WELCOME!!
to this week's meeting of
The Rotary E-Club of Canada One
For the week beginning March 31, 2025
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Complete the form for a make-up!
Please leave a donation to assist our club to do Rotary's good works!
to this week's meeting of
The Rotary E-Club of Canada One
For the week beginning March 31, 2025
Scroll down to enjoy the content!
Complete the form for a make-up!
Rotary International President – Stephanie Urchik
And for our clubs -
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Greeter this week
Rotarian avatar
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An ECO Moment
Inspirational moment
🌎 Caring for Our Earth 🌳
"Rotarians are uniquely positioned to make a positive impact on our environment.
"Rotarians are uniquely positioned to make a positive impact on our environment.
Small steps, taken together, can lead to significant change.
By setting an example and fostering collaboration, we can help ensure a sustainable and thriving planet for generations to come."
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Canadiana
Newfoundland Standard Time (NST) is one of the few time zones in the world that is offset by a half-hour rather than a full hour.
Here's a deeper look into how this unique time zone came to be:
The 1884 International Meridian Conference and Standard Time
• Before time zones were standardized, each city or town set its own time based on the position of the sun. This created significant confusion, particularly for scheduling trains and communication.
• In 1884, an International Meridian Conference was held in Washington, D.C., with representatives from 25 countries. The purpose was to establish a Prime Meridian (which became Greenwich, England) and create a global system for standard time zones.
• The world was divided into 24 one-hour time zones, each roughly 15 degrees of longitude apart.
Why Did Newfoundland Adopt a 30-Minute Offset?
• Newfoundland was not yet part of Canada (it joined in 1949) and had control over its own timekeeping.
• St. John's, the capital of Newfoundland, is located at about 52.7 degrees west longitude.
• Based on this longitude, a perfect time zone placement would have put Newfoundland in Atlantic Time (UTC -4:00).
• However, local solar time in St. John’s was roughly 3 hours, 30 minutes behind GMT, and Newfoundland authorities decided to set their time based on their local mean solar time rather than rounding to a full hour.
• This may have been a miscalculation or simply a practical decision based on when the sun rose and set in Newfoundland.
• Regardless of whether it was intentional or an accident, Newfoundland stuck with it, and when time zones were formally adopted in Canada, Newfoundland remained unique with its UTC -3:30 time offset.
Newfoundland Standard Time Today
• NST (Newfoundland Standard Time) is UTC -3:30.
• NDT (Newfoundland Daylight Time) is UTC -2:30 during daylight saving time.
• This means that Newfoundland is 30 minutes ahead of Atlantic Time (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, etc.) and 90 minutes ahead of Eastern Time (Ontario, Quebec, New York, etc.).
Other Half-Hour Time Zones Around the World
Newfoundland is one of only a few places in the world to have a 30-minute time offset. Others include:
• India Standard Time (IST) – UTC +5:30
• Iran Standard Time (IRST) – UTC +3:30
• Myanmar Standard Time (MMT) – UTC +6:30
• Sri Lanka Standard Time (SLST) – UTC +5:30
• Central Australia (Adelaide, Darwin) – UTC +9:30
• Venezuela Standard Time (VET) – UTC -4:30 (until 2016, now UTC -4:00)
Fun Fact
• When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, there was discussion about adopting Atlantic Time for uniformity, but the people of Newfoundland strongly opposed the change.
• To this day, Newfoundland keeps its unique 30-minute time zone, making it one of the most distinctive time zones in the world!
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Comments from our guests and members
Members and guests attending our weekly meetings are very important to us. Based on your comments we are able to produce many more educational, inspiring, and entertaining weekly meetings.
Following are some of the comments we have received. Would you please send us your comments?
February 5. John Hewko's message about funding projects is great:
1) Clarify the Goal
2) Test your Assumptions
3) Talk through the Future State
4) Measure you Results
Something that all Rotary Clubs should do, to see if their funding has had the positive effect that they desire.
-- James Ferguson, E-Club of Canada One, District 5370
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Archived Meetings
- For meetings prior to November 4, 2024, please click here.
- All meetings are archived.
- For meetings starting November 11, 2024, please scroll to the very bottom of this page.
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Announcements
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First Earth Day - April 22, 1970
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April is the month of "Microfinance"
Join the Rotary E-Club of Canada One as we support the
development and expansion of small stakeholder businesses
in underdeveloped countries.
Visit www.kiva.org to see how it's done
Open your own Kiva account?
Join the E-Canada One lending team?
You have questions?
Contact Patrick Gibson: gibson55@gmail.com
(happy to answer any questions you have)
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Material Suggestions and Greeter Messages Always Needed!
Please feel free to forward an approx. 150 - 200 word message or any material suggestions in an e-mail, or in a Word document, along with a JPeg picture or two, to E-Club Administration Chair, Kitty Bucsko.
We'd love to hear from you!
