By Kris Cameron, a member of the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group, and the Rotary Club of Wenatchee Confluence, Washington, USA
About a year before I retired, I began to think about how I might meet new people and find an avenue to continue to serve my community. I had been a public school teacher and union leader for almost three decades and was anxious to start a new chapter.
When I saw a humorous video that a friend of mine who is younger than I had posted on social media about his Rotary club, I was intrigued. I had a positive view of Rotary from growing up with Rotary parks in my community and Rotary Youth Exchange students who attended my high school. My friend agreed to bring me to a meeting as his guest. The warm reception I received and the interesting people I met there were an irresistible draw, and I soon joined the club and began serving in leadership roles.
After retirement, I found I had more time on my hands and began to miss the farm life of my youth. I was raised with and around livestock and my dad had served on the local rodeo board. I thought it would be fun to have our own source of eggs, so I raised four baby chicks by hand. Little did I know I would learn to love and appreciates their individual voices and personalities. They became beloved family pets which led me to learn more about the horrific abuse of animals in the factory farm system and its impacts on the environment.
Finding new value in Rotary
I began to wonder if I was really doing the things that spoke to my heart. My experience in Rotary had certainly been a positive one, but was Rotary the most effective platform to address the cruelty of our food system, climate change, and environmental degradation? Should I instead join a group working more directly to address these issues?
Then I stumbled upon the website of the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) and learned about a task force they had on the Plant-Rich Diet (PRD). I was welcomed into the PRD Task Force and now serve as a co-chair. Task force members are some of the most dedicated, knowledgeable, thoughtful, and caring Rotarians I’ve met and they inspire me every day. Together we have created a tremendous number of resources to help clubs become more environmentally conscientious. Plant-rich diets truly are the Swiss Army Knife of environmental protection because what we eat impacts virtually all environmental problems.
My club and community have benefited tremendously from the work of the action group and task force. My club now offers a plant-based meal option at all meetings and events, and last year’s conference in District 5060 featured a plant-based menu. Our club hosts a monthly plant-based potluck that is open to the community.
The reason I stayed
We have and continue to sponsor film screenings and plant-based food tastings, sponsored the action group’s 15-Day Plant Rich Diet Challenge in our community for hundreds of individuals, and created a plant-based resource guide for our region. In addition, my club has provided information for the action group at local events, planted two native pollinator gardens, and offered recycling and composting at community events, one of which won a regional green events award. Thanks to the action group’s guidance, we are exploring hosting a lithium-ion battery recycling event and a Lunch Out of Landfills project. They have enabled us to partner with many local environmental groups.
As the lead representative to the action group from District 5060, I’m happy to report that the action group’s membership is growing, which means expanding awareness and access to a host of environmental projects for clubs.
The Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group isn’t the reason that I joined Rotary, but it’s the reason that I stay. Thanks to the task force and the work we do together, I have found my forever home in Rotary.
https://blog.rotary.org/2024/03/05/environmental-action-group-deepens-interest-in-rotary/