Capital Rotary Club

The COVID-19 pandemic has had effects – both good and bad – for teachers, students and communities alike.  That’s the message Capital Rotarians heard on Dec 16 when Dr. Jon Pederson (in photo) was guest speaker at the club’s biweekly Zoom meeting.  Pederson is dean of the University of South Carolina’s College of Education.  He said the coronavirus has spawned problems such as (1) symptoms of “Zoom fatigue” where online classes become a tiresome burden; (2) a cultural divide between people with easy internet access and others with little or none; (3) a loss of social and emotional experiences that children have during in-person classes; and (4) more stress for teachers in a profession that’s been losing its luster in recent years.  On the plus side, Pederson sees (1) more creativity in finding new and different ways to engage students in their lessons; (2) more flexibility in meeting the needs of children inside and outside the classroom; (3) increased parent/community involvement in public schools; and (4) a growing recognition that broadband service is critical for not only learning but also economic development in a community.  Pederson earned his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction-Science Education, M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction, and B.S. in Agriculture-Biochemistry and Nutrition at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  He joined South Carolina’s College of Education as dean in 2016.

Senior environmental attorney Tom Mullikin of Camden – chair of the Governor’s Floodwater Commission – is leading efforts to help defend South Carolina from the effects of a warming planet.   The job includes dealing with rising sea levels, persistent flooding and severe storms coming in from the Atlantic and up from the Gulf Coast, as he explained to Capital Rotarians during their Sept. 23 Zoom meeting.  Mullikin (in photo) said debate over climate change has been “hijacked by politics” that breed division, but the Floodwater Commission wants to “occupy the middle ground” via emphasis on solving environmental challenges.  Plans have been made to plant 1.8 million trees throughout the state on Earth Day 2021 as an example of local, positive action.  “We in South Carolina can’t solve the world’s problems,” Mullikin said.  “What we’re going to have to do is solve ours.”   Floodwater Commission solutions range from planting more shoreline vegetation to constructing natural and artificial reefs along the coast; from cleaning canals, ditches and rivers to replacing fossil fuel power plants with utility-scale solar.  “We’re in the process now of helping to create an electric highway, because BMW and Volvo are making South Carolina manufacturing one of the global leaders in e-vehicles,” Mullikin said, touting moves toward reducing the state’s greenhouse gases footprint.  “‘Environmental sustainability and economic sustainability are not mutually exclusive,” he added.  “We can be more protective of the environmental and more profitable.”  Mullikin graduated from the University of South Carolina with a law degree in 1986.  The retired leader of the volunteer South Carolina State Guard, he’s also a “National Geographic Expert” and a Fellow in both the Manhattan-based Explorer’s Club and London’s Royal Geographical Society. To learn more about common faults identified in an EICR, you can check out this site at https://eicr-testing.uk/what-are-the-common-faults-identified-in-an-eicr/.