Renewable Energy Buildings Coming Soon

Posted on September 10, 2015 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Kevin Hoffman; photo by Jeff Smith

Mark Krawczynski (left) pictured here with our Rotary club member Jackson Fonder

Mark Krawczynski (left) pictured here with our Rotary club member Jackson Fonder

Fellow Rotarian Mark Krawczynski is originally from Warsaw, Poland, but has spent most of his life in Australia as a Chartered Architect working on many large scale public and private projects, including the reconstruction of the iconic Sydney Opera House.

He is now taking his nearly 50 years of experience as an architect to promote and advocate for using known renewable energy technologies to change the way buildings are thought of and constructed.  Thinking of future generations, Mark explained that the earth has reached the point where the use of traditional single-use energy technologies (oil, wood and coal), the growth of human population, and accelerating economic development have placed an unsustainable pollution load on the environment.  Fossil fuels, in particular, have caused many cities and regions to become polluted to the point where one can no longer see the sky, clean water is threatened and increasingly scarce, and pollution-induced illnesses have claimed more lives than polio.

From this gloomy premise he proceeded to propose that solutions are available but that the time to start is now and the transition will take a long time – probably 40 to 50 years.

Mark proposed that one of the first things to change would be how we view the purpose of buildings.  He described the construction of buildings in the past was from a “defensive” purpose.  That is, buildings were primarily to keep out natural elements such as water, wind and sun and, therefore, wasted.  Current buildings throw away these natural and renewable resources by repelling and sheltering us from them.

An updated consideration of buildings would look for ways to combine several clean, renewable energy technologies that would work in concert to provide for the energy needs of the building and spin off enough surplus energy to be used elsewhere in the community.  Mark envisioned that buildings built in this fashion would need to combine several technologies to be feasible but would work better than traditional energy methods.

Buildings designed using the harmony of several clean energy technologies would need to incorporate the technologies into their shape and structure, as well as the surrounding environment and natural resources of the site (wind, sun, geo-thermal, water, etc.).

Mark concluded by showing a short video that described a prototype building called an Elemental Flow Tower.  It was designed to use natural light, water, sun, geo-thermal, rain and wind to create a total system of self-contained energy production, as well as serve the functions of a building for shelter and comfort.

CLICK to view the video of this presentation on our club’s YouTube Channel.

Leave a comment

Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker

Tagged , , ,

A New View for Downtown Madison

Posted on September 3, 2015 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Bill Haight; photo by Jeff Smith

Brad Binkowski (right) seated here with Club President Ellsworth Brown

Brad Binkowski (right) seated here with Club President Ellsworth Brown

Brad Binkowski, who with Thomas Neujahr, is co-founder of Urban Land Interests, gave an overview of current developments on and around the Capitol Square.

ULI’s next project is a complete redevelopment of the Anchor Bank building, removing its dated precast panels, and adding a glass and stainless steel façade which will be “unlike anything you’ve seen in Madison,” said Binkowski.

In the Anchor project, as well as ULI’s Block 89 development, an essential component for success is replacing above grade parking with underground. Because of limited developable land and height restrictions, it’s impossible to create structures with street level energy and activity if above-ground parking is incorporated, said Binkowski. The Anchor project will have five levels of underground parking, extending under Carroll Street. Besides the Anchor property, there are only three more large sites downtown suitable for underground parking: the Judge Doyle Square development, The American Exchange Bank property, and the Braydon lot.

Epic is a significant driver of Madison’s growth, but it isn’t the only factor said Binkowski. Madison’s quality of life has attracted other firms, like office software company Zendesk, because it can find an ample workforce, without the extreme competition for talent and expense of cities like San Francisco. Among ULI’s residential tenants 56 percent came from outside Madison and their average age is 34. But just 26 percent work for Epic.

