We were pleased to be entertained by Sheila Pepper, at this time almost one of our own
We were pleased to be entertained by Sheila Pepper, at this time almost one of our own. She and Ken, her learned husband, are departing our fine climate for their home in Ottawa (where it snowed the day before Sheila spoke to us). She addressed the topic of her visit to Israel, a visit apparently on behalf of her Church, her great-grandfather having provided all of the cachet required for her representation, he having been the archbishop of Toronto many years ago. (This visit was also one of some moment, Ken and Sheila having just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.)
Her pilgrimage to Jerusalem was somewhat singular however, Israel and Jerusalem being the most sacred of places to all of the monotheistic religions. She showed us pictures of Haifa and Nazareth, of many churches, mosques and synagogues, and of the Wailing Wall, divided into the small area set aside for women and the larger area for men. In fact we had quite a talk about the discriminatory nature of these religions, some attention being given to the distinction given to women being prohibited from wearing culottes as opposed to skirts. Rather depressing actually, leavened only by the ingenious overcoming of copyright by the coffee shop “Star & Bucks”.
Alison is the founder of “Voices for our Planet”. She explained that her organization promotes awareness of nonprofit groups to help find solutions to wildlife conservation and also humanitarian issues at home and abroad. She has been interested in wildlife conservation since her first visit to a zoo as a child. This imprinted on her a life long need to work toward their preservation.
She is also President of RouteOne Research which provides business planning services for business owners.
With both companies she stressed the need for the use of social media and how it impacts our lives. She gave an interesting review on how marketing works by using social media to solve business problems, promote understanding and help individuals and groups reach their goals. A discussion ensued as to how these actions can and do relate to Rotary Clubs.
Our speaker today was our own Lydia, who attended the ‘Peace and Environment’ rotary conference.
Our speaker today was our own Lydia, who attended the ‘Peace and Environment’ rotary conference a few Saturdays ago. The event was far more popular than had been anticipated, even to the extent of running out of programmes. Fortunately the far more serious issue, that of running out of food, was avoided, but apparently only by the last few buns. There was an imposing selection of speakers, dominated, it would seem, by women, in particular the grand-daughter of the original Rosedale Book of Organic Gardening.
Topics were interesting in part because of most of the participants’ ethnocentrism: we have little or no knowledge of woodsmoke’s effect upon pollution simply because it does not figure in our collective consciousness. Another interesting sidebar was the strange tales of trees in some cases looking after their own kind, a phenomenon noted by Lydia is an example of a stump, carbo-dated to be 500 years’ old, which had no ability to sustain itself but which was deliberately fuelled by nearby trees, which for centuries had sustained the life of a tree theoretically far too old to survive.
Speakers included the controversial David Suzuki, who even in this forum proved divisive, the team of Alberta rotarians leaving en bloc as he spoke. Another interesting speaker was a New Westminster employee whose task was to design and maintain waste facilities: a paid position that few other cities or municipalities seem to have thought to be necessary. Further, a packaging expert (there must be experts in packaging - we should find one to talk to us: your correspondent believes that such a presentation would be either the most interesting or lexiphanic of subjects that we are likely to encounter).
Lydia also described for us one of those very coincidental meetings that one suspects most of us, sometimes unknowing, encounter during our meanderings throughout life. This young Chinese lady had achieved a Peace Fellowship and a scholarship to a US University. Apparently she and Lydia had enjoyed a deep conversation on the absorbing subject of the best way to cook potato pancakes. The main surprise arising from this deep discussion, one might think, is that the Chinese cuisine is not that well attuned to cooking potatoes, but this appears to be a complete misconception. Thus, another lesson in how varied is humankind.
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