Day Chair Chip Parks introduced speaker Paul Douglas, nationally respected meteorologist with over 40 years of television and radio experience. A self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, Douglas is Senior Meteorologist and Founder of Media Logic Group. Douglas and a team of meteorologists provide weather services for various media and corporate interests at Praedictix. With developers and engineers, he creates unique streams of weather data, imagery and API’s via AerisWeather. Douglas also files print and online updates for the Star Tribune and co-hosts a radio program with Jordana Green on WCCO Radio. Douglas gave an informative and entertaining talk on Business Hits and Misses, which included information on a variety of weather and climate topics. He has had 5 businesses dealing with weather and technology since leaving television weather reporting. His successful businesses include Weather Nation TV station, AerisWeather, and Praedictix, a weather consulting company. He said that we are in a time of climate volatility and weather disruptions. Our climate extreme index has increased by 35-40%. Even in Minnesota our extreme weather events have become more frequent. There have been 7 since 2002 – far greater than the prior 15 since 1858. The culprit is the increase in CO2; data makes this conclusion harder to dismiss and deny. These events are impacting companies, agriculture, and even the Department of Defense, as well as individuals. Everyone needs to be a better steward of our environment. The solutions are starring us in the face. Clean energy (tail) will wag the climate change dog. Solar, wind, and other clean energy sources cost less than fossil fuels. Energy independence also provides more jobs. To have energy security, we need to not depend on the grid. Douglas is optimistic about the future of clean energy. There is a lot of progress being made – battery operated cars, solar windows and shingles, energy storage, etc. The climate crisis presents a threat and an opportunity. The opportunities are with innovation and inventions. Douglas answered questions from an appreciative audience. President Kuhlmann reminded members that Matt Birk will be their next speaker and that Tuesday is Saint Paul’s Rotation Day with 3 choices of sites (Children’s Museum, Mano a Mano, and 2020 Brand Solutions). The meeting was adjourned at 1:25 pm. Lynne Beck Scribe
|