Supporting the Environment
Rotary International have introduced Supporting the Environment as the 7th Area of Focus joining:
- peacebuilding and conflict prevention;
- disease prevention and treatment;
- water, sanitation, and hygiene;
- maternal and child health;
- basic education and literacy and
- community economic development
These causes encompass some of the world’s most critical humanitarian needs and provide an opportunity for Rotary members to transform the world through volunteering and service projects.
This will be a new area for the Club in the year 21/22 and the Club is delighted that Service Chair Steven Costello will be focusing mainly on supporting:
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Plastic Soup is the pollution caused by plastic waste (particularly in the sea) and End Plastic Soup is an initiative started in 2018 by a number of Amsterdam Rotary Clubs. It aims, through Rotary, Rotaract & Interact Clubs from all over the world, to help to solve and prevent the huge plastic problem so by 2050 there will be no more plastic soup in the oceans and seas and there will be no plastic waste left in our lakes, rivers, parks, forests and on the streets.This will be achieved by raising awareness, instigating projects large and small from local litter pics to river and lake clean ups as well as funding sustainable collection and recycling projects and using the power of Rotary campaign and lobby. More details on their website here.
In this context the Club will be supporting the next World Cleanup Day on 18 September. World Cleanup Day is a civic movement, uniting 180 countries and millions of people across the world to clean up the planet - on one day harnessing the power of people around the world to achieve incredible things by joining together. It began in 2008 in Estonia when 50,000 people united to clean up the entire country in just five hours. On that day, a global bottom-up civic movement was born and spread like wildfire around the globe and in 2020 more than 11 million people in 166 countries came together, despite the special requirements and many restrictions of Covid-19, to rid our planet of trash – cleaning up litter and mismanaged waste from our beaches, rivers, forests, and streets. More details on their website here.
It is hoped that we will be joined by members of the Rotaract Club of Belfast and will collaborate with one of their global partners JCI in Belfast.