2021-10 October

Rotary Action Groups: the project perfecters page 16 America’s hidden water woes page 36 October 2021 DELIVERING ON A PROMISE A polio-free world is within reach page 30

DIVERSITY STRENGTHENS OUR CLUBS New members from different groups in our communities bring fresh perspectives and ideas to our clubs and expand Rotary’s presence. Invite prospective members from all backgrounds to experience Rotary. REFER A NEW MEMBER my.rotary.org/member-center

,, PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE A quarter of the Rotary year is now behind The need is great. According to the United Nations, us. I am sure you are helping Rotary to 9 percent of the world’s population — that’s 700 million grow more and do more. And I hope you people, a majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa — live have already done your part for the Each on less than $1.90 a day. By supporting strong commu- nity development as well as entrepreneurs, we can help One, Bring One initiative by introducing improve conditions for people in that region and others. one person to Rotary. Your club can also promote economic development in your own community by expanding vocational train- Do you ever think about your earliest days as a Ro- ing opportunities through local schools and commu- nity colleges, partnering with lenders to improve access tarian? I often do — because those first moments of dis- to financial services, or working with a nonprofit that provides resources to entrepreneurs and connects covering the power of service shaped who I am today. them with the business community. When I joined my Rotary club, our e orts focused on Of course, developing strong communities is im- possible without strong public health. On 24 October, India’s rural communities, where people were living World Polio Day, we’ll celebrate our tremendous prog- ress in the e ort to eradicate polio. But we also know without toilets, getting their drinking water from the the fight is not over. We still need your help raising funds and awareness to ensure that all children are same pond they bathed in, and sending their children immunized against polio. Please don’t forget to activate your clubs on that important day and encourage them to outdoor classrooms set up under a tree. The nearest to donate here: endpolio.org/world-polio-day. health care provider often was miles away — and the Service has been rewarding for me throughout my life. I know the same is true for many of you. Join me services were inadequate. But after Rotary clubs carried this month in becoming a good tenant of our planet by helping others to better themselves and their com- out some service projects, the villages had toilets, clean munities. Together, we can Serve to Change Lives. drinking water, a classroom for early learning, and a President, Rotary International nearby health care center. The spark that Rotary kindled within me forced me to look beyond myself and embrace humanity. It made service a way of life and led me to a guiding principle I still stand by: Service is the rent I pay for the space I occupy on Earth. If you feel the need to reignite the spark of service in yourself or your club, October — Community Economic Development Month — is a great time to do so. When we work to improve the lives of people in underserved com- munities — through, for example, projects that provide vocational training and access to financial resources — we help build and sustain local economic growth. OCTOBER 2021 ROTARY 1

2  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021

WELCOME YOU ARE HERE: Rovaniemi, Finland THE LANDSCAPE: Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland, is located in far northern Finland along the Arctic Circle. It is re- nowned as a place to see the northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis. The town also bills itself as “the official hometown of Santa Claus.” If you go, you can visit Santa Claus Village, as well as Arktikum, a museum dedicated to the science of the Arctic region and the his- tory of Finnish Lapland. THE CLUBS: The Rotary Club of Rovaniemi meets on Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m., and the Rotary Club of Rovani- emi Santa Claus meets on Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. THE PHOTOGRAPHER: Manu Pajuluoma, Rotary Club of Rovaniemi OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  3

ROTARY GENERAL OFFICERS OF ROTARY TRUSTEES OF THE ROTARY INTERNATIONAL, 2021–22 FOUNDATION, 2021–22 October 2021 PRESIDENT CHAIR MANAGING EDITOR ART DIRECTOR Shekhar Mehta John F. Germ Jenny Llakmani Jennifer Moody Calcutta-Mahanagar, India Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA SENIOR EDITOR PRODUCTION MANAGER PRESIDENT-ELECT Geoffrey Johnson Marc Dukes Jennifer E. Jones CHAIR-ELECT Windsor-Roseland, Ian H.S. Riseley SENIOR EDITOR DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Ontario, Canada Sandringham, Australia Hank Sartin ASSISTANT Joe Cane VICE PRESIDENT VICE CHAIR SENIOR STAFF WRITER Valarie K. Wafer Sangkoo Yun Diana Schoberg SENIOR EDITORIAL Collingwood- Sae Hanyang, Korea COORDINATOR South Georgian Bay, ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cynthia Edbrooke Ontario, Canada TRUSTEES John M. Cunningham Jorge Aufranc CIRCULATION MANAGER TREASURER Guatemala Sur, Guatemala COPY EDITOR Katie McCoy Virpi Honkala Kristin Morris Raahe, Finland Marcelo Demétrio Haick Santos-Praia, Brazil Send ad inquiries and materials to: Marc Dukes, DIRECTORS Rotary magazine, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Jessie Harman Per Høyen Ave., 14th floor, Evanston, IL 60201; phone 847-866- Wendouree Breakfast, Aarup, Denmark 3092; email [email protected] Australia Hsiu-Ming Lin Media kit: rotary.org/mediakit Suzi (Susan C.) Howe Taipei Tungteh, Taiwan Space Center (Houston), To contact us: Rotary magazine, One Rotary Texas, USA Larry A. Lunsford Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201; Kansas City-Plaza, phone 847-866-3206; email [email protected] Won-Pyo Kim Missouri, USA Gyeongju South, Korea Website: rotary.org/magazines Mark Daniel Maloney Urs Klemm Decatur, Alabama, USA To submit an article: Send stories, queries, tips, Aarau, Switzerland and photographs by mail or email (high-resolution Geeta K. Manek digital images only). We assume no responsibility Mahesh Kotbagi Muthaiga, Kenya for unsolicited materials. Pune Sports City, India Aziz Memon To subscribe: Twelve issues at US$12 a year Aikaterini Kotsali- Karachi, Pakistan (USA, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands); $16 Papadimitriou a year (Canada); $24 a year (elsewhere). Contact Pendeli, Greece Akira Miki the Circulation Department (phone 847-424-5217 Himeji, Japan or -5216; email [email protected]) for details and for Peter R. Kyle airmail rates. Gift subscriptions available at the Capitol Hill (Washington, Barry Rassin same rates. D.C.), District of Columbia, East Nassau, Bahamas USA To send an address change: Enclose old address Dean Rohrs label, postal code, and Rotary club, and send to the Roger Lhors Langley Central, British Circulation Department or email [email protected]. Pont-Audemer, France Columbia, Canada Postmaster: Send all address changes to Circulation Department, Rotary magazine, One Rotary Center, Chi-Tien Liu Gulam A. Vahanvaty 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201. Yangmei, Taiwan Bombay, India Call the Contact Center: USA, Canada, and Vicki Puliz GENERAL SECRETARY Virgin Islands (toll-free) 866-976-8279. Elsewhere: Sparks, Nevada, USA John Hewko 847-866-3000, ext. 8999. Kyiv, Ukraine Nicki Scott Unless otherwise noted: All images are North Cotswolds, England copyright ©2021 by Rotary International or are used with permission. Julio César A. Silva-Santisteban Published monthly by Rotary International, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, El Rímac, Peru IL 60201. Rotary® is a registered trademark of Rotary International. Copyright ©2021 by Rotary International. All rights reserved. Periodicals Katsuhiko Tatsuno postage paid at Evanston, Illinois, USA, and additional mailing offices. Tokyo-West, Japan Canada Publications Mail Agreement No. 1381644. Canadian return address: MSI, PO Box 2600, Mississauga, ON L4T 0A8. This is the October Elizabeth Usovicz 2021 issue, volume 200, number 4, of Rotary. Publication number: USPS Kansas City-Plaza, 548-810. ISSN 2694-443X (print); ISSN 2694-4448 (online). Missouri, USA 4  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021 Ananthanarayanan S. “Venky” Venkatesh Chennai Mambalam, India GENERAL SECRETARY John Hewko Kyiv, Ukraine

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CONTENT October 2021 Vol. 200, No. 4 FEATURES 1  President’s message 2 Welcome 30 The Conversation: Aidan O’Leary CONNECT Our best chance to eradicate polio is 8  Editor’s note |  Letters to the editor now, says the World Health Organization’s 15  What would you do? polio chief. Here’s why OUR WORLD By Diana Schoberg Illustration by Viktor Miller Gausa 16 A worldwide force of knowledge 36 Action groups can bridge gaps that Water pressure may hamper your club’s projects Five water and sanitation problems that 19 Earth’s advocate could be lurking in your own backyard Environmental attorney focuses on By Charles Fishman a green future Illustrations by Shonagh Rae 20 Rotary projects around the globe 30 22 Ways and means Six Rotary members describe how — and why — they raise money for polio 24 Essay To be creative, you must be open to making connections — and to doing nothing On the cover: Noorullah Shirzada OUR CLUBS A young girl in Pakistan looks 56 Virtual visit forward to a more hopeful Rotary Club of Gold Coast Passport, future thanks to Australia Rotary’s polio eradication 58 Handbook efforts. Mentors nurture careers and Photography recharge their institutions by Khaula Jamil/ Courtesy of Rotary 60 Calendar International 61 Trustee chair’s message 6  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021 62 In brief Fun and fellowship at Rotary’s second virtual convention 63 Houston convention |  Crossword 64 Found A Rotary member collects insects — and their stories

Biscayne Bay is teetering on High intensity the edge of death. Not some kind G rowing up in Kitchener, of metaphorical death. Ontario, Frank Adamson Actual environmental death. learned to follow his passions. While in high 36 school and college, he worked in various roles at Kitchener Waterloo Hospital. He found he loved being on ambulance crews. Adamson dropped out of college — “It hasn’t held me back at all,” he says, “I’m into challenges” — and worked as a paramedic. Over the course of his career, he has served as a chief of paramedic medical emergency services, a vice president of planning and profes- sional services at a community hospital, and a faculty member in a paramedic training program. And he’s found the time to open two fitness centers focused on high-intensity resistance training. Adamson’s zeal to help others is matched by his fundraising prowess. A member of the Rotary Club of Fonthill, Ontario, and a past governor of District 7090 (Ontario and New York), he led Pedal for Polio, a district fund- raising drive. “I’m out to make a difference with whatever I’m involved in,” he says. — vanessa glavinskas Read more about District 7090’s ath- letic fundraising efforts on page 20. OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  7 Jeff Greenberg Illustration by Viktor Miller Gausa

EDITOR’S NOT I n 2007, my husband, craig, and i were living Letters outside Boston, where I worked as a reporter to the editor I knew that for the Patriot Ledger in Quincy. We had eradicating both grown up in Wisconsin, and we both ROTARY FIRSTS polio was one of were missing it. So when Craig landed a job Rotary’s central at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, we headed back to In “Rotary’s Great Global Leap” missions, but the Midwest. [July], you mention that London I didn’t know was the first club established out- much about the Shortly after moving home, I applied for a job at The side North America, in August 1912. disease. Rotarian. It seemed like a great opportunity to write The Dublin club in fact was estab- about people who are making the world a better place lished on 22 February 1911. (even if I didn’t realize quite how far Evanston, Illinois, was from Milwaukee). While waiting to hear if I got the — Daniel McAllister, job, I went to India for a friend’s wedding, and on a flight Bradenton, Florida in that country, I found a copy of the Indian Rotary magazine in my seat pocket. I took it as a sign — and Editor’s note: The Dublin club orga- sure enough, in April 2008, I started at The Rotarian as nized before the London club; however, an associate editor. its official charter date is later. Rotary’s Heritage Communications department I knew that eradicating polio was one of Rotary’s considers a club’s charter date to be its central missions, but I didn’t know much about the dis- official anniversary date. The Dublin ease. During my childhood, I would sometimes travel club received its charter on 1 May 1913. with my friend Lisa to visit her grandparents in Chicago. Her grandfather, a jeweler named James Hall, walked SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY with braces and crutches because of polio. Imagine my surprise when, as I was looking through back issues of As I was reading the August issue, I The Rotarian, I stumbled across an article in the De- was pleased to see the “Star Power” cember 1942 issue about Mr. Hall and the swim club article promoting Space Center he’d started for people who had been disabled by polio. Houston. The Houston Host Or- ganization Committee is planning I wrote my first big feature, “Follow the Polio Road,” a Space Center Houston event as a in December 2008; since then, polio has been my beat, way for Rotary members to visit the and I have written scores of stories on the subject. center. Find information about that Two in particular stand out for me. In February 2009, event and more at houstonri2022 I worked with the illustrator Steve Buccellato to create .org/events. a graphic novel-style feature called “Amazing Stories of Polio!” That led to an event, organized by District 2080 — Rhonda Kennedy, chair, Houston at the National Institute for Graphic Arts at the Palazzo Host Organization Committee Poli in Rome, that featured the story, which has been Sweeny, Texas translated into several languages and become a primer for people eager to learn about Rotary’s work to end WELCOME WOMEN polio. And in February 2021, I wrote the cover story, “How We Did It,” chronicling Rotary’s monumental feat Regarding “Pioneer Woman” Paula of eradicating wild polio from Africa. Raposa [July]: The article suggested that women couldn’t officially join In this issue, you can read a conversation I had in Rotary until 1989. I joined the Rotary July with Aidan O’Leary, who leads polio eradication efforts for the World Health Organization. O’Leary, who is equal parts optimist and realist, thinks we’ll never have a better opportunity to rid the world of polio than we do right now. You can also read about past events that clubs have organized for World Polio Day and hear from donors about why they give to end polio. (Watch Rotary’s 2021 World Polio Day Online Global Update at endpolio.org/world-polio-day.) I’ve covered Rotary’s work to end polio for 13 years, but I’ve never participated in a National Immunization Day, and it’s my great hope that I will one day cross that off my must-do list. My greater hope? That I never get a chance to participate in a National Immunization Day — because that will mean that Rotary and its partners have succeeded in ensuring that no child ever again is affected by polio. DIANA SCHOBERG Senior staff writer 8  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021

