ENVIRONMENT

The Rotary Day of Service is right around the corner. On Saturday, April 20, for the third straight year, Rotarians across the District will be going to work for the environment. In the past two years, over 40 District clubs did an environmental project on the Rotary Day of Service or some other time during April. We hope your club is planning to do it again. If you need some ideas on what do, here is a sampling.

 

A very rewarding club project where Rotarians can get their hands dirty could be cleaning up a highway or road, a stream flowing through your community, a local hiking trail, or even sprucing up your local park or playground. 

 

This is what most clubs do on the Rotary Day of Service. But here are some other ideas.

 

You all probably have heard that there has been a major decline in native bee populations as well as other pollinator insects. Pollinating insects are responsible for pollinating farm crops as well as other important flowers. Crop yields and ultimately nutrition are impacted by fewer pollinators in the environment.

 

You can get your club involved in building a pollinator garden in your community. Members of our District Environmental Sustainability Team have experience with creating and maintaining pollinator gardens. Over the past few years, individual clubs created gardens in their communities and, most recently, the District environmental team created a pilot garden at Camp Edmar, a Scout camp near Kutztown. Talk to your local municipality or county about the idea. And ask us for help in planning the garden and the construction of bee boxes.

 

Not only can your club sponsor or help with a stream cleanup day, but you can also dig into meatier stream projects. The planting of riparian buffers along waterways helps to preserve water quality and fisheries. They keep the water cooler and prevent erosion of stream banks and the washing away of soils from agricultural lands into the streams. They help to protect drinking water supplies and delicate fisheries.

 

Volunteers can help with monitoring water quality in local creeks and rivers, as well. There are formal programs established to train and manage monitors, or you can start your own program. Rotary clubs, partnering with watershed associations, Trout Unlimited chapters, and fishing clubs can bring big, positive changes to local waterways.

 

A community garden may be able to reduce the impact of “food deserts” in low-income areas. By working in a community garden and growing their own food, residents gain greater access to nutritious food that is necessary to live a healthy life.

 

Unfortunately, many city dwellers don’t have a yard in which to plant a garden. But a vacant neighborhood lot can serve as a good setting for a community garden. Community gardens can fill the need and satisfaction of growing vegetables and fresh flowers for yourself.  

 

These shared plots of land where people gather together to grow fresh veggies and flowers are popping up all over the country. Rotary clubs can bring together their resources to get a community garden started in their area, and provide residents with the opportunity to grow their own food.

 

The world needs more trees. In U. S. cities, towns, and suburban areas alone, we lose 36 million trees every year. Your local parks, playgrounds, and nature centers are always in need of new plantings. Trees play a very important part in cleaning the air, preventing erosion, and subsequently waterway contamination, and have the ability to reverse the effects of climate change.

 

Think about doing a tree planting in your community.

 

For more detailed information on planning these projects, and more, go to the “Supporting the Environment” page on the District website.

 

Thank you to all the clubs who will be doing an environmental project this spring in your communities. And our environment thanks you. You truly are making a difference.

 

Terry Reed

Chair, District Environmental Sustainability Team

terry.reed731@gmail.com