RCO Meeting July 5, 2021
Rotary Club of Oakville
Meeting of July 5, 2021 – via ZOOM
By Rod Craig
The meeting was called to order by President Michael at 7:00pm with a toast to Queen and Canada. The invocation was provided by George Farrow.
Attendance:
A total of 20 people signed into the Zoom meeting – 16 members plus 4 guests
- Najwa Awad – Amin’s guest
- Catherine Hurley – Bob Dodds’ guest
- Michael Pavan & James Weber – speakers and members of the Passport Rotary Club and Halton Rotaract Club respectively
President Michael gave a quick presentation on what he wants to achieve over the next 12 months
Happy Bucks & Fines:
We had a lot of happy people telling us why they were happy, including:
- Mitch was happy about his recent promotion at Mohawk College
- Frank was happy that he is currently attending Rotary meetings in Johannesburg
Amin then asked some interesting and fun Rotary based questions
The speakers, Michael Pavan & James Weber representing the District Environment Committee, were introduced by Michael Bissauge
- What can we do? Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something – the power of one!
- Michael gave some examples of what each of us can do, including making a personal pledge
- He explained the carbon footprint and water intake for a variety of different foods
- He then laid down a couple of simple challenges
- Replace all lightbulbs in your house with LED lightbulbs, if you have not done this already
- Try a plant-based burger – veggie burgers have come a long way in recent years
- What can our club do?
- Have an Enviro Champion
- Start an Environmental Committee
- Educate & Engage
- Do a monthly Enviro Challenge
- Complete an Enviro Project
- James mentioned a number of Rotary projects from around the Rotary world, and the types of projects that will attract RI funding
- RI has already spent $18m on Enviro Projects, and has another $15m in the pipeline
- He encouraged us to read the Enviro Articles in the Rotary Magazine
- He asked us to check out www.totary.org/environment
- Reena asked whether the removal of toxic chemicals was an area that would be attractive for RI project grants
- Ralf asked about potential cluster projects, as an introduction to (way forward to) club projects
- Mike H mentioned Toronto’s potential plans to ban 2 stroke leaf blowers, given their effect on the environment
Michael and James were thanked by Gary Comerford, for their interesting and topical presentation
Next Meetings
- July 19 Bashshar Atif Adventures in Citizenship + Bob M classification talk
- August 9 GF's Backyard BBQ
- August 23 Club Assembly I
President Michael closed the meeting at just after 8pm, with a toast to friends and Rotarians around the world.