How do Rotary Clubs make lasting change? The answer is simple. They take service to the front line. Front line, by definition, is the most advanced, responsible, or visible position in a field or activity. It is where example is demonstrated and opportunities are made possible. It is where a community can be led to make change happen. Amazing things happen when leaders lead from the front.
Taking a Front Line for the Environment
 
There is no place Rotarians are needed more than on the front line of the environment. That has been a key motivator for our community service club and one that has impacted our successful growth over the past four years. We recognize that the health of our environment lays the foundation for every other Rotary area of focus. Protecting the environment allows us to fight disease; provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene; save mothers and children; support basic education and literacy, and grow local economies. Without a stable, sustainable environment there is no opportunity for peace. The environment sustains us all. 

The Rotary Club of Gananoque has taken a lead in Rotary District 7040 for environmental action. In 2024 we were one of two clubs recognized with a District Gold EnviroClub Award after receiving bronze and silver in previous years. Last year we were emboldened to see there are now 13 other clubs joining our effort to champion environmental action. Does that trend mean there may be more Gold Level Rotary EnviroClubs in the future? That is our hope.  
A community volunteer paddles the Gananoque River to collect garbage during our Gananoque Great Lakes Watershed Clean-up. Every year the community is surprised by the amount of human debris left in our watershed.  
At their third orientation training session, Rotary District 7040 Outbound Youth Exchange Students learn about volunteering to support local food systems at Gananoque's Community Garden and Food Forest.
By partnering with the Gananoque Public Library we brought Soper Creek Animal Rescue to town to talk about the dangers of invasive species and the importance of protecting native wildlife like opossoms.  
By working with The Natural Edge -Watersheds Canada was able to plant native species along the waterfront at Rotary Beach Park to protect the shoreline with a web of roots to help reduce soil erosion. 
Promoting Environmental Sustainability
Our club has a dedicated team whose focus is the environment, but we don’t work alone. Our greater success is achieved by working with other community organizations and welcoming community volunteers in all we do. Some of our members are also in ESRAG, the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group. Participation in ESRAG allows us to gather ideas about environmental stewardship from around the globe - initiatives that we can help support. At the same time, we can share information about the success of our own local and regional projects to inspire other clubs that are learning how they can engage in environmental leadership in their own communities.  
 
Each year we dedicate some of our meetings to learning more about environmental topics with guest speakers like Dr. Martha Dowsley of Lakehead University. In 2023 she visited our club to share her knowledge on wild rice, its importance to Indigenous cultures, and navigation of relationships with non-indigenous land owners. In the spring of 2025 Nicholas Stirling, Cataraqui Conservation Authority Technician for Watershed Conservation, visited our club to talk about Ontario’s Invading Species Awareness Program.
 
At one meeting each year we also provide an opportunity for our members sign up for the Carbon Footprint Challenge, to consider personal impact on the environment and ways to reduce our carbon footprint. Expanding our role in the effort to address climate change, this January our club joined with other Rotary Clubs in the area to sponsor the youth-led Climate Change Symposium in nearby Kingston, Ontario, "Rooted in Action: Empowering Youth to grow a Sustainable Future." One member of our committee who attended the conference has just introduced a new course at the Gananoque District High School focusing on Environmental Resource Management. 
 
Leading Community Projects for Positive Environmental Impact 
Our year of environmental initiatives kicks off in April in the lead up to Earth Day when our club organizes the Gananoque Great Lakes Watershed Clean-up. Over 70 community members come together to clean up garbage in and along our waterways, reducing the amount of plastic and other waste in our watershed. In 2025 we are also working to introduce an Invasive Species Clean-Up in mid-late spring. We know that garbage is a serious issue but so is the spread of invasive plants like Garlic Mustard, that contaminates the soil and prevents native plants from thriving, and the Dog-Strangling Vine that out-competes native plants and negatively impacts monarch populations. Bringing in specialists from organizations like Cataraqui Conservation to educate our club enables us to make smart choices when deciding how we move forward on new initiatives.    
 
Throughout the month of May we celebrate Grow More May. Our club wanted a proactive spinoff to No Mow May, so we launched Grow More May to encourage people to grow more of what is better for our environment. More pollinator friendly garden areas. More Ontario natives. More local food options. Grow More May ties directly into the the Gananoque Community Garden and Food Forest that our club insures and oversees in partnership with the Gananoque and Area Food Access Network. It is where we set the example demonstrating what plants are the best to grow based on our natural environment and food access needs.  

Early May is our key time to put new fruit bearing shrubs and trees into the food forest and to prepare community garden beds for planting. We host Rotary District 7040’s third Youth Exchange Orientation at that time. As part of their outbound training, students and their parents volunteer to cleanup and maintain both the garden and the food forest. They also make the first new plantings of the season with education on permaculture and local food access. As the month progresses, we invite local schools to do planting events so their EcoClubs and classes are also enabled to grow more. This is our way of ensuring young people in Gananoque know the site exists for them and their families. It guarantees them access to locally grown food. Both teachers and students get to learn all about about native fruit producing plants, herbaceous plants, and what plants need to grow successfully.  

Through the food forest we are also building our relationship with Gananoque’s local Indigenous community members enabling Truth and Reconciliation through education. All native plants in our food forest will be labeled with their Indigenous names in both Mohawk and Ojibwe. We are also working with Indigenous members of our food forest committee to plan and incorporate a medicine wheel at the site. This year our club also sponsored an Indigenous Awareness Training Session at Gananoque Public Library for our National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. 

New club projects progress as the year continues and over the past two years our club has worked through the summer and into the fall on the creation and revitalization of parks. Our parks are areas where environmental stewardship is paramount. Local species of plants have been incorporated into the landscape alongside some non-invasive species. Both parks border the St. Lawrence River and in the 2024 Revitalization and Refurbishment of Rotary Beach Park we worked successfully with the Town of Gananoque, the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority and Watershed Canada to ensure the integrity of waterfront habitat. We want to make the space one that can be enjoyed by our community for many years to come - allowing a close relationship with the natural beauty of the area we love. 
 
All these environmental initiatives offer opportunities for community to come together, to get involved and to become invested in protecting the environment. Front line opportunities inspire new people to join in. New people inspire new questions like, “What next?” “How can we inspire a cleaner community?” “How can we better address the waste so it doesn’t need to go to a landfill?” We need inspired minds find inspired answers. Hands on, front line is where people see an opportunity for themselves to contribute to the world around them. What we are doing as a club is making opportunities accessible for hands on learning and education for everyone.  
     
In the spring of 2024 our club was awarded the Environment Sustainable Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) gold EnviroClub designation for 2024-2025. How we got there is front line service. We hope more Rotary clubs will join us. Together we can have a phenomenal impact on the communities we serve!