TAKE ACTION ERADICATE A DISEASE FOREVER WORLD POLIO DAY 24 OCTOBER 2021 www.endpolio.org/world-polio-day

姫路ロータリークラブ ONE VOICE. Evanston EVERY CLUB. Lighthouse No matter where you are in the world or Club what language you speak, the Rotary logo is universal. It’s what unites us and the impact we have around the world. Rotary clubs can tap into the strength of this connection by using a consistent club logo. Because the more unified our voice is, the greater our impact will be. Visit rotary.org/brandcenter to get started. Club de Vargem Grande Paulista District 3790

Club of Eugene, Oregon, in October NOTORIETY CONNECT 1987. There were several women who joined at that time. I don’t think it I can’t believe that you published an was illegal. The Supreme Court ruled article about Fall River, Massachu- in May 1987 that Rotary had to admit setts [“Can-Do Committees,” Our women, so my club went ahead and Clubs, July], without any mention moved forward. of Lizzie Borden, that community’s most famous legend!  — Monta Potter — Don Slesnick Monterey, California Coral Gables, Florida Editor’s note: Although women in the United States were no longer re- stricted from joining Rotary after the Supreme Court decision, their equal status was not yet codified by the RI Constitution. That happened in 1989, making it possible for women world- wide to join the organization. MEHTA DATA KUDOS Overheard on Follow us to get updates, social media share stories with your “Dream Weaver,” the profile of the RI The July issue was another new In our July issue, networks, and tell us what president in the July issue, magnifies start for Rotary, with a number of we profiled you think. Shekhar Mehta. As you read through inspiring articles from and about RI President his accomplishments, you see that his our new RI president, Shekhar Shekhar Mehta.  Rotary.org wife, Rashi, played a part in that suc- Mehta, and his “dare to dream” cess. I hope we hear more about her message. We are so fortunate to In reading this  [email protected] as the Rotary year progresses. continue to tap such inspiring lead- article, it’s clear ers. The magazine did a great job of that Shekhar is a  @rotary — Sala Sweet capturing Mehta’s spirit with a col- very special human lage of fellow Rotarians, colleagues, being and leader.  /rotary Seattle and family members. I have confidence that he will hear  @rotaryinternational You’re going to make a great Rotary In that same issue, John Rezek’s those promoting leader, President Shekhar! Con- editor’s note was especially rel- positive change to  Rotary magazine gratulations on your new role. I just evant. He wrote about a colleague enable Rotary to One Rotary Center completed my year — and what a who, on his way to be vaccinated be more effective 1560 Sherman Ave. year it was — as president of the against COVID-19, noticed a plaque and have a greater Evanston, IL 60201 Rotary Club of Missoula, Montana. in a park with a quote by Louis Pas- impact in doing teur. That is no doubt the definition good in the world. The editors welcome comments on — Victoria Emmons of an epiphany. As Rezek noted, Ro- David Charles Egan items published in the magazine but tarians’ epiphanies are coupled with Glandore, Australia reserve the right to edit for style Missoula, Montana motivation and determination. and length. Published letters do via Facebook not necessarily reflect the views of Shekhar Mehta’s presidential theme, I know how difficult this past the editors or Rotary International Serve to Change Lives, has really in- year has been, as our club meetings Thank you for leadership, nor do the editors take spired a new generation of Rotarians were moved online. We have missed sharing this. responsibility for errors of fact that in the United States and abroad! the camaraderie of seeing our Ro- Shekhar is providing may be expressed by the writers. tary friends weekly. I can’t imagine inspiration; we can — Kathleen Haynes how hard it must be for the Rotary already feel his OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  11 staff to publish this high-quality spirit and optimism. Falmouth, Massachusetts magazine every month, when you We are going to are not able to meet in-person. provide terrific President Shekhar is obviously a re- volunteer service markable man who is making a big Which brings me to the letter within our difference in this world. Best wishes to the editor from a Rotarian from communities this Rotary year! Cypress, California, that told the this year. editors and staff just how good this Rich Salon, — Jackie Cooper magazine is and how inspiring it Oilville, Virginia has been over the years. I add my Columbus, Ohio thanks to you for keeping it fresh via Facebook and informative. — Robert Becker Watervliet, Michigan

WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK e purpose of this book is to THE ALL-MEMBER SURVEY assist the reader in choosing IS COMING IN NOVEMBER! the best method for providing clean water in a developing This is your chance to tell us what you like, what you don’t like, country. Various approaches and what you want from your Rotary membership. are clearly described, and case studies provided, to illustrate To make sure you receive the survey, update your email address the importance of matching at my.rotary.org/profile/me. need and method when re- sources are limited. FIND A CLUB Do you need Rotary-branded merchandise? Dr. John Dracup is a professor ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! emeritus from the University Then shop with Rotary-licensed of California, Berkeley. vendors, many of which are local Rotarian-owned businesses. Learn more or purchase at: cleanwaterbook.com Shop now at on.rotary.org/shop Shop With A Licensed Vendor_EN-20.indd 1 7/13/20 3:56 PM 6+23 3 $: 25 ' ( 5 +$5( 3 $ / ( 1221( (9$1 $ /2( &$1'< 527 $5<6833257 6 Also available in Spanish: Use Rotary’s free 2&( /27 <80$ Club Locator and find a meGeettRinotgaryw’shfreeereClvubeLroycaotour agpop ! 722 / 6 7 , 7 / ( 6 and find a meeting wherever you go! ($6< %$&21 $5( wwwww.wr.orottaarryy.o.orgr/gcl/ucblulobcalotocrator 7 8 ( * 5 2: , 1 * 7 , 1 $7$ 5$67$ &+( 7 / 26 ( , 7 2203+ ;0(1 25$& / ( / 2&$ / (&2120 , ( 6 721 , & &21( %5$ 7 $&87( .$7< (&.2 126(' 6 /2 5$63

Rotary believes in taking action to create positive change in communities. That’s why Rotary members participate in thousands of events around the globe, including the Miles to End Polio bike ride, to raise funds to help eradicate polio and support other causes. Inspiring others and leading by example - that’s what people of action do. Learn more at Rotary.org

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CONNECT WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Next question tion’s involvement. The information secured by the committee may settle Beneficial to all During the the matter; as often stated, “the facts concerned? COVID-19 pan- speak for themselves.” demic, your club Y our club president is the assignment. In fact, I would be has coordinated — John Mulherin, Rotary Club of on the board of a local happy if my club’s resources helped its service proj- organization. The orga- the partnering organization to im- ects virtually. Glen Ellyn, Illinois nization wants to part- prove the skill sets of its members As more people and thus enhance the reach and get vaccinated Your club president’s other orga- ner with your club, but quality of their service. and case nization does have valuable re- numbers drop sources: people. As service chair, I it doesn’t have many resources that However, if the purpose was self- in your area, would put together a one-day pilot promotion of certain individuals, I you can start to project that requires lots of people will enhance your club’s projects. In would decline the assignment. plan in-person power (clean up the beach, rehab community a playground, plant 1,000 trees) to fact, you believe your club would be — K. Ravindrakumar, Rotary Club of service projects be followed by a potluck. Working again. However, together, eating together, and cel- providing the organization with re- Karur, India there are club ebrating service to our community members who together can lead to untold new sources and a network to expand its Facts matter. I would ask the club are immuno- contacts, new recipes, new Rotary president and board members to compromised candidates, and new friendships. efforts without reciprocal benefits form an ad hoc committee to un- or cannot get dertake a good-faith exploration of vaccinated due — Frank Fagan, Rotary Club of to your club. Your club president is this interesting opportunity. The to other health committee would gather informa- reasons. How The San Juan Islands, Washington  persistent about creating the part- tion regarding the proposed part- will you plan an ner organization and details of the inclusive project It isn’t about what it will do for our nership and wants you, as service project, including the plan of imple- that takes into club. As Rotarians, the real question mentation, the resources required account those is: What will it do for the commu- chair, to find a way to make it work. for the project, and each organiza- members who nity? Using that criteria, we may well may not be able find a good answer.  What would you do? to participate in person? — Karl Hertz, Rotary Club of I would look at the purpose for which this partnership was formed. What would Thiensville-Mequon, Wisconsin If the purpose falls within one of you do? Tell us Rotary’s areas of focus and would at magazine Simply put, the club president has a result in the betterment of lives in @rotary.org. conflict of interest in this matter and our community, I would take up should not be part of the decision. — Linda Weber, Rotary Club of Coshocton, Ohio Illustration by Martín Elfman

OUR WORL ROTARY EXPERTS A worldwide force of knowledge Action groups can bridge gaps that may hamper your club’s project 19 A fter hurricanes irma sent us in the right direction.” Find a list of Focus on a and Maria devastated The Basic Education and Literacy Rotary Action green future the U.S. Virgin Islands Groups at in 2017, Rotary mem- Rotary Action Group is one of 27 rotary.org 20 bers sprang into action. Rotary Action Groups, independent /actiongroups. Clubs celebrate Hearing that a high school on St. entities, recognized by Rotary, that World Polio Day Thomas had been badly damaged, have a global network of members Rotarians and Interactors in Ohio who possess expertise and experi- 22 worked with their counterparts on ence in particular areas of service. Why I give the island to develop a global grant Those areas — which range from project to replace the school’s li- clean water to dementia care to slav- 24 brary books and equipment. ery prevention to maternal and child The creative process health — sometimes align with the When their grant request was de- Foundation’s areas of focus, though 16  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021 nied because it didn’t meet The Ro- that’s not a specific requirement. tary Foundation’s sustainability re- (The groups, however, are obliged to quirements, the Ohioans, determined complement the service activities of to get the details right, turned to a Rotarians, clubs, and districts.) Op- little-known but valuable resource: a erating like mini NGOs, each action Rotary Action Group. Larry Corbus, a group has its own membership, fi- member of the Rotary Club of Geauga nances, and board of directors, and County (West), connected with Caro- brings knowledge, partners, fund- lyn Johnson, the 2020-21 chair of the ing resources, and best practices to Basic Education and Literacy Rotary help clubs scale up their projects for Action Group. “Larry’s club was ex- greater impact and maximum sus- cited about getting involved in the tainability. Virgin Islands and already had made connections with clubs there,” she “If you want to do a project but says. “But the club members didn’t don’t know how to do it, there’s an know how to put the project together. action group out there that can help,” They didn’t have the right pieces.” says Nick Frankle, past chair of the Rotary Action Group for Community As Johnson worked with the Economic Development. “If you run clubs on a community assessment, into a problem that you haven’t seen they learned that the real issue at the before, there’s someone in an action school was literacy. She guided them group who has solved it two or three as they researched literacy programs times. We’ve got the knowledge. and then wrote another global grant Don’t reinvent the wheel — we’ve application — which this time was got wheels that fit all vehicles.” approved. “It’s their project,” John- son says. “We just coached them to- Action groups grew out of Rotary ward asking the right questions so Fellowships, which create a global they could find the right solution.” community for club members and others with similar vocational, rec- Corbus insists that Johnson’s role reational, or cultural interests. Over was instrumental in their success. time, cause-related fellowships be- “We wouldn’t have gotten this grant gan to emerge; their primary pur- if Carolyn wasn’t involved,” he says. pose was service, and the fellow- “It would have been so easy to go in ship was incidental. The RI Board a direction that wasn’t sustainable. of Directors recognized them as Carolyn gave us the guidance that a distinct type of group in 2005.

