This month's program will be presented by one of the park rangers from the Sebastian Inlet State Park.  The topic is the barrier island and its formation and evolution.  The program will be about the geological evolution of the barrier island, the development of its plant and animal communities, and then finally will take a brief look at the impact people have had on the island.
    The meeting will be at the North Indian River County Library on CR 512 in Sebastian on Tuesday, November 26 at 7:30 PM.  All are welcome and refreshments will be served following the meeting.

     Humans are "…one of the most pervasive species on Earth… (we) have planted, grazed, paved, or built upon roughly 40 percent of the Earth's terrestrial surface.  This has led to profound changes in the atmosphere, soils, and oceans.  No place remains untouched."
    "Population, consumption, and technology are seen by many experts as driving the human impact on the planet .   …the population of the 48 poorest countries is still expected to triple in the next 50 years."
    "Our large brains got us to this point.  The question now is, can they get us out?"

source: "State of the Planet - A World Transformed", insert to the "National Geographic", July, 2002

    October is membership renewal time.  If you recall we consider memberships to expire at the end of September every year.  This saves us the time and expense of having to notify everyone individually.
    If you initially joined and paid dues between April 1 and September 30, we credit your membership through until October 1 in your second year of membership.  You will notice that the date following your last name on the mailing label is the month/year in which our records reflect that your membership either did or will expire.
    As always we are human and subject to making mistakes.  If you feel the date is not correct or have a question about your membership, please call our treasurer Shirley Kilkelly at 772-589-5062 or Tim Glover at 772-589-0636, or send us an email at: info@fssr.org.  You can also write to us at the address on this newsletter - please include a phone number or email address where you can be reached.

    Once or twice a month we send out emails to our members with information that is timely, or items we believe will be of interest to you.  We also include reminders for our upcoming public meetings.  If you are interested in being included on our email updates list, be sure to include your email address on the membership form.
     We thank you all for your continued support!