Last Thursday’s speaker was Will Bakx, formerly of Sonoma Compost and now an owner of Renewable Sonoma. From 1993 to 2015, under Will's guidance Sonoma Compost operated under an exclusive contract with the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency to turn waste at the Central Landfill into compost. After closing Sonoma Compost Will and his partner have reinvented composting in Sonoma County by starting up Renewable Sonoma. This project will be a partnership with a general contractor, EPC, and an operations company, Suez, and will include a new receiving, sorting and grinding facility plus a state-of-the art Anaerobic Digester. The facility will be a complete organic composting operation powered by biogas generated by the digester and solar. The entire facility should be carbon negative!
Composting is extremely important for our ecosystem. Organics in our landfills are a waste of usable materials and create a huge methane problem. Methane is a significant contributor to carbon emissions. The State of California is mandating strong limits and reductions on what goes into landfills. Renewable Sonoma’s goal is to “Reduce, Reuse and Recyle.” It will facilitate reuse of lumber and plants, as well as other compostable material.
Composting is also a key to the reduction of global warming. Increasing carbon in the soil decreases carbon in the atmosphere in a process Will refers to as “downdraw.” Will believes that we should stop focusing on the reduction of carbon emissions and instead focus on increasing carbon in the soil. Will also referred to the concept of carbon sequestration, which includes the using soil and plants to capture airborne carbon and deposit it into the soil.
Will hopes that the facility will be operational by 2022, but this goal may be overly ambitious. He’s working on it!! Thanks, Will for the great talk and for your long history of service to this County. We can’t wait to see Renewable Sonoma in operation!
On a regular basis, our resident photo pro Warren Smith, submits pictures of what is going on at the weekly meetings. You can always find the most recent pictures at the websites photo journal called "Meeting Sighting" Please note that all the meeting photos for the entire Rotary year are at this location with the most recent on the last page.
Thanks for all the great pictures Warren!Link to Meeting Sightings. The most recent are on the last page!
Posted by Rich Randolph, Warren Smith on Jun 30, 2019
President's Pen
The words on that fantastic cake express my sentiments precisely for the privilege of holding the gavel of Sunrise President this past year! This past Saturday's Debunking swingingly sealed the record on my living the dream of Past Rotary International President Cliff Dochterman's ode: "If I Could Be President Again" I woke up to the truth of the Fifth Way-Test: "WILL EVERYONE HAVE FUN? I sure did!!!
and the food was great too
Immediate Past President Doug Shureen `with creative spouse Barbara and energetic daughter Maddy crafted a classic car theme paired to Rich's automotive affinity.
Zoe Fuentes, Carmen's 5 month-young knows she is in the caring confident hands of Penny Millar, mom & grandma several times over.
Fonseca's Javier, Ana Lucia and Luciana, longtime friends of Sunrise joined to toast and mildly roast Rich.
Prominent in this shot are supportive spouses Dee Dee Bridges by Max, Carol Carlenzoli and Leroy, and Ardys Jones flanking John. Cheers for our tolerant tandems.
Paul's interest in membership has a focus on a more youthful demographic.
Marty Behr, Incoming President has a dawning realization that his three-year waiting period is OVER!
Carmen even got a chance to hold her Zoe.
Maddy Shureen added her vitality, decorating and recent travel accounts.
Get a grip Rich, or at least a good magnet. Golden Hammer Leroy Carlenzoli gave Rich a comprehensive tool tutoring, capped off with a drilling skill-test which Leroy handily won. Rich learned a few new tools he could use and Betsy lamentably looked on with thoughts of less room in the garage!
Yes, the Fifth-Way Test makes our time together a fest!
Ana Lucia Fonseca brought her classic charm and smile.
Doug masterfully Emcee'd the event, with his honed skill of oratory, text and Fifth-Way jest & fest: Thank you Doug!!
Paul O'Rear accepts Sunrise' Rotarian of the Year recognition. He did what matters ...and and a Lot of It! Paul spearheaded the Club's fundraiser Puttin' on the Ritz, generating over $20K for Sonoma County's Life Works multi-service agency and over $30K for other Sunrise outreach. Paul's can & will do attitude with fruitful follow up exemplify the 2018-2019 International Theme: Be the Inspiration, Do What Matters!! Well Done Paul!!
Bernie proclaims revolution is the only way. Elizabeth is confident about her plans. Pete will take responsibility for even an anguished mess. Marianne knows that love conquers all. Kamala is on fire. And all the while Donald is laughing.
But two others have some overriding answers -- Jared Diamond and Paul Harris. One is terrifying. The other reassuring.
Amazon reports that Diamond's new book, Upheavel: turning Points for Nations in Crisis,compares how six countries have survived recent upheavals through mechanisms such as acknowledgment of responsibility, painfully honest self-appraisal, and learning from models of other nations. Diamond examines how the United States and the whole world are coping with the grave crises they currently face and recommends coping mechanisms adopted by individuals recovering from personal crises.
However, Joseph Epstein, in the May cover article of The Rotarian, "The Four Way Truth in a post- truth era," has recently discovered the answer to current "spin, relativism, point of view" and other options being touted in political, philosophical and other circles, including the ones where all of us live. It is the first of the Rotary Four Way Tests. Is it the Truth?
David Sarasohn continues this conversation on a uniquely personal level in his accompanying May Rotarian article, "Putting Civility back into Civil Discourse," which gives me hope for having loving conversations with a brother who is politically estranged from me. And, Paul Harris may have the answer that so many are grasping for in this current milieu of exasperation and contention.
The Four Way Test:
That covers it all! Rotary has the answer and has tested it time and time again!
I love to travel! I even enjoy the mundane process of getting from here to there. But last year, my wife, Gay, and I had one of those experiences that would strain the optimism of even the most cheerful traveler. We found ourselves with six hours to wait, at an airport where we were not scheduled to be, on a day we had not planned still to be traveling, having woken up that morning at a hotel unknown to us the night before. It was one of those days.
As we waited at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, Gay and I took a walk to people watch. We went from one end of the terminal to the other and back, looking at every gate, every destination, every group of people waiting for their flights.
Each gate was its own island of humanity. When we walked down the center of the concourse, we were in New York, moving along with everyone in one river. But when you veered off into those seats, you left that current and landed on an island. You were already in Delhi or Paris or Tel Aviv.
As we started our walk, I thought: "All these different people, all these different countries, all in one place. This is like Rotary!" But as we walked past gate after gate, I realized something. It was not like Rotary at all. Because everyone in that river was heading for an island. And every island stayed an island. The people heading to Taipei might be talking to one another, but they were not talking to the people heading to Cairo or Lagos.
Contrast that with Rotary. Rotary allows us to connect with one another, in deep and meaningful ways, across our differences. It connects us with people we would never otherwise have met, who are more like us than we ever could have known. It connects us with our communities, to professional opportunities, and to the people who need our help.
Connection is what makes the experience of Rotary so very different from walking along that concourse at JFK Airport. In Rotary, none of us is an island. All of us are in Rotary together, whoever we are, wherever we are from, whatever language we speak or traditions we follow. We are all connected to one another — part of our communities and members not only of our clubs, but also of the global community to which we all belong.
This connection is what lies at the heart of the Rotary experience. It is what brings us to Rotary. It is why we stay. Please join your fellow Rotarians on this journey as Rotary Connects the World.
In the summer of 2018, Maximiliano (Max) Toledo made history — at age 25, he was the youngest person ever to run for office in the state of Tabasco, Mexico, where he was an independent candidate for District 6 of the state Chamber of Deputies. Although he didn’t win, Toledo found the experience inspiring. “It showed me that we can think big and act locally,” he says. Toledo, a contract lawyer who helped found the Rotaract Club of Tabasco Bicentenario in Villahermosa, Mexico, and is now a member of the Rotary Club of Villahermosa, says his experiences in Rotary have been invaluable to building his skills as a leader.
Q: How did you get started in Rotary?
A: I was practically born into Rotary. My aunt and uncle have been in Rotary for many years. My brother, Mike, went to Austria with Rotary Youth Exchange, and I did the same in 2009-10. When I got back home, I joined my brother in a Rotaract club, and we started doing big service projects. Then I co-founded a new Rotaract club. I also went to Germany with the New Generations Service Exchange program, and as part of that program in 2015 I did an internship with the German government. I got to know many Rotarians there.
Q: How did you get started in politics?
A: There were big earthquakes here in Mexico in 2017, and everything started there. We started a campaign to bring help to all the communities that were affected. Because my brother and I had been exchange students, we asked for help from our international friends. We brought tents to people who had lost their homes. When we started doing that, everybody started saying to me, “We want you to run for office.”
Q: What issues did you focus on as a candidate?
A: I was and I am still concerned about public safety. Also, I was seeking more opportunities for young people, and better public places. We wanted government finances to be more transparent. I was asking for improvements to public health care. I was asking that we cut the economic support that the parties receive [from taxpayers] almost in half. The parties have an excessive amount of money. I ran as an independent, without a party. We believe that money could be used for something else.
Q: Will you continue to be involved in politics?
A: Absolutely. I knew when I entered into it that this would be my life. I keep going to the community; I visit people who supported me during the campaign. I’m in a position where I can do something. You realize that people are up for change; they just need an example and the right leadership.
Q: How did your experiences with Rotary influence your campaign?
A: Rotary formed me as a leader. I learned a lot in Rotaract. And through New Generations Service Exchange, I had the opportunity to go abroad and see different ways of doing things. I want to bring some of the good ideas I have seen in other parts of the world to the people here in my own community. For me, it has been life-changing. If young people can achieve the things that we did in the campaign, we can fight for bigger things.
— Nikki Kallio
Rotary is dedicated to developing the next generation of leaders. Learn more about our youth programs at rotary.org/youth-programs.
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
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