ESRAG at RICON 2023

RICON 2023

By Pat Armstrong (Chair ESRAG, 2022-2023)

If you are attending Rotary International Convention (RICON) 2023 in Melbourne, Australia, 27-31 May, don’t miss the many environmental activities taking place in the week prior to the Convention and during the convention itself. You can follow all the events on the ESRAG RICON website ESRAG at RICON

The pre-RICON events include:

RAGTime - celebrate the impact of Rotary Action Groups and meet with Rotary International Leaders, including a number of past and future RI Presidents (Thursday 25 May, 7 pm to 9 pm AEDT) To register
ESRAG Environment Actions Summit - great environmental speakers and workshops (Thursday 25 May, 12 noon to 5 pm AEDT) To register
Pre-RICON tours - visit environmental projects around Melbourne To learn about these tours and to register ESRAG at RICON

The RICON events include, with details ESRAG at RICON

RICON Breakout Sessions – support our ESRAG presenters on rivers, plastics, plant rich diets (check out the dates on the RICON website)
RICON ESRAG House of Friendship Booth – volunteers needed to promote ESRAG ESRAG at RICON
ESRAG Gathering – meet with fellow ESRAG volunteers and Board Directors. Bring your own lunch (Saturday 27 May, 12.30 pm -1.30 pm AEDT) ESRAG at RICON
ESRAG Dinner at a popular Melbourne Restaurant (Sunday 28 May, starting at 7 pm AEDT) ESRAG at RICON

Special ESRAG RICON resources:

ESRAG Flight Carbon Estimator - compensate your carbon emissions from flights to and from Melbourne Estimator
Green Events Handbook – a new handbook with tips and tools to reduce the environmental impact of your club and district events ESRAG at RICON

www.esrag.org/ricon2023/

RAGTime

By Pat Armstrong

Following the inaugural and successful RAGTime in RICON 2022 in Houston, Texas, the DNA RAG is organising a second RAGTime in Melbourne on Thursday, 25 May in the Jardin Tan room at the glorious Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens. This is a unique opportunity, over canapés, to greet members of ESRAG and to meet, learn from and share ideas for joint projects with members of the other 26 Rotary Action Groups. You will also be able to have informal conversations with Rotary staff and our Rotary International leaders. So far we have registrations from many past and future RI Presidents and their staff. If you are planning to arrive early to RICON, this is an event that you will not want to miss. Register

Note that you don’t need to be registered RICON to register for this event.

ESRAG Environmental Actions Summit

By Pat Armstrong

If you are arriving in Melbourne ahead of RICON, you will not want to miss this ESRAG Environmental Actions Summit on Thursday, 25 May. To be held in in the historic Melbourne Town Hall, this Summit will feature leading environmental keynote speakers and showcase a number of outstanding Rotary environmental projects. After this inspiring introduction, delegates will work in breakout groups to develop practical ideas for Rotary club and district environmental projects. These ideas for projects will then be collated and produced into environmental action guides and made available to Rotary clubs and districts worldwide.

This Summit will be the chance for you to share some of the innovative projects of your club and district and to also learn from speakers and other delegates.

You will hear from you two outstanding keynote speakers:

Professor David Karoly

David Karoly is an honorary Professor in the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and an honorary Senior Research Fellow in Melbourne Climate Futures, having retired from CSIRO at the end of January 2022. He is an internationally recognised expert on climate change and climate variability.

Chris Brace, General Manager – Growth Futures, Yarra Valley Water

Chris Brace

Chris Brace is the General Manager – Growth Futures, Yarra Valley Water. He has worked in the water sector for over 20 years and brings a passion for engineering excellence, care for the environment and a people first mindset to everything he does.

Chris has worked in wide range of roles in his time at YVW including wastewater treatment, recycled water production, environmental monitoring, growth servicing and asset management.

Chris has played a key role in driving the business’ engineering, culture and environmental outcomes and has been proud to play a part in industry leading initiatives such as YVW’s Waste to Energy project, the Brushy Creek and Aurora Recycled Water schemes and supporting endangered species habitat protection and restoration at YVW’s sites.

