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Last year, Sophia a Girl Scout reached her goal of selling official Girl Scout cookies in all 50 states. However this year she has reconsidered because of one of the ingredients - palm oil. “So, palm oil causes 2 percent of major deforestation and climate change,” Sophia said, reciting from memory what she found through online research and books. “Because of palm oil, 1,000 to 5,000 orangutans are killed every year. There are also ties to child labor, human trafficking, and slavery in the harvesting of palm fruit.” Learning all this spurred Sophia to action: “One of our main thi

@InquisitiveScouter I forgot my 😉 emoji on my first statement.

Actually, membership is granted by the National Council of the BSA. Membership is revoked by the National Council and that often occurs because a local Scout Executive recommends revocation. In general, the BSA errs on the side of safety to youth so are likely to revoke membership when recommended by a SE who likewise wishes to protect children. There is an appeals process. In the case that started this thread, I suspect that there is more to the story than is currently known. The person who lost their membership will have to decide whether or not to appeal - it is not for others t

Membership in BSA is at the discretion of the Scout Executive, after being approved by the CO and CC. Membership can be revoked for any reason...or no reason. You just get a letter from Council saying you are no longer a member. That being said, if I had been the SM using the phone in the bar, and got "fired", you would have heard about it on the local evening news.

We were in camp sometime last year, or maybe the year before. I was doing something in the "kitchen" of the GT and looked over and there were Scouts from the BT 30 feet up in a tree and passing up chairs to sit in. Leaders werent watching them and I just knew someone was gonna die that day.

I think that is the right answer. We are all so personally invested in scouting that we forget we are only volunteers. If the situation sours, move on. We only get one life. Enjoy it.

Our unit is attached to food pantry who collects our Scouting for Food donations. Short answer: They always need food. It doesn't matter when. Long answer: They conduct their own drive in November-December to stock up for the holidays/winter. Our council runs Scouting for Food in March, so it helps them restock. They are happy if we do it whenever!

Well, that may be how it should work, but I don't think that's how it does work. Food for thought: who would want to stay where they are not wanted; you can't really fire a volunteer; what harm can be done by frivolous complaints; whose version of the story do you believe and why; anyone can tell someone that can't play anymore, but by what authority; if the allegation is slanderous but false, whose responsible; how many times has a CC, SM, CM or District Committee member "fired" someone without proper authority? Unless it's a criminal offense I would tread very carefully. Personally,

The majority of our Cub Scouts skip the first night and campout on the 2nd night. If they get hurt on the Pack's 2nd night, does it go into the 2nd night column or 1st, since it's their official first night?

Mind if I private message you for some tips? My husband has been asked to become an Orienteering MB counselor and is totally new to any MBC role or even observing how such a thing works. And I've got writing a cub-level (or just "beginner" for any age) orienteering lesson to offer our camp on my list of things to do as soon as I finish my Woodbadge ticket. Why did all the ideas of things I really want to fix come to me AFTER I filled out that ticket paperwork?

This reminds me of a hike we (family) went on in Hawaii. We had a printed guidebook that told us where it was and to ignore the no trespassing signs and just climb over the fence. Sounded sketchy, but you could see that the grass was well-traveled, so we did it. Followed the path around the bend and as soon as we were out of sight of the road, there was a clear sign saying "waterfall 3 miles" and showing us the way to go. After going to the waterfall and back, I understood why they'd try to avoid liability for hikers, though. Had to cross a stream that was a trickle on the way there and w

I think the map only piece is an excellent GUIDELINE. Our local camp has a permanent orienteering course and they have camp rangers available to teach kids how to use map and compass to find the controls. Cubs are welcome, but it's the same explanation whether you're in 1st grade or 10th. Explaining how a topo map works and maybe using a compass to orient the map if there aren't clear enough landmarks to go by, then trying to follow the map alone would have been far more age-appropriate. That said, as a member of the local orienteering club, I would argue that it's also how you should start

Bears using hand saws. And someone explain why Lions and Tigers are shown as "map only" when it comes to map and compass. Is there some conspiracy I haven't heard of that makes using a compass dangerous? Also, poor relativistic risk assessment, such as Lions and Tigers allowed to do bouldering, but not other activities with similar or higher risk factors.

Everybody knows what BOAT really stands for: Break Out Another Thousand😂. And any boat owner knows that a boat is just a hole in the water into which money is thrown 🤣. God bless and Scout On my friends!!!

If the program isn't any fun, then nobody wants to participate. Nobody wants to do something that is a drag, tedious, unpleasant or nasty. In other words, it isn't any fun. The best way to keep something from being too much fun is to stop the activity before it comes to a natural end. Again this requires active and engaged adults.

Well, I'm still not clear if I need permission to deviate from GTSS, because I still don't know if it is a "guide" or absolute, never to be broken, rules. Given that I have to break some of GTSS just to have scouts actually complete their advancement requirements, I'm stuck in Scout-rules purgatory.

This sounds a whole lot like permission from @RichardB to ignore the entire g2ss, because harm only comes from your beliefs and not your actions.

