Protecting the Environment Forum attended by President Marion Fielke
Past Rotary International President Ian Riseley and Juliet were special guests at the ‘Protecting the Environment Forum’ on Saturday 11 March.
Champion of the Environment and Chair of the Board of Trustees the Rotary Foundation, PRIP Ian Riseley OAM invited us to discover what Rotary is doing at a global level to protect the environment.
More than $18 million in Foundation global grant funding has been allocated to environment-related projects over the past five years. Creating a distinct area of focus to support the environment gives Rotary members even more ways to bring about positive change in the world and increase our impact.
Attendees at Charles Campbell Secondary College
Past Rotary International President Ian Riseley OAM
Of particular interest to me was the work undertaken by German Rotaractors in protecting and promoting wild bees as crop pollinators. With the project “BeeAlive” German Rotaractors began to support wild bees by building bee hotels, educating people about the threat to the bee population, and sowing wildflower meadows. All German Rotaract clubs participated, starting with the most northern club of Flensburg, which visited a beekeeper with their sponsor Rotary club. The southern-most Rotaract club in Germany, Kempten Allgäu, planted a meadow of more than 32,000 square feet for bees to pollinate. https://blog.rotary.org/2019/07/18/whats-all-the-buzz-about-bees/
Rotary Club of St Peters have successfully grown a forest of 130 trees to replace a stand of 60 older trees devastated by a tornado. Jack’s Farm tree planting project 240 km north of Adelaide is a triumph over the elements.
Rotary Club of Glenelg encouraged Jetty Road traders to swap their single use plastic straws for free rotary branded paper straws in their ‘Straws no more’ project to alert both the traders and the customers to the dangers of plastic in the marine environment. The State Government later enacted legislation to ban all single use plastic items used for food in South Australia.
Rotary club of Onkaparinga and BlazeAid are still constructing fences years after the last bushfire in the Adelaide Hills. Some of the fencing supplies are funded by a Rotary Global Grant. Rotary members are also taking the opportunity to support locals who need other assistance as well.
Pic: Rotary Club of Onkaparinga
The Calperum Committee updated members on the activities at Calperum and the ‘Health of the River’ observations.
Work is also being done by the Rotary Club of Murray Bridge to repopulate the mallee after bushfires with the Mallee Emu Wren, an endangered species
image Tom Hunt
Closer to home, the Rotary Club of Seaford have built 100 ‘Bat boxes’ as homes for microbats who eat insects in an eco vineyard.
Pic: Rotary Club of Seaford