ENVIRONMENT
"It is the responsibility of EVERY ROTARIAN to support
action directed at improving the environment and
protecting animals and plants from extinction."
(Rotary Council on Resolutions 92-287)
DISTRICT ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE CHAIR
 | George M. Roe Bonney Lake Tehaleh District Environmental Chair Contact |
ON THIS PAGE
PROTECTING OUR COMMON LEGACY: THE ENVIRONMENT
Rotary is committed to supporting activities that strengthen the conservation and protection of natural resources and advance ecological sustainability. We empower communities to embrace local solutions, create innovative service projects, and access grants and other resources to foster harmony between people and nature.
Rotary makes change happen
We work with communities to implement service projects that improve the environment and transform lives. Thriving ecosystems can support people’s health, create economic opportunities, and help build peace.
How Rotary will help protect our planet
The Rotary Foundation will enable our members and their community partners to take action by:
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- Protecting and restoring land, coastal, marine, and freshwater resources
- Enhancing the capacity of communities to support natural resource management and conservation
- Supporting sustainable agriculture, fishing, and aquaculture practices
- Addressing the cause of climate change by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases
- Strengthening ecosystems and communities affected by climate change
- Supporting education initiatives that promote behavior that protects the environment
- Advocating for sustainable consumption to build an economy that uses resources more efficiently
- Addressing environmental public health concerns
CLUBS IN ACTION
Bainbridge Island Keeps it Green at the Rotary Auction & Rummage Sale
For more than six decades, the Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island, Washington, has organized a fundraising Auction & Rummage Sale run by over 2,400 community volunteers and taking over the campus of Woodward Middle School, where they set up 30+ sale departments in classrooms, under tents, in parking lots, and on the athletic field. Drive-through donations are accepted for several days before the event, then volunteers sort, clean, test, price, and display those donations. All this work culminates in one epic sale, the net proceeds of which go back into local and international communities via Rotary club projects, grants, and scholarships.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
More than an epic sale, the Rotary Auction & Rummage Sale is considered to be the largest event on Bainbridge Island that fulfills the three tenets of waste reduction: Reuse, reduce, and recycle.
- Items that are sold are reused and thus reduce the need to buy new.
- Items that are unsold are either reused through donations to nonprofit organizations or recycled to the greatest extent possible.
- Packaging and discards are recycled or composted to the greatest extent possible.
Green Team
The Bainbridge Rotary Green Team was created to support these principles and extend them in several ways to maximize waste reduction. This team of hardworking volunteers is dedicated to ensuring that items not sold at the event go to good use rather than to the landfill. Throughout the setup period, sale day, and into the post sale morning, the team works diligently to identify items for recycling and/or repurposing should those materials not be sold. After the auction the unsold items are then made available for harvest to local non-profit organizations, school fundraising teams, small businesses, and other local community groups.
The Green Team has five major divisions:
- Lawn of Opportunity Identify and divert unsold items to nonprofits and recycling endpoints during collection week.
- Recycling Team Manage recyclable materials at sorting stations during collection week and sale day.
- Meal Monitoring Team Ensure compostables, recyclables, and trash are properly sorted from volunteer and auction meals.
- Green Team Desk Operate as command central for all green team activities during collection week.
- Cardboard and Box Team Save and break down boxes from donations during collection week.
ESRAG HIGHLIGHT
Green Events Handbook – How to Run Sustainable Rotary Events
The Rotary International Board has committed to “consider conducting Rotary events in a manner that
takes global environmental issues into consideration.” Council on Resolutions 22R-14.
The Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) created the Green Events Handbook to assist Rotary clubs, districts, and conference and training organizers to run greener events.
The Handbook follows a 5-step approach:
- PLAN your event in a sustainable manner and communicate your vision to your team.
- IMPLEMENT your vision during your event and share your impact.
- MEASURE and observe your impact before, during, and after the event.
