April 16, 2024 -CLUB DAY
Celebrating our Honorary members
Our Honorary members have contributed incredibly to our club over the years. They are all very accomplished professionals as well. We are grateful to have them part of our Rotary community and are looking forward to expressing it in person. Please join us.
Apr 23, 2024 SPEAKER SERIES Ken McCance & David Hoag, World Bicycle Relief Canada
Topic: Bikes for Girls: Changing the World, One Bike at a Time
Apr 30, 2024 REGULAR SPEAKER MEETING
Victoria Jung, Chair of the Vancouver School Board
This special event centers Denise and Rumana for a thoughtful conversation about Rumana's personal journey from Bangladesh to Vancouver, the UBC community that supported her escape from domestic abuse, and the global effort to expose and combat intimate-partner violence
If you haven't met Rumana, she is a truly inspirational person to talk to/listen to. Her resilience and positivity is absolutely awe inspiring. This event will be well worth your time to attend.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
6:30 pm — 9:00 pm
Jack Poole Hall, Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre (6163 University Blvd)
TICKETS:This event is free and open to the public. Please register to attend.
If you are unable to attend the book launch on April 23, Denise Chong will host a book talk on Saturday, April 27 from 2:00pm–3:00pm at the Vancouver Public Library (Central Branch). Learn more.
Due notice having been given; the following individual member has been declared elected as a member of the Club.
Welcome back to returning Rotarian
Sean Chan
Finance - Corporate Advisory
*
Bill Davidson Apr 02
Myron Kuzych Apr 06
Aaron Lacey Apr 07
Graham Coleman Apr 12
at our Club
Lulu Wang 2 years
Tugce Irtenk 6 years
Sandra Lowe 6 years
Gerry Glazier 10 years
Doug Kellough 37 years
Tim Ikavalko 43 years
Tom Calkin 43 years
Paul McCrea 57 years
wedding
Daniel Hawreluk & Diana Gehriger 5 years Apr 06
Bill & Wendy Dauphinee 58 years Apr 07
* come in person to celebrate your birthday with Purdy's chocolates!!
Last Meeting April 02, 2024
Jason Boudreau, President, chaired the meeting and gave the invocation.
Catherine Darley, Secretary, hosted ZOOM
Jim Evans, Sergeant at Arms, introduced guests
Chair’s Announcements:
Welcome to our guests, new and returning, as well as our own members who have taken time out of busy schedules to attend. We are grateful to see new faces, remember guests are ALWAYS welcome at our meetings.
Secretary's announcements:
reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above)
birthdays, member club anniversaries, wedding anniversaries (see above)
Members' moments and special presentations:
Ryan Crean was presented with a Paul Harris Fellow - RI's way to acknowledge and thank individuals for their generosity in supporting The Rotary Foundation. Congratulations and thank you Ryan!
Franz Gehriger promoted the upcoming Irish Pub social on April 9th. 6:00 @ Donnellan’s The Forge in Gastown. Invitations were sent via email. See above for more info and to register. This event will be in lieu of a luncheon meeting April 9th.
Franz made available promotional cards for the Ride for Hearing. Please take some to distribute in your own communities, e.g., at the coffee shop, bike shop, grocery store, etc.
John Hayto promoted the upcoming President's Gala Dinner, Back to Black. It will be a black tie optional event on Friday May 24th at the Terminal City Club, cost per person $135. The purpose will be to recognize Jason and also the recent presidents for whom we were unable to celebrate until now. It will be a FUN event, open to friends and family. Registration will be forthcoming soon.
Nathan Hesketh promoted the hoop-a-thon coming up on April 20th. They have recruited a ringer, Steve Ingram (Mindy Tulsi-Ingram's spouse). Pledge sheets are provided at our lunch meetings. An email has been sent to everyone with more info and the links to donate. All funds raised go to help the youth of Britannia and Strathcona.
Phil Webber let us know that our member, Rumana Monzur, will be interviewed at UBC on Tuesday April 23rd for a book launch. The book, Out of Darkness, is about Rumana's incredible journey. Rumana, though we don't see her at our meetings, is still active and has been instrumental in starting the Interact club at her daughter's school. See above for more info.
Program - REGULAR MEETING SPEAKER:
Rohan Aurora introduced speaker Dana Doleszar. Dana works with Stop Ecocide Canada to bring up awareness and working to make the wilful destruction of nature an international crime.
What is ecocide? It is a term used to describe wilful and mass destruction of the environment. From the Stop Ecocide Canada website:
Ocean damage:
Overfishing and overextraction
Unsustainable practices like bottom trawling, factory fishing and open pen aquaculture wreak massage damage on marine wildlife ecosystems threatening the health, resilience and productivity of our ocean.
We extract from the water the equivalent of 45% of the biomass of the entire human species (177.8 Mt )each year!
Oil spills
Many examples, the worst being Deepwater Horizon 2010 which formed a slick extending over more than 57,500 square miles (149,000 square km), with an estimated 1,100 miles (1,770 km) of shoreline polluted.
Chemical and Plastic Pollution
Plastic production is set to triple in the next three decades while the planet and our bodies choke in plastics and the chemicals associated with them. These are killing the ocean micro and macro flora and fauna and end up as microplastics on the seabed floor if they have not made their way into the guts of creatures.
Deep sea mining
This young extractive industry is already provoking calls for a moratorium due to impacts of physical disruption and pollution in the Pacific.
Deforestation:
Industrial livestock farming
Cattle ranching forbeef production is the single biggest reason for Amazon deforestation along with growing soy for animal feed.
Mineral extraction
Copper, iron ore and gold mining as well as oil drilling all contribute to deforestation as well as creating additional harm via contamination of land and river systems.
Palm oil & wood production
These are key causes of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Land and water contamination:
Oil spills
The Niger Delta has suffered from continuous oil spills over many decades of extraction and is still one of the most polluted regions on Earth.
Mining
From goldmining to mountaintop removal, mining of all kinds has a record of serious land and water contamination.
Tar sands
The Athabasca tar sands in Alberta, Canada are the biggest of these operations, devastating wildlife, indigenous lands and creating scars visible from space.
Fracking
The toxic effects of unconventional oil and gas extraction are extensively documented and cumulative.
Textile chemicals
The textile industry has huge polluting impact via wastewater e.g., from dyeing and tanning.
The list goes on.
Proposing an additional international law to the Rome Statute is what Stop Ecocide Canada has been advocating. The Rome Statute is one of the most powerful legal documents in the world. To do this will incorporate 4 simple steps.
Proposal
Admissibility
Adoption into the statute
Ratification, ensuring enforcement of the law.
The ultimate goal is to stop ecocide from happening in the first place rather than punishing acts after the damage is done. Education and change in company policies is the key.
Links of interest:
The Stop Ecocide International website is where you can find the most information and updates on the campaign: CLICK HERE
Their Canadian Petition (e-4854) can be found here and is running for only 30 more days, ending at the start of May: CLICK HERE
On their YouTube channel you can find recordings of their previous panel discussions including this one on The Business Case for Ecocide Law: CLICK HERE
Finally, Podcast for the Planet can be found here: CLICK HERE
Meeting adjourned with a toast to stopping ecocide.
