February 9, 2009 ENERGY II In the second of three programs about global energy concerns Roger King, interim director of Mississippi State University’s Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS), brings our program today. King will speak from his perspective as former NASA chief technologist forScience Applications. ENERGY III Glenn Steele, director of MSU’s Energy Institute, will complete our energy concerns series. LAST WEEK Invocation and Pledge: Chip Templeton Attendance: There were 119 members (37 exempt, 1 honorary) present, and 80 (18 exempt, 8 honorary) absent. Guests and visitors: Carey Upton of West Point was our visiting Rotarian. Members’ guests were Allegra Brigham (Columbus Rotarian), Lynn Timberooke, Mike Thomas (Ackerman Rotarian) and Rick Misso of Terry Kemp; Glenn Steele of Joe Thompson; Kyle Steward of Amy Tuck; and, Larry Otis (Tupelo Rotarian) of Buddy Staggers. Guests of the Club were Jarred Reneau, Ambassadorial Cultural Scholar, and Taka Sato, Youth Exchange Student. Makeups reported: Judy Couey on line and JC Patton in West Point. No free lunch: The country club has had to increase our lunch price for the first time since we began meeting here. The board has decided to absorb the $1.00 per meal increase in the budget, thus you won’t see a rise in your quarterly bill this fiscal year. RODEO The Rotary Classic Rodeo is this weekend. Remember to turn in your ticket proceeds or unsold tickets today. Each evening’s workers should report by 6:30 p.m. Be ready to work for a couple of hours, but feel free to stay until the rodeo’s end. Adding to the festivities will be a Valentine’s Day celebration drawing for roses and dinners for two on Saturday night. Rotary Minute: President-elect Martha Wells reminded us of the crusade against polio in the U.S. in the 20th century. Recounting her and Mike Vance’s own journey to participate in the Rotary Polio Plus campaign in India, she presented a personal check to our local foundation for Rotary International’s current drive to match the Gates Foundation’s $255 million challenge grant. Kudos: This year’s Greater Starkville Development Partnership awards banquet had Rotary written all over it. Keith Remy brought home the T.E. Veitch Community Service Award, named for a former Club president. Shelton and Briar Jones received the R. Clay Simmons Exemplary Enterprise Award. The Starkville Area Arts Council, under Briar’s leadership, received the Crystal Pineapple Tourism award. Jon Maynard, Terry Kemp and Carolyn Jackson were among the masters of ceremony. More Kudos: President Chip noted Rotarian Frances Coleman’s success as dean of MSU libraries in the acquisition of the presidential papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Mike Hainsey and others were complimented for the Golden Triangle Regional Airport’s new direct service link to Memphis. ENERGY AND GLOBAL WARMING - ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE Challenging popular opinion, Wayne Henson, East Mississippi Electric Power Association executive director, presented the Club with data questioning the magnitude of global environmental change. Arguing for balance in the debate, he summarized his position in four points:
Henson based his argument on the fact that carbon dioxide is less than 0.05 percent by volume of the Earth’s atmosphere. Of all CO2 emissions approximately 3 percent is manmade. That means humans are directly responsible for only less than .00002 percent of emissions. Data displayed in Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” must be analyzed from a different angle said Henson. The information is derived from glacial ice core samples. “If an increase in CO2 does in fact cause an increase in temperature, as the conventional school of thought on global warming would have us believe, then we would expect to see the temperature rise shortly after a rise in CO2,” said Henson. “However, the data actually show the temperature rising before the CO2 rise. In fact, changes in CO2 actually lag the corresponding changes in temperature by an average of about 800 years.” He pointed out that the movie’s graph covers such a large period, 650,000 years, that the 800 year lag is unnoticeable to the viewer. Henson asserted that the scale creates an optical illusion. While it appears that the peaks coincide, they actually are separated by centuries. Citing statistics from his Meridian home-base, he noted a decreasing trend line indicating a cooling of the environment. According to Henson, atmospheric temperature records show 1934 as the hottest year on record. The next warmest year on record is 1998. Four of the top 10 warmest years on record are in the 1930s. Only 3 of the top 10 are in the last decade. However, since 1998 temperatures have actually trended down. Last year, 2007-08, showed increased cooling with more snow than usual. Henson chairs the Environmental Committee of the Electric Power Associations of Mississippi. The group encourages debate of the energy/environment issue. With concerns about energy provisions in the current economic stimulus debate, their positions are:
Henson says the group believes a carbon tax might be the best approach. |