Our speaker today was Alan Anderson from the Northfield Rotary Club. Alan's educational background is in wildlife sciences and he had a long career working for the Boy Scouts of America. He has long been an advocate for protecting our environment and his presentation was centered on this topic and the fact that it is now the 7th "Area of Focus" for Rotary International. He noted the fact that as far back as the 1980's, NASA scientists accurately predicted the rise in global temperatures we are now experiencing. Climate change is upon us and is largely due to an increase in CO2 emissions. It is irreversible. The last time average temperatures were as high as they now are was 3 million years ago. Although average temperatures have only increased about 1 degree in the past 30 years or so, that change is responsible for the the climate disasters we have been recently experiencing. Yet Anderson assured us that there is some good news. Most countries now agree and recognize the reality of climate change. And energy sources other than fossil fuels are becoming very available and costs are falling. He stressed that one of the most important things all of us can do to protect our environment from further damage is to begin talking about this subject with other people, rather than avoiding the subject, which many of us often do.