ROTARY GBI ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY GROUP NEWSLETTER FOR CLUBS & DISTRICTS JULY 2015 HIMALAYAN BALSAM The season and best time for trying to eradicate Himalayan Balsam is here. The growth of this weed along roadsides, rivers, ditches and woodland will soon start to become evident as the rather pretty pink flowers start to show. Rotary can help in trying to at least contain the weed, and then plan a programme of gradual eradication by working from the outside of the growth, inwards. If on a ditch, roadside or stream, start at the top end and work downwards for the most effective use of the resources and manpower you have available. Working with local organisations who are already trying to stop the spread of this weed is another way of helping, and through press releases and personal contact, you can also try to co-ordinate the efforts being made in your area. If members of your Club are physically able(?!), try to arrange one or more ‘Balsam Bashing’ days. The Balsam is easy to pull out with its shallow roots. It should just be piled up in situ to rot down. However wherever it is being pulled, make sure, as far as possible, that EVERY plant is removed however large or small, as one plant, turned to seed, can undo all the hard work being done in a particular area. It therefore helps to make at least more than one visit to the area you are trying to clear to ensure more weed has not grown in the same place. To be effective, ‘Balsam Bashing’ needs to be done by about mid-August before the flower starts turning to seed.
BICYCLE RECYCLING More and more Clubs are taking on this very simple project. There are literately 100s of unused bikes sitting in people’s potting sheds, back yards, garages or wherever which the owners no longer use and do not know what to do with. They will be delighted to given them to you in the knowledge that they will be refurbished by volunteers and then send mainly abroad to locations such as Africa or Eastern Europe where they can have invaluable use as probably the only means of transport. It may mean a child being able to go to school, a family able to access a charitable ‘soup’ kitchen, or simply a means of communication. There are various organisations who will take the bikes and several Rotary Charities who include them in their shipments abroad along with hospital and other valuable equipment. We have been working mainly with the Margaret Carey Foundation who are based in Bradford in West Yorkshire but who will normally collect lots of 40/50 bikes from most parts of England, Scotland and Wales. E-mail address david@margaretcareyfoundation.org.uk All you need is somewhere to store the bikes pending their collection. To collect the bikes use your local press or other advertising means, including your own Club web site, leaflets at shows that you are attending or any other publicity opportunity, asking people to bring their bikes to a particular location. You may have to allow for the fact that some will want them collecting, so a member of the Club with a lorry or car trailer will be useful for this. There is a leaflet on the Rotary Environmental web site you can use. Just adapt it as you require for your own publicity.
WOODLAND TRUST Do not delay any longer in ordering packs of FREE trees from the Woodland Trust for delivery and planting in November. The closing date is fast approaching –3 September – and this could be brought forward to an earlier date is demand is high and the full quota of trees is taken up beforehand. For full details go to www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/freetrees Packs of trees are available in 30s, 105s or 420s, and can be for a variety of uses. Choose from: Wildlife Blackthorn; common oak; hazel; hawthorn; rowan; silver birch. Medium pack (105 saplings) Ideal for planting either in small groups of trees or as a hedge (approx 30m). Year-round colour Dogwood; hawthorn; hazel; silver birch; rowan; wild cherry. Working wood, Silver birch; rowan; wild cherry; common oak; grey willow; field maple. Large pack (420 saplings) Create a long hedge (approx 120m) or if planted as a block of trees, there is sufficient for approximately one acre of land. Wild harvest Hazel; blackthorn; crab apple; elder; dog rose. Wetland Downy birch; goat willow; osier; hawthorn; hazel; rowan. Wild wood Downy birch; rowan; hazel; hawthorn; crab apple; holly.
FRACKING Do you and your Club know all about fracking? What it involves, what impact it may have on your community, how it operates? If not, then one of the members of our Group, Professor Keith Tovey, has kindly prepared a Power Point Presentation ideal for use as a talk at the Rotary Club Meeting which, with some explanatory notes, which I prepared when I found that I had to give the presentation to my own Club(!!), should enable anyone to give the talk. You can find them both on the Rotary GBI web site, or please e-mail me and I will forward them on to you. New applications are currently in hand in both Lancashire and Yorkshire, so both Councils, communities and our members need to be informed as to the pros and cons of Fracking. Some may even be involved in the decision making as to whether permission is to be given, so it is essential that they have at least a certain amount of knowledge as to what it is all about. Others may feel they wish to protest (or support) their Local Authority in that decision so again some knowledge of what is involved will enable them to make a meaningful contribution.
THE SUSTAINABILITY TRUST (www.TheSustainabilityTrust.org) (A few extracts from their latest newsletter) Blade-less Wind Turbines...? A new blade-less wind turbine that promises to be more efficient, less visually intrusive, and safer for birdlife than conventional turbines is being developed by Spanish company Vortex Bladeless. The streamlined design contains no contacting moving parts, making it virtually noiseless and less prone to vibration. Vortex Bladeless hopes these advantages could finally help usher in a viable consumer wind power market. A Short Guide to Climate Science The UK's Royal Society has produced A Short Guide to Climate Science summarising the answers to 20 common questions about climate change. The document is available to download. The guide is accompanied by an animation explaining the basics of climate science in 60 seconds - useful as a short presentation to a Club. You can download the short PDF guide or read and download the full report titled Climate Change: Evidence and Causes from the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences. Sustainability BREAK-THROUGH New RAG for Sustainability & Climate Change coming Environmental Sustainability Rotarian Action Group (ESRAG) To support this great initiative Go to ESRAG.org and support the proposed RAG It takes less than one minute to show your support Please share this information with your Club, District and all the Rotarians you know. Invite them to support the proposed ESRAG Climate Change in Sri Lanka 24-year-old Anoka Primrose Abeyrathne, from Sri Lanka and an environmental conservationist, eco-social entrepreneur and youth policy advocate. Writes in a moving article titled ‘Youth for Climate’ in Huff-Post Generation Change about ..."the rise of environmental issues in Sri Lanka leading to much poverty and sorrow in my part of the world. Rising sea levels, salt water damage, landslides due to torrential rains and desert-like droughts. "The stark future of climate change will be this. We forgot to pay attention to our environment! We forgot the very place we live in; the environment we utilize to support our existence. The repercussions of these actions will haunt us and generations yet to come" ************************************************************************* For the full leaflets on environmental projects and topics, please go to:http://www.rotarygbi.org/members/humanitarian-service-programmes/community/environmentsustainability-group/environment-projects/ There you will find leaflets on all the subjects above as well as many others which I am sure you will find useful. If you need any help or advice, please contact the person or Club named on the leaflet or me, Terry Knowles, Secretary and Member of the Rotary GBI Environmental Sustainability Group, TERUNA2@aol.com. or telephone 01423 525014 (NB I shall be away from the 24 June to 8 July and may not be able to respond to any emails in that period.)