142. Supporting the Environment the Rotary Way

This week we'll hear about a personal climate journey and its relationship to Rotary environmental projects locally and internationally. Protecting the environment was added as Rotary's 7th Area of Focus in 2020.DeAnna Pursai is a proud dual Rotarian, member of the San Jose Rotary Club since 2015 and an honorary member of the Saratoga Rotary Club since 2022. She’s been a founding member of the Rotary Climate Action Committee of San Jose, and now serves as the District 5170 Climate Action Council Chair as well as the Vice Chair of the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group BigWest Chapter. She is a trained climate ambassador with Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, and she’s a member of Climate Citizens Lobby and Mothers Out Front. She's got a personal mission to talk about climate each day to anyone she can. In her professional career, DeAnna Pursai holds a Master's in Education Policy Analysis in the School of Education from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an undergraduate degree in Elementary and Special Education from Purdue University. DeAnna was named a CNN Hero in 2021 and has been named an Architect of Change on the Maria Shriver blog in 2015. She proudly serves on the board of Christmas in the Park. She is big sister to Angel Ellenberger, who happens to have Down syndrome and is an exquisite actress, entertainer and comedian. DeAnna gave a TEDx talk in Helsinki, Finland, on the theme of Amplifying Silent Voices in October, 2025.To learn more about ESRAG, go to:https://esrag.org/District 5170 Climate Action Committee:https://www.rotarydistrict5170.org/climate-action/Katherine Hayhoe's TED Talk:https://www.ted.com/talks/katharine_hayhoe_the_most_important_thing_you_can_do_to_fight_climate_change_talk_about_itHayhoe's book: Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided Worldhttps://www.amazon.com/Saving-Us-Climate-Scientists-Healing-ebook/dp/B08BZW2BQG/