Here’s the definition of what a merit badge is from the Scout Book : “Scouting offers more than 135 merit badges, each of which provides an instruction to a different topic. Many of these badges cover Scouting skills...”. But to put it in a more deep way, it’s the beginning of the path to a new passion, or a hobby, or maybe even a career! It’s the chance to explore something new about yourself! Since merit badges are important in Scouting and useful during adolescence, I thought I’d help you in your decision of which merit badges to take next year at summer camp! And I’ll do that by writing this article as a preview of a merit badge I took, enjoyed, and recommend : Environmental Science.
The Environmental Science merit badge is the Eagle-required alternative to the Sustainability merit badge, and the knowledge a Scout can gain from this merit badge is indispensable to enhance our lives and treat the Earth better.
In this merit badge, you will :
Create a timeline of important positive and negative environmental events with the dates and names of the people/organizations.
Learn the terms ‘population, community, ecosystem, biosphere, symbiosis, niche, habitat, conservation, threatened species, endangered species, extinction, pollution prevention, brownfield, ozone, watershed, air shed, non-point source, hybrid vehicle, fuel cell’.
Complete a conservation project. (The environmental science session I was in cleared the poison ivy from a trailhead and collected dead branches and twigs that were prone to catch on fire.)
Go to 2 separate locations for an hour each and write down your observations of nature from the areas.
Discuss the career opportunities in environmental science.
So if you’re interested in this preview, try out the Environmental Science merit badge!
Hope this helps,
Sabya Challa
תגובות