Technology's Impact on the Future of Environmental Sustainability
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF Jan 22, 2024
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Technology's Impact on the Future of Environmental Sustainability
Speaker: JT Chevallier & JB Harris
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
To properly attend this meeting, please:
Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
Complete the attendance survey.
Everyone is also encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.
Message from our President
Greetings Members and Friends of Rotary e-Club of Silicon Valley. As President of our Club, I want to welcome you all today.
WEEKLY FUNNY WITH SHAGS
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!
Shopping Problems
I asked a supermarket worker where they kept the canned peaches. He said, "I'll see" and walked away.
He never came back. When I saw another supermarket worker, I asked him. He said, "I'll see" and walked away. He never came back either.
I got tired of waiting and started looking up and down every aisle. I finally found them.
They were in Aisle C.
INSPIRATION
Every week we share a short video highlighting innovation, education, entrepreneurship, or whatever we think might inspire you to see the world in new ways.
We have had a program and a cool update inspirational video from World Bicycle Relief, and it's time to share another! This recent post not only tells the story of an exceptional social benefit effort but is a lesson in design thinking, as well.
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
How Stretching Actually Changes Your Muscles
Malachy McHugh shares the science of stretching and how to improve your flexibility.
Club News
Members
Club Elections are coming soon! Let us know if you are interested in serving our club as an Officer or Board member. We will elect a President-Elect for 2025-2026, Club Secretary, and General Board Members. We also need several Committee Chairs and Member volunteers. If you have thought that your ideas and commitment could have an impact on the future of our club, then this is the right avenue for you to express your talent and time. As a member of the board, you help determine the club's direction and the experience members will have. As a club officer, your leadership will have a direct influence over the direction the club takes during your term. Without volunteering for Club Service, you are missing an opportunity to participate fully in the Rotary experience, and our club cannot grow and function properly without members’ participation at the Board and Committee Chair Levels. If interested, please contact President Nick, President-Elect Mike, or Past-President Rushton no later than January 29th.
eCSV Members Attended District 5170 Mid-Year Reflection Meeting & New Club Charter Celebration. This event was on January 13, 2024. Our Club was represented by Lisa Akselrad, Phil Dean, Rushton Hurley, and Sandy Stabile who are local in Silicon Valley. The event was held in Cupertino CA by DG Hung Wei.
(1) Interactors, (2) Dr. Geeta Kadambi, Ph.D., Fremont Bridge Club, and Lisa Akselrad, (3) Mitty Chang, Rushton Hurley, (4) Sandy Stabile, Phil Dean, (5) Rushton Hurley, Tina Orsi-Hartigan, Los Gatos Club, Camilla Boolootian, Santa Cruz Sunrise, and Lisa Akselrad, (6) Rushton Hurley, Tina Orsi-Hartigan, Los Gatos Club, (7) Interactors
Is your latest information posted on our ClubRunner Members site at: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/8370/Page/ShowHomePage. After logging in, please be sure to access the MyClubRunner tab, and select My Profile. Please update your personal information here, which automatically updates our club directory.
Your Service Hours reporting will now take you directly to your ClubRunner Login and Entry for Volunteer Hours. From this point forward, your Service Hours will report to Rotary from ClubRunner.
TRF and EREY - There’s still time to consider your gift to Rotary for the annual TRF Fund. There are several ways to give: outright payment (Check or Credit Card), monthly payments billed to your credit card, allocation to several funds, etc. Our TRF Chair, Phil Dean will be in touch with us soon regarding your pledge and methods for collecting. Our Club is striving to be designated as “Every Year, Every Rotarian”. Your gift matters, either a small amount or a large amount (that is up to you - we will never tell you how much to give). A portion of our Annual fundgiving will come back to us for our DDF usage.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: 22 JANUARY 2024
The programs of The Rotary Foundation - When the Foundation’s founder Arch C Klumph said: - “The Rotary Foundation is not to build monuments of brick and stone. If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work on brass, time will efface it....but if we work upon immortal minds, if we imbue them with the full meaning of the spirit of Rotary, we are engraving on those tablets something that will brighten all eternity. "
The educational, humanitarian, and PolioPlus Programs are the monuments of the Rotary Foundation and Rotarians should be proud to yell it from the rooftops. We will eradicate polio, hunger, and poverty. We will help the world find peace. By supporting the Rotary Foundation with an annual gift you help build these immortal monuments of Rotary.
