A Carbon-Negative Approach to Increasing Food Production and Binding Toxins
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 27, 2023
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: A Carbon-Negative Approach to Increasing Food Production and Binding Toxins
Speaker: James Gaspard
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
Dear fellow members,
As we welcome the month of March, we also acknowledge the monthly theme of "Water and Sanitation." Access to clean water and proper sanitation is a basic human right and a crucial factor in promoting good health and preventing the spread of diseases. As Rotarians, we understand the importance of this issue and continue to strive towards ensuring that everyone has access to these basic necessities.
However, we cannot ignore the fact that another crisis is affecting our communities - the mental health crisis. With the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have lost loved ones, had their social networks disrupted, and faced other struggles that have taken a toll on their mental well-being. Unfortunately, the stigma surrounding mental health issues often prevents people from seeking the help they need.
As we move forward with our year's focus on healthcare, let us not forget the importance of promoting awareness in this important area. I was particularly pleased to see that Rotary International President-elect R. Gordon R. McInally will focus on mental health during his term. In alignment with his goals, we can already start addressing mental health by providing resources and information on mental health, hosting programs on mental health, and creating a supportive and inclusive community where members feel comfortable discussing their mental health and seeking support if needed. We as Rotarians can play a crucial role in offering hope to those who are struggling with mental health challenges. We can help break down the barriers that prevent people from seeking help by raising awareness and providing support.
Let us work together to positively impact the lives of those affected by mental health challenges and healthcare issues in general, both within our E-club and beyond.
Yours in Service,
Angelica Marotta, PhD
President 2022-2023 Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
Rotary International District 5170
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!
Team Player
Halfway through dinner one night, our friend told us of his days playing football in college as a defensive lineman.
“Did you play sports in college,” his wife then asked me.
“Yes,” I answered. “I was on West Point’s shooting team.”
“That’s great,” she said, appropriately impressed. “Offense or defense?”
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.
Here's a nice contribution from Shags! The idea of using different spaces and materials for art is not new, but the idea of doing portraits on sheets of ice floating in far-northern latitudes was certainly new to me! Enjoy the work of David Popa in this video from Zenger.
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
Sardines - How Do They Do It?
Here's another "you either like it or you don't" item -- tinned sardines. I happen to be a big fan of the little finny nibbles from a can or jar, as well as those fresh caught in Monterey Bay and delivered frozen by Fishmonger Don. The latter are larger -- about the size of small trout, and I grill them Portuguese style. Look it up!
SERVICE REPORT
Tell us about service you’ve done recently in your community.
Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
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, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it’s appropriate!)
Here are the happy dollars contributions from last week!
This section is usually updated in the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.
PROGRAM: A Carbon-Negative Approach to Increasing Food Production and Binding Toxins
SPEAKER: James Gaspard
Every week we bring to 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 nor 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!
This week's speaker, James Gaspard, is the founder and CEO of Biochar Now. His career in start-ups, mid-size and Fortune 1000 companies has given him a unique perspective on all aspects of a company's life-cycle from birth, through growth and harvest. He graduated from the University of Texas with a JD/MBA with honors.
His topic today is Biochar Now (BN), a company based in Loveland, Colorado. It is the only US-based producer of pure organic biochar meeting the formal approvals of the US EPA, USDA, OMRI, and various foreign government entities. BN's biochar is produced from waste wood that has no current market value, and this waste wood is converted into a valuable product through their patented process.
The company, founded more than a decade ago, has developed, perfected, and patented a 'pyrolysis' technology. The process is unique in that it produces a carbon that has been measured by government labs to have a 17,000-year effective half-life in the soil. This long life of the sequestered carbon allows for BN to qualify for carbon credits with its production of its biochar product. Their carbon is the only known carbon to the US government that embodies both "cation and anion exchange" properties, which allows the binding of environmental toxins and salts whilst permitting advantageous nutrients to be bio-available to flora. BN's success to date has allowed it to reach economies of scale to further its ability to engage in significantly large projects.
Members and guests, please welcome James Gaspard!
To learn more about James, go to:
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 makeups.
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!
Important: Once you submit the Attendance Survey below, please make sure you see the confirmation message. If you get an error message instead, please try the 'submit' button again, and if that doesn't work, please refresh the page and fill out the form again. Thanks!
