Lion Magazine

Category: Environment

by Joan Cary
March 1, 2019

Planting the Seed

LIONS INVEST IN THE FUTURE THROUGH EARLY EXPOSURE TO NATURE You don’t have to plant a forest to save the environment. Simply planting the seed for a love of nature in the younger generation may ensure they will grow to love and protect the natural world. NATURE IN EVERY NOOK Sarah Panganiban, the mother of […]

March 1, 2019

What is a Tree Worth?

You love it for the shade it gives, the way the fall color matches your front door, the limb that perfectly supports your baby’s swing. but what is it really worth? Location: Suburban Chicago, Illinois Species: Swamp White Oak Tree condition: Good (Healthy) Trunk Diameter: 25 inches Sun exposure: Full sun Value: US$215 per year […]

March 1, 2019

Among the Giants

Taller than Cinderella’s castle, wider than a city street, the Sequoias of California are among the largest trees in the world and more than 3,000 years old. Every year about 200,000 people stroll in their shadows at the Calaveras Big Trees State Park in California, and roughly 8,000 children visit with school groups to learn […]

March 1, 2019

We Speak for the Trees

With more than 1.4 million members, Lions have a powerful voice. And around the world, Lions are using that voice to raise awareness about climate change and mobilize. In 2011, then International President Wing-Kun Tam challenged Lions to plant 1 million trees. They responded by planting 15 million in every inhabited continent and have continued […]

March 1, 2019

See You Later Seaweed

See You Later Seaweed On Saturday, November 17, 2018, more than 100 Hawaiian Leos, Lions, and friends partnered with the Malama Maunalua non-profit to pull nearly 6,000 pounds of invasive alien algae from Maunalua Bay in east Oahu. The seaweed, called gorilla orgo, out-competes native algae and coral leading to shifts in the ecosystem and […]

March 1, 2019

Free Fruit

The Ngongotaha Lions Club in New Zealand has given a barren roadside a whole new purpose. In 2016 the club donated more than 400 fruit and native trees to the Rotorua Ngongotaha Rail Park. Lion Ross Thompson, organizer of the event, said funding from the city council enabled them to add fruit trees to the […]

March 1, 2019

Showing up Big for Rhinos

The Mafikeng Lions care about rhinos. And they want the world to care, too. While they celebrate World Rhino Day every year, this year they tried something special. They partnered with the International School of South Africa and recruited 780 staff, students, and Lions and Leos of the Mafikeng club to come together on the […]

by Joan Cary
June 1, 2019

Bigger Than Me

Partnerships often mean the difference between a fleeting project and a lasting legacy. Don’t Let this Die People come and go. They change their priorities or get pulled away for one reason or another. They get sick. They get old. At some point, they pass away. It is a hard truth of life. Individuals are […]

by Aneeta Brown
June 1, 2019

Centerpiece

Community Builds Life Around Lion-Built Lake Lions in their natural habitat sleep a lot. And they don’t like water. However, members of the Washington Lions Club in Missouri seldom nap. And they like water so much that they built an 11-acre lake and gave it to the city. The club is celebrating its 80th anniversary […]

by Jamie Konigsfeld
June 1, 2019

Lions Quest Students Partner With Leos To Protect The Environment

Ganesha is the Elephant God, the remover of obstacles, the patron saint of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As no Hindu event starts without first invoking Ganesha, Lions Quest students and Leos find great importance in finding a way to honor Ganesha, and in an environmentally friendly way. Every year […]

June 1, 2019

Prickly Partner

Prickly Partner Fifth grade students enjoy a full day of outdoor learning and exploration in the Sonoran Desert at Camp Cooper in Tucson, Arizona. Thanks to the generosity of Camp Cooper and the South Tucson Cyber & Lions Club, school children get hands-on learning about how to live more lightly on the earth.

September 1, 2019

Back to the Roots

Eight years after a catastrophic Category 5 tornado levelled Irving Elementary in Joplin, Missouri, the school is rebuilt and looking better than ever, thanks to Lions, Leos, and LCIF working together. The Missouri Lions of District M6 and the Carl Junction Leos Club joined forces and went “Back to the Roots” for Earth Day, working […]

by Joan Cary
September 1, 2019

Growing Up Green

  Fourth graders become foresters In the butterfly garden at Wescott Elementary School near Chicago, fourth graders cheered as they planted a 3-foot-tall tree for Arbor Day, gladly crawling on their knees to press dirt around the roots and make it secure. The Norway spruce wasn’t just any tree. Just like the saplings that the […]

by Erin Kasdin
September 22, 2019

Mending the Social Fabric

Across the country people of low socioeconomic status live shorter, sicker lives. But it isn’t that poor people have worse habits than healthy people. It’s that we’ve created environments that are so stressful it alters their genetic code.

by Joan Cary
October 1, 2019

Growing in the Dark

Lion Floyd Poruban proves life flourishes in all kinds of conditions “WELL , HOW DID YOU DO IT ?” “It’s easy,” Floyd Poruban said to his doubting professor. “One has a sticky flower and one has a dry flower.” A horticulture student at The Ohio State University (OSU), Poruban had been assigned to distinguish between […]

by Jacob Granneman
December 1, 2019

Cleanup Crew

The Camas Lions Club in Washougal, Washington, is building community partnerships with the goal of taking on unfulfilled needs in Camas and Washougal. They’re starting by serving those who serve at the beloved Inter-Faith Treasure House. On Saturday, August 17, Lions came together to address several yard work issues at the house, and worked with […]

by Jamie Konigsfeld
January 1, 2020

A Blueberry Orchard for Generations

An Empty Space Next door to the Albany Victory Gardens in Albany, New York, were unsightly, deserted lots. There were homes on the land that were previously declared uninhabitable, so they sat empty, dangerous, and unbeneficial to the environment. Lion Gregory Sheldon envisioned a better use for this land. He partnered with Albany Victory Gardens, […]

by Joan Cary
April 1, 2020

The Bird Artist

In early spring, sometimes as early as the first cold mornings of March, Jeff Klinefelter will rouse before daybreak and drive out to his pond to get in place before the migrating ducks or other birds light on the water or the woodland edge.

