Our World Environment day celebration on Thursday 2 June will go down as one of my highlights of 2021/22.
One hundred and fifty five members and guests in attendance experienced a lively and informative event that positioned Rotary Melbourne as a Club which is moving with the times as a relevant sustainability organisation bringing together a distinguished panel of speakers, and guests, from diverse business and community organisations.
My own guests were astonished at some of the insights shared particularly relating to the de-carbonisation effectiveness of Bardee’s process which converts soldier flies into edible proteins, currently useable as stock feed.
The panel conversation led by Professor John Thwaites AM gave us a deep insight into the contribution made and challenges facing SecondBite, immigrant communities, and the City of Melbourne as well as those shared by celebrity chef and writer, Matt Preston. The issues raised on the impact of food waste create a plethora of opportunities for Rotarians to do practical things to reduce that unacceptable 30% of world produced waste globally each year.
A highlight for me was to see the event working as a networking opportunity, connecting people and promoting discussions that will see increased collaboration and greater community benefit.
While our Awardees of the Second environmental sustainability Award were prevented from attending by urgent matters at the production facility, the citation for the impressive environmental venture was highlighted and handed to ES Committee Co-Chair, Peter Berg for custody later presentation. This will now occur at the Rotary Melbourne Evening meeting at 6pm on 8 June, to be held at the Lyceum Club.
The event was led by a team drawn from the relatively recently formed Environment Sustainability Committee. Accolades go to Garry Fowler and Peter Berg for their vision in initiating the event. Carol Bond was the Project manager in chief and did an amazing job, and behind the scenes, sustainability and Governance Director Marg Leser all made towering contributions. Ian Jones helped communicate with the awardees. But lets not forget the folks that made it work on the day: Maestro David Kram AM brought live music to us. The reception team: Chris Dodd and Jim Barry, Raffle ticket sales manager extraordinaire Philip Cornish, and photographers Bill Pickett and Yidan Xi.
Then there were the members that invited one or more guests. Quin Scalzo and Kevin Sheehan reached out to the Melbourne Indigenous Transition School. One who yet again excelled above and beyond the call of duty was Office Manager Jo Mavros. Corporate sponsors - corporate members Morgan Stanley, Bernie McIntosh’s Victorian Mortgage Group, and of course the City of Melbourne, whose support through Lord Mayor and Honorary Member Sally Capp was invaluable. Lets not forget Clive Scott and his team from the Sofitel, who maintained their exemplary service standard and produced an impressively sustainable meal.
Thank you to every one who played a part and attended. I was proud to have the privilege of helping mount this event during my watch as President. I have no doubt an impressive foundation stone has been laid for this to become an iconic annual Rotary Melbourne event.
Report by President Reg Smith
The presentations and other elements of the meeting can be viewed on-line by following this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXK6DQc_ho
