2 reduction is not so clear. In theory if you grow something them burn it one should have a CO2 closed loop. In actuality one has to add up all the inputs in growing a crop. This includes the energy to farm the land, to provide the chemicals, pesticides and also irrigation. If the output of CO2 divided by the input of CO2 is greater than 1.0 this is a positive for the environment and negative if it is less than one. The academic world tends to calculate a ratio of .50 while the government and industry are more optimistic and feel the ratio is 1.8. The debate is currently ongoing.
A factor often overlooked is the production of N2O (commonly known as Laughing Gas). This happens when bacteria in the soil break down nitrogen from fertilizers. N2O is 300 times more potent than CO2 in the atmosphere.
The need for bio-fuels is leading to more land use for farming, and we are losing forests and ecosystems. The push to increase bio-fuel production is also leading to higher food prices and scarcity in a world where 900 people go hungry. Wheat prices have doubled in one year while corn has quadrupled in price.
In summary, Sergio feel that North America will achieve security regarding the war on terror, CO2 emissions may or may not be reduced, we will replace MTBE and we will improve the rural economy. However, there may be an increase in greenhouse emissions, we are creating a world hunger problem, we are destroying forests and ecosystems and we are spending billions in subsidies to achieve all of this.
The Future of Bio-fuels?
Dr Paone feels that there is a role for bio-fuels but he would like to see the focus on producing it from such sources as municipal waste, agricultural waste and from forest waste such as wood chips and sawdust. He also sees better base materials for bio-fuel production such as algae.
Chris Bangham thanked Dr.Paone for his very interesting presentation. And President Tom indicated that a dictionary would be presented to a local school in his name in recognition of his fine presentation today.
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Dr. Paone & President Arkell |
Next Week:
Matthew Taylor - Dentistry in Guatemala
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