Supporting the Environment the Rotary Way
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF Mar. 16, 2026
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Supporting the Environment the Rotary Way
Speaker: DeAnna Pursai
Is this your first time visiting 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 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 encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.
Greetings Members, Rotarians, Friends and Guests:
Want to Learn More About Us? - Who We Are, What We Do, Why We Do It
Want to become a Rotarian? - Join us in helping to make the world a better place!
Thanks for joining our weekly meeting!
Cal Mann - Club Member
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!
It takes me 10 minutes to walk from my house to the local bar, and it takes me 30 minutes to walk back home
...the difference is staggering.
Inspiration
You're about to see a story of a boy whose father is in jail. If you had the power to help a child like Francisco by donating a book to a prison, would you do it? What if you have that power now, but didn't know?
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
Space Junk!
The weirdest stuff orbiting Earth - Jim Bentley and Imogen Ellen Napper
Are you receiving the Members Only Weekly Bulletin?
Our Club News and Member links are now on the Members Only ClubRunner Site and are emailed weekly as a Club Bulletin. Please make sure your email address is current on ClubRunner.
Members, be sure to read our Weekly Club Bulletin, which is sent separately to your email address from ClubRunner each Monday. In it, you will find updates and information about what our members are up to, club activities, projects, Happy Dollars, news from District 5170, and various ways you can support The Rotary Foundation. We also send your Dues notices using ClubRunner email.
Our Weekly Bulletin, sent every Monday, provides club information. To stay informed, please ensure your email is current on ClubRunner and add mailservice@clubrunner.ca to your address book so it does not go into Spam.
PROGRAM: Supporting the Environment the Rotary Way
SPEAKER: DeAnna Pursai
We bring you a new program every week on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education and how they contribute to service to others.
This week we'll hear about a personal climate journey and its relationship to Rotary environmental projects locally and internationally. Protecting the environment was added as Rotary's 7th Area of Focus in 2020.
DeAnna Pursai is a proud dual Rotarian, member of the San Jose Rotary Club since 2015 and an honorary member of the Saratoga Rotary Club since 2022. She’s been a founding member of the Rotary Climate Action Committee of San Jose, and now serves as the District 5170 Climate Action Council Chair as well as the Vice Chair of the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group BigWest Chapter. She is a trained climate ambassador with Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, and she’s a member of Climate Citizens Lobby and Mothers Out Front. She's got a personal mission to talk about climate each day to anyone she can.
In her professional career, DeAnna Pursai holds a Master's in Education Policy Analysis in the School of Education from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an undergraduate degree in Elementary and Special Education from Purdue University. DeAnna was named a CNN Hero in 2021 and has been named an Architect of Change on the Maria Shriver blog in 2015. She proudly serves on the board of Christmas in the Park. She is big sister to Angel Ellenberger, who happens to have Down syndrome and is an exquisite actress, entertainer and comedian. DeAnna gave a TEDx talk in Helsinki, Finland, on the theme of Amplifying Silent Voices in October, 2025.
Members and guests, please welcome Rotarian DeAnna Pursai!
To learn more, go to:
To learn more about ESRAG, go to:
https://esrag.org/
District 5170 Climate Action Committee:
https://www.rotarydistrict5170.org/climate-action/
Katherine Hayhoe's TED Talk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/katharine_hayhoe_the_most_important_thing_you_can_do_to_fight_climate_change_talk_about_it
Hayhoe's book: Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World
https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Us-Climate-Scientists-Healing-ebook/dp/B08BZW2BQG/
To learn more about the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley, go to:
http://rotary.cool
Our Three Podcast Series
Our main program speakers are available as podcasts in addition to YouTube videos! Each week, they are available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, as well as many other platforms.
Our weekly podcast is now called:
Inspiring People - Stories of Innovation and Service
Inspiring Solutions for a Better World
Our original podcast, featuring some of the best of our previous speakers, is still available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and many other platforms.
Inspiring Women: Celebrating Trailblazers
Our newest podcast celebrates trailblazing women. It is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and many other platforms.
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!
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!
