Sustainability MB folks to draw schools to scout camps

[RememberSchiff]

 

Scott Harmon,  Sustainability Task Force Leader, - BSA

In 2009, I pulled together a team to work on incorporating sustainability into scouting so that boys and girls across the United States could change the worldview of their families, too. After three years of planning, the Boy Scouts of America asked us to develop the Eagle Scout-required sustainability merit badge, which now has been earned by more than 25,000 scouts.

Two years ago, this idea expanded beyond scouting to provide sustainability training to boys and girls, scouts and non-scouts, at local summer camps. More than 1,000 Boy Scout camps are in the United States alone, most of which are unused during the school year. Most can accommodate at least 300 campers a week. Assuming a 36-week school year, that’s 10 million camper-weeks of unused potential capacity per year.

What if we could use that capacity during the school year for teaching middle-school and high-school students about sustainability while experiencing the great outdoors? That became our vision: to gather sustainability experts and interested teens at hundreds of scout summer camps to create a Sustainable Future Outdoor Academy focused on teaching young people about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in a hands-on format.

From Aug. 13 to 17, we will be piloting the SFOA program at Cutter Scout Reservation, a 300-acre summer camp owned by BSA’s Pacific Skyline Council in Northern California. We are reaching out to schools groups, religious groups and scout groups to get a mix of youth entering the seventh, eighth and ninth grades this coming school year. They will be sleeping in safari tents equipped with double-decker cots and LED lanterns and will have the opportunity to try canoeing, boating and archery in their free time in addition to learning about sustainability. They will team with college-age counselors to give them support.

...

Price: This Camp has been developed and subsidized by generous sponsors, so the standard Camp price of $500 is being offered this time only for $250 . Campers provide chaperones. Need-based scholarships are also available. Camp limited to 48

More, including planet-related SDG's curriculum, at source links: 

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-sustainability-summer-camp-could-affect-millions-youth

http://www.pacsky.org/Activities/General/SFOA

http://web-extract.constantcontact.com/v1/social_annotation?permalink_uri=2KydEq3&image_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmlsvc01-prod.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3a4d25d0101%2F723aad18-8931-4e72-afa2-b701f11b6071.jpg%3Fver%3D1529955254000

Edited July 13, 2018 by RememberSchiff
added another link

[shortridge]

20 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

More than 1,000 Boy Scout camps are in the United States alone, most of which are unused during the school year. Most can accommodate at least 300 campers a week. Assuming a 36-week school year, that’s 10 million camper-weeks of unused potential capacity per year.

I’m just going to hone in on this and go off-topic for a second. Councils in my experience could generally do a much better job of marketing camps as retreat, meeting, training and conference centers to the general public and businesses. The outdoor atmosphere could be a significant attraction for CEOs looking to do unconventional teambuilding or away-from-the-office strategic planning and brainstorming. And camp program offerings would be a wonderful way to reward employees with a day or two out of the office - go canoeing or kayaking, try your hand at climbing, shoot archery, go fishing, etc.

I like this sustainability camp idea and I hope it goes well. I’m much more of a fan of Environmental Science MB because it’s more hands-on and experimental, but the sustainability programming could easily be made that way as well.

[RememberSchiff]

We have schedule problems with weekend campouts so I am doubtful a week could be scheduled during the school year. Not even the Debate Team and FIRST take a whole week away from the regular 180 day school schedule. Maybe winter and spring vacation weeks but getting school-approved chaperons might be difficult.

Another issue for some state public schools, the program may need to fulfill part of that state's education curriculum frameworks.

 

[shortridge]

My dream is for a statewide Outdoor School program like Oregon’s. So cool.

https://democratherald.com/news/local/education/life-lessons-outdoor-school-opportunities-expand-with-funding/article_f922931c-3853-51aa-88c1-b7ac112ca55e.html

[perdidochas]

On 7/13/2018 at 5:57 AM, RememberSchiff said:

 

Scott Harmon,  Sustainability Task Force Leader, - BSA

In 2009, I pulled together a team to work on incorporating sustainability into scouting so that boys and girls across the United States could change the worldview of their families, too. After three years of planning, the Boy Scouts of America asked us to develop the Eagle Scout-required sustainability merit badge, which now has been earned by more than 25,000 scouts.

Two years ago, this idea expanded beyond scouting to provide sustainability training to boys and girls, scouts and non-scouts, at local summer camps. More than 1,000 Boy Scout camps are in the United States alone, most of which are unused during the school year. Most can accommodate at least 300 campers a week. Assuming a 36-week school year, that’s 10 million camper-weeks of unused potential capacity per year.

What if we could use that capacity during the school year for teaching middle-school and high-school students about sustainability while experiencing the great outdoors? That became our vision: to gather sustainability experts and interested teens at hundreds of scout summer camps to create a Sustainable Future Outdoor Academy focused on teaching young people about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in a hands-on format.

From Aug. 13 to 17, we will be piloting the SFOA program at Cutter Scout Reservation, a 300-acre summer camp owned by BSA’s Pacific Skyline Council in Northern California. We are reaching out to schools groups, religious groups and scout groups to get a mix of youth entering the seventh, eighth and ninth grades this coming school year. They will be sleeping in safari tents equipped with double-decker cots and LED lanterns and will have the opportunity to try canoeing, boating and archery in their free time in addition to learning about sustainability. They will team with college-age counselors to give them support.

...

Price: This Camp has been developed and subsidized by generous sponsors, so the standard Camp price of $500 is being offered this time only for $250 . Campers provide chaperones. Need-based scholarships are also available. Camp limited to 48

More, including planet-related SDG's curriculum, at source links: 

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-sustainability-summer-camp-could-affect-millions-youth

http://www.pacsky.org/Activities/General/SFOA

http://web-extract.constantcontact.com/v1/social_annotation?permalink_uri=2KydEq3&image_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmlsvc01-prod.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3a4d25d0101%2F723aad18-8931-4e72-afa2-b701f11b6071.jpg%3Fver%3D1529955254000

Sustainability is a horrible merit badge that turns Scouts off. It consists of the worst parts of Environmental Science on steroids.  Should be eliminated ASAP. 

[shortridge]

Scouts would seem to agree. Despite it being an Eagle option, only 7,200 earned it last year.