Leia Lowery
Environmental Education and Youth Engagement
How classroom programs and student service projects turn environmental learning into work young people carry into their own communities.
Every meeting we hold,open to anyone whowants to watch it.
We meet twice a month at 5:30 PM Pacific to talk about clean water, reef and river health, and environmental education. Anyone can join, and every meeting is recorded and posted here.
Planting rare native trees with The Panama Project in Bocas del Toro.
When we meet
Twice a month, both at 5:30 PM Pacific. Meetings are on Zoom and guests are always welcome.
First Tuesday of the month
Intergenerational meeting
Hosted by Natalia Naranjo and our younger team.
5:30 PM Pacific 8:30 PM Eastern, 7:30 PM Central, 6:30 PM Mountain
Next meeting: loading
Second Thursday of the month
Monthly meeting
Hosted by Steve Bender.
5:30 PM Pacific 8:30 PM Eastern, 7:30 PM Central, 6:30 PM Mountain
Next meeting: loading
Find the meeting time where you are
Pick a meeting and a location. Daylight saving changes are handled for you.
Next meeting, your time
Loading
Meeting recordings
Every session is recorded and posted here in full. Watch on YouTube, or open the Zoom clip if you prefer.
Panama
Bocas del Toro: the Panama Project and Rotary Reefs
An update from Bocas del Toro on the Panama Project and the Rotary Reefs effort, including what the work looks like on the water and who it serves.
Panel discussion
Water Connects Us: from reef to river
Following one watershed from the reef back upstream, and what that connection means for the communities living along it.
New recordings are posted to our YouTube channel first.
Open the channelWho you will hear from
People from the programs themselves, talking about work they are doing rather than presenting about it from a distance.
Host
Steve Bender
CEO, Sea 2 Sky Solutions, and President of the Rotary Club of Newport Beach
Steve is a sustainability leader and strategic advisor with decades of experience turning environmental goals into practical, measurable results across business, government and civil society. He is CEO of Sea 2 Sky Solutions, Chairman of the United States Green Chamber of Commerce, and Director for…
Host
Natalia Naranjo
President of Loopway, and Global Project Manager for Rotary Reefs
Natalia leads Loopway and works at the meeting point of environmental impact, business strategy and partnerships across Latin America and beyond. She holds a Master's in Circular Economy Management from the European Institute of Innovation for Sustainability, and a degree in Sustainable Development Engineering from…
Speaker
Leia Lowery
Executive Director, The Climate Initiative
Co-founder and Executive Director of The Climate Initiative, where she has spent thirty years building education programs that connect young people to the places they live.
Speaker
Morgan Baker
Education Director, CAVU
Morgan leads the Climate Innovation Challenge at CAVU, bringing eight years of middle school classroom teaching to the program, first in Milwaukee and then in Boise.
Speaker
Ariel Maldonado
Youth Engagement Manager, The Climate Initiative
Ariel teaches the Climate Action Leadership Program and has worked since 2018 on climate education for young people. Based in Los Angeles, she brings a fine arts background to the work.
Projects we back
Work from our network that has been honored in the Top 10 of 100 Projects in 100 Countries, the rolling global competition run by the Rotary Club of Newport Beach Global Service Committee.
Number 1 in the world
The Panama Project
Bocas del Toro, Panama
The flagship of the 7 Seas Initiative, running coral reef restoration, youth marine education and community stewardship as a single program.
Read the project pageNumber 2
Growing Green Leaders
Global
Environmental leadership training that builds the next generation of Rotary changemakers, one classroom at a time.
Read the project pageNumber 3
One Million Drops, East Meets West
Eastern and Western hemispheres
A clean water campaign extending safe water delivery to underserved communities, working with Water For West Africa and GivePower.
Read the project pageNumber 5
The Tree Projects
Finland, Panama, Mexico and global
A reforestation and carbon sequestration partnership rebuilding forest ecosystems for long term climate resilience.
Read the project pageNumber 6
The Rotary Reef Education Project
Randolph, Vermont, United States
High school Interact Club students train in reef rescue and marine conservation, taking classroom learning into hands on ocean work.
Read the project pageNumber 7
The Alluvium Project
Mexico and United States
Watershed restoration and sediment management along the border region, rebuilding river systems two countries depend on.
Read the project pageEnter your own project
Entries never close. Submit any day of the year, and your project joins the review queue the day it arrives. Honorees are published one a day and keep a permanent page. The Top 10 are named twice a year, on Earth Day, 22 April, and on Half Earth Day, 22 October.
Every entry is scored through the 4-7-8-17 framework: the Four Way Test, Rotary's seven Areas of Focus, the eight Pillars of Positive Peace and the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals. This is not a grant program. It provides visibility, tools and introductions.
Our network
Programs, partners and publications we work with. Open any one for a description, then follow the link through to the site itself.
