Boy Scouts of America–doing it greener

The Boy Scouts of America would seem on the face to be pretty environmentally friendly — all the forest hikes, camping, “take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints,” teepee making, canoeing, kayaking man-building both builds an appreciation for nature and leaves little environmental impact.  Enviro Girl has long held that the best way to raise an environmentalist is to foster their appreciation for nature.  Some of the most passionate protectors of wild spaces, for example, are hunters and fishermen who spend their recreational time in the woods.  They observe the balance necessary in nature and work hard to preserve clean water and huge swaths of forests and wetlands.  The Boy Scouts of America also do well by our boys in cultivating a love for nature — Webelo Scouts  earn forester, naturalist, geologist and outdoorsman merit badges, all designed to teach respect for the natural world.   The Boy Scouts are also required to ACT and DO things that affect the natural world positively — plant trees, clean up litter, recycle.

Last weekend was the Boy Scouts annual Scouting for Food — a food drive to support local food pantries.  In previous years, the Scouts ran from door to door across America dropping off plastic bags with the Scouting for Food directions printed on the side.  The following Saturday the Scouts collected those filled bags — found hanging on door knobs, resting on front porches, stashed beside mailboxes.  Enviro Girl and her oldest son didn’t participate in the annual bag distribution, but they did pick up food donations Saturday morning.  As they drove along rural highways, Enviro Girl noted that every house donating food had it set out in plastic shopping bags, not in the traditional BSA Scouting for Food bag.  Eventually they picked up a bag that contained a paper door hanger — it contained all the information previously printed on the BSA plastic bags from former years.  But this year this slip of paper read “Leave your food donations in a plastic bag or cardboard box…”

Enviro Girl’s heart was gladdened — the BSA had accomplished two great things in the scheme of this year’s Scouting for Food drive.  First, they saved the organization money by printing up paper slips instead of plastic bags and they didn’t add to the number of plastic bags already in circulation on our poor planet.  The number of bags is substantial — literally millions of households are invited to participate every year!  Second, they encouraged donors to recycle plastic bags and cardboard boxes — putting to use again the resources we all already have in our homes.

Enviro Girl gives kudos to the Boy Scouts of America for their Scouting for Food program — it’s a good thing done greener this past year.  She hopes they use the same system this spring when they Sack it to Goodwill.  This small shift in how they do business is one example of how going green saves money and saves the planet.