Photos clockwise from top left: Rotary International; Tadej Znidarcic; Courtesy of Hepatitis Zero; As independent organizations, In addition to offering its expertise, Clockwise from leadership position in that club?” Courtesy of the Rotary Action Group for Reproductive, Maternal, and Child Health action groups facilitate partnerships the Food Plant Solutions Rotary Ac- top left: The Kendrick-Hands asks. Yet since co- with groups outside of Rotary. The tion Group, like other action groups, Rotary Action founding the Environmental Sustain- literacy action group, for example, has mentors club members, giving them Group Against ability Rotary Action Group in 2015, a partnership with Save the Children. leadership experience and opportuni- Slavery hosted she has had the opportunity to attend The Environmental Sustainability ties to engage with other like-minded a candlelight the UN Climate Change Conference Rotary Action Group has partnered individuals at an international level. vigil at the 2017 in Katowice, Poland, as an observer with the United Nations Environment “Any person who becomes involved convention; the delegate. She also made a presenta- Programme and with Project Draw- with us is exposed to a great men- Rotary Action tion on behalf of the action group to down, a solution-oriented organiza- toring team that can provide a whole Group for The Rotary Foundation’s Environ- tion that’s tackling climate change. range of skills,” Hingston says. “We Reproductive, mental Issues Task Force. And the Rotarians Against Malaria- empower people to build their con- Maternal, and Global Rotary Action Group works fidence and take on leadership roles. Child Health Those opportunities, Kendrick- with organizations such as the UN We mentor them so that they can has supported Hands says, were “an unbelievable Foundation, PATH, and the Bill & start by doing something incredibly work to advance gift. There are times when I look at Melinda Gates Foundation. simple and then, over time, take on maternal and myself in the mirror and wonder, many aspects of projects. The scope child health how the heck did I get here? It’s re- Initially formed in 2007 as a is huge, whether it be administration, in Nigeria for ally energizing to be connected and club and district project to combat agronomy, social media, nutrition, nearly 20 years; doing something useful with people hunger and malnutrition, the Food marketing, or graphic design.” Humberto Silva around the globe” — and, she adds, Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group helped found to be following an unconventional works with more than 30 organiza- Karen Kendrick-Hands was a the Rotary but promising pathway into Rotary tions. Its members, who include Rotary Youth Exchange student in Action Group leadership. agronomists and educators, use a 1967-68, and her father had been a for Hepatitis database of 32,500 edible plants to Rotarian. So when she was invited Education; the While most traditional Rotary and create regional field guides about to join the Rotary Club of Madison, action group for Rotaract clubs are by circumstance the growth and nutrition of crops. Wisconsin, in 2012, she was “abso- reproductive, very local — with members who “Our program partners translate the lutely all in,” she recalls. maternal, and live or work within driving distance materials and make them more avail- child health of a club meeting — Rotary Action able and better understood by local The Madison club is one of the supports medical Groups are intentionally designed to people,” explains Karalyn Hingston, largest in Rotary, with more than visits for women be multinational. Rotarians, Rotarac- the action group’s executive director. 400 members. “Do you know how and children. tors, and peace fellows who want to unlikely it was for me to get to a charter a new group are required to OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  17

OUR WORLD Action groups offer Rotary members an experience that goes beyond their clubs, giving them the opportunity to work on a project at an international level. Courtesy of the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group have at least 50 members, and those people around you.” By the numbers members must come from at least In June, at the environmental five countries. Also, a minimum of 25,242 10 founding members must dem- sustainability action group’s annu- onstrate expertise in the proposed al meeting (held online), attendees Combined membership of the group’s area of concentration. Ac- dropped a virtual pin on a map to Rotary Action Groups tion groups offer Rotary members designate their location. Red dots an experience that goes beyond their covered every continent except Ant- 150+ clubs, giving them the opportunity arctica. After six years, the group has to work on a project at an interna- nearly 1,400 members, and it’s wel- Countries where action group tional level, and they also provide a coming newcomers at a pace of three members live meaningful way for nonmembers to to five members a day. “I go to bed at participate in Rotary — and perhaps night,” says Kendrick-Hands, “and 709 be inspired to join a club. just as I’m turning off my phone, the texts start to pour in from India and Average membership of “If you’re passionate about eco- Singapore and Australia and Japan an action group nomic development and you become and New Zealand. Because some- a member of our action group, we’ll body is awake and working on envi- 1,797 provide you with education and ronmental sustainability 24/7 around we’ll put you to work,” Frankle says. the globe.” Multiply that effort by Projects supported by “We’ll help you if you’re interested 27 and the combined potential of action groups in helping others in a way that your all of the Rotary Action Groups club isn’t involved in. It allows you becomes as promisingly evident as * statistics from 2019-20 to experience something that may hundreds of bright red dots on a map be different than the focus of the of the world. –diana schoberg Karen Kendrick- Hands (center), co-founder of the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group, meets with members of The Rotary Foundation’s Environmental Issues Task Force. Short The 2021-22 RI presidential conference In June, the RI Board strengthened takes series kicks off 4-5 October in Gyeongju, Rotary’s commitment to diversity, Korea, with a program focused on equity, and inclusion by adopting a disease prevention and treatment and revised and expanded DEI statement. protecting the environment. Read it at rotary.org/DEI. 18  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021 Illustrations by Miguel Porlan

Fpo fpo fpo fpo F rom a young age, fpo fpo fpo Frances McChesney has been an advocate 46 for the environment. As voluptate a teenager, she helped 47 to start a Sierra Club chapter at her voluptate high school and went before her city 48 council to seek protection for a local voluptate green space. “I graduated from high 49 school in 1971, and the open space is voluptate still there,” McChesney says. 50 That was only the beginning. voluptate As a graduate of the environmen- PROFILE tal law program at Lewis & Clark Earth’s advocate Law School in Portland, Oregon, Environmental attorney focuses McChesney worked for the U.S. on a green future Environmental Protection Agency, enforcing federal and state laws at superfund cleanup sites. She then returned to her native California, where she spent three decades working for the State Water Resources Control Board, negotiat- ing and coordinating work on key cleanup sites with federal agencies and the responsible parties. After retiring in 2017, McChesney traveled to Africa with her sister, Bar- bara, to see wildlife. While there, she noticed Rotary projects throughout rural Uganda. “Then it seemed like I’d see Rotary everywhere,” she says. “I was excited to find an organization that called to me.” Both sisters joined Rotary clubs as well as the Environmental Sus- tainability Rotary Action Group. McChesney has already brought her advocacy expertise to her club’s op- erations: She asked to form an envi- ronment committee, which will work to incorporate sustainability into the club’s activities and projects. McChesney is also exploring the possibility of collaborating with Frances clubs up and down the West Coast on McChesney an ocean protection project. “We’re Rotary Club of Davis Sunrise, just taking off with what can be ac- California complished,” she says. — nikki kallio This month, district governors After more than four decades, The Rotary Foundation can nominate Rotarians and Rotary has returned to Vietnam; awarded more than 2,000 Rotaractors for the Service the Rotary clubs of Saigon and global grants in 2020-21, Above Self Award. Learn more at Saigon International were both a record number. rotary.org/awards. chartered in June. OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  19 Photography by Fred Greaves

OUR WORLD Rotary projects Rotarians and Rotaractors proved their mettle and adaptability around the globe as they shifted to confront the COVID-19 pandemic. But through it all, they never stopped working toward the goal of ridding the By BRAD WEBBER planet of polio. As we celebrate World Polio Day on 24 October, here are some of the ways they did that in 2020. Register your club’s World Polio Day participation at endpolio .org/register-your-event. Canada-United States . million When the pandemic leveled restric- BRAZILIAN CHILDREN tions on gatherings and border GIVEN THE POLIO VACCINE crossings, District 7090 — which ON A SINGLE DAY IN 1980 covers parts of southern Ontario and western New York — down- Brazil shifted plans for its inaugural World On 17 October, Brazil’s End Polio Polio Day fundraising bicycle rally. Now coordinators and public Despite cold and rainy weather on image coordinators organized the day of Pedal for Polio, riders a nationwide YouTube program on the Canadian side and on the dubbed “Telepolio.” Featuring American side completed courses prerecorded messages from of about 15 miles, says organizer Rotary leaders and Brazilian and then-District Governor Frank celebrities, the 45-minute program Adamson of the Rotary Club of generated more than 2,100 views Fonthill, Ontario. To expand their and about $130,000 in dona- fundraising reach, the district tions, made online and through encouraged walkers and joggers a QR code created for the effort. to join the cause wherever they Members of nearly 300 Rotaract were located. Rotarians across the clubs contributed; more than half district raised more than $160,000. of those Rotaractors were first- time givers to End Polio Now. , BICYCLES SOLD DAILY WORLDWIDE IN 2014 20 ROTARY OCTOBER 2021

Finland Korea , ft. Over the past decade, some of Hiking is a popular pastime in the planet’s most recognizable Korea, where more than one-third HEIGHT OF HALLASAN, landmarks have been lit up to of citizens polled in 2019 cited SOUTH KOREA’S mark World Polio Day, with many sports and fitness as their prime TALLEST PEAK also sporting a projection of the hobby. Rotary clubs in Korea tapped End Polio Now logo. In 2014, District into that mania for the outdoors 1390 enlisted the operator of the to raise funds for End Polio Now Särkänniemi amusement park to with the “hiking the 100 most promote the message. That year, beautiful mountains challenge” in and every year since, the park has October and November. The event illuminated its 551-foot Näsinneula engaged 145 climbers from 74 clubs observation tower with red and garnered nearly $106,000 in floodlights on World Polio Day. contributions. Participants — who agreed to personally donate at YEAR THE WHO least $100 each — teamed up, EUROPEAN REGION tackled their favorite mountains, WAS DECLARED and promoted their achievements POLIO FREE by posting pictures and comments on social media. “It is possible to celebrate World Polio Day while following the government’s guidelines for social distancing,” noted Ju-Hwa Jeong, Rotary’s End Polio Now coordinator for Korea. 1902 YEAR AUCKLAND SWITCHED ON ITS ELECTRIC TRAM New Zealand “End Polio Now and Rotary Following the template of mass- projects can be fun,” says Ron transit fundraising drives made Seeto, a past governor of District popular by clubs in Australia, some 9920. “Polio All Transit presented 500 Auckland-area Rotary members opportunities for fellowship and convened on commuter rail lines networking and raised funds with and ferries for a polio awareness the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation campaign. The 23 October Polio 2-to-1 multiplier in a project that All Transit event, expanded from a showcased our Rotarians, clubs, 2019 version that included only train friends, and family.” travel, raised roughly $25,000. OCTOBER 2021 ROTARY 21