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Just so you're aware -
Our Club's Ongoing Projects -
We provide ongoing support for the following projects:
And we're doing great!
Ask for more information if you'd like to be involved!
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Real-time meetings
Each 3rd Thursday of the month is our Fellowship Assembly, and we often invite interesting speakers or Rotary Leaders for this entertaining, educational fun event. Plan to join us.
The time is 9:00 a.m. (Mountain Time) in lieu of the weekly Coffee Chat except for July and August when there are no FA’s. Here is the zoom link:
Everyone is welcome to attend and we encourage your participation.
Please click our Event Calendar for details and access Link.
For further inquiries or suggestions please contact: info@rotaryeclubcanada.ca
All our videos can be viewed on our YouTube channel.
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How do you support our club?
- The Paypal button on our ClubRunner Home Page
- The donation button on the attendance form, or
- Make an Interac transfer to rotaryeclubcanada1@gmail.com
- Send a cheque to:
The Rotary E-Club of Canada One
10430 135 Street NW
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5N 2C6
(780) 267 4547
Environment
Humour
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New members' corner
Rotary's Manual of Procedure (MOP) is a foundational document in Rotary that serves as a comprehensive guide for clubs and districts worldwide.
It provides clarity on Rotary’s policies, governance, and operational procedures, ensuring consistency and alignment with Rotary International’s mission and objectives.
By outlining key principles, including membership guidelines, club administration, and decision-making processes, the MOP helps maintain the integrity and effectiveness of Rotary’s service efforts.
For Rotary leaders and members, the MOP is an essential reference that fosters transparency, fairness, and efficiency in club operations.
It aids in resolving disputes, interpreting policies, and ensuring compliance with Rotary’s constitutional documents.
By adhering to the guidance within the MOP, clubs can function smoothly, uphold Rotary’s values, and focus on their core purpose—serving communities and fostering international goodwill.
By outlining key principles, including membership guidelines, club administration, and decision-making processes, the MOP helps maintain the integrity and effectiveness of Rotary’s service efforts.
For Rotary leaders and members, the MOP is an essential reference that fosters transparency, fairness, and efficiency in club operations.
It aids in resolving disputes, interpreting policies, and ensuring compliance with Rotary’s constitutional documents.
By adhering to the guidance within the MOP, clubs can function smoothly, uphold Rotary’s values, and focus on their core purpose—serving communities and fostering international goodwill.
If you are unfamiliar with the Manual of Procedure, you can find it online and look through it. It's something that every Rotarian should do to become knowledgeable about our great organization.
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Rotary minute
ECO Minute –
The Environment – Rotary’s 7th Area of Focus
Wildfires are a double-edged sword when it comes to the environment, especially in carbon-rich forests.
Trees that work as "carbon sinks" during their lifespan—absorbing and storing carbon from the atmosphere—become a significant source of carbon emissions when they burn.
CARBON STORAGE IN TREES
Trees absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and store it in their trunks, branches, leaves, and roots. Old-growth forests and large trees are especially valuable because they store immense amounts of carbon over decades or centuries.
RELEASE OF CARBON IN FIRES
When a wildfire sweeps through a forest, all that stored carbon is released almost instantaneously into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases.
This not only undoes years of carbon storage but also contributes to the ongoing climate crisis.
LOSS OF FUTURE CARBON CAPTURE
Beyond the immediate release, the destruction of trees also means fewer trees are left to capture carbon in the future. Regrowth takes time—decades or even centuries.
CARBON STORAGE IN TREES
Trees absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and store it in their trunks, branches, leaves, and roots. Old-growth forests and large trees are especially valuable because they store immense amounts of carbon over decades or centuries.
RELEASE OF CARBON IN FIRES
When a wildfire sweeps through a forest, all that stored carbon is released almost instantaneously into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases.
This not only undoes years of carbon storage but also contributes to the ongoing climate crisis.
LOSS OF FUTURE CARBON CAPTURE
Beyond the immediate release, the destruction of trees also means fewer trees are left to capture carbon in the future. Regrowth takes time—decades or even centuries.
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Food for thought
Wangchuk’s magical school
Established in 1988
The Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) is a unique educational initiative located in the Ladakh region of India. It was established in 1988 by a group of young Ladakhis led by Sonam Wangchuk, a renowned innovator and educator, to reform the education system and promote sustainable living practices in the region.
In order to combat the challenges posed by the climate crisis created by environment degradation in the high Himalayan region, we are trying our bit in Ladakh to adapt and innovate to mitigate the impending disaster.
For the last 35 years at our school, we are trying to innovate ways to adapt locally. But today we need to adapt and innovate globally. Our little interventions alone will not help,” said noted environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk, addressing the Kochi Institute.
Started in the 1990s to bring reforms in the education system, “where failure was a big thing, it tries to prepare young people for a future that is very different from the past.”
