Long Lake Improvement Association meets Wednesday

ALPENA ­– The Long Lake Improvement Association will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Parker House Restaurant on U.S.-23 North. The public is welcome.

Euchre tournament Saturday, April 27 at Hillman Senior Center

HILLMAN — Hillman Senior Center will host a euchre tournament on Saturday, April 27.

The cost is $20, which includes a meal to be served at 5 p.m., and play starting at 6 p.m., and prizes. For more information, call 989-464-4463 or 989-742-4080.

ALL special programs this week: Our Safari and Global Tipping Points

ALPENA ­– The Association of Lifelong Learners is offering two interesting programs this week, in addition to its regular weekly programs.

At 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, head to the M. Briggs Center at ACC to hear about Our Safari. Join Alice Meredith and Sue Nagy as they relive their trip to Africa. This Wild Life Safari Trip was a truly authentic way to see Africa. The African Big Five were seen. It was traveling that made a connection with the culture on a deep meaningful level that would be difficult to duplicate. Meredith has been a member of ALL for a year-and-a-half and has lived in Alpena since 1972. She is an avid swimmer and enjoys being a part of her book club. Nagy is on the ALL Board and contributes much including coordinating the Happenings. When asked what should be in the bio about her, the reply was, “Say I’m young and beautiful.”

Then, at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Global Tipping Points will be held at M. Briggs Center and via Zoom. “Devastating climate events and nature loss are here today,” a press release states. “Scientists are no longer talking about tomorrow’s problems. This is with an average warming of 1.2 degrees Celsius. Under current policies, we are on a trajectory of warming 2 degrees C, which will have an impact exponentially greater than we face today”

“As warming approaches and surpasses 2 degrees C this may cause critical Earth system tipping points, once considered low-likelihood, to rapidly become much higher-likelihood events. These harmful discontinuities pose some of the gravest threats faced by humanity. The scientific community has warned of runaway climate change for some years, but never before have we had such a comprehensive assessment of the ‘negative tipping points’ (20+) that were presented in the Global Tipping Points Reports in 2023. The good news is that it is not too late. The GTP report shows us that, just as there are dangerous negative tipping points, so too there are very significant positive tipping points in our near-term future if only we have the courage and ambition to seize them. Our discussion will revolve around defining and understanding the 25 negative tipping points and the hard work and effort needed to take advantage of the positive tipping points.”

Joe Gentry is a trustee at Alpena Community College, a former adjunct for ACC, and is currently the executive director of United Way.