In 2011, 70 percent of ULI’s business tenants were from the legal, finance or government sectors. By 2015 that percentage has dropped to 64 percent, not because the traditional industries are shrinking, but because other sectors are growing much more rapidly. Restaurant tenants are up 29 percent and technology 143 percent. Those percentage changes, even from a smaller base, illustrate the shifting opportunity for growth, said Binkowski.

CLICK to view the video on our club’s YouTube Channel.

Leave a comment

Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker

Tagged , ,

Moving the Needle Toward Better Education

Posted on August 27, 2015 by | Leave a comment

submitted by Bob Dinndorf; photo by Mary O’Brien

Jen Cheatham 8 26 15Dr. Jennifer Cheatham provided an “annual report” in her third Rotary presentation since becoming superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District in April 2013. Her 2015 appearance was special in that it was her first since becoming a member of the Rotary Club of Madison, she announced to generous applause. The Strategic Framework developed by the Madison Board of Education and staff, focuses on systemic improvement in our urban school district, the key to which lies in development, instructional alignment and coherence at every level of a school system aimed at achieving breakthrough results in student learning. Goal 1 of the plan includes milestones such as proficiency in reading and mathematics in grade 5. The lyrics, “reading and ‘riting and ‘rithmatic” from the 1907 song “School Days,” proclaimed by songleader Brad Hutter remain relevant today.

Though still early in the journey toward every school becoming a thriving school preparing every child for college, career and community, there is clear progress to report. Elementary schools continue to make major progress, with nearly 10 percentage point gains on all measures over two years and improvements for almost every student group, including Latino students and African American students, since work began on implementation of the strategic framework begun just two years ago.

High school graduation rates continue to move in the right direction, up for almost all student groups, and with pockets of accelerated results. At LaFollette High School, the four-year graduation rate for African American students increased to 75.3%. Memorial High School was also cited for dramatic improvement on critical measures. Our schools and the community will continue to progress by maintaining sustained focus on the day-to-day work of great teaching and learning. It is easy for educational institutions to become distracted by continually lengthening the list of innovations. The Strategic Framework and results can be found at www.madison.k12.wi.us/framework.

Our thanks also to WisconsinEye for videotaping our program this week.  You can view it HERE.

Leave a comment

Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker

Tagged , , ,

Hiking Group Learns More About John Muir’s Boyhood Home on Aug. 22

Posted on August 25, 2015 by | Leave a comment

–text and photos submitted by Karl Gutknecht

Muir Hike 1

Downtown Rotarians and guests were hosted by The Wisconsin Friends of John Muir and Natural Heritage Land Trust while hiking Muir’s boyhood farm home terrain in Marquette County Saturday.

They learned that Muir’s conservation ethic was formed as a young man on the Muir Wisconsin homestead. These boyhood years in Wisconsin inspired his conservation ethic and love and appreciation of the natural world. Muir went on to espouse an intrinsic, spiritual value and beauty in nature and maintained that all living things are interconnected.

Muir Hike 2  Muir Hike 3  Muir Hike 4

Providing interpretations on the John Muir Memorial Park and nearby Observatory Hill hikes were Wisconsin Friends of John Muir Board of Directors Mark Martin and Fred Wollenburg as well as Heidi Habeger, Natural Heritage Land Trust. Hiking/Skiing Fellowship Group chair, Bob Graebner, was hike coordinator.

IMG_5918

The John Muir Memorial Park and Friends of John Muir celebrate the legacy of this great naturalist, a founder of The Sierra Club and often called the father of our country’s National Park System. The Natural Heritage Land Trust seeks to permanently protect local natural areas, rivers and streams, wildlife habitat, and working farms. It recently purchased part of the original John Muir family farm, bringing the total protected landscape to 1,400 acres, which includes the Muir Park and Fox River National Wildlife Refuge.

Further information on the John Muir Memorial Park can be found at Wisconsin Friends of John Muir, website www.johnmuir.org/wisconsin and for the Natural Heritage Land Trust, www.nhlt.org.