Only if Every Rotarian Every Year makes a gift to the Annual Fund we will be able to continue to do the great work of The Rotary Foundation.
This is just one of the many examples of how the Foundation’s humanitarian grant programs can make positive changes for children.
Here is why EREY is important to our Club: Did you know that Rotary conveys a special honor to each Club that achieves 100% member participation contributing to TRF? The award is called Every Rotarian, Every Year (EREY). This year, we ask that you consider a pledge to the TRF Annual Fund in November of at least $25 which will qualify your participation and count towards our Club achieving this honor. Also, please note that the District will have two drawings to encourage donations to the Annual Fund. For the first drawing, each Club will get a chance in the drawing based on their total giving. The more each Club donates the better the chance of winning. The prize is significant as it is $5000 in DDF, worth $9000 when used in a Global Grant. To support smaller Clubs and promote EREY, there is a second drawing where each EREY Club has an equal chance at a prize of $2500 in DDF, worth $4500 when used in a Global Grant. As you may remember, District 5170 had a record-setting year in 2021-22, with over $1 million to the Annual Fund, followed by almost $1 million in 2022-23.
Your generosity is always voluntary and very much appreciated. This year why not help our Club achieve the EREY honor, perhaps, as a result, we will have a shot at some extra DDF funds to continue funding our great service and work as Rotarians.
Remember, to achieve EREY, each Club member needs to make a contribution of at least $25.00 to the Annual Fund. We are happy to accept your check or credit card for the Annual Fund.
District 5170
Read the latest news from District 5170 - https://rotarydistrict5170.org
SERVICE REPORT
Tell us about the service you’ve done recently for the Club or in your community. Also, post here if you attended another Rotary Club meeting this week
Click here to post your Service Hours directly to ClubRunner
SERVICE PROJECT OPPORTUNITIES
For upcoming club projects in District 5170, check out the District 5170 website. Also, if you have some time available for projects, be sure to let your local area Rotary Club know that you are available to volunteer for their upcoming projects.
HAPPY DOLLARS: Do Good by Sharing Something Good
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use.
PROGRAM: Technology's Impact on the Future of Environmental Sustainability
SPEAKER: JT Chevallier & JB Harris
Every week we bring you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub or Rotary International.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
The League to Save Lake Tahoe, in collaboration with ECO-CLEAN Solutions, has introduced an innovative new technology to address beach litter, targeting the most difficult to detect, hard to remove, and potentially harmful litter: tiny bits of plastic that have the potential to become harmful microplastics and other debris. The BEBOT has been recognized by the TRPA as an important Environmental Improvement Project for addressing impacts from recreation and plastics in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
The BEBOT is a solar- and battery-powered, beach-cleaning robot. BEBOT sifts and captures small debris from beach sand to a depth of four inches, without damaging flora and fauna or generating emissions. The robot is capable of cleaning up to 3,000 square meters in an hour. The BEBOT pilot project launched in 2022, and the results proved the importance of trash mitigation on our beaches to help curtail the trash and microplastic issues in the Tahoe Basin.
Click below for a story map that demonstrates the scope and scale of the work BEBOT is capable of. Our project is expanding to full-scale beach cleanups on designated areas in partnership with land management agencies, TRPA, and League to Save Lake Tahoe (Keep Tahoe Blue).
JB Harris has been working in environmental sustainability and technology for 5 years, with a focus on developing and deploying innovative techniques and technologies to mitigate the impacts of aquatic invasive species and hazardous debris removal. His primary role is leadership, strategic partnerships, and executive oversight.
JT Chevallier’s role in this project is to support all aspects of project management, strategic development, public/private funding procurement, permitting, and operational execution. His role as the current Economic Development Director for Alpine County, California has positioned him well to take projects through the public approval and funding process. He has been working in environmental technology and sustainability for over 10 years.
Members and guests, please welcome JB and JT!
To learn more, go to:
https://www.eco-cleansolutions.com
https://www.instagram.com/ecoclean_solutions/
For the story map about BEBOT, go to:
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/7d51e96258144a9e9b7fba0ca604767c
Important Announcement - “Weekly Rotarian” Full Meeting Podcasts
Announcing: Our main program speakers are now available as audio podcasts in addition to YouTube videos! Each week they are available on Spotify, Google, and Apple podcasts.
Or you can simply click below for this week’s speaker:
And our original podcast, featuring Some of the best of our previous speakers is still available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts
UPCOMING PROGRAM RECORDING SCHEDULE
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).
If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
We have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeup.
Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.
For all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
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