Ocean and reef
- 7seasinitiative.org The ocean arm of our network: a standing commitment to seed and support restoration work in all seven…
- 7seasfoundation.org The foundation arm of the 7 Seas Initiative, listed among the partners of the 100 Projects in 100…
- rotaryreefs.org Coral restoration and reef education delivered through Rotary clubs, and a named partner of the 7 Seas Initiative.…
- turtleproject.org A global home for turtle conservation, from nesting beach protection to the mangrove nursery habitat young turtles depend…
- lionfishproject.org Control of invasive lionfish across the Caribbean. Lionfish spread quickly, have few natural predators in the region and…
Country programs
- thepanamaproject.org Our flagship program in Bocas del Toro, Panama: coral reef restoration, youth marine education and community stewardship run…
- thebahamasproject.org The Bahamas program, working in a country where mangrove and reef systems sit directly alongside each other and…
- thecaribbeanproject.org The regional program that ties the island and coastal work across the Caribbean into one effort, so lessons…
- themexicoproject.com Five Rotary humanitarian and environmental initiatives in Mexico, including work at the La Encrucijada reserve. Mexico also appears…
Restoration
- thephoenixproject.earth A restoration program focused on bringing damaged land back into health. A fuller description will go here once…
- thetreeprojects.org A reforestation and carbon sequestration partnership restoring forest ecosystems and building long term climate resilience, with work in…
- alluviumproject.org Watershed restoration and sediment management across the border region between Mexico and the United States, rebuilding river systems…
Water and watersheds
- tijuanariverproject.org Cross border reporting and cleanup of pollution in the Tijuana River, supported through Rotary global grants. Rivers carry…
- onemilliondrops.org A clean water access and conservation campaign expanding safe water delivery to underserved communities, working with Water For…
Rotary
- rotaryglobalserviceclub.org The Global Service Committee of the Rotary Club of Newport Beach, which runs the 100 Projects in 100…
- buildingbridgesthroughrotary.org Partnership building between Rotary clubs and districts, connecting clubs that have a project with clubs that have the…
People and youth
- growinggreenleaders.org Environmental leadership training that develops the next generation of changemakers, one classroom at a time. It was named…
- volunteertourism.org Volunteer travel to project sites, for people who want to spend part of a trip working on a…
- environmentalxperience.org The dot org home of the Environmental Xperience event series. The main event site, where projects are entered…
Networks and partners
- friendsofenvironmentandsustainability.org Our own network: the group behind these meetings, bringing together people working on water, reefs, rivers and environmental…
- globalgreenchamber.earth A green chamber of commerce, connecting businesses that want their environmental commitments to amount to something in practice.…
- carbonadvisorycoalition.org Carbon market education, ratings and advisory work, including blue carbon, the carbon held by coastal systems such as…
- ayudaint.org Humanitarian aid work alongside the environmental programs in the network. A fuller description will go here once the…
- loopway.org Circular economy work on plastic and recycling, keeping material in use instead of in waterways. Plastic is one…
- endangeredlife.org A program focused on endangered species and the habitat loss behind most of those declines. A fuller description…
Program partners
- 100projects100countries.org A year round rolling global competition for people rebuilding reefs, restoring forests, cleaning rivers and powering communities. It…
- 47817.org The framework every entry is scored against: Rotary's Four Way Test, the seven Areas of Focus, the eight…
- environmentalxperience.com The global event series that convenes leaders from more than 100 countries, hosted at EarthX. It is also…
- rotaryxperience.org The Rotary showcase within the Environmental Xperience event series. A fuller description will go here once the program…
- earthx.org Host of the Environmental Xperience, and one of the program partners behind the competition. A fuller description will…
Press and media
- meridianmag.org A magazine covering the work across the network. A fuller description will go here once the publication page…
- rivisionmag.com A Rotary magazine style publication for the projects and the people running them. A fuller description will go…
What we do
We meet, we invite people doing the work to speak, and we put the recording where anyone can find it.
Clean water
Projects that protect the water people drink and the water they live beside, from reef systems to inland rivers.
Education
Programs that bring environmental learning to students and give them real projects to take on.
Partnerships
Working alongside local groups and service clubs so projects keep running after the meeting ends.
Get involved
Come to a meeting, bring a project, or pass a recording along to someone who should see it.
Join the next meeting
First Tuesday and second Thursday of every month, 5:30 PM Pacific, on Zoom. Registration is free, and the link is posted before each meeting.
Check the next dateSpeak at a meeting
If you are running an environmental or water project and want to present it, put it forward through the 100 Projects in 100 Countries entry form.
Submit your projectFollow the recordings
Join the mailing list for the invitations, or subscribe on YouTube and every new meeting shows up as soon as it is posted.
Subscribe on YouTubeContact us
Questions about a meeting, a project or a partnership? Send a note and we will come back to you.