ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

 

This is Environment Month in Rotary. Protecting the Environment – it’s one of Rotary’s areas of focus. Rotarians share an interest in protecting our common legacy: the environment. Rotarians around the globe are committing themselves to activities that strengthen the conservation and protection of natural resources, advance ecological sustainability, and foster harmony between communities and the environment.  

 

In District 7430, we’re celebrating our focus on the environment by once again holding the Rotary Day of Service on April 19. On that day and throughout this month, Rotarians will be 

 

 

On April 19 at 1:00 pm, the Kutztown club and the District Environmental Sustainability Team will be getting the District’s pollinator garden at Camp Edmar back in shape for spring. Come on out and help us get the garden beds ready for the arrival of the pollinator insects. The garden is located near Kutztown.

 

And, this month we’ll be starting another District-led project administered by the Collegeville Rotary Club. With the project funding coming from a District Grant (just like the Camp Edmar pollinator garden), we will be helping the Perkiomen Valley School District expand PV Woods, two arboretums located at their middle schools. 

 

The project will address the need for hands-on outdoor education while fostering ecological awareness and biodiversity conservation. The gardens will be designed using the Fibonacci sequence, a naturally occurring mathematical pattern that supports optimal plant growth and pollinator attraction.

 

The gardens will serve as outdoor classrooms where students can engage in STEM learning, environmental studies, and artistic exploration. Featuring native plants and trees that support butterfly, bird, and bee populations, the spaces will provide real-world applications for mathematical concepts and ecological principles. Rotarians will be directly involved in the planning, planting, and educational outreach components, offering workshops and engaging with students and community members to foster a deeper connection with nature.

 

You are invited to come out and help us do the initial planting of the gardens this spring. Dates will be announced shortly. The project will serve as a pilot for us to show other schools in our District how to create their own environmental learning center.

 

The Environmental Sustainability Team has also been working on ways that we can help schools keep food waste our of landfills by composting it. We’ll have more details on this in the coming months.

 

And finally – We encourage you to take individual actions that reduce your Carbon Footprint. While you can help create systemic change, there are also countless opportunities to be taking small personal actions that inspire your friends and family to do the same.  The Internet is loaded with ideas on reducing your footprint. 

 

It’s Rotary’s Environment Month.  Let’s get out and make a difference.

 

Terry Reed

Environmental Sustainability