PROGRAMS: 2009 and BEYOND by Robert Simpson; Programs

We have had an interesting year for our programs with a wide variety of subjects and venues. The winter of 2010 promises to be eclectic and varied as well. Consider attending some of the up and coming events which we put on 10 months a year and on rare occasions, such as this February, twice.

Since the last newsletter in April, we have had the following programs: May brought in Rita Jack with her Mining Madness, Water Wars, a movie describing the situation with the Kennecott company’s sulfide mining venture in Michigan’s U.P., the struggle to recognize the Coaster Brook Trout as a separate species and the native tribes rights in the Yellow Dog River area. Between May and June meetings, Nepessing took part in a poker tournament at Legends in Metamora, where Linda arranged for and got volunteers to monitor the tournament and the Group realized nearly $2000 from the venture. On June 10th, Marilyn Alvey brought her Shaklee products and discussed how this decades old company had been selling green products alternative to polluting commercial varieties. July 1st saw Linda Berker host a potluck at her house following a Hogbacks hike, which served as an alternative to the now abandoned tradition of summer picnics at Ligon. On 12 August, I brought in a movie lent to me by Al Davis called One Eyed Girl, an independent film produced by a Mississippi radio station which documented the effect of Hurricane Katrina on little Bay St louis in the eye and afterwards, there was a discussion of the book "Bayou Farewell" by Mike Tidwell, which became a best-seller after Katrina because he had basically predicted the event and also had laid out a solution on how to protect against the disintegration of the Louisiana coast. In September, Sue Lossing took members on a walking tour immediately behind the college, looking at the restoration process ongoing in Gilkey Creek, then showing slides afterwards of how it had looked before and during the project. For October, Genesee Audubon president Richard Naber gave a power point presentation on raptor identification and migration and quizzing us on the subtle differences between similar species. Then in November, after much negotiation, Arctic trekker and author Chad Kister lectured on clear cutting in Alaska’s Tongass forest. He has made over 1000 presentations on the Tongass, global warming, ANWR and the native people of the Arctic.

The year ahead promises to be exiting as well with Food, Inc scheduled for January, which will be ‘an unveiling of the highly mechanized food industry and the regulating agencies which control it. For February on the ‘regular date’, we have scheduled either ‘The Good Fight’ the movie, the story of a David Brower contemporary and his struggle to save the Grand Canyon from damming or Richard Naber’s "eBird", a show about amassing data of bird sightings from everywhere, then a week later on the third Wednesday, the 17th, we have an additional program as national Sierra Club speaker Kit McGurn will bring "Chill the Drills" to Nepessing, this time to a different venue as Linda Berker has secured Davison’s Township Hall for the event. After the well known TBA in March, Sue Lossing will bring FRWC’s Storm Drain Stenciling in April, training us in an attempt to enlarge the area being done by current volunteer levels. .