OUR WORLD GOODWILL fatigue,” Je ry Cadorette, a past RI director and a member of the Rotary Ways and Club of Media, Pennsylvania, means plunged two miles from an airplane on 22 May. He joined Tony Marmo, Six Rotary members describe how — governor of District 7210 at the time, and why — they raise money for polio in the “Drop to Zero” s ydive, which elevated polio giving in Zones 28 S Rotary- The shop stewards and 32 to more than $2.5 million led polio vaccination Recruited to lead the End Polio Now during the period from July 2019 project in the Philip- campaign for District 1110 (part of to April 2020 (the parachute drop pines in 1979 and the England and the Channel Islands), itself was postponed a year due to Jannine Birtwistle and her husband, the pandemic). launch of PolioPlus six Paul, got down to business. Despite having no retail experience, the Also, as a district governor in the years later, Rotary has contributed Birtwistles, both members of the Ro- IN 2020: late 1990s, Cadorette nudged Rotar- tary Club of Guernsey, studied up on ians in the Philadelphia area in a more than $2.2 billion and countless branded merchandise, and at the 2010 2,000+ fundraising e ort that resulted in a Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland donation of $100,000 to PolioPlus. volunteer hours to protect some 3 bil- conference, they dazzled delegates Clubs in 145+ with an array of shirts, hats, balloons, countries The trekker lion children in 122 countries. As the pens, and pi gy banks. Since then, the organized To raise funds for, and awareness of, online End Polio Now Shop Guernsey, polio eradication, Owen P. Standley world nears our goal of eliminating which ships globally, has generated awareness and of the Rotary Club of Johnstown more than $40,000 for polio eradica- fundraising Sunset, Pennsylvania, set his sights the disease, we asked Rotary mem- tion. “People love the teddy bears, the events on hiking the 2,200-mile Appala- pens, the badges, the clothing,” chian Trail from Georgia to Maine. bers to share why they decided to get Birtwistle says. “We can all do one $750,000 He posted video testimonials from thing, and that is to raise awareness.” polio survivors on social media “to involved in the effort — and how Was raised in put a face and a voice” to the issue, The polio survivor online donations and set out in early 2021. Overeager they’ve stepped up to do their part. In 1956, at age 8, Urs Herzog con- and lonely, Standley, 34, was thwarted tracted polio. Cruelly, that happened 900+ by injury and illness after 28 days and The major donor around the same time that the polio 428 miles on the trail, but not before Ten years ago, Nigeria held the un- vaccine was introduced in his native Media articles collecting nearly $40,000 through fortunate distinction of having more country of Switzerland. Hospitalized mentioned the Raise for Rotary online platform, than half of the planet’s polio cases. for eight weeks with no contact with Rotary and an amount that had grown to more “Many of my age-mates, friends, and his parents, he recalls, “was like being than $55,000 by August. He is con- schoolmates were infected by the in a prison.” Today, Herzog is a mem- World Polio Day sidering a return to take care of un- poliovirus,” says Sir Emeka O or, a ber of the Rotary Club of Allschwil- finished business, so long as he can member of the Rotary Club of Abuja Regio Basel and a past governor of 227,000+ find one thing: “It’s incontestable,” Ministers Hill. As a young man, O or District 1980. he says. “I need a hiking partner.” pledged that one day he would help Views of Rotary’s them — and also would do what he Driven to help avert future cases, World Polio Day The hair guy could to prevent others from becom- he has organized End Polio Now Global Update For nearly a dozen years, Fred Heit- ing infected. events, including a 2015 concert by were recorded man has put his hair and beard on the Basel Chamber Orchestra, billed the block — to be colored orange, O or rose to great success in the as “Music for Life,” which drew an green, or suitably purple — to gener- business world, enabling him to carry audience of 1,400 and raised about ate buzz among Interactors and raise, out his pledge in an impressive fash- $300,000. over the course of 11 years, about ion.A member of the Platinum Trust- $100,000 for polio eradication. As ees Circle of the Arch Klumph Society The thrill-seeker many as 600 high schoolers partici- and the largest donor to The Rotary A believer in using challenges — and pate in the Interactors’ annual con- Foundation from Africa, O or thrilled flights of fancy — to stave o “donor ference with the aim of raising those in attendance at the 2014 Rotary $1,000 “so the guy dyes his hair,” International Convention in Sydney says Heitman, a past governor of Dis- by announcing a $1 million donation trict 6780 and a member of the Ro- to PolioPlus (his contributions now tary Club of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. total more than $3.3 million). “I can say that it pays to give,” he says, citing — the World Health’s Organization’s August 2020 declaration that Nigeria, along with the entire African region, was free from wild poliovirus. 22 ROTARY OCTOBER 2021

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT The Rotary magazine photo awards let you share your vision with Rotary members around the world. Enter for the chance to see your work published: The 2022 photo awards are open for submissions 1 October through 15 December 2021. For details go to rotary.org/photoawards. magazine 2021 submissions, from top: WAYNE YAN / GEERT LENSSENS / SHAHRIAR FARZANA

ESSAY Free your mind that aren’t there, and to cast our minds into the future is the To be creative, you must be open to making hallmark of our species and the connections — and to doing nothing reason for our success — at least By Frank Bures that’s what the anthropologist Agustín Fuentes argues in his S pencer silver lived just across town from book The Creative Spark: How where I sit typing this in Minneapolis. The Imagination Made Humans 80-year-old chemist died recently. Silver’s Exceptional. “Two million years name may not be familiar to you, but his work ago,” Fuentes writes, “our small, has touched your life. And it offers lessons for naked, fangless, hornless, and all of us about what it means to be creative. clawless ancestors with a few sticks and stones surmounted In the late 1960s, Silver was Wright, author of The Hidden Frank Bures near impossible odds. All because trying to come up with a strong Habits of Genius, writes that a is a longtime they had one another and a spark glue that could be used in air- chemist colleague once told him, contributor to of creativity.” craft. Instead, he accidentally “Scientists don’t have ‘eureka’ Rotary and the came up with the opposite: a flashes. Rather, they experience author of The Fuentes continues that “no weak glue that could be reused ‘My, that’s strange’ moments.” Geography of other animal in the wild, not even over and over. Madness. chimpanzees, can look at a rock, Wright is a musicologist understand that inside that rock Rather than seeing this as a who teaches a popular “genius is another more useful shape, and failure, he saw the potential in course” at Yale University. He use other rocks or wood or bone his discovery. Silver promoted points out that geniuses often to modify that rock.” it within the company where he don’t have high IQs or get perfect worked; for years, he gave talks grades, and that their insights are As a writer, I often feel a little about it. Finally, someone else often years, not seconds, in the like someone who is trying to came up with an application — a making. “That ‘aha’ moment,” he peer inside a rock. Among the “reusable bookmark.” But it was writes, “is really the culmination challenges of writing for a living, still several more years before the of a lengthy period of cerebral this is one that no one ever told first Post-it Notes went on sale. gestation.” me about: maintaining your creativity. It was a creation that has, to He also notes that the core some degree, changed the world. of creativity is not so much In certain industries, it has inventiveness as it is the ability become popular to describe The history of the Post-it Note to make connections. According oneself as “a creative.” But challenges many of our beliefs to Wright, “the genius sees things creativity, in my experience, is about innovation, creativity, and others do not,” a sentiment Steve something that you attempt and, even genius. When we think of Jobs echoed. “Creativity is just if you’re lucky, achieve, rather those words, we might picture a connecting things,” he quotes than something that you are. lone inventor in a darkened room Jobs as saying. “When you ask using the formidable powers creative people how they did How does a person go about of his or her mind to come up something, they feel a little guilty attempting creative work? In one with something astonishing, because they didn’t really do it, sense, it simply entails coming something the world has they just saw something.” up with something new. That’s never seen. what the psychologist Mihaly The ability to see new Csikszentmihalyi calls “personal Silver was not like that. In fact, connections, to imagine things creativity,” which can make life few creative people are. Craig more interesting and meaningful. But then there’s “cultural creativity,” which is when you contribute something new to your domain — whether it’s art, science, or business — that somehow changes that domain. Geniuses are those who, by luck or circumstance, contribute something that changes the larger culture. “Innovation,” meanwhile, could be defined as the ability to turn creativity into real-world products. So the question is: How do 24  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021

Illustrations by Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva OCTOBER 2021 ROTARY 25

ESSAY we come up with new things? I realized I would never write Edison spoke of. If you believe In the early 1990s, about — nanotechnology, nuclear him, it means that the first four fusion, and Mormon romance phases together make up just Csikszentmihalyi conducted novels, to name a few. 1 percent of the process. a years-long study of 91 “exceptional individuals” — Knowing what you don’t want In reality, of course, creativity scientists, artists, and others who to create is a big step toward is never so neat as five distinct had made major contributions creating what you do want. But phases. It’s messy and recursive to their fields, including 14 Nobel creativity isn’t simply a matter and hard to control. But it’s also Prize winners. They sat for of coming up with new ideas. how the world — and life — gets extensive interviews on video According to Csikszentmihalyi, better. And there are things you that were later analyzed for that’s just one of five phases of can do to improve your odds of common themes. creative work. achieving something creative in your own life, in your work, or in One thread that emerged was The first phase is what he calls your Rotary club. that measured intelligence is not preparation. In this stage, you a primary factor in creativity. immerse yourself in a particular In her book Genius Unmasked, In his book Creativity: Flow and problem or a field of knowledge. Roberta Ness lists 11 “devices” the Psychology of Discovery and Then comes incubation, a used by scientific geniuses. Invention, Csikszentmihalyi mysterious process in which These include finding the right writes that IQ tests tend to “ideas churn around below the question, observing, changing measure “convergent thinking,” threshold of consciousness.” your point of view, broadening or a person’s ability to solve This is a key period in which your your perspective, and “frame “well-defined, rational problems mind is not actively trying to shifting.” Most of the devices that have one correct answer.” solve the problem. In the best- involve attempting to see things Creative people, on the other case scenario, incubation leads to differently. Wright also points out hand, engage in “divergent the third phase: insight. Wright, that “most invention comes from thinking,” which involves the in a chapter titled “Now Relax,” observing disparate things and ability to think of many possible, observed that painter Grant seeing an unexpected relationship but not strictly necessary, Wood said all his really good between them.” answers to a problem. ideas came while he was milking a cow; Nikola Tesla thought of an To do that, you have to find a At the same time, electric motor — one that is still balance between relaxation and Csikszentmihalyi says, you must in use — while walking through a concentration. Wright says you be able to sort your good ideas park reciting poetry with a friend; may need to erect an imaginary from your bad ones. This has J.K. Rowling dreamed up Harry “fourth wall” against distractions been a personal weak spot. I’m Potter while sitting on a train and intrusions, like the one currently working on roughly with nothing else to do. actors use on stage to separate four dozen stories and projects themselves from their audience. If in some form. They all seemed But that only gets you partway you want to be creative, first you AWESOME when I first came there. Next comes evaluation, have to create a space in which up with them. in which you decide whether new ideas and connections can your insight is worth keeping. emerge. Csikszentmihalyi notes They are not all awesome. I Csikszentmihalyi calls this the that “constant busyness is not a just can’t quite tell which ones most emotionally difficult part of good prescription for creativity”; are worth saving until weeks, or the process. And finally, there’s in fact, distraction and an sometimes years, later. During elaboration. This is the work, the inability to focus are some of the the pandemic lull, I culled my 99 percent of genius that Thomas main obstacles. Creative people files, discarding notes on things often devote much of their energy to protecting their attention, The core of creativity is not so much saving it for what they really want inventiveness as it is to spend it on. the ability to make connections. “It takes a lot of time to be a genius,” Gertrude Stein wrote. “You have to sit around so much, doing nothing, really doing nothing.” In the end, the secret to being creative may not be the courage to do something new. It may have more to do with the courage not to do anything. 26 ROTARY OCTOBER 2021

SPHREEKSHIADREMNETHITAA’LS INITIATIVES Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta has three special initiatives for the 2021-22 Rotary year aimed at expanding our impact through service and introducing new members to Rotary: ➤ E MPOWERING GIRLS To address the inequities that girls face worldwide, members are encouraged to take on a club-based initiative or be part of a district or global grant that improves the health, well-being, education, or economic security of girls in their communities and ensures their access to resources. ➤ R OTARY DAY OF SERVICE Organize a meaningful day of hands-on service activities where Rotary members and the community come together to improve your community. Share your completed projects on Rotary Showcase: rotary.org/showcase. ➤ P RESIDENTIAL CONFERENCES A series of presidential conferences will highlight regional humanitarian efforts led by Rotarians and Rotaractors in their communities and around the world. Invite a friend to join you at one of the events so they can learn about Rotary’s work and join us in our commitment to service: 5 October 2021 — Gyeongju, Korea 26-27 November — Manila, Philippines 4-6 February 2022 — Hyderabad, India 12-13 February — Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil 4-5 March — Maputo, Mozambique 18-20 March — Venice, Italy 3-4 June — Houston, Texas, USA Learn more on my.rotary.org. Dates are subject to change. Check event website for most current information.

our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion At Rotary, we understand that cultivating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture is essential to realizing our vision of a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change. We value diversity and celebrate the contributions of people of all backgrounds, across age, ethnicity, race, color, disability, learning style, religion, faith, socioeconomic status, culture, marital status, languages spoken, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity as well as differences in ideas, thoughts, values, and beliefs. Recognizing that individuals from certain groups have historically experienced barriers to membership, participation, and leadership, we commit to advancing equity in all aspects of Rotary, including in our community partnerships, so that each person has the necessary access to resources, opportunities, networks, and support to thrive. We believe that all people hold visible and invisible qualities that Download inherently make them unique, and we strive to create an inclusive a copy of culture where each person knows they are valued and belong. Rotary’s commitment In line with our value of integrity, we are committed to being to DEI at honest and transparent about where we are in our DEI journey rotary.org/dei. as an organization, and to continuing to learn and do better.

