AND FINALLY

I shared an interesting email exchange recently with what might be described as an enthusiastic, but slightly mis-guided group of environmental Rotarians, who want to get rid of the print magazine.

They wrote: “Environment is part of our mission and considering the tonnes of trees used, and vast volumes of fuel needed to produce and distribute the paper version to members' homes, maybe it’s time…”

Apologies for re-hashing an old article, but since this is the first edition of Rotary Digital let’s re-affirm the credentials of print and digital.

Print is very much part of the communications plan for Rotary Great Britain & Ireland. We have reluctantly moved to a quarterly cycle for the magazine not because of fears of its environmental impact, but because of pure and simple cost – the cost of distribution which is an eye-watering six figure sum each year and unsustainable.

Were it not for the cost of door-to-door distribution to all Rotarians in Great Britain & Ireland, Rotary Magazine would have remained at bi-monthly, and if I had my way, it would be monthly. But save raising subscriptions to meet the extra costs, it’s a no-goer.

So instead, we have launched this first monthly Rotary Digital which runs alongside the quarterly print edition, and Rotary Audio, where you can download a recorded version of the print issue.

This is all about raising Rotary’s profile, telling Rotary’s story and reaching an even wider audience.

When I told these earnest environmentalists that digital has a greater carbon footprint than print, they were oblivious, which is a worry. While the print industry accounts for 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the internet is responsible for one billion tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, or around 2% of emissions.

They were planning to encourage Rotarians in their District to give up the print magazine in favour of a digital version, which is also available in PDF form. How ridiculous!

I am thrilled to be editing this first issue of Rotary Digital and excited it’s part of a modern approach to story-telling; print, digital and audio. It means we have more opportunities to tell some of the amazing stories of Rotary around the world.

We all consume news and information in different ways and it is important to be able to present that choice to our members. I hope you enjoy.