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Thanks to Rob for taking the time to update us on his latest venture - a subject close to his heart and obviously something that we all, as not only Rotarians but as human beings, should be well aware of... Food Waste and Insecurity Rob started his presentation by outlining the focus of his subject and the impact on Rotary, namely 1. Food insecurity 2. Food Waste 3. Increasing club membership For the fact people - did you know that in the last 12 months 3.7 million people experienced food insecurity? and that food waste costs $6 billion per annum in Victoria alone! Surprisingly Food loss and waste, if it were a country, would be the 3rd largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world behind China and the USA Now this is not about climate change etc. so let's focus on the impact of food waste and what Rob and his team at Climateers is doing to address this in Boroondara. Firstly though, how does one or indeed everyone address the issue of food waste By using the following - Source Reduction - Education through Awareness programs
- Feeding the hungry - supporting food charities
- Feeding livestock and animals - Animal feed
- Industrial - creating biogas, fuels, bioplastics, insect processing
- Composting - Compost, liquid fertilizers, worm farms etc
- Landfill/Incineration - through waste management companies
How does this impact Rotary and how do we make it more attractive for people to join us on this journey. We all know we have declining membership (public misconception about who we are and what we do), reduction in active members to support our physical projects What are the issues? And the Solutions? Fragmentation - Collaboration Complexity - simplify the issues Inertia - Activate So, Climateers is totally focussed on these challenges and is creating spaces for collaboration bringing all stakeholders together. Rob and his team have organised 2 functions (summits) Wed. September 11th - Victorian Food Waste Action Summit Tues October 8th - Boroondara Food Action Summit Information on these can be found via the Climateers website - those details are posted at the end of this report On another note Rob and the team have been setting up connections into the universities and schools where mentoring opportunities exist. He has already had a significant number of students sign up to an education course. Reach out to him to find out more. Here is the link to the website - you can join for free!
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On another day trip to Cluny where all the university students wear Hogwart style gowns. The creativity of some of the gowns is fantastic. But good heavens, you feel so old in Cluny amongst all this exuberant youth.
