The Girl Scouts have had it right for almost 100 years. The Girl Scouts already knew about “Brown before Green” – you could say they are Brownies before Green. This article from the USA Today website by Wendy Koch reports on how the Girl Scouts are stepping up their green efforts that they have always promoted as they are close to celebrating their 100th anniversary.
Erin Bodmer’s home now has a rain barrel, thanks to a workshop her Girl Scout troop attended on how to build one.
“We water the plants with the rainwater,” says Bodmer, 8, a bright-eyed third grader from Owings, Md. She’ll soon be making birdhouses from old coffee cans for her school’s new nature trail, built by a senior girl scout.
Welcome to today’s Girl Scouts of the USA. While the organization has always strived to create stewards of nature, it’s stepping up its green efforts as it prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary in March 2012.
“We’re taking it to a new level,” says Harriet Hessam, the group’s centennial project director.
Last year, it published new handbooks, “It’s Your Planet — Love It!” that teach girls about the environment, including the negative impact of eating meat and drinking bottled water. It launched the “Girl Scouts Forever Green” project to challenge scouts to save energy and water.
The project, which began in 10 councils and will be expanded nationwide, lets members track their specific accomplishments online. Last year, participants said they collectively saved 42,000 gallons of water. The girls also are composting trash at school and learning to do energy audits.
One Comment
My GS troop goes green
http://www.youtube.com/user/BlackDiamondGS