Provisional Showcase project speakers and topics include:

Salvador Rico: Rivers of the World
Christopher Puttock: Mangroves Restoration
Rob Anderson: Rotarians for Climate website
Clari Nolet: Lithium Ion Battery Recycling (A Program of Impact)
David Brawn: Environmental Envoys to Engage Rotary Clubs
Colin Scobie: Oyster Shell Reef Restoration
Trees for Survival
Pat Armstrong: Light up Timor Through Enterprise

Note that you don’t need to be registered RICON to register for this event.

RICON House of Friendship ESRAG Booth

By Barb Sheehan

Volunteers are now being sought for the ESRAG booth at the House of Friendship. Are you coming to Melbourne for RICON 2023? Could you spare a few hours to volunteer on the ESRAG stand? This is an opportunity to experience the fun and friendship of being involved on the booth, sharing the ESRAG message and learning about Environmental Sustainability projects happening all over the world.

See you there!

To register

Environmental Excursions for May 24-26

By Ted Waghorne, Chair, ESRAG Oceania Regional Chapter

There are lots of environmental projects going on around Melbourne, and when you come for RICON 2023 we would like to take you to visit some of these. The tours are anticipated to be on Wednesday, Thursday morning and on Friday just prior to RICON, so please come early to go on a tour or two, and also attend the Thursday afternoon ESRAG Action Summit and RAGTime evening reception. The tour options currently being developed include:

The Green Line - The City of Melbourne vision is to create a Green Line along the northern side of the Yarra River through the CBD. The Rotary Club of Melbourne and Rotarians for Bees are involved. Whilst this project is early in the planning stages, our visit will give you an overview of the proposal and its environmental aspirations: to improve river health, create a connected ecological river corridor, provide environmental education, increase tree canopy and mitigate impacts of flooding and sea level rise. On this walking tour of the Docklands area of Melbourne is planned Wednesday afternoon and again on Thursday morning from the Melbourne Exhibition and Entertainment Centre. On the tour we will visit wetland trials recently constructed. Cost USD10.
Visit Donations in Kind: Rotary West Footscray -This Rotary volunteer recycling facility, collects and redistributes goods, principally donated by companies, hospitals and schools. The goods are destined for developing countries and to disadvantaged individuals in the local community and are distributed through Rotary clubs and the wider NGO network. Visit the warehouse and see the vast range of goods prevented from going to landfill, but finding a very needy home and discuss how this project is managed. Thursday 25^th. Morning tea / coffee provided. Return in time for the ESRAG Action Summit. USD25 to cover bus hire.

Photo: Credit: Rotary DIK.

Go to an Australian Bush setting and off-the grid living: Within an hour from Melbourne is the charming Daylesford / Hepburn Springs area. The visit will include morning tea at an sustainable, off grid home and if we are lucky see mobs of kangaroos. We plan lunch with discussions about Hepburn Energy, the first community owned windfarm, and also a visit to charming towns. This tour is planned for Friday 26^th. Limited numbers. Cost set at USD 50 mainly to cover the bus. Lunch and other purchases at own cost. Returning to Melbourne in time to join the Tour of the Grey Headed Flying Fox colony.
Visit a bat colony in Melbourne: There is a large Grey Headed Flying Fox colony living on the banks of the Yarra. These native megabats have their camp in Yarra Bend Park with colony numbers rising to around 35,000 in summer. Leaving mid-afternoon on Friday, travel by bus to nearby Fairfield and use the walking path on the bank of the Yarra to the colony. Aim to arrive just prior to sunset when thousands of bats stream into the sky. Return by bus to the city. Cost to cover bus hire USD10.
Visit the Botanic Gardens: - The Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria is a leading plant science organisation specialising in biodiversity and conservation research, taxonomy, and identification services for plants and fungi. Join a small group on Friday morning to walk around the gardens and learn about their research activities. Cost USD10.