Visiting International President of Inner Wheel Trish Douglas has said pollution of environment, especially plastic contamination, should seriously be handled worldwide to deal with dangerous effects of climate change wreaking havoc everywhere—from Bangladesh to the United Kingdom to China.
In an interview with the United News of Bangladesh (UNB) news agency on Thursday, she discusses an array of issues including climate change, violence against women, human rights and helping street children so that they get a better future.
Douglas is visiting Bangladesh to join a three-day programme in Dhaka to mark the centennial celebration of the international voluntary organisation—Inner Wheel Club. The Inner Wheel District 328 launched the three-day event held at Hotel Radisson Blu in presence of Trish and Constitution Chairman Sissel H Michelsen.
District Chairman Shahina Rafiq led the charge alongside a dedicated team, including 100 Years Celebration Convenor Nazneen Mahbub, and Co-convenors Nahid Nawaz and Nayar Islam.
On Friday, the celebration moved to Ashulia, Savar where Trish Douglas along with Inner Wheel members planted trees, distributed 100 wheel chairs, 100 nebulizers and 200 blankets for the homeless.
During the trip she also witnessed an exhibition of paintings done by underprevileged chindren.
Participants from various Inner Wheel clubs, District-328 EC members, and dignitaries joined the events in Dhaka and Savar making it a memorable experience.
The IIW president, joining the event in Dhaka, talked about top four top carbon polluters of the world—China, the United States, India and the European Union—and says that a country like Bangladesh has to bear the burden despite not being responsible for it.
“If you look at the United Kingdom, everything is being polluted by plastic. If I go back to my childhood, we did not have plastics. Our seas are choking…dolphins are dying, fish is getting polluted, everything is getting polluted. Because this is not biodegradable. This is going to be there forever, for thousands of years. If we don’t stop now, we will really have lot of problems,” she says.
She said old practices were good for the planet.
“Let’s get back to glass bottles. Because glass bottles we can reuse, but plastic, we cannot,” she said.
She said she is urging every Inner Wheel Club in Bangladesh, India and elsewhere across the world to start a campaign against the dangerous impacts of climate change and its causes.
She said she wants the Inner Wheel Clubs to “look after the beaches, check rubbish around.”
“Let the butterflies survive, let the flowers bloom.”
Because of climate change, “tragedies are happening in China, and in 135 years, they have never seen rain like this. The world is drowning, because monsoon is longer, it’s now more intense. The United Kingdom is having horrendous storms, we have never seen before, we are not having great summers. Turkey is having terrible heatwave, that’s unbelievable! That is so intense! It’s burning. We are killing ourselves. We are killing the planet.”
Trish Douglas, a successful hotelier for 30 years in the UK, took over for 2023-24 and launched a campaign under the theme “Shine a light!”
She praised Bangladesh and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her leadership as attention was brought to the country’s garment industry where most of 4 million workers are women and from rural Bangladesh, and sheltering more than 1 million Rohingya refugees displaced from Myanmar.
“This is a good story,” she said. She explained that she was moved after seeing humanitarian projects being implemented by the Inner Wheel Clubs in Bangladesh.
“The Inner Wheel Clubs in Bangladesh are trying to help people. They are taking poor children from streets and giving them opportunity to study. That’s a good story,” she said.
She also highlighted the issue of women’s health and their safety and security in the society.
“About violence against women, my stand is very strong. No way it should be allowed to continue. It must stop,” she asserted.
Douglas also said that she is pushing an agenda to form a foundation that will work as the permanent charity wing of the Inner Wheel Club movement across the world to fund humanitarian projects.
The Inner Wheel is an international women's voluntary service organisation founded in 1924 by Margarette Golding, the wife of a Manchester Rotarian, England.
It began as an informal ladies' group associated with Rotary International. Over time, it evolved into a separate organisation with its own structure and objectives.
Inner Wheel clubs worldwide focus on friendship, personal service, and fostering international understanding.
The organisation engages in various charitable and community service projects, contributing to social development and humanitarian causes.
In Bangladesh, first Inner Wheel District is 328 formed in 1985. There are 60 dynamic clubs in District 328.