W. Garth Dowling\/BSA file photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nZero-waste campouts<\/h2>\n With its overnight lodging sans air conditioning or heating, camping is one of the greenest ways to spend the night. But Scout leaders know from experience that car camping can still generate a lot of garbage.<\/p>\n
Green<\/strong><\/p>\n\nAsk all Scouts to use refillable water bottles instead of disposable ones.<\/li>\n Ban paper plates, throwaway cups and disposable utensils. Ask Scouts to bring their own mess kits instead.<\/li>\n Outlaw paper towels. Encourage Scouts to bring their own set of reusable napkins. Scouts could make these from old T-shirts and bring three or four to use over the course of a weekend.<\/li>\n Instead of replacing broken troop gear, try repairing it first.<\/li>\n Recycle. If the campground or park where you\u2019re staying doesn\u2019t offer recycling, ask your PLC to consider selecting a \u201crecycling patrol\u201d to be in charge of collecting and depositing recyclables.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nGreener<\/strong><\/p>\n\nAs Scouts plan meals, encourage them to buy only what they\u2019re sure they will eat. Save unexpired leftovers (like that half-used bottle of ketchup or maple syrup) for future trips, and divide up any food that won\u2019t last so it doesn\u2019t get thrown away.<\/li>\n Encourage your Scouts to switch to rechargeable batteries for flashlights, headlamps and other battery-operated camping gear. You could even start a troop battery exchange program where Scouts can swap out their empties during the campout.<\/li>\n Replace single-use zip-top baggies with reusable, resealable silicone bags.<\/li>\n Buy used camping gear whenever practical.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nGreenest<\/strong><\/p>\n\nAsk your Scouts to rethink their grocery shopping strategy. Stop using produce bags, buy bulk items when possible and bring their reusable bags to the checkout.<\/li>\n Compost food scraps like fruits, veggies, eggshells, rice and grains. If there\u2019s no onsite composting option, pack it out and compost at home. (You shouldn\u2019t compost bones, meat, fish, dairy or oils.) If you\u2019re composting, be aware of animals like bears that might be attracted to this very smelly smellable.<\/li>\n To eliminate the plastic bags that typically come with packaged ice (like you might buy at a gas station), make your own ice bags at home. This will likely take a few days of prep to build up enough ice to fill a cooler.<\/li>\n Buy reusable squeeze bottles for toiletries (toothpaste, soap) and condiments (ketchup, hot sauce) so you can buy these products in bulk and take along what you need.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nW. Garth Dowling\/BSA file photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nZero-waste treks<\/h2>\n Leaving the trailhead behind for several nights? Adopting a few zero-waste strategies will lessen your load on the environment \u2014\u00a0and maybe even your shoulders.<\/p>\n
Green<\/strong><\/p>\n\nPack it in, pack it out. By merely following the backpacking mantra of carrying all trash, including food scraps, with you throughout your journey, you\u2019ll end up wasting less. If there\u2019s a choice between eating that last helping of jambalaya or scraping it into a bag that\u2019ll end up in your backpack \u2026 the choice is clear.<\/li>\n Make your own trail mix by buying the ingredients in bulk instead of purchasing a prepackaged mix. (Bonus: You\u2019ll get to add exactly what you want to the mix! Dark chocolate M&M\u2019s, anyone?)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nGreener<\/strong><\/p>\n\nBuy used backpacking gear whenever possible. For items you\u2019ll only need once or twice a year, considering renting or borrowing from a friend.<\/li>\n Buy reusable squeeze bottles for toiletries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nGreenest<\/strong><\/p>\n\nMake your own backpacking meals. Dehydrated meals meet two big requirements of backpacking: they\u2019re lightweight and easy to make. But they come in plastic packaging. For a true challenge, try making your own backpacking meal. Google \u201cDIY backpacking meals\u201d for a few recipes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nW. Garth Dowling\/BSA file photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBeyond zero waste<\/h2>\n Being an environmentally conscious troop is about more than keeping trash out of the landfill.<\/p>\n
You could work with your chartered organization to make your meeting space more energy efficient, choose closer campout locations to reduce your carbon footprint and work with local organizations to find planet-friendly service projects.<\/p>\n
All of these changes will work best when initiated by your Scouts. Youth-led efforts to protect our planet are bound to be better received by your Scouts and more likely to stick.<\/p>\n
Share your ideas<\/h2>\n What does your troop (or Cub Scout pack, Venturing crew or Sea Scout ship) do to help protect the planet?<\/p>\n
Share your ideas in the comments section below.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scouts are the ultimate planet protectors. We use public lands responsibly. We pick up litter left behind by strangers. We volunteer our time for service projects that improve trails, control erosion and protect animals. These efforts are laudable, but we should ask ourselves whether we can do more. Just like the Scouting advancement trail includes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totscouting.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totscouting.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totscouting.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totscouting.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totscouting.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/totscouting.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totscouting.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totscouting.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totscouting.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}