Dear Rotary members, In Rotary, we celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion. It doesn’t matter who you are, who you love, how you worship, whether you have a disability, or what culture or country you (or your family) are from. All that matters is that you want to take action to create lasting change. Rotary is working to ensure that everyone sees us as a just and welcoming organization. Diversity has long been one of our core values, and we’re proud of the organization we’ve built. But there’s more we can do to exemplify diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); to expand our ability to reflect the communities we serve; and to respond to our communities’ needs. Based on input from our DEI Task Force, Rotary International’s Board of Directors strengthened the DEI statement we adopted in 2019. The result is a heightened commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion focused on celebrating everyone’s contributions, advancing equity, and creating an inclusive culture where each person knows they are valued. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not political issues. Each of us has the right to be treated with dignity and respect, to have our voices be heard, and to access the same opportunities to succeed and lead at Rotary. Our members consistently tell us that being a welcoming organization is vital to our future and that by being diverse and inclusive is how we’ll remain the preeminent place for people of action to connect with one another and make a difference. We look forward to your continued support as we make Rotary more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, ensuring that everyone who engages with Rotary knows they are valued and belong. Shekhar Mehta Jennifer Jones RI President, 2021-22 RI President, 2022-23 5 ways your club can support diversity, equity, and inclusion: Share our updated statement about Rotary’s commitment to DEI with your members via email or at a club meeting. Post the updated statement to your club website and social media accounts, and link to it in your club’s email signatures. Use the statement to discuss how your club can be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive for current and future members. Encourage your fellow members to be respectful of one another and speak up when a person’s actions don’t reflect our ideals and values. Expand your knowledge by taking a DEI course in the Learning Center. Find more resources at rotary.org/dei.

T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N Aidan O’Leary Our best chance to eradicate polio is now, says the World Health Organization’s polio chief. Here’s why Illustration by Viktor Miller Gausa 30  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021

“T here’s something about the whole idea of eradicating polio that grabs the imagination,” says Aidan O’Leary. “Most people talk about making steps toward achievements, and it’s almost al- ways into the never-never. Eradication is a zero-sum game; anything short of zero is failure. You keep getting closer and closer, but ultimately the only number that actually matters is zero.” Although O’Leary, the polio eradication director for the World Health Organization, is speaking from his home in Galway, against the verdant backdrop of western Ireland, his focus is on war-torn Afghanistan and the parched and dusty plains of Pakistan — the last two places on the planet where wild polio still thrives. Even during a pandemic, even as grim realities confront him, O’Leary conveys a sense of optimism about the possibility of finally eradicating polio. “Particularly in the days of COVID-19, there is some- thing that really resonates about snuffing out a highly communicable infectious disease,” he says. “As COVID has taken off, it has also led a lot of people to better understand why now is the time to finish this job with polio.” Yet O’Leary’s optimism is shaded with a sense of urgency and pragmatism. “There is absolutely no case for complacency here,” he says. “What is really important is that we double down on reaching the persistently missed children who are a top priority for our program.” O’Leary, who began his tenure as WHO’s polio chief in January, came into the job knowing the terrain well. He formerly led UNICEF’s polio eradication efforts in Pakistan and was the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitar- ian Affairs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, organizing the UN’s emergency response during crises. O’Leary says he understands the difference Rotary can make — both in a community and in the global fight against polio. In Galway, a local tradition involves kicking the limestone wall at the end of a 2-mile stroll on the Salthill Promenade along Galway Bay (the reason for doing so has been lost in the mists of time). In 2012, O’Leary explains, the Rotary Club of Galway-Salthill installed on that wall a box that bears the slogan “Small Change, Big Impact” and encourages walkers to leave a small donation, with all money collected going to local charities and institutions. In July, weeks before the dramatic turn of events in Afghanistan, O’Leary joined Rotary magazine senior staff writer Diana Scho- berg and Dave King, editor of Rotary magazine for Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, on a Zoom call to discuss the new strategy of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and the new polio vaccine, and how they will be used to eradicate polio — once and for all. What is the latest update on wild Why do you think that is? Given With the conflict in Afghanistan, we don’t believe that the benefits we’re seeing poliovirus? that some polio immunization from reduced mobility will continue in- The numbers are extremely encourag- definitely. We need to continue to prepare ing. We’ve gone over a very bumpy road campaigns had to be suspended for the possibility of large-scale displace- during the last two years. We had a five- ments across borders. We need to grab the fold increase in cases between 2018 and last year, you’d think the numbers opportunity that we have. 2019, when we saw 176 cases, and we had 140 cases in 2020. But we’ve recorded would have gone in the other Now we’re coming into the high sea- just two cases this year [as of 27 July] — son for polio transmission, so we’ll con- one each in Afghanistan and Pakistan. direction. Is it because so many tinue to wait and see. There’s certainly no [Both cases were in January.] complacency from our program. elements of society were shut The particularly encouraging part Vaccines are on everyone’s mind right now is that the program has a very down due to the pandemic? because of COVID. Has that elaborate network of environmental While conditions in 2020 were certainly affected acceptance of the testing sites for sewage — almost 100 adverse both for surveillance and for the polio vaccine? sites in Afghanistan and Pakistan that campaign operations, there are two areas For me, the more fundamental issues in cover all of the major population cen- that are helping us this year. One is re- Afghanistan and Pakistan center around ters. In 2020, almost 60 percent of the duced mobility — both within Afghani- household and community confidence monthly test samples came back posi- stan and Pakistan, and across the bor- and trust. If you get the basics of that tive for poliovirus. This year to date, that ders. When you look particularly at the right, you are 80 to 90 percent there. The percentage is probably around 15 per- experience in India, with the explosion challenge has always been reaching the cent. We have been unable to detect any of COVID cases in the first and second other 10 to 20 percent. wild poliovirus in Afghanistan since 23 quarters of 2021 — and what were some February, and we’ve seen just five iso- very shocking images of funeral pyres — I The key issue is broader — the mar- lates in Pakistan since 12 April. believe that the drop in mobility has had ginalization of communities. That’s not an impact. There has also been a change in social norms, very simple things like social distancing and hand washing. Maybe that has made some impact, as well. But those are short-term changes. OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  31

something that can be addressed just at for the first time in several years. We’d these areas for the purposes of our im- the household and community level. It like to build on those opportunities to- munization programs. requires a systemic engagement to try to ward resuming house-to-house vaccina- make sure that we properly understand tion campaigns. What about in Pakistan, where the community’s actual needs and then that we connect those dots in a more reli- We don’t have an all-or-nothing situa- 81 percent of the cases are among able way. tion. Let’s seize the opportunity to reach 40 to 50 percent coverage before we start the Pashto-speaking population, The single most important relation- talking about 100 percent. Will the cam- ship that the program has is between a paigns in July and August be perfect? No. who make up 15 percent of the frontline vaccinator and the caregiver They’re taking place against the back- who answers the knock at the door. drop of a growing full-scale conflict, so overall population. Why are the That caregiver is usually the mother, and we have to make sure that we find appro- what’s really important for our success priate ways of making that work. cases so concentrated within that is that the frontline vaccinator is a local woman who is well-trained and motivat- There will be risks. Eight frontline group, and what is the program ed to do what she’s doing. If that relation- workers were killed in eastern Afghani- ship of confidence and trust is developed, stan earlier this year in various targeted planning to do to address it? then you’re able to vaccinate all of the killings. In these contested areas, the de It’s often presented as a vaccine accep- children inside the house. facto authorities on the ground shift. We tance issue, but I think it’s much broader need to make sure that we navigate these than that. Because of economic migra- Because of the suspension of areas as sensitively as we possibly can. tion, among other reasons, you have this massive influx of Pashto-speaking house-to-house vaccination We are also working on financing es- people from across Afghanistan and sential immunization coverage [universal Pakistan into Karachi. You’re seeing this campaigns in 2018 in areas of access to all relevant vaccines], particu- huge explosion of settlements — formal, larly in the provinces of the southern re- informal, and everything in between. Afghanistan controlled by the gion of Afghanistan. We recognize that These settlements tend to be highly un- it’s not just a polio gap. There’s a much derserved. There can be issues between Taliban, more than 3 million broader gap. the state and provincial administra- tions and these minority communities. children routinely miss vaccina- The other point that I would highlight There’s a wider issue around community is the importance of the surveillance acceptance, confidence, and trust. tions. Do you think that polio system. Although we have not been able to reach all children with vaccinations, The polio eradication program is one eradication is possible while the our surveillance system is continuing of the few programs that reaches these to pick up all the acute flaccid paralysis communities, but their needs go way security situation in Afghanistan cases. There is a basic system in place beyond polio vaccines, including clean that allows us to properly understand water and sanitation, nutrition, basic is so unpredicable? what’s going on. We want to build in- health services, and education. So when We continue to speak with all parties. crementally and in a sustainable way to you are trying to access these informal Our priority is the protection of chil- make sure that we have access in all of settlements, you have this big residue of dren, and that requires engaging with issues that polio essentially becomes the all stakeholders. We have an agreement proxy for. with the Taliban to conduct mosque-to- mosque campaigns, which we hope we’ll These issues are not strictly within be able to initiate in the coming months. the control of our program, but we rec- In some cases, we’ll be reaching children ognize that to build the acceptance and trust of these communities, we’re going “THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT to have to make a much more sustained RELATIONSHIP THAT THE effort than we perhaps may have been PROGRAM HAS IS BETWEEN doing in the past. The idea on our side is A FRONTLINE VACCINATOR AND to move from patchy and ad hoc initia- THE CAREGIVER WHO ANSWERS tives to something much more compre- THE KNOCK AT THE DOOR.” hensive and systemic. The new strategy talks about “zero-dose children.” What does that term mean? Zero-dose refers to any child who has never had a vaccine. We want to make sure that they not only get the oral polio vaccines but also as many other essen- tial immunizations as is feasible. It’s not just a question of a fixed, static target of high-risk children in core reservoirs — those areas with persistent wild poliovi- rus transmission. There is a rolling target that we have to stay on top of. We’re in a race against time with newborns. There are between 7 and 8 million babies born 32  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021