Leave a comment

Posted in Hiking/Skiing Fellowship Group, Rotary Club of Madison

Tagged , , , , ,

German POWs Working in Wisconsin

Posted on August 20, 2015 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Andrea Kaminski

Lucy SannaOne of the many benefits I appreciate about Rotary is the chance to learn new things about Wisconsin from our wonderful programs. Having moved here in 1977 – which made me a “newbie” at my table – I was unaware of the German prisoners of war who worked on our farms in World War II. Author Lucy Sanna filled us in on the history of German POWs in Wisconsin and read the opening of her newly released historical novel, The Cherry Harvest. Her presentation was enriched by historical photos of ships and trains that transported the POWs, camps where they lived and places where they worked.

Sanna acknowledged the aid of experts at the Door County Historical Society and public library, as well as the Wisconsin Historical Society, for her research. She and her daughter stayed with a farm family in the area, and she was put in touch with people who once worked with the POWs. She gained a lot of information from the staff at Fort McCoy.

In 1941 German POWs captured by the British were encamped in Europe. Because of a rumor that Hitler planned to drop bombs on the camps, the POWs were shipped to the United States on empty, returning Liberty Ships used to bring American troops to Europe. They traveled by train to military bases in many states, including Fort McCoy and other camps in Wisconsin. In 1945 there were some 425,000 German POWs in the U.S., according to Sanna.

At Fort McCoy, German and Japanese prisoners were retained in a separate camp within the Fort. The two groups were housed separately but used some shared facilities, leading to hostilities which needed to be managed by camp staff. The camp treated the prisoners well, offering such benefits as typing classes, a library with books in their own language and services provided by the YMCA. Yet officials publicly kept mum about the presence of the POWs in Wisconsin.

With the troops in Europe, Wisconsin residents who had once worked in orchards, canneries and dairies moved to more lucrative jobs in factories. This left farmers and food processing operators without the workforce they needed to make a living.

Sanna’s novel opens in 1944 with a moving scene about a Door County farm woman who is desperate to feed her family. She learns that there are German POWs who will pick cherries for 50 cents per hour (of which they keep 80 cents per day in the form of scrip which could be used in the camp commissary). The woman overcomes fear and conflict in her community to bring these workers to the peninsula for the harvest.

Leave a comment

Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker

Tagged , , ,

Circus World Museum — Not Just Clowning Around

Posted on August 13, 2015 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Mary Helen Becker; photo by Mary O’Brien

Scott O'Donnell 8 12 2015Rotarians and guests were enlightened and delighted with Scott O’Donnell’s (right) lively presentation about The Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and his own lifelong fascination with the circus. Born in Canada, he claims to have moved to Wisconsin to escape  the harsh winters in Canada.

The program opened with President Ellsworth Brown wearing a clown nose while he introduced O’Donnell, Executive Director of the museum, which is a Wisconsin historical site. The music for the day was “The Man on the Flying Trapeze,” including a slide of the 19th  cemtury circus acrobat named Jules Leotard, whose name is used for the tights he developed.

O’Donnell did not have a circus background, as do many performers. Instead, he became interested in the circus as a child and turned into “the crazy kid at the back door of every circus.”  In college he studied Russian history but did his senior thesis on the animal rights movement in the circus.

He began his career as a clown, using dogs in his act. He refers to this period as having a “traveling dog pound,” relating how a woman left him “Tiny,” the largest great dane he ever saw.

Interested in show “business,” he owned his own circus for several years. He entertained the audience with circus history, including the origin of such terms as “making the nut,” or earning enough to pay the bills and get back the nuts which hold the wheels on the circus wagons. He also explained  the origin of pink lemonade, which sold much better at the circus than ordinary lemonade.

He described the daily programs at Circus World and other activities and features that await visitors. It seemed as if everyone in the audience wanted to head straight for Baraboo and the Circus World Museum. His presentation was about as much fun as a visit to the circus, but he left us all wanting more!

Leave a comment

Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker

Tagged , , ,