SDRotary - Getting Involved

May 23, 2001

This week's Bulletin was written by Tom Sayer.

THIS WEEK'S MEETING

Colette rang us to order and asked Dan Cleaves to lead us in the pledge. Colette inspired us with an invocation and Linda Jalving led us in, “The Yankee Doodle Boy.” We got a “Very Good” from Linda for our singing this week. Gary Green then introduced our guests and Visiting Rotarians.

announcements

Ø The Malawi Packing Party went well and our DG Bill McDade is distributing the medical supplies as we speak. Also, PDG’s Steve Brown and Wayne Cusick are taking a tour of District 9300 to review other matching grant programs our District has sponsored. We should be tremendously proud of our District’s International accomplishments, something that Melissa Blackburn will be able to brag about at the Convention next month.

Ø Jennifer Cusick passed around pictures of 2-year old Enrique and 12 year old Leandro, two boys our Club has sponsored through the Sister Families Program in South America. A number of individual members sponsored children as well.

Ø John Turpit wanted to correct a mistake in Frank De Francesco’s recent letter to new members. The students participating in the tutoring program are from Washington Elementary School in downtown San Diego, not Tijuana. All new members are encouraged to respond to John.

Paul Harris Fellow

Pictured here is Rob Berry awarding Mike Whitehurst long-overdue honors for having completed his Paul Harris Fellowship donations during Rob’s term as President (circa 1995 or so?). Congratulations, Mike. These donations are what fuel the Rotary International engine of world-wide charitable programs such as PolioPlus, Group Study Exchanges, matching grant programs, and many more. Every member should make it a goal to either become a Paul Harris Fellow ($1,000 lifetime donations to the International Foundation) or, at least, become a sustaining member with a donation of $100/year.

Chair of the Day – Linda Jalving

Linda Jalving was born in Detroit, Michigan but was essentially raised in Portland, Oregon where she spent 20-years before moving to San Diego (it took her 3-full years to shake off the delight of waking up most mornings to something other than rain!). She received a degree in Landscape Design and then married a jeweler who convinced her to go into that field. She joined Ben Bridge, which was then family owned, over 20-years ago. Just last year, Ben Bridge was acquired by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway.

As we all know, Linda is an accomplished singer with ties to her church choir, a group known as Silk Stalkings, singing telegrams, SD Civic Chorale, and last but certainly not least, the SD Opera production of Aida. Linda invited us all to the diamond show at Ben Bridge starting tomorrow and she handed out some goodies to the speaker, the birthday boy (Martin Blair), Dan Cleaves for answering the trivia question correctly, and President Colette.

this week’s PROGRAM

Lynn Hamilton introduced Peter Meisen as this week’s speaker. Peter is the head of the Global Energy Network International (“GENI”) and came to educate us on his organization’s goal which is stated as follows:

How do we make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or the disadvantage of anyone?

Peter and his organization is dedicated to creating a global electrical grid supported by renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, tidal and biomass. With advances in conductivity, it is now possible to transmit electricity over long distances (up to 4,000 miles) and the entire earth can be completely connected in one grid. This would allow ALL of humanity to gain access to electricity. Currently, a full one-third (1/3) of the earth’s population lives without electricity, telephones or any other “basic” conveniences we take for granted.

Peter views Rotary International as the United Nations of business and he seeks our support to implement his bold plan. Straight from the GENI website (www.geni.org), the benefits of this program are as follows:

Economic

Linking inter-regional energy grids would:

connect nations into a common economic framework.
reduce demand for fossil fuels, extending the life of our global oil supply.
provide new markets for electricity sales for areas with excess capacity.
allow for purchase of cheaper power from neighbor utilities, saving utilities money.
bring needed income to developing nations, for development and debt repayment, through the export of excess energy.
allow for cheaper power to be delivered from distant locations, often displacing imported, expensive fossil fuels.
offer the U.S. and Russia a mutually beneficial project where military-industrial corporations can be converted to a civilian initiative while maintaining full employment.

Environmental

Extending grid systems:

reduces need for thermal generation (coal, oil, gas).
reduces pollution caused by burning fossil fuels (greenhouse and acid rain gases).
means utilities would eventually only run their most efficient and economical generators.
makes available cheaper renewable energy from sources thousands of miles away, displacing polluting fossil fuels.
makes electricity an export commodity for developing nations - replacing the cutting and selling of trees, reducing the loss of topsoil and rainforests, and slowing the spread of deserts.

International Trade and Cooperation

Western Europe's energy grid has been interconnected for years and is now moving to eliminate all electricity tariffs within the European community by 1992.

Expanding electric energy networks:

will connect neighboring nations into a continuous trading relationship.
will provide instantaneous electricity to all nations - benefiting the economies of first world nations and supporting the economic development of third world countries.
allows electricity flow from areas of excess capacity to areas of demand - a situation that is constantly changing on our rotating planet.
will connect old East-West enemies and first and third world economies. Trading partners rarely go to war; it's not good business to shoot your supplier or customer.

Hunger & Overpopulation

Nations with enough energy for societal needs have a steady population - a condition predicted for third world countries when adequate energy becomes available. Adequate energy and electricity:

provide the infrastructure for a clean water supply (pump, filter, and purify) as well as refrigeration and essential childhood vaccines.
support all elements of the food delivery system: irrigation, transport manufacturing and packaging, refrigeration, and waste disposal.
equals a proportionate reduction in infant mortality rates and, subsequently, in birth rates. Hunger is no longer a society-wide issue. Large families are no longer needed as a means of social security.

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