HOUSE CALL In places like Karachi, Pakistan, Aidan O’Leary says, the most successful “frontline vaccinator is a local woman who is well-trained and motivated.” Khaula Jamil/Courtesy of Rotary International every year in Pakistan. So we need to are zero-dose children, you’re going to find So again, the challenge for us is to pro- make sure that within the first months of these diseases taking off. When we map tect through vaccination. You create a risk those babies’ lives, we’re reaching as large where these children are, we keep com- by not building up the immunity levels as a proportion of them as we possibly can. ing back to the same locations again and high as they could or should be. As a pro- again. That’s why we really have to double gram, we are trying to get back to a stage What’s your best guesstimate of down and make sure that these zero-dose where we’re going after the root cause of your target? children are our very top priority to get the problem — which means making sure Every time we do a national immunization covered by vaccination. that we are fully vaccinating all of these campaign in Pakistan, which are house-to- zero-dose children. house campaigns, we target more than 40 Globally, how widespread is million children under age 5.When we go to If there are two cases of wild Afghanistan, that number is between 9 mil- cVDPV? poliovirus and more than 100 lion and 10 million. It continues to be very There have been 1,800 cases since 2016. cases of cVDPV, which is the humbling to see what frontline workers are Between 2018 and 2019, there was a tri- bigger concern? doing during a pandemic. pling of cases, and then there was a fur- We set ourselves two goals: The first is ther tripling between 2019 and 2020. The to eradicate the wild poliovirus, and the We’re dealing with two issues total number of cVDPV cases in 2020 second is to interrupt the transmission of here, aren’t we — wild poliovirus was 1,103. So far in 2021 [as of 27 July], cVDPV. The wild poliovirus has proven and the circulating vaccine- there have been 179 cases. We’ve seen to be the most elusive. We need to clear it derived poliovirus. What is the real progress as immunization campaigns once and for all. Afghanistan and Pakistan difference between the two? have resumed. The number of countries are the two countries where the two types The wild poliovirus is essentially as its with cases has decreased from 27 last co-circulate. We’ve seen very clearly that name describes. It’s the original of the year to just over a dozen. with the regular campaigns, we have been species. It has evolved over centuries and able to mop up cVDPVs to a pretty good millennia, and it has continued to evolve. These cases happen where children extent. The wild poliovirus is a much more miss vaccinations. When children are fully persistent challenge. The oral polio vaccine contains a live vaccinated, cVDPV is not a problem. These but weakened virus, which can circulate cases are highly concentrated, with Afghan- There is a new tool for tackling among under-immunized or unimmunized istan and Pakistan making up 40 percent of cVDPVs. How was that developed populations for a long period of time, usu- cases in 2020. If you look at the situation and what are you hoping ally for years.And eventually, it can revert to in Afghanistan, which was the country to achieve? a form that causes paralysis. That is circu- with the greatest number of cVDPV cases Last November, WHO granted its first- lating vaccine-derived poliovirus [cVDPV]. last year, more than 90 percent of those ever emergency-use listing for a vaccine were concentrated in the areas that were to the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 Viruses require an immunity gap. They inaccessible due to the Taliban banning need susceptible children. Anywhere there house-to-house polio campaigns. OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  33

RUTHLESSLY FOCUSED The new eradication strategy includes improving surveillance and integrating polio vaccines into health programs. [nOPV2]. This is a vaccine that has been no major adverse safety signals and no culating vaccine-derived poliovirus by no under development for almost 10 years. adverse signals on surveillance that later than 2023, and certification of the It’s as effective as the existing vaccines, would give rise to concern. We’re work- world as wild polio-free by 2026. An im- but it has much greater genetic stability. ing to see if we can move from an initial- portant point is that I find 2023 and 2026 That makes it less likely to regress to a use phase to a wider-use phase, which mean nothing to people on the ground. form that can cause paralysis. The Stra- would reduce some of the more onerous I’ve spent 20 years in operations. When tegic Advisory Group of Experts on Im- requirements, particularly around the you talk about these three- and five-year munization has described it as the vac- surveillance system. strategies, people’s eyes glaze over. We cine of choice for outbreaks [of cVDPV] need much more tangible targets, built moving forward. Countries that want to If you were a betting man, where quarter by quarter. use the vaccine have to meet the crite- would you put the odds that ria for initial use [regarding surveillance Afghanistan and Pakistan will What we set as a target for this particu- and safety monitoring]. We’ve seen a become totally polio-free? lar quarter [July-September] is to open large number of campaigns implement- I would be pretty confident. up the access dynamics in Afghanistan. ed since March, with almost 50 million We set targets, for instance, in relation vaccines administered, and we’ve had Our new strategy has a goal of inter- to the move from initial use to wider use ruption of circulation of all wild and cir- of nOPV2. We’re seeing very substantial progress in relation to that. “THE ERADICATION PROGRAM IS Khaula Jamil/Courtesy of Rotary International NOT ABOUT ACHIEVEMENTS. And that’s why, forget 2023, forget IT’S ALL AROUND CLOSING GAPS: 2026 — focus on what we need to do this ACCESS GAPS, SURVEILLANCE GAPS.” month, what we need to do next month, what we need to do the month after. Keep a rolling cycle of performance improve- ments, which is the absolute key toward making this goal. In June, the Global Polio Eradi- cation Initiative released a document titled “Delivering on a Promise: Polio Eradication Strategy 2022-2026.” Will it do as it says? I do think it’s feasible to reach our set timelines and goals, and to deliver on 34  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021

what was laid out within them. We just infrastructure was being used to sup- STRATEGIC PLAN HIGHLIGHTS have to be very honest about where the port the pandemic response. There was gaps are and what’s being done to close a daily meeting on COVID with the top In June, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative them. The eradication program is not provincial leadership, the military, and launched a new strategic plan, “Delivering about achievements. It’s all about clos- the Ministry of Health. All of the groups on a Promise: Polio Eradication Strategy ing gaps: access gaps, surveillance gaps. were reviewing real-time data, making 2022-2026,” with two goals: interrupting the We just keep going, going, going, and then decisions, and then having pretty robust transmission of wild poliovirus in the two suddenly you realize you’re there. accountability for follow-up actions. We remaining endemic countries (Afghanistan want to convey the message that, though and Pakistan) and stopping outbreaks I’ll highlight two of the situations the magnitude of the polio emergency is of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus that I’ve dealt with in my career. I start- not of the same scale as the COVID pan- (cVDPV), which arise when the live virus ed working on polio eradication origi- demic, we would strongly encourage that used in the oral polio vaccine mutates nally in January 2015 [as chief of polio modus operandi. back to a virulent form as it circulates eradication in Pakistan for UNICEF], among unimmunized and under-immunized and at that time Pakistan’s program was The other piece that has to be strength- populations. Here’s how we’ll get there. described as a disaster by the Indepen- ened is performance and risk manage- dent Monitoring Board. In 2014, there ment. We’ve talked about 2023 and 2026. 1 Political advocacy: Work with were 359 global cases of wild poliovi- But what are all the milestones? When governments to generate greater rus, of which 306 were in Pakistan. Two you’re reviewing your performance, urgency and accountability for timely and a half years later, we were down to course corrections are fundamentally bet- and effective outbreak responses. Build roughly three cases. I think we had a ter when they’re done at the moment. We personal relationships and increase trust total of eight for the year. We worked our need to do that in a much more structured with those at the national, provincial, way through the challenges. It’s impor- way, with key metrics. and local levels to develop a better tant to be ruthlessly focused on finding understanding of the benefits of the polio the critical path for eradication. So that What thing are you most focused program. Explore options to work around was lesson No. 1. on? What keeps you up at night? the ban on house-to-house vaccinations Seizing the opportunities that are in in parts of Afghanistan. With this job, when I started in Janu- front of us. Keeping ruthlessly focused ary, I was asked why I was taking on this on persistently missed children. We have 2 Community engagement: Build program at this point in time. For me, it’s a lot of initiatives, but they aren’t equally meaningful partnerships with high- never daunting and it’s never impossible. effective. What’s really important is that risk communities disproportionately The challenge is to understand where whether it’s campaigns, health camps, affected by polio, such as Pashto-speaking you are and then, concretely, what are or routine immunizations — whatever communities in Afghanistan and Pakistan. the practical steps that you need to take. we’re doing, is it helping us to vaccinate Create committees where community For me the big achievement last year was one more persistently missed child in a members can contribute to polio campaign staying in the fight. People sometimes core reservoir? Are we making inroads planning and relay other health needs. Work underestimate what it meant to get the with every single campaign, with every with Pashto-speaking influencers, such as program back up and running in the single activity we do, that are bringing us birth attendants and women’s groups, to middle of the pandemic. There were very closer and closer to our goal? develop a better understanding of how polio courageous decisions by governments vaccinations can support their broader and by frontline workers, as well as a What keeps me awake at night is the child care practices. whole range of other people. risk if we’re not ruthlessly focused on that. We can generate big numbers, but 3 Improve operations: Strengthen A previous strategy was pub- are we actually getting the right children campaigns by recruiting and training vaccinated with all of our efforts? frontline workers who come from the local lished in 2019. What wasn’t work- community, speak the local language, and What is your message to Rotary are women. Ensure frontline workers have ing, and how is the new strategy members? the supplies and security to do their jobs I’ve been in this job now for six months. well and receive professional development bringing in new ideas? I’ve met with Rotarians virtually and in opportunities. Adopt technical innovations The epidemiology was going further person across India, Africa, Pakistan, and such as digital mapping and mobile and further away from zero, and then Afghanistan. I haven’t detected any kind payments to workers. Deploy the recently came the COVID pandemic, which was of diminution of commitment. There’s approved novel oral polio vaccine type 2 a pretty fundamental game changer. a very clear-eyed focus. The message is (nOPV2) to fight outbreaks. There was a real concern that the pro- simple: A polio-free world is within reach. gram had lost its emergency orientation. There is an opportunity, and now is the 4 Integrate polio into health programs: There was also a recognition of the need time to stay the course. Reach zero-dose children in to have a serious re-look at the broader- Afghanistan and Pakistan with all vaccines. based community demands. Help capitalize on this Support the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Make polio vaccines part of a broader health and Another part is related to government opportunity to reach a polio-free basic services package that is developed ownership. It’s one thing for the GPEI to in partnership with communities. Support have its emergency orientation. But we world. Make your contribution at health facilities in providing a dose of oral also need that emergency orientation polio vaccine to newborns. to be identified by governments. One of endpolio.org/donate. the things that was very striking for me 5 Improve surveillance: To speed up out- in Pakistan was the extent to which the break responses, use technical innova- National Emergency Operations Centre tions to get quicker results when testing for poliovirus in children with paralysis. Integrate polio surveillance into the surveillance sys- tems for other vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles and COVID-19. Read the full report at polioeradication.org /gpei-strategy-2022-2026. OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  35



by Charles Fishman Illustrations by Shonagh Rae WATER Five water and sanitation problems that could be lurking in your own backyard PRESSURE Charles Fishman T oday in the United Sometimes the problem is a deep has been reporting States, tens of mismatch between the systems we have and writing about thousands of people have set up to manage water and the way it water since 2006 no drinkable water in needs to be delivered in a particular and is the author their homes. Some have place. Sometimes the problem is as of the bestselling no running water at all. simple — and corrosive — as neglect. The Big Thirst: The Some Americans Sometimes a town has been so hollowed Secret Life and haven’t been able to out economically that it has no money Turbulent Future drink water from their for basic services, not even for water. of Water. kitchen faucet for years because it’s not safe. And sometimes the problem is Some live in towns caused, or perpetuated, by something where the water plant even more willful: Everyone up and has broken down, and now they can’t down the chain knows that something take a shower or flush their toilets. Some about their water system is fragile or must drive miles to collect clean water broken or dangerous, but no one musters — making hundreds of trips a year, water the courage to talk about it and fix it. sloshing in containers as they tote it home in the back of their pickup trucks. There are places in the United States — the city of Chicago, the suburbs of South How is this possible in 2021? Florida — where officials avert their eyes Most Americans take water for every day from nagging issues that could granted. We think our tap water at home quickly turn into major problems for should be all but free. We willingly pay hundreds of thousands of people. 1,000 times the cost of that tap water for bottled water that we think of as “safe” Americans have long relied on (U.S. bottled water sales, per person, the brilliant engineering of our water have almost tripled since 2000), but we systems to see us through — but much don’t insist that our municipal systems of that engineering is a century old. It’s be maintained. ready for a fresh burst of innovation, or When people in the United States at least attention. don’t have drinkable water, there’s almost always a complicated reason In the following pages, we look at five behind it. But usually, the problem places that are facing serious problems. is neither the water itself nor the These problems are ones that Rotary engineering that’s required to deliver members in the United States — as well it. The issue is the part that involves as in places such as Canada, Europe, and people: the politics, the money, the Australia — may have read about, seen process of getting things fixed. with their own eyes, or even worked to fix in other parts of the world, often without realizing that they are also happening in their own backyard. OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  37

