August 4, 2014 Club Meeting

Chamber Speakers Circle Toastmasters

August 4, 2014

Attendees: Ruth, Vishal, Lara, Fernando, Glenn, Suzanne, Martin, David N., Aditi and David K.

Guest(s):  Kira

Theme of the day: Accomplishment

Word of the day: Preparation

Suzanne was the Toastmaster and Grammarian; Ruth was the General Evaluator and Vote Counter, Glenn was the Ah Counter, and David K. was the Timer.

Suzanne started the meeting, Samya will return 8/18 meeting.

Suzanne reminded everyone about upcoming contests, the qualifying speech contest in the club will be on 8/25.  Officer training at Genentech is on 8/9.

Speaker:  David: Causes of Childhood Obesity, Advanced Speech Project #4, A Fact-Finding Report

Lara listed the objectives of David’s speech project.

David started with some percentages of how many children are obese in America, a new generation may die younger than their parents

Causes:

·         Economic & Geographic

·         Energy Imbalance: Eating too much, exercising too little  

·         MSNBC – reports 49% of parents do not have time to cook a meal on a daily basis

§  They are going out to restaurants where meals are loaded with things that aren’t healthy

§  Fast food is loaded with saturated fat and low in nutrients

·         CBS New 1 out of 3 children is eating a meal from a fast food restaurant every day

·         On average they are 6 pounds heavier

·         Parents’ roles: Parents ask their children to clean their plates, even if the portions are oversized

·         Soda sizes are much higher and have unlimited refills

·         Children are exercising too little

§  They do not play outdoors

·         David does note there is a moderate decline in obesity of 19 sates – the broadest positive trend

Addressed in Q&A:

·         Geographical – areas of LA—only fast food restaurants – In lower income areas

·         Overfed and malnourished at the same time

·         Ruth asked if there is someone to make nutritious food that is tasty in schools (citing Michelle Obama’s program)

·         David said Berkeley introduced a program where one chef is producing healthy tasty food.

·         David noted that most schools don’t cook on site and having cheap food shipped and they are also unhealthy.

Speaker:  Aditi: GEOENGINEERING: A Solution to Climate Change, Project #3 Get to the Point

Martin listed the objectives of Adyta’s speech project. 

Aditi referenced her previous speech, reviewing global warming issues.  Aditi introduced her idea of manipulating the climate with some examples previously used:

1. Greenhouse gases absorbing radiation
2. Putting giant mirrors in orbit to reflect
3. Pumping iron into the ocean that will encourage algae to grow—but iron would cause fish to die
4. Planting trees, but they take too long to grow

Aditi then gave an overview of the Aerosol-based methods:

1. Volcanoes
2. Desert Dust
3. Anthropogenic Aerosols (black carbon)
4. Aditi noted clouds are good reflectors
5. Simulate Volcanoes
6. Artificial Clouds

Aditi reviewed pros:

·         Only a 3 % increase in cloud reflectivity would offset the human contribution to climate change.

Aditi reviewed cons: cost, time, international policy.

Aditi ended her presentation with an Oscar Wilde quote:

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”

Table Topics:  Vishal was the Table Topics Master.  Vishal used quotes from Abraham Lincoln and William Shakespeare, two Chinese proverbs, and two Polish proverbs, to ask people what they thought each quote meant.  Lara, David K., Martin, Kira, Glenn and Suzanne provided responses.

Ruth called on her team of evaluators.

Evaluator #1:  Lara on David’s speech: Causes of Childhood Obesity

Lara noted how David outlined his speech and his indication of society’s role as a major contributor to obesity in the US.  Lara noted David handled the Question and Answer period very well, providing more information.  David was very well-informed on the topic.

Evaluator #2: Martin on Aditi

Martin liked how the introduction was provided and that the presentation was “non-engineer” friendly.  Martin said Aditi made her presentation very tangible, noting that having a definition of a Geo-engineering would be helpful.

Martin noted the images were very helpful as well.  Martin shared a story about a visit to China and how they pumped air into the clouds to help with the pollution issue.

Lara won the best speaker ribbon for her Table Topics story.

Meeting ended at 7:15