I was thinking about this a little more, and I think if I could send @RichardB one (long) message from this it would be: This forum, while hardly a complete cross-section of Scouting, seems to have a pretty good selection from different councils and different programs. It skews to more experienced Scouters, I'd say. The group is not homogeneous in thought by any stretch. Though some of the members are clearly wrong on many things (😁), not one poster here has ever come across to me as anything other than well-reasoned and well-meaning. If the members of this group didn't understand BS

I would agree. We are all volunteers and Scouts should be welcoming. That being said, this is the concern - Challenged youth has meltdown due to meds issue and harms an adult counselor. The SE is concerned about liability, if the Scout has harmed an adult counselor, in a camp or program setting, what safeguards are in place. As noted, even if admitted into a Lone Scout program they Scout could register for a provisional troop at summer camp, or for a merit badge event. Not sure there is a good solution here and in many cases, the SE may not be the bad person. In this case there may n

I have been with the same Cub Pack for 6 years. It was always a 2-night camping trip, Friday and Saturday (with options of spending one night or the other; or coming only for the day program). 2-night prohibition seems arbitrary.

That somehow seems like an inappropriate quote given Scouting's past problems...

It is gaslighting to change things and then pretend that they were always that way. It is Orwellian to whitewash history and pretend that what is falsely claimed to have been is what really was. I don't believe that I just had to explain that to you, by the way. Pretending that isn't what is happening right here in real-time is insulting.

Here is the deal @RichardB. A rule that supposedly has been a round for a few years, yet NO ONE , including councils, knew anything about except for you is being placed up on us for no reason whatsoever. In fact we pointed out instances in BSA's own literature that showed the rule is brand new. And the were taken down. We, the unit serving volunteers want to know why it is acceptable for a pack to camp two nights at a council event, but not on their own at a council approved location? We want an explanation as to why something that has been allowed for over 20 years is no longer allowed.

The rule is now clearly stated: packs may not organize campouts longer than one night. The idea that this rule has always been clearly stated is laughable. Other unclear aspects surrounding this rule have been pointed out above. Is "den coordinated camping" for Webelos subject to this rule, or does it only apply to camping organized as an entire pack? Exactly how much involvement does the council need to have in planning an event for it to be subject to a longer time limit? Is the Circle Ten Council's approach of saying "hey we cleared this weekend in the camp calendar for packs to do two

The only rationale for this arbitrary rule is that the folks making it are under the impression that 'Cubs don't need to camp." Yep heard this from a member of the council camping committee a while back. I know one pack will now start having two overnight experiences when they do pack camping. One overnight experience will be from 5PM Friday to 12:00 Saturday, and a second overnight experience from 12PM Saturday to 11AM Sunday. Families can choose which overnight experience they want to attend, or if they want to do two over night experiences in a month. .

Let's see, Health Care Professions: $65,000/year for med school Space Exploration: SpaceX launch costs are $65,000,000

Well, if you follow that pattern...Motorboating.

It's been a few years, but I can advise in my Council when an adult’s membership was revoked… in addition to a prorated membership fee refund, the Scouter received information on appealing to the Region. The decision was usually made at a Council level rather then National and preferably after consultation with the Chartered Organization Institutional Head. It is not a District (ie DE, et al) function. Anecdotally... after appeal; membership was rarely, if ever, reinstated. I assume it's likely there is more to the story then only “accidentally violated" the rule.

OP, I'm sorry to hear of your predicament. Short of a youth participant actually getting hurt, that's my nightmare as a leader / parent - to be accused of misconduct with little recourse to defend myself. I'd ask for additional context, but I don't think it matters much. You might start by petitioning your DE or District Chair, but they may be unwilling or unable to discuss the matter due to its sensitive nature. Unfortunately, zero tolerance occasionally translates to zero common sense; however, please don't completely dismiss the issue as accidental. It seems like an odd thing for a parent t

Not claiming more knowledge. Claiming more experiences with differences and how differences are treated. People with experience being different tend to have more consideration for those who are different from them. It's just the way the world works, and it's because experience informs your how you think about things which informs your behavior. That's not to say people who aren't in minorities don't, but it's certainly less likely. I see evidence of it all the time. We could also talk about some of the negativity that came with girls being allowed in Scouts BSA, and we still see 4 year

Now there's a stupid thing BSA does.

We use the same Scout Oath and Law that allowed BSA to permit racial segregation until 1974, meaning for over half of its existence, so I would be careful how you use the word "guarantee." It is also worth noting that inclusion involves more than just allowing membership.

That woke Boy Scouts of America with their "help other people at all times" and friendly and kind schtick. 😕

Maybe cover half the adult fee rather than the full thing? It is an acknowledgement that their help is appreciated, but the economic reality is also changing.

I dont disagree that experiences are important to the goals of the scouting movement, but we are complaining about only 5/6 of the required merit badges 21 being book learning based. This thread continues to feel like people are complaining about times for changing when that continues to happen for any organization. Any one with kids understand we need to have scouts ready to learn/ survive in a more diverse environment with people from different backgrounds and opinions then there own. This isn't just race, it is even just economic or religious background. That is all the evil citizens

This one is actually very different from the other Citizenships even though it has Citizenship in the name. It's interpersonal. The others are pretty much history and civics, just at local, country and world levels. Completely different subject matters. The Cit in Society session I sat in consisted of a Jewish female, a Chinese female and three white Christian boys. Anyone care to guess who in that group had the more advanced understanding of the topics going in and whose eyes were opened up more to things they'd never thought about or had to think about because of the discussions? This

We did CIS as a troop and I believe it was really good for the scouts and adults. One of the things I brought up was that people come from different economic backgrounds and that we help with scholarships for those families that need it. One scout stated that no one in our troop needed that. He is wrong. I also shared with them the story of my 91 year old father who came to the US (Arkansas) from China. When he was a child, he was not allowed to attend school in his town because of the Jim Crow Laws, i.e. my father was labeled "colored" and therefore wasn't allowed to attend scho