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Madison, Wisconsin Rotarian Patrick Marsden this week gave a first-hand account on how “Supporting the Environment” became the seventh official focus area for Rotary International in June of this year (joining “Promoting Peace”; “Fighting Disease”; “Providing Clean Water and Sanitation”; “Saving Mothers and Children”; “Supporting Education”; and “Growing Local Economies”). As Marsden explained, the initiative began as a social group affiliated with the main Madison club doing environmental sustainability projects. But participants soon felt the need to have greater impact. Inspired by the phrase “work locally but think globally”, they pursued a closer link to Rotary International. In 2015, just two years after launching their local group, they won acceptance as one of only 25 officially recognized Rotary Action Groups. They developed a handbook to make it to easy implement a project that addressees the environment in a sustainable fashion. This way a local club does not have to “recreate the wheel” when getting started with their project. Marsden said the response is exciting with over 1,000 members from 50 different countries and representing a full range of age groups being part of the Environmental Sustainability Rotarian Action Group (ESRAG). More details and examples of impact may be found at their website: www.esrag.org.