Rotary 14

January 27, 2009 Meeting

 PRE REPORT: Join us on Tuesday, January 27, when our speaker will be Dr. Frank R. Rack, Executive Director of the ANDRILL Science Management Office at UNL. The ANDRILL Program is a multinational effort to understand climate records from sites proximal to Antarctica’s ice margins by investigating long sediment cores recovered from the continental margin. ANDRILL’s science objectives are to explore Antarctica’s response to climatic forcing over a wide range of boundary conditions, to address how changes in the Antarctic environment are represented in the geologic archive provided by sedimentary rock cores, and to understand how these records inform us about changes that might be expressed in the future. The Antarctic cryosphere (ice sheets, ice shelves, sea-ice) and marginal seas play fundamental roles in the global ice/ocean/climate system. Obtaining a history of Antarctica’s response to local, regional, and global forcing is critical for understanding past and future ice-ocean-atmospheric circulation and feedbacks within Earth’s climate system. Join us on Tuesday for a brief overview of the ANDRILL Program and a discussion of its significance in the broad scope of the science of climate change.

POST REPORT: It’s simply amazing what you can learn by studying dirt...well, the more proper term would be sediment cores. For example, by studying cores from thousands of feet below the earth’s surface, we’ve learned that there’s a proven correlation between CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels and the average temperature of the atmosphere. Dr. Frank Rack, Executive Director of the University of Nebraska ANDRILL Program (http://www.andrill.org/), focused on obtaining and analyzing sediment cores from the core of the earth near the South Pole, noted that the studies so far have clearly shown that the earth has gone through some 50 cycles of warming then cooling. In each instance, a rise in CO2 was accompanied by a rise in temperature. The information about these cycles comes from the sediment core samples that date back some six million years. The ANDRILL Program involves some 45 scientists who oversee a program to drill into the earth’s core from an ice shelf in the Antarctic. Each summer they drill for 90 to 120 days when they can set up the equipment and go deep enough to access sediment for analysis. Funding for the program comes from the National Science Foundation. The resulting data contributes to worldwide studies focused on long-term changes that we can predict into the future by looking at changes in the past.

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January 6, 2009 Meeting

PRE REPORT: Ernie Goss is the MacAllister Chair and Professor of Economics at Creighton University. Dr. Goss is well known for his commentary on Midwestern economic conditions, which he obtains from studying monthly surveys of CEOs in rural areas of eleven states and supply managers in twelve states. In April 2008 the Platte Institute for Economic Research published a study conducted by Dr. Goss titled: “Nebraska’s Tax Competitiveness: Should I Live in Nebraska”, which compares Nebraska’s tax burden to bordering states. Currently he is conducting research on governmental spending in Nebraska compared to bordering states for the Platte Institute.

POST REPORT: The “other Ernie”, Dr. Ernie Goss, Professor of Economics at Creighton University, called Nebraska “insulated not isolated” from the nation’s economic slowdown. Goss said Nebraska fared better than other states because of our steady farm income and solid banks. Goss made two suggestions to Nebraska lawmakers: control spending at the local level and reduce state aid to education.

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December 9th, 2008 Meeting

Natalia Ledford began filming a documentary about Sudanese refugees who attended school with her at Lincoln High. She was selected to receive the Freedom Forum’s Free Spirit Award and a $50,000 college scholarship. Today she is a freshman journalism student at the University of Nebraska. Her film depicts the life stories of these incredible refugees, and the impact they have on Natalia, as she became close friends with them. She has recently completed the project, which will be aired on NET at a time that is yet to be announced. Natalia will present a ten-minute clip of the film and explain why she wanted to do the project, and what she hopes its impact will be on those who see it.  

The International Faces in Lincoln – If you watch things unfold in the Nebraska Club on a typical Tuesday at noon, you’ll see lots of people warmly greeting one another as they come into our Rotary meetings. Many of us grew up in Lincoln. Others have moved here from cities across the state. And a few others came from other states. Because of our roots in Nebraska and a few other states, we have little idea what it’s like to move here from another country. Our eyes were opened to the increasingly international flavor in Lincoln and Nebraska as Natalia Ledford, a freshman at the University of Nebraska, shared her passion for reaching out to those who have moved here from other countries. Just a year ago, as a senior at Lincoln High School, Natalia was touched by the life stories of many of her fellow students, especially refugees from a 20-year civil war in the Sudan. She was so touched, in fact, that she borrowed her dad’s video camera to begin some interviews and has ended up in the high-tech editing suites of NET Television as an intern. The result, soon to be aired on NET, is a deeply touching documentary about Sudanese refugees that should be a must on your programs to watch. And, while you’re waiting for the show to air, you can volunteer to tutor one or more of these students. Contact Lincoln Public Schools for more information.

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