The cold, hard truth about water in rural Alaska O n the afternoon of Sunday, There are no roads to these villages. in Selawik’s 20,000-gallon storage tank 14 February, residents of You arrive by boat during the warmer has to be heated all winter; that warm Selawik, Alaska, were getting months, and by snow machine or water is circulated through the town’s ready for a Valentine’s Day church airplane in the winter. water mains, pumped out and back in potluck supper. The temperature a constant loop. The sewer lines run in the village, situated a short The town’s electricity wasn’t fully between those outbound and inbound snowmobile ride above the Arctic restored until four days later. The high water pipes, whose warmth helps keep Circle, was 2 degrees below zero, about temperature during that time span: zero. the wastewater flowing. The pipes that normal for that time of year. But you don’t make your home and raise connect each home to the main line your children north of the Arctic Circle typically have a thin electric heating At around 4:30 p.m., the power went without having a strong measure of element running along them — Alaskans out. Selawik’s power plant was offline, self-reliance. Despite the cold and dark of call it a “heat trace” — to keep the pipes leaving houses and buildings in the February in Alaska, the people of Selawik from freezing. village — the health clinic, the stores, came through the blackout just fine. the apartment complex — without When the village lost electricity, electricity. When the backup generator Their water system did not. Selawik’s whole system froze. at the water treatment plant failed, Water systems in rural Alaska must Selawik was no longer just dark and be adapted for the state’s extreme Even after the power was restored, cold. Now the village also lacked conditions. Selawik has its own water much of the water system couldn’t running water and sewer service. treatment and wastewater plants — but be thawed out. It was simply too cold the pipes all sit above ground because outside. So for weeks, Selawik residents Selawik is one of roughly 200 small, the permafrost isn’t stable enough to hauled containers of clean water from rural, self-sufficient communities in bury water mains in. And without the the water plant to their homes and used Alaska. Some have as many as 1,000 insulation that comes from burying five-gallon buckets lined with garbage people, but most have fewer than 300. water and sewer mains, the clean water bags to collect wash water and human 38  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021

waste. Those are common enough in With only a few hundred residents, Alaska that they have a nickname: honey villages struggle to sustain the technical expertise buckets. When they are full, the bags are tied up and set outside to freeze. needed to maintain their water systems. At the beginning of April, the village’s The other 130 or so villages, like drinking water from a nearby river. water mains were still frozen. Selawik, limp along with complicated, And a week before Selawik’s aging water systems. With only a few “This was a huge event,” says Tanya hundred residents, such villages struggle disaster, the water plant in Nenana froze Ballot, the tribal administrator for to sustain the technical expertise completely when a malfunctioning door Selawik. “It caused great havoc in our needed to maintain the water systems stayed open all night as temperatures community.” — and also to pay the cost of routine dropped to minus 36. Huge steel pipes operations, which is always the sole and valves froze and cracked open, But it was a quiet disaster, one typical responsibility of the residents. spraying water, which instantly turned to across the state. More than 20 percent ice, in every direction. City workers and of homes in rural Alaska lack full indoor A month before Selawik’s disaster, volunteers worked for 12 hours to patch plumbing, affecting as many as 30,000 the washateria in Tuluksak, population the leaks and get the water flowing. people, most of them Alaska Natives. about 350, was destroyed in a fire. It was 45 days before Tuluksak was able to get Three problems consistently beset Of the approximately 200 rural a temporary reverse-osmosis system set Alaska’s small water systems: one communities across Alaska, about 70 up. In the meantime, residents hauled bureaucratic, one financial, and one of the smallest have either basic water technological. service — usually a single community water center called a “washateria” that has potable water, showers, and laundry facilities — or have no shared water and sewer service at all. OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  39

The impact of climate change on the villages’ water systems is going to be dramatic, damaging, and expensive. In the United States, federal and water flowing. Village Safe Water, a 20 state money for water systems is state agency that is part of Alaska’s primarily used for capital expenses. The Department of Environmental Percentage of governments might fund almost all of Conservation, and the Alaska Native homes in rural the cost to build a new water plant or Tribal Health Consortium, a nonprofit Alaska without full to overhaul a wastewater plant, but the that helps manage health services for indoor plumbing community has to pay for the operating Alaska Natives, manage a list of pressing costs. Indeed, communities usually have projects to maintain water service across 32 to show that they can afford those costs the 200 towns. The needed work totals before a grant is approved for a water or about $2 billion right now; the agencies Number of villages sewer system. That means that, in some typically have funding for no more than with no central ways, it can be easier to provide water to 10 percent of that amount per year. a city of 2 million than to a town of 400. water system at all And none of that takes into The economies of Alaska’s small towns consideration the impact of climate 45 are a blend of traditional and modern. change on the villages’ water systems — Selawik gets mail and supplies, including which is going to be dramatic, damaging, Days residents of packages from Amazon, delivered by and expensive. one village went airplane most days, but its residents supply without water this much of their own food by hunting, fishing, Recently the foundation of one village’s spring after a fire at and trapping. There are not many ways to washateria started tilting perilously the water plant make money; municipal financial and tax because the permafrost on which the resources are thin. building was constructed has begun to $2 billion melt each summer. The retrofit includes a Meanwhile, the water systems in system to refrigerate the ground beneath Backlog of water these towns are far more expensive to the building to keep it frozen. system repairs in run than water systems elsewhere. No major U.S. city, for instance, has to pay Across Alaska, the population density rural Alaska to keep its purified drinking water warm is a little more than one person per before distributing it, a cost all the more square mile. North Dakota is almost 10 burdensome in Alaska, where getting times as crowded; Texas, 100 times. But gasoline or diesel fuel to remote villages the political and financial assumptions raises its price to $5 or $6 a gallon. (A behind the water system in Selawik are 16-pack of bottled water can cost $50.) the same as in San Antonio. And the cost of the heating element that residents use to keep their water line It is not lost on Alaskans that they open can run as much as $100 a month, have some of the most spectacular and on top of a $250 water bill. pristine water resources in the country, yet they struggle to maintain drinkable In Alaska, as in any part of the water in their own homes. country, anyone running a water plant must be certified. Maintaining a water Around the same time as Selawik’s and sewer system is relentless work, disaster, stretches of aboveground water and few villages have the resources to mains froze in the village of Unalakleet, hire someone to do it full time. Finding leaving more than 40 homes without someone passionate about the water water. Unalakleet’s water system is system and capable of doing the work — more than 50 years old, says the village’s and also paying enough to keep them in mayor, Kira Eckenweiler, and has been the job — is a challenge. crumbling for the last 10. The water from residents’ taps often runs brown and Two organizations in Alaska have staff sludgy because of buildup in the pipes. and engineers who help villages keep their Says Eckenweiler: “We’re so tired of being afraid of our water.” 40  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021

Chicago’s almost unbelievable lead pipe problem T urn on your kitchen faucet full force. Let it run for five minutes. You may find it difficult. Five minutes turns out to be a long time to watch the water jet into the sink and down the drain. During that time, some 11 gallons of water will flow. (Imagine filling 11 one- gallon milk jugs and lining them up on the counter.) If you’re a resident of Chicago, that’s how the city’s water department recommends that you start each day — by turning on the kitchen faucet and letting the water run nonstop for five minutes. To make sure that the water doesn’t poison you with lead. The water department has that information posted right on its website. In fact, the city says that anytime no water is used in your home for more than six hours, you should turn on the tap for five minutes before drinking the water or cooking with it. A typical family that follows the city’s advice will use more than 4,000 gallons of water a year just preparing to make the day’s first pot of coffee. One that flushes its plumbing again before making dinner will, over the course of a year, send nearly as much extra water down the drain as an average family uses in a month. In Chicago, 400,000 residences — 80 percent of its single-family homes and residential buildings — are connected to the city water supply with a lead service line. That’s the pipe that runs from the water main into a house or apartment building. The water department wants residents to make sure that any lead that might have leached into the water from that line is flushed from a home’s plumbing system before someone brushes their teeth or boils water for a pot of pasta. OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  41

400,000 Lead service lines are the same Lead has been a material of choice for kind of pipes that were at the heart of water pipes for so long — stretching back Estimated number the water crisis that erupted in Flint, to ancient Rome — that the chemical of lead service Michigan, in 2014. In Flint, there were symbol for the element, Pb, comes from lines in Chicago 10,000 lead service lines. States are the Latin plumbum, the origin of the beginning to survey how many such lines word “plumbing.” Lead is both malleable 1986 they have: Louisiana estimates it has and durable. Some hundred-year-old 56,000; California, 65,000; Pennsylvania, lead water pipes function without much Year Chicago 160,000; Massachusetts, 220,000; New sign of deterioration. stopped requiring York, 360,000. that service lines But many cities and states started be made of lead With 400,000 lead service lines in discouraging use of lead pipes for Chicago, the problem is so great and plumbing in the 1920s and 1930s, when 2,000 so astonishingly expensive to fix — the it became clear how damaging lead city estimates it will cost $15,000 to contamination was, especially in young Children in Chicago $26,000 to replace each one, for a children. By the 1940s, cities across who test positive total bill of perhaps $10 billion — that, Massachusetts had stopped using them. for lead poisoning stretching back more than 30 years, no New York City banned lead service lines each year serious effort has been made to tackle in 1961; Milwaukee did the same in 1962. the problem. A key strategic planning $10 billion document for the water department from Chicago, however, did not ban lead 2003 does not mention lead pipes. service lines. Its city building code Estimated cost actually required every home to be of replacing all How did a single city come to have more connected to the city water main using of Chicago’s lead lead service lines than 47 entire states? a lead pipe, installed by a licensed service lines 4,000 Gallons of water a Chicago family will need to use annually to flush out their pipes every morning 42  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021

plumber — a testament to the political In Flint, when the city changed the contamination comes not from water power of the city’s plumbers union. source of its raw water, the new supply was but from lead paint in older homes. But That only changed when the federal more corrosive. It actively dissolved lead the dramatic crisis in Flint as well as government banned all use of lead from the pipes into the drinking water, Chicago’s own experience with water for plumbing in 1986. Chicago’s water spiking lead levels in the city’s children. main and water meter work suggest that department estimates that 99 percent of the city’s lead service lines are a hidden the city’s single-family homes and small Chicago adds anti-corrosion chemicals time bomb. apartment buildings built before 1986 to its water supply to keep lead from still have lead service lines. leaching into the water. That’s effective The city’s current mayor, Lori generally, but not completely. When water Lightfoot, is the first in decades to The danger of lead has been well sits in service lines for more than a few commit to at least starting to remove the understood for a hundred years. And in hours — overnight, say, or during the lead pipes. In September 2020, she said this city of 2.7 million people, 560,000 day when everyone is at work or school that project would begin in 2021, with the residents are under age 18, with 170,000 — small amounts of lead can dissolve city replacing 650 lead service lines, most under age 5, the group most vulnerable into that water from unprotected pipes, of them in low-income neighborhoods. to being poisoned by lead contamination. fittings, and old faucets. And in the last But in May 2021 — eight months later — When lead from water or paint chips few years, Chicago discovered something the work still wasn’t underway. The city is ingested by young children, even the else: Work carried out on the city’s water hadn’t even determined which homes’ tiniest amount does damage to their system can dislodge lead from the old lines would be replaced. brains and nervous systems. It affects pipes, sending contaminated sediment basic cognition — reducing IQs and into homes. Even if Chicago were to replace stunting intellectual and emotional 10,000 lead service lines annually — an development. The damage is permanent During the administration of Mayor extraordinary pace that would cost at and irreversible. Rahm Emanuel from 2011 to 2019, least $150 million a year — the project the water department undertook an would take 40 years. Some Chicagoans aggressive program of updates to have done the work themselves: The city Chicago’s aging water system, installing reported that 40 homeowners replaced hundreds of miles of new water mains. their own lead service lines in 2019. But as city workers dug up the lines street by street, they didn’t replace the Anne Evens leads Elevate, a nonprofit lead service lines for each home — they that helps low-income families in just reconnected the old lead pipes Chicago retrofit their homes to make to the new water mains. The city also them safer and more energy efficient, had embarked a few years earlier on a including paying to replace lead service campaign to install water meters — the lines. Evens is also an engineer who vast majority of homes were unmetered for 10 years headed up the Chicago — only to discover that in at least 20 Department of Public Health’s work to percent of homes that received a meter, prevent childhood lead poisoning. lead levels spiked. The water meter installations were halted in July 2019. In the last few years, Evens says, Elevate has focused its lead-removal Chicago has made dramatic efforts on home-based child care progress in reducing lead in the overall providers. “Every time we can make one environment and in its children in home-based child care provider lead-safe, we’re protecting the eight kids in that Chicago has discovered that work carried out on the city’s water system can dislodge lead from the old pipes, sending contaminated sediment into homes. the last 30 years. In the late 1990s, an home today — as well as the future kids astonishing 25 percent of the city’s that are going to be staying there,” she says. children who were tested showed elevated blood lead levels. By 2017, that But she acknowledges that rate had fallen to just 1 percent. (Also, organizations like Elevate are just in 2019, the “public health intervention working around the edges of the lead level” of lead in children was lowered pipe problem. “This is a problem we from 10 to 5 micrograms per deciliter.) know how to fix,” says Evens. “The question is only whether or not we have Research shows that most the political will to do it.” OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  43

