Protect the Environment

Rotary's Climate Change Conversations, 2023

Everyday, Earth Day

A Focus on Food & Fashion

Do you know that the Food and Fashion Industries are currently receiving increasing attention due to their massive environmental footprint that are seen to accelerate climate change? 

Due to an unprecedented rise in human population, the sectors that are responsible for providing the basic necessities - food and clothing - are being called out for being unsustainable in their methods of supply chain production, consumption and waste management. Whether it is greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, water pollution or depletion, soil infertility, biodiversity loss or indiscriminate deforestation, unfortunately, the food and the fashion industries have become forerunning climate changing industries. 

With global food production contributing to a third of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions and the fashion industry being responsible for more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. At this pace of consuming resource-intensive food and fashion, it is projected that a gap of 56% between crop calories produced in 2010 and those needed in 2050 will be created and the fashion industry’s greenhouse gas emissions will surge more than 50% by 2030.

With “Protecting the Environment” becoming a new area of focus for Rotary International, as an effort to educate Rotary members in the region about the risks of climate change and ways to mitigate them, the environmental committee of Rotary Club of Marina City is organizing the second edition of a conversational environmental event called Rotary’s Climate Change Conversations (RC3) on 15th April 2023. The purpose of hosting this event is to bring people from within and outside of Rotary to come together as a community and take inspiration from one another to understand climate change as well as take solution based action for the future.

Last year, which was our first attempt, the theme of the event was “Be the Solution” where several topics related to the environment and climate change were discussed with expert speakers and Rotary members. There was a keynote talk on Mangrove Restoration in addition to several other activities like a quiz and talks. Read more about last year’s event here. 

This year, RC3 will be held on Saturday, 15th April 2023 at Goodwood Park Hotel on Scotts Road, Singapore. We plan to have booths showcasing and selling sustainable food and fashion products, talks on food and fashion, an auction to raise funds and many other interesting activities. In addition to them, we will have a fashion show where the models, our very own Rotary members, will walk the ramp wearing local sustainable fashion items. 

With a population explosion as well as people increasingly moving towards spiked consumption patterns like never before, it is imperative that we come together to firstly, understand the impact of our food and fashion choices as well as look out for options that are less harmful or sometimes beneficial to the planet’s future. There is no denying that the complexity of climate change cannot be encapsulated as a process caused by any 2 industries. But being conscious and aware of the hidden footprints is one important part of a whole cultural shift that we need at the moment as we fight an existential threat like never before.