I Fix the Planet Winners
Thursday, December 15, 2022
By Ariel Miller
The results are in! Five videos have won top honors in ESRAG’s second international “I Fix the Planet” Contest. They illustrate an array of powerful actions Rotarians are taking across six continents to overcome human-caused pollution, restore ecosystems, and advocate for accountability.
Here are the winning videos of 2022:
- First Prize goes to the Stockholm Djurgården Rotary Club in Sweden, ESRAG’s Solar Safe Water Team, and WASH-RAG for “Josephine Using Solvatten.” This luminous film shows how a mother in Kenya can now keep her children healthy, pay their school fees, and buy them nourishing food because of money she saves by using her Solvatten solar-powered water purifier kit. Over 360,000 people are using Solvatten kits across Africa, South and Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and South America.
- Second Prize goes to the Rotary Eco Club of Kaka’ako for “Genki Balls Clean the Ala Wai,” a canal on O’wahu, Hawaii. The film documents a delightful community event making mud balls with beneficial microorganisms. The project's goal is to make this highly polluted canal swimmable and fishable within seven years.
Two videos tied to win Third Prize:
- “Ecocide,” submitted by the multinational ESRAG Ecocide Team. Ecocide is the mass destruction of the natural living world by humans. With haunting images and music, the film urges Rotarians to sign the international petition to make ecocide a crime. It grounds this advocacy in Rotary ethics of the Four-Way-Test. You can read more at the website of Stop Ecocide International, a growing network of diplomats, lawyers, and all sectors of civil society.
- “ What I Would Like For You” from the Rotary Club Eco-Milano in Italy. In this poignant film, a mother speaks to her soon-to-be born child of “what I hope for you and what I will teach you” to fulfill our shared responsibility to care “for the world, which is our home.”
The People’s Choice Award went to the Rotary Club Jaipur Gurukul, India for “Tree Plantation Drive for the Dravyawati River in Jaipur.” “Let’s plant a tree and plant hope for the future,” they urge viewers.
Photo: Jenny Do, President 2022-23, Eco Rotary Club of Kaka'ako, from the video that won second prize.
The I Fix the Planet core team selected 10 finalists from the 54 entries, and ESRAG judges chose the winners by scoring films on several characteristics. The primary criteria were:
- Replicable: ideas that other clubs or individuals can adapt and implement
- Impact: the magnitude of the project’s potential for positive environmental change
- Informative: contributing new ideas
- Inspiring: something you’d be proud to show members of the Rotary family, and
- Scalable: potential to become a Rotary Global Grant project
The secondary criteria were “Entertaining” and “Innovative.”
The jury included seven ESRAG Regional Chapter c-chairs: Frank Anton (Europe) Yavuz Atila (Western North America), Chris Davies (Great Britain and Ireland), Karen McDaniels (Central North America), Malcolm Rooney (Great Britain and Ireland), Arun Vaddi (South Asia), and Ted Waghorne (Oceania).
Heartfelt congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who shared their environmental projects to enlighten and encourage audiences worldwide. Hats off and thanks to the I Fix the Planet team - Ludwig Kalthoff, Rob Anderson, Leonie Böker, Klas Holmlund, and Ulrich Schenck - for the enormous amount of work you put into organizing the contest.