The widespread contaminant that’s nearly indestructible A mong the engineering and stainproofing substances like to your saliva and your blood stream; and challenges of the Manhattan Scotchgard, PFAS have been used in from airports and industrial sites into the Project was a small but critical hiking boots and rain jackets, tents, groundwater and then to your taps. problem. Building atomic bombs carpeting, and upholstered furniture. requires concentrated forms of PFAS resist heat, grease, and moisture, so And that’s where PFAS went from uranium, and that enrichment they’re used to coat french fry containers, wonder substances to an environmental process starts with a gaseous pizza boxes, and the paper in which disaster. form called uranium hexafluoride, which countless fast-food hamburgers are scientists and engineers nicknamed “hex.” wrapped. They coat the inside of millions PFAS molecules retain their durability and millions of bags of microwave wherever they are found — including in Hex worked well as the starting point popcorn. They’re used in nail polish, the environment and in the human body. for bombs, except for one thing: It is cosmetics, and some kinds of dental They never break down — not in water exceedingly corrosive. In 1942 and 1943, floss; on the surface of steam irons; in or soil, not in your stomach when eaten, Manhattan Project engineers despaired guitar strings, windshield wiper fluid, and not in your bloodstream or kidneys. That of finding vessels, seals, and valves that contact lenses; and in the manufacture of has earned PFAS the ominous label of could keep it contained. items like semiconductors. “forever chemicals.” In the labs of the DuPont chemical PFAS are also a key ingredient in a Studies have found PFAS in the blood company, an engineer named Roy Plunkett firefighting foam long used at civilian of up to 99 percent of American adults had by accident created a little-understood airports and military bases, which was tested. A separate analysis published in chemical substance a few years earlier, in sprayed on runways to reduce the risk of 2018 found PFAS in the blood of 100 April 1938. That material — its chemical fire when a plane was coming in for an percent of 639 children from across the name is polytetrafluoroethylene — had emergency landing — and was used by nation, ages 3 to 11, who were tested. as one of its chief qualities an absolute firefighters to practice for those kinds of The FDA has found PFAS in meat and resistance to destruction against almost emergencies. seafood at grocery stores as well as on anything that was inflicted on it — fresh vegetables at farmers’ markets. including sulfuric acid and a soldering It is their very indestructibility that iron. Polytetrafluoroethylene was all but gives PFAS such incredible utility. In all, indestructible. there are some 4,700 PFAS compounds that are similar to Teflon and Scotchgard; That made it perfect for coating the according to the Environmental valves and seals of the uranium-handling Protection Agency, 600 of them remain equipment at Oak Ridge National Lab. in use in the United States — and they And some years later, it was rolled out to are so widespread that most Americans coat the skillets of America, as Teflon. encounter them every day. Teflon was the first of thousands of But PFAS were never intended to artificially created substances that have be ingested by people, and they pose come to be known as PFAS (per- and a serious danger to human health — polyfluoroalkyl substances). They turned starting with babies in the womb. PFAS out to be so wildly useful that their range migrate fairly easily — from the french today is astonishing. fry box to the fries; from the dental floss As the key ingredient in waterproofing It is their very indestructibility that gives PFAS such incredible utility. But PFAS were never intended to be ingested by people. 44  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021

Three recent studies have even found high cholesterol; damage to the immune The McNaughtons live within a PFAS in rainfall — not just in urban areas system. PFAS pass through the placenta 25-square-mile area where a wide plume like Chicago and Cleveland, but also in into developing babies and are present in of PFAS — emanating from the old waste- semi-wild places like Sleeping Bear Dunes the breast milk of nursing mothers. PFAS disposal area set up by Wolverine — has National Lakeshore in northern Michigan. are associated with low-birth weight contaminated the groundwater. babies and, in very young children, with Says Jennifer A. Faust, an assistant reduced glucose tolerance, impaired Tests on the McNaughtons’ well professor and research chemist at the immune systems, and interference with showed their water had 5,065 parts per College of Wooster, Ohio, who co- the functioning of vaccines. trillion of PFAS. In January 2018, tests authored one of the rainfall studies, “We on their then 20-month-old son, Jack, saw PFAS everywhere.” The EPA doesn’t regulate PFAS in showed he had 484,000 parts per trillion drinking water, groundwater, or air. But of PFAS in his blood. The presence Most of all, PFAS have gotten into the agency has a recommended “health of such a wildly excessive amount of the water. At thousands of sites, in 49 of advisory” standard of no more than 70 poisonous PFAS in the body of their the 50 states (Hawaii is still investigating parts per trillion in drinking water. toddler son sent the McNaughtons into an potential sites), testing has found PFAS in understandable panic. Their son’s doctor groundwater and surface water, in wells In the small western Michigan eventually figured out that several of his and lakes, in rivers and streams, and community of Belmont, the McNaughton vaccines had been rendered ineffective. even in water that is released back into family learned in September 2017 that communities by municipal wastewater their home’s water might be contaminated Research toxicologist Richard treatment plants. with PFAS from waste discharged by Rediske is a professor at Grand Valley a factory owned by the shoe company State University, which is located not PFAS contamination has been linked Wolverine Worldwide — maker of Hush far from the Wolverine site. An expert to a wide range of human health problems Puppies, among other brands, which are on PFAS, he was part of a citizens’ group — increased kidney and testicular treated with PFAS-based waterproofing. that worked for years to get the state to cancer; reduced ability to get pregnant; OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  45

At thousands of sites, testing has found PFAS in groundwater and surface water, in wells and lakes, in rivers and streams. pay attention to the site. it to a single location, where they clean 100 “Part of what sets PFAS compounds it and then typically release it back into the environment, usually via a stream or Percentage of apart from other toxins we encounter,” river. But routine wastewater treatment 639 children says Rediske, “is that they stick to — good enough to transform raw sewage proteins in our blood, and they circulate” into almost-potable water — doesn’t do tested who had — but they are not excreted. anything to destroy or filter out “forever PFAS in their chemicals.” What the process does is bloodstream Indeed, the human body acts in some collect the PFAS contamination from ways like a reverse filter for PFAS — if across a whole city or county and then 2,337 they’re on your popcorn or your french discharge it into a single body of water. fries, or in your sippy cup of water, your Number of body grabs onto them and retains them, Landfills are similar. They collect known PFAS while letting the water and the food garbage and debris from an entire contamination remnants go. Starting in his mother’s community, and then rainwater that sites in the womb, as she was drinking water, and soaks into the landfills washes PFAS off United States continuing right through his first 20 food wrappers and other products and months of life, Jack’s body saved up the into the groundwater. 600 PFAS he consumed, with the result that his blood contained 100 times more The contaminated sites on Michigan’s Types of PFAS PFAS than the family’s drinking water. list are connected to a who’s who of compounds industrial America — the companies in use in the The area of contamination from the include BASF, Georgia-Pacific, United States Wolverine shoe factory dump is in Kent Dow, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Marathon County, near the city of Grand Rapids. Petroleum, and the pharmaceutical 1938 Kent County alone has 18 documented maker Warner-Lambert. PFAS sites. Year the first PFAS The EPA has been promising to start chemical was Over the last four years, Michigan managing PFAS for years — it issued an has become one of the most determined action plan in 2009 and another in 2019 discovered, by a states in tracking and regulating PFAS — but has in fact been painfully slow to DuPont engineer — without waiting for guidance from the act, despite decades of growing evidence federal government. It has even deployed of the wide spread of PFAS and their drones to seek out PFAS contamination damaging effect on human health. sites. Every municipal system in Michigan has tested its drinking water for PFAS; The sheer range of PFAS one system, in the town of Parchment, compounds and the wide but diffuse was found to have PFAS levels of about effects they have in the human body 1,600 parts per trillion. Another 61 make them a challenge. PFAS do not have water utilities measured over 10 parts the kind of direct impact, for instance, per trillion — and are being monitored that lead has — where exposure in a child quarterly to make sure they don’t spike leads directly to neurological damage. The above the EPA-recommended ceiling of body’s response to PFAS can vary based 70 parts per trillion. on an individual’s biochemistry. Michigan’s environmental agency In the early 2000s, the EPA reached an has documented PFAS contamination at agreement with DuPont, 3M, and other 188 sites across the state — every one of companies that ended the manufacture which is, in fact, a site of contaminated of two of the earliest and most commonly water. Among those, 62 are landfills; 22 used PFAS — PFOA (used to make are locations where industrial plating, a Teflon, halted in 2015) and PFOS chemical-intensive process, took place; (Scotchgard, phased out starting in 2000). 12 are military bases; 15 are airports But DuPont almost immediately began (including some military); and six, making a substitute PFAS with the trade ironically, are wastewater treatment plants. name “GenX” in North Carolina, where it quickly became so widespread in rivers Water treatment plants collect dirty and streams — and also was found at high water from across a community and pipe 46  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021

levels in the city of Wilmington’s water supply — that last October, the state sued DuPont and a successor chemical company, Chemours, to generate funds to clean up the contamination. Seven states, including New Jersey, Michigan, New York, Maine, and New Hampshire, have imposed their own state-level standards for PFAS contamination in water. Their limits for drinking water range from 8 to 20 parts per trillion, depending on the specific PFAS and the state — but are all much lower than the EPA’s advisory standard of 70 parts per trillion. Three states — Maine, New York, and Washington — have all passed bans on food packaging that contains PFAS, but those bans won’t take effect until 2022 or later. One Harvard researcher, Philippe Grandjean, who carried out an early study showing how significantly PFAS exposure reduces the effectiveness of vaccines, says that even the new state limits may not be stringent enough to protect the youngest children. Grandjean says that children, before birth and then during their first few months, should not be exposed to PFAS at all. His suggested standard: 1 part per trillion. The estimated level of PFAS in the blood of a typical American adult is 2 parts per trillion. The good news is that it’s relatively easy to filter PFAS out of water. Three standard drinking water filtration systems — granulated carbon filters, ion exchange filters, and reverse osmosis — all remove PFAS. The cleanup around the old Wolverine dump site in western Michigan will include pulling in groundwater, filtering it, then releasing it back into the environment. Rediske says that this process is effective — but, the toxicologist notes, so much water is contaminated that “they are going to be pumping and filtering for a long time. Hundreds of years.” The bad news is how astonishingly widespread PFAS are turning out to be, and not in small amounts. While states impose drinking water standards in the range of 20 parts per trillion, the rainfall sampled in two recent studies showed PFAS contamination ranging from 50 to 1,000 parts per trillion falling across the Midwest and the Great Lakes. Says Marta Venier, an environmental chemist at Indiana University who worked on one of the studies: “You can actually say it’s raining PFAS at this point.” OCTOBER 2021  ROTARY  47

The usable S ometime in 2007, someone but not drinkable knocked on Sandra and Roy Roberts’ door to ask if they water in West Virginia wanted water service to their house — a pipe, bringing 48  ROTARY  OCTOBER 2021 purified drinking water, that would connect to their existing plumbing. Absolutely, said Sandra Roberts. So in 2018, when a nearby town held a meeting about bringing high- speed broadband internet to the area’s residents, Sandra was the first to speak. “Eleven years ago, someone knocked on my door and promised me I could get city water. I still don’t have any city water, and I’ve never heard from them since — not once,” she said. “Will you be like that? When is the next time we’re going to see you all out this way?” Three years later, broadband internet still hasn’t arrived. And neither has water service.