April 1, 2020

Potawatomie Wildlife Park

VISITORS FIND PEACE IN THIS REFUGE FOR ENDANGERED PLANTS AND ANIMALS At the Potawatomie Wildlife Park, a small not-for-profit natural sanctuary for plants and animals in northern Indiana, the bells and whistles of a larger park are gladly traded for the peace and serenity of nature. From the woodlands, wetlands, ponds, and prairie, visitors might […]

April 1, 2020

Taking Care of the Earth

As the world honors the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the environmentally conscious Lions of Bowie, Maryland, have their own big numbers to celebrate. The Lions will hit the 500 mark on rain barrel sales this spring, having sold the recycled plastic 55-gallon barrels since starting the project in 2010. And on April 18, they […]

April 1, 2020

After Flooding, the Revival of an Ecosystem

In the aftermath, the city of Fargo purchased the land (and homes) in the floodplain. The homes were razed and the area was banned from development. Jane Pettinger, a Lion who lives in Fargo, not far from the River, says the area was in limbo. The homes had been torn down, but the landscaping and […]

April 1, 2020

50th Anniversary of Earth Day

April 22, 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Established in 1970, the first Earth Day mobilized 20 million Americans and is credited with launching the modern environmental movement. It is now recognized as the planet’s largest civic event and has led to many landmark environmental laws. In 2016, the United Nations chose Earth […]

by Adele Uphaus from the Free Lance-Star
October 29, 2020

Prescription Pill Bottles Get New Life

Americans are used to receiving their prescription medications in hard plastic orange bottles with child-safety caps that keep pills stable. This isn’t the case for many living in low- or middle-income countries around the world, where medications can be dispensed in folded paper scraps, leaving them vulnerable to weather or accidental ingestion. A Cincinnati-based nonprofit, […]

by Joan Cary
April 22, 2021

Sprucing Up Their Part of the Planet

Before the Wisconsin Lions took to the roads, a drive through the green countryside could be interrupted by the sight of spring wildflowers blooming among somebody’s garbage. More than cups and cans tossed carelessly from car windows, were discarded refrigerators and other junk. Out of sight, out of mind? Not for the Independence Lions. For […]

by Erin Kasdin
June 14, 2021

Managing Mangroves

The Paramaribo Central Lions Club is one of the 2021 Kindness Matters Service Award winners. Read more stories and check out a list of all the winners here. Perched atop the Northern coast of South America, Suriname is the smallest country on the continent, yet the Lions there have taken on a big role in […]

by Joan Cary
August 16, 2021

Everybody’s Gone Surfing

Lions in California have been hosting an annual Surfing Clinic for the Blind and Visually Impaired for more than 25 years. And it’s a big hit.

by Joan Cary
October 6, 2021

Hi Neighbour

The birds in North Vancouver’s Hamersley Park couldn’t stop tweeting about their new homes. But the 38 hand-painted houses hung by Lynn Valley Lions Eric Miura and Mike Mavius weren’t just for the birds. The Birdhouse Project was part of United Way British Columbia’s “Hi Neighbour” program to encourage community connections, creativity, and smiles during […]

by Joan Cary
November 19, 2021

Recycling Christmas Cheer

Lion Linda Eckard was working as a controller at a local metal recycling center in 2010 when she had a light-bulb moment. Her club in Hanover, Minn. could recycle all those Christmas lights that were being tossed in the trash. It would be like giving two presents in one. The Lions would be helping to […]

by Erin Kasdin
January 31, 2022

Tied to the Land

The Curonian Spit, an elongated sand dune peninsula separating the Baltic Sea from the Curonian Lagoon in Lithuania was formed more than 5,000 years ago. Situated in the Curonian Spit National Park in Lithuania and the Kurshskaya National Park of the Russian Federation, the sandy and wooded landscape is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, […]

by Lillygol Sedaghat
January 31, 2022

Treasure Island

Thick rain splattered against the Taoyuan shore as the ocean swelled and swirled. Lions in China Taiwan’s District 300 G2 were worried: Who would show up for their 2021 annual beach clean-up in this stormy weather? “It was nowhere near calm or steady,” says Wu Jianyi, one of the lead coordinators of the event. “We […]

by Joel La Puma
September 14, 2022

Doing the Dirty Work

When Lions Dale and Sylvia McClease began working with a local program to refurbish computers, they didn’t expect that e- waste recycling would become one of their club’s most important programs. Now their Maple, ON club’s collection events, held on rotating weekends in the summer, can fill a 20-yard shipping container with electronics in just […]

by Elizabeth Edwards
January 1, 2023

The Power of Sustainability

Enel North America embarked on a new environmental partnership with Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) to help make communities healthy and sustainable and protect our planet. As a leading developer and long-term owner and operator of renewable energy projects in North America, Enel and its more than 1,500 employees are dedicated to helping protect and […]

by Joan Cary
February 7, 2023

Gold Rush

More than 100 years ago, Mother Earth supplied so much iron ore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that Ishpeming, Michigan was a boom town. The population was over 13,000, mines employed many, and the economy was robust. They even had an opera house. But over the years, the industry changed, employment and population figures dropped, and […]