We were joined at our meeting by Fabienne Nichola and John McCaskill who are the co-chairs of the District 9800 newly formed Environmental Sustainability Committee. Fabienne is a member of the Camberwell RC (our close neighbours) and John is of course a proud and well know member of the Canterbury RC.
Fabienne kicked off the presentation with a short video outlining key environmental involvements through ESRAG (Environment and Sustainability Rotary Action Group) throughout Rotary worldwide and also that Rotary International is encouraging rotary members to support environmental initiatives as it is seen as an important area of focus. She reminded us that environmental sustainability has now been ratified by Rotary International as the seventh area of focus, a decision which will see increased funding by grant applications and clubs attracting new environmentally concerned members as an organisation that is contemporary and engaged in relevant community programs
Fabienne outlined that Clubs should consider taking on environmental projects as the community generally has a strong appetite for sustainability and various surveys of rotarians indicate that for them this is a strong area of interest.
One of the Environmental Sustainability Committee's aims is to raise awareness about what can be achieved and how collaborating with other will make this easier.
Some of the projects which are getting underway (Covid 19 has slowed the role-out of the Committees projects) are:
- Colour Your World - this lets Clubs and individuals participate to give a dash of colour to their gardens, and introduce the concept of biodiversity through supporting plants, animals, insects etc. It is hoped that most rotary Clubs in the state will join in with this project along with members of the business community. Please see more details about this project at rotarianforbees.org/colour-your-world
- Zero Waste Cooking - about how to minimise your waste in the kitchen
- Centennial Project - in conjunction with the Wheen Bee Foundation the aim is to produce a planting guide for the Melbourne area
John McCaskill advised that a recognition program is being launched called the Enviro Club to help recognise Clubs that have environmental projects up and running.
John also spoke about the Rotarians for Bees, an initiative of our own club and now achieving great results in all five Victorian Districts to assist the survival and the future thriving of bees and pollinators which are so critical to our food chain and for a number of reasons are under serious threat.
John elaborated on the very recent launch of the Colour Your World Rotary Garden program launched across all Districts to coincide with Spring and beautiful gardens coming to life. Once again, District 9800 is leading the charge with this and many of our own members have been instrumental in developing and producing the promo information and social media material . Particular thanks were given to Lili-Ann (who was the architect of our own club Great Potato Challenge which was so successful and so much fun), and Rob Anderson, Ted and Rosemary who also assisted as members of the R4BEES Committee also including Janet, Elizabeth and Jonathon Shepherd. We are hoping that, like the Potato Challenge, our Canterbury members will get out into their gardens, patios, and balconies just to participate in this fun event and the joy of growing flowers, herbs, vegetables, shrubs etc
The Canterbury RC will also have available plants and bee hotels to help individuals get their projects established - more to come on this soon.
There is a lot of environmental sustainability information available at the Rotary for Bees website at rotariansforbees.org and also about the work of the Committee on the District 9800 website at www.rotarydistrict9800.org.au/sitepage/environment-sustainability
Thanks Fabienne and John for sharing news about the work of the Committee and its projects and please support John and Fabienne with Colour Your World so that our club can again lead the way with garden photos and help us to brighten the world for Rotarians and friends of Rotary.