This (SECMOL) school was built with natural materials like mud or earth, found right under our feet. And it is powered by the sun. In an extremely cold place like Ladakh, no energy, fossil or otherwise, is used to warm this school in winters or even to cook.
Everything happens with solar energy in this school, which he said is perhaps the first carbon-neutral school in the world.
“Rather, I’d say, they make the world a classroom and apply what is in the books to solve these problems… with solar cooking, solar power, organic gardening and so on in a campus that is fully solar powered.
Almost everything happens with sun, which we have in plenty, be it cooking or green houses producing fresh vegetables, lighting, electricity, water heating, water pumping… even cows on our campus live in solar-heated cowshed.”
The school was about innovations in building in the harshest remote, forsaken place; such buildings can be made in any place needing sustainability. “These buildings have an indoor temperature of +18 deg C when it is -20 deg C outdoors, without a drop of oil, air, wood, coal or any other fuel. And the beauty is that with a little definition of physics for the solution and geography for the orientation, the buildings are coolest in summer and warmest in winter.”
Wangchuk added this technology is now being extended to the rest of Ladakh, a heavily militarised place. “This means that 100,000 soldiers would be burning oil and fossil fuels to keep warm, as many come from warm places like South India. This causes carbon emission to a degree that you can’t even imagine. A million tonnes of emission in that very fragile region from armies of three nations — India, China, and Pakistan. So we are now extending this technology to the Indian Army, which I believe is the most ecologically progressive among all three.”
He added, “Our Army now lives in fully solar-heated, ¬carbon-neutral shelters which are done by us in collaboration with them. This saves them using fossil fuel, carbon emission and fire accidents. More soldiers in that region die of accidental fire than enemy fire. So now our soldiers live warm and happy in those heights.”
He added that in “their or our homes, and school, temperatures always remain between 18 and 25 deg C dec in the coldest winter. At any time, it is warmer than in a house in Delhi. And every time I come down to Delhi from Ladakh, I feel cold. This is how you can be, if you use a little bit of science and innovation.”
The school was about innovations in building in the harshest remote, forsaken place; such buildings can be made in any place needing sustainability. “These buildings have an indoor temperature of +18 deg C when it is -20 deg C outdoors, without a drop of oil, air, wood, coal or any other fuel. And the beauty is that with a little definition of physics for the solution and geography for the orientation, the buildings are coolest in summer and warmest in winter.”
Wangchuk added this technology is now being extended to the rest of Ladakh, a heavily militarised place. “This means that 100,000 soldiers would be burning oil and fossil fuels to keep warm, as many come from warm places like South India. This causes carbon emission to a degree that you can’t even imagine. A million tonnes of emission in that very fragile region from armies of three nations — India, China, and Pakistan. So we are now extending this technology to the Indian Army, which I believe is the most ecologically progressive among all three.”
He added, “Our Army now lives in fully solar-heated, ¬carbon-neutral shelters which are done by us in collaboration with them. This saves them using fossil fuel, carbon emission and fire accidents. More soldiers in that region die of accidental fire than enemy fire. So now our soldiers live warm and happy in those heights.”
He added that in “their or our homes, and school, temperatures always remain between 18 and 25 deg C dec in the coldest winter. At any time, it is warmer than in a house in Delhi. And every time I come down to Delhi from Ladakh, I feel cold. This is how you can be, if you use a little bit of science and innovation.”
Rotary Jukebox
For a small donation, your favorite musician will be featured on one of our next e-meetings for everyone to enjoy.
Every week we'll have a draw and the lucky person will see their song featured!
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The Four-way Test
To close the meeting, Rotarian Angel recites the Four-Way Test of the things that Rotarians think, say, or do.
Thank you for joining us. We appreciate your feedback and hope you will return and invite a guest.
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Our Facebook page. Please remember to check out our posts on the Rotary E-Club’s Facebook page. We work hard to post something every second day, sometimes more often.
Invite friends to Like our page and enjoy our posts. Also, please take the time to Share our posts on your Facebook Page.
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Attendance Links
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Please support our club!
Donate For the Meeting You Have Attended.
Please consider making a small donation in lieu of a meal
to help us help those in need.
As you have not had to buy lunch or travel to attend this program, please consider a donation of a minimum of $10.00 in appreciation for the experience you have enjoyed.
We thank you very much!
Program Donations
Our E-Club is a dynamic club comprised of ordinary working and retired people who acknowledge that Rotarians are people who are generous with their time and their resources.
Our club and the program you have just enjoyed, either as a member or a visitor, is funded only by donations.
We are developing ideas for fundraising with our members who are scattered across Canada, USA, Central America, and Europe, but we do need your help.
As you have not had to buy lunch or travel to attend this program, please make a donation of a minimum of $10.00, considering you're saving in time and cost in appreciation for the experience you have enjoyed.
Interested in providing Rotary Service? Unable to attend terra club meetings?
Contact our membership chair for information or
or HERE to learn about Associate Membership
