Katie Dukeshire called the meeting to order and Sam Holt led the Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance (welcome back, Sam!).
Announcements
- Welcome new member, Ben Wooten!
Happy Clams
- Chuck Stedman celebrated the numerous recent UNC basketball wins – regular season, vs Pitt, vs Notre Dame, ACC champions. Go Heels!
- Dick O’Donnell shared details of Bill Johnston’s new book, Strategies for Cats.
Dr. Charles Sydnor – Climate Change Impact on Farming
Mike Dunning, Rotary member since 1996 and previous Club President and Assistant District Governor, introduced our speaker, Dr. Charles Sydnor. Dr. Sydnor is currently an ophthalmologist with Alamance Eye Center. He is a graduate of University of Virginia School of Medicine and completed is residency at Duke University Medical Center.
In addition to his role as an ophthalmologist, Dr. Sydnor has a passion for farming and understanding ecological systems. He owns a farm in Snow Camp called Breaburn Farm where he raises beef for The Eddy, The Saxapahaw General Store and Company Shops Market. You can also purchase beef directly from the farm store.
He explains the number one goal of farming is to do no harm to the ecologic system but unfortunately we are doing enormous harm to agriculture today. This harm is creating many of the medical problems we see in western civilization (hypertension, obesity, etc).
By the year 2100, three US counties have been identified as possibly being depopulated due to ecologic system damage. Two of the three counties are in North Carolina, Hyde County and Tyrell County.
Dr. Sydnor says climate mitigation should be our focus. One way to do this is to reintroduce carbon from the air into the soil. Plants do this naturally and our goal should be to farm without breaking the surface of the soil. Dr. Sydnor practices this process on his local farm.
Dr. Sydnor hopes farmers will eventually be paid more for their ecologic system vs their crop.
Program Schedule
- March 22 – James Honeycutt
- March 29 – Club Assembly
- April 5 – Don Jennings
- April 12 – Ryan Keur
The meeting was adjourned and we all stood to recite the Rotary Four Way Test. Until next time…