Transatlantic Council Boy Scouts of America Sustainability Challenge 2021 Full Workbook The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it --Robert Swan, polar explorer In 2020, the Transatlantic Council BSA (TAC) launched its Sustainability Mission: TAC will set the gold standard in Scouting for efforts to ​ ​ improve human impacts upon the planet We will achieve that by incorporating sustainability practices and training throughout our program, focused on impacts upon the natural world – the topics addressed in the Sustainability merit badge. We will be thousands of advocates for the planet in the Anthropocene age. Our youth will change their own futures. This mission involves every participant in TAC Scouting: group action at the unit, district, and council levels; and individual action by every youth and adult member in TAC and their families. We support the sustainability efforts of Scouting throughout the BSA and throughout the world. We must all care for the world we inherited, to ensure that future generations enjoy the same joys and privileges of the outdoors that we do. Take the TAC Sustainability Challenge 2021 Join the movement to improve human impacts upon the planet. The challenge is open to anyone. Finish the challenge before the end of 2021. Earn a cool limited-edition patch! ​ ​ Choose the set of requirements that is right for you: Cub Challenge (5-10 year olds); ​ ​ Scout and Adult Challenge (11-18 year olds, and all adults); Venturer / Sea Scout / Explorer ​ ​ Challenge (14-21 year olds); Unit Challenge (groups) ​ ​ See tac-bsa.org/Sustainability to download the workbook, find links to resources, log ​ ​ your accomplishments, and see the impact we are having together. version 1.2 1 Transatlantic Council Boy Scouts of America Completing the challenge The challenge is for every youth and adult, including BSA members in every council, Scouts and Guides around the world, and non-scouting families. If you are in TAC or another BSA council, please complete the challenge based on your BSA program. If you are not a BSA member, choose a challenge based on your age. The challenge can be completed on your own, or as part of a group from the same unit. You must complete the TAC Sustainability Challenge 2021 before 31 December 2021; there will be a new TAC Sustainability ​ ​ Challenge in 2022. If you are not yet in Scouting, are aged 5-21, and are an expat living in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia or Africa, please consider joining TAC! We have an unparalleled program. See here for details. ​ What will you get by completing the challenge? First, you will have taken action to ensure the future enjoyment of the outdoors for yourself, your family, your friends, fellow Scouts and future generations. What elements of the challenge can you adopt into your regular day? Week? Month? And, you will be able to order a limited-edition Sustainability Challenge 2021 patch when your accomplishments are logged on the TAC website. Why do you need to log your accomplishments? To change the world and ensure that a healthy planet is there for the next generations, we need two things: Education & Action. To measure the action created by the Sustainability ​ ​ ​ ​ Challenge and the impact it has on improving Sustainability around the world, we need to know what you did! We will update our web page regularly to show our collective impact. How to log accomplishments; Challenge Coordinator If you complete the challenge on your own, please log your data into the TAC Sustainability ​ Challenge page. If multiple people from the same unit or other group are taking the ​ challenge, one youth or adult must play the role of Challenge Coordinator, who should: (1) review the Record of each participant; (2) compile the data from all Records in the unit; and (3) log the accomplishments in the TAC Sustainability Challenge page. If people in the group complete their challenges at different times, the Challenge Coordinator can submit the accomplishments in batches, for example, monthly; you don’t have to wait until the last person completes the challenge. version 1.2 2 Transatlantic Council Boy Scouts of America Cub Challenge 2021 Requirements - Cub Challenge ​ 1. Food: Help prepare a vegetarian dinner 2. Waste: Help separate your family’s trash for recycling, using local rules 3. Biodiversity: Identify 10 plants or wild animals near your home 4. Explain to someone outside of your immediate family what you are doing to improve human impacts upon the planet, and why 5. Complete four of the following: a. Grow a plant, or plant a tree b. Build an insect hotel c. Use a reusable drink container for 2 weeks d. Calculate the greenhouse gas created to serve your family dinners of beef, lamb, pork, chicken, and fish e. Calculate the food miles in your favourite meal f. Learn about two of the Sustainable Development Goals at Scouts for SDGs (sdgs.scout.org). Start an activity related to one of the SDGs ​ ​ g. Take part in an Earth Day activity (earthday.org) on any day ​ ​ h. Take part in Earth Hour (earthhour.org) on 27 March 2021 ​ ​ i. Watch a documentary or read a book about a sustainability topic 6. Log all accomplishments in the TAC Sustainability records ​ version 1.2 3 Transatlantic Council Boy Scouts of America Resources - Cub Challenge ​ The following resources can help you complete the challenge. Each link has loads of pictures and interesting information. They are suggestions, and are just a start. If a resource is not available where you live, use your best judgement in the spirit of the challenge to find an alternative. More are available on the TAC Sustainability Resources page. ​ ​ ​ The “Anthropocene” website of the Natural History Museum (London) is an excellent ​ all-around resource on these topics Requirement 1: Vegetarian Recipes ​ ​ Requirement 3: Use Google Lens, PlantSnap, another plant classification app, Plants of ​ ​ ​ ​ Europe, or a reference book to identify ​ Requirement 5a: Start a window box; Plant wildflowers; Butterfly garden ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Requirement 5b: Plans for an insect hotel; More plans for an insect hotel ​ ​ ​ ​ Requirement 5d: Chart of food choice greenhouse gas emissions; Discussion of food ​ ​ ​ ​ choice greenhouse gas emissions; BBC Diet Carbon Footprint calculator ​ ​ Requirement 5e: Read the labels to see where the main ingredients in your meal came ​ from. Then use the Food Miles Calculator, or Measure Distance in Google Maps. ​ ​ ​ ​ Requirement 5f: Scouts for Sustainable Development goals ​ ​ Requirement 5g: Earth Day website ​ ​ Requirement 5h: Earth Hour Website ​ ​ Requirement 5i: Some suggestions (more on the TAC Sustainability Resources page): ​ ​ ​ “David Attenborough: A Life on our Planet” (documentary film; highly recommended) ​ ​ “No One is Too Small to Make a Difference”, Greta Thunberg (collection of speeches) Sustainability for Kids - the Touring Teacher (video) ​ Operation Sustainability - a story on the world´s most important customer Requirement 6: Fill out (individual) or get your Challenge Coordinator (group) to fill out the ​ records log on the TAC Sustainability Challenge webpage. ​ version 1.2 4 Transatlantic Council Boy Scouts of America Record keeping - Cub Challenge ​ Name: District: ​ ​