by the Environment Team
When the Environment Team invited FAWCO clubs to share their activities celebrating International Earth Day and World Environment Day, we were hopeful but didn’t know what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised and delighted by the enthusiastic response. Our goal was to raise awareness among our members about environmental protection and the importance of sustainable living—and clubs and individual members from Colombia to Lebanon embraced the opportunity with creativity and enthusiasm. They added eco-friendly activities to their calendars, engaging members and their community in practical and fun ways to appreciate and care for the environment. These initiatives not only made a positive impact locally but also strengthened our shared sense of responsibility for protecting the planet we call home.
Congratulations to all the amazing clubs and a heartfelt thank you to your members!
Check the link in the October issues of the News In Brief and Global Issues Digest to see many more photos of our members going green.
AAWE Paris - Submitted by Jill Amari
AAWE's Green Team hosted a couple events for Earth Month: an Earth Day lunch and a Sock Mending Workshop.
The Earth Day lunch took place at Le Passage à Niveau, a vegetarian-friendly restaurant in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. After lunch, we explored the restaurant's gardens and walked along the trail of La Petite Ceinture.
The Sock Mending Workshop was led by Green Team member Mary Ellen, who taught participants how to darn socks. Mary Ellen leads the Textiles & Hand Mending subgroup and hosts events which reject fast fashion and promote mending or repurposing clothes in a fun way.
FAUSA - Submitted by Valerie Garforth
In response to the hostilities in the Middle East, a group of us organized a symbolic tree-planting event on Friday, May 1 near the Maumee River in downtown Toledo. I am a member of the board of the Toledo Urban Forestry Commission and, working with Keep Toledo/Lucas County Beautiful, and the Toledo Multi-Faith Council, we invited members of many faith communities to join together in an act of hope and collaboration.
It was a cold, rainy day, but the event began with moving comments from faith leaders and the mayor of Toledo, who drove himself to the event! Then we proceeded to plant ten trees along a cycle path underneath the I-280 Veterans’ Glass City Skyway Bridge (visible in the background of the photo).
AWC Amsterdam - Submitted by Joan Evers
Sonia Chameau, Alexa Ayubi, Lilliana Ardila, and I visited the Dutch Dunes on June 5. We were a subset of our walking group which meets at the Amsterdam Waterleidingduin every Friday for a walk. It's a beautiful place to walk and serves an important purpose too.
Are you looking for a place to relax and explore nature? Then visit the Amsterdam Water Supply Dunes! This unique nature reserve allows you to wander off the beaten track and offers an exceptional variety of plants and animals. Here you will find more than 100 different bird species, mustelids, squirrels, foxes, rabbits, and the largest population of fallow deer in the Netherlands.
A visit during the rutting season in October is a special experience. The deer are in rut and make this loud and clear. The grunting and the fight of the males to conquer the females make it a true spectacle that you can experience up close.
In addition, you will find bunkers from the Second World War in the area, some of which you can also view from the inside. These were part of the Atlantic Wall, the Germans’ coastal defense line.
Did you know that the Amsterdam Water Supply Dunes also play an important role in water purification? The area functions as a natural filter for the groundwater that is used for drinking water in Amsterdam and the surrounding area. Waternet’s water purification techniques purify the groundwater in a sustainable way, so that you can not only enjoy nature, but also contribute to a clean and safe water supply.
IWC Bogotà - Submitted by Jeanne McKay
IWC Bogotà celebrated Earth Day 2026 with two wonderful, conservation-themed activities.
The first was a special Earth Day program held with eleven girls from one of our local charities in the historic district of Candelaria. Led by our Social Services Director, Diana Durante, the girls practiced their Spanish reading comprehension with several IWC volunteers using a local legend about hummingbirds.
The session was followed by an art activity exploring different bird species while learning interesting facts about each one. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed a delicious homemade ‘worms and dirt’-themed dessert, which was a hit!
To conclude the afternoon, we read an English-langugage, conservation-themed book entitled The Brown Bear Family Saves the Honeycomb Tree by author and illustrator Ambrosha Mack. The event was made even more special because one of our IWC members and her young daughter made a surprise appearance in the book itself! It was a wonderful day filled with learning, laughter, and meaningful conservation connections.
Then on April 18, the IWC Hiking Group completed a fantastic 10-km hike along a route teeming with bromeliads, numerous orchid species, and a meadow full of the iconic fly agaric mushrooms. The day concluded with a grounding exercise to connect with our beautiful Mother Earth.
AWO Greece - Submitted by Bessie Sioutas-Vasilopoulou, Region 8 Coordinator
To celebrate Earth Day this year, my married daughter and I decided to take on a larger recycling project by collecting plastic, glass, metal, and paper. Before long, my son, who lives nearby, caught the recycling bug and started collecting too!
Then, a neighbor noticed the large bags of recyclables piling up in front of our house and asked what we were doing. When we explained, she decided to join us by adding her own bags. Before we knew it, our recycling project had become a neighborhood effort.
Nothing brings people together quite like working toward a good cause. What started as a small family project quickly grew into something that brought our neighbors together and made a positive difference. We hope to expand this project even further next year, beyond our own street.
AW Berkshire Surrey IWC - Submitted by Rosie Deane, Co-Chair Environment Team
Beavers are back in London!
If you are heading to London, I would recommend an outing to Paradise Fields in the London Borough of Ealing. Arriving at Greenford Underground station, you walk through a retail park, past TK Maxx and McDonald's, take the underpass beneath a busy main road and then you find yourself in a little oasis of nature.
This is the Ealing Beaver Project, which has brought beavers back to the city after they were driven to extinction in the UK almost 400 years ago due to hunting for their meat, fur, and anal scent glands (used in perfume).
Members of the AWBS Green Team visited the site, along with some facilitators of the Biodiversity Collage, to learn about reintroducing the ‘eco-engineers’ into an urban landscape. This area of London is prone to flooding in the winter months, but in the past two years, since the family of beavers arrived and started building their dams, the flooding has stopped.
Although we didn’t actually see the beavers, who tend to appear after dusk, we did see plenty of evidence of their presence, including sticks they had cut and stripped of bark for food (I am holding one in the photo), as well as the dams and lodges they have built.
AWC Lebanon - Submitted by Carole Hage
On September 3, AWC Lebanon enjoyed a wonderful day of culture, history, and nature in North Lebanon.
The day began at the workshop of world-renowned sculptor Nayef Alwan, followed by a visit to the historic Convent of Saint Simon. The group then headed to Horsh Ehden Nature Reserve, a sanctuary of remarkable biodiversity and a jewel of Lebanon’s natural heritage.
In the presence of the wife of the US Ambassador to Lebanon, the Club planted a cedar tree in the name of AWC Lebanon—a living symbol of friendship, resilience, and the Club’s commitment to preserving Lebanon’s heritage for future generations.
The visit concluded with a hike through majestic cedar forests, surrounded by breathtaking scenery.
Photo 1 courtesy of Jill Amari
Photos 2 and 3 courtesy of Jeanne McKay
Photo 4 courtesy of Rosie Deane