- OFFSET or compensate for carbon emissions that you could not avoid.
- REFLECT on your success and start planning to have a greater impact at your next event.
"About the Handbook" from the Handbook:
What are green events?
Green events use sustainable practices from the earliest planning, during the event itself, clean-up, and post-event evaluation. Green events reflect a desire to respect and engage with the local community and visitors, as well as sponsors, venues, government agencies and other stakeholders. Hosting a green event requires many operational considerations including developing policies and implementing best practices around venue selection, waste disposal, recycling, transport, food kilometers/miles, energy, and carbon offsetting and compensation schemes. Green events protect the environment and help to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to climate change.
Who is the Handbook for?
This Handbook is for anyone responsible for planning or implementing a Rotary event, from the smallest club gathering to district, regional, and international conferences and conventions. You can apply these principles to implement green events, whether live, virtual, or hybrid.
Why is this Handbook important?
Promoting green events supports that commitment, helps Rotary members to be good stewards of the planet, and to stay true to the Four-Way Test and our vision of "Doing Good in the World." As Rotary members, we must catalyze change and practice sustainability today in order to protect the world for tomorrow. Rotary can lead this change and show others the way. With the Green Events Handbook our collective efforts will inspire others to act more sustainably.
Green events can:
- Reduce Rotary’s carbon footprint, provide more resources in the circular economy, and keep waste out of landfills.
- Provide opportunities to showcase Rotarians leading as environmental stewards.
- Attract a younger generation who are concerned about the future of our planet.
DID YOU KNOW?
Can Rotary Change the Face of a Mountain?
Due to the deep ash and pumice layers laid down when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, there are sections on the face of the mountain where flora struggles to thrive due to poor soil quality and where sediment runoff places the area water systems at risk of flooding, presenting a threat to wildlife and undermining planting and other restoration efforts made thus far.
Hope may be on the horizon. On Saturday, June 6th, 2026, Rotarians from Clover Park, Olympia Capital Centennial, Gig Harbor, Bonney Lake – Tehaleh, and other Clubs in the area, are meeting onsite at the St. Helens Mudflow Habitat – Elk with personnel from Mount St. Helens Wildlife Area (MSHWA) and Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife to discuss what it might take to “Change the Face of a Mountain”.
Watch for highlights from that dialogue here on the District 5020 Environment webpage later this summer. And, if your club would like to send a representative to the exploratory visit on June 6th, click on the Learn More button or contact Treacy Duerfeldt (treacy2@cirelearning.org, 360-489-7919) or Phillip Lewis (phlewis02@gmail.com, 253-339-9016).
DISTRICT 5020 ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
 | Ray Andrews Sidney By The Sea Member Contact |
 | Sonnet Lyre Force Oak Bay, Victoria Member Contact |
 | Lee Hoffman Port Townsend Member Contact |
 | Mark E. Hoppen Gig Harbor Member Contact |
| George M. Roe Bonney Lake Tehaleh District Environmental Chair Contact |
COMMUNITY SHARE
Share Your Story With Our Environment Community
Our Environment Committee is passionate about helping the Clubs and Areas within District 5020 in their engagement with the place that they call home. A big part of that is sharing stories about ‘what is happening where’ ... there’s so much we can learn from one another’s experiences, and there’s a lot to gain through collaboration on shared interest areas.
Tell us about a project, event, or activity that exemplifies how your Club is helping protect the environment and we'll share it in our Clubs in Action section, which features a different Club (or Club collaboration) each month, as well as on our Environment Community Share page.
Send us your story in the message box below or submit directly to the contact person provided herein. Please also provide any media files (images, PDFs, videos) that you think will help make your story shine, and remember to include links to information that might prove valuable as resources for other community members and readers.
Contact:
Sonnet Force
lyreforce@gmail.com
250-241-5974
ENVIRONMENT RESOURCES
These are just a sampling of resources available to assist you in achieving your goals: