RI President Ian H.S. Riseley issued a challenge last year. He wanted Rotarians to plant 1.2 million trees – one for every Rotarian in the world – between 1 July 2017, when he took office as president of Rotary International, and Earth Day, 22 April 2018.

Clubs around the world have embraced that challenge, and in his travels this year, Riseley himself has often been asked to pick up a shovel. 

Why trees? Our president says it's a way for Rotarians to demonstrate their concern for the enviornment, which has not been at the top of the Rotary radar since the early 1990s, when the RI president asked all clubs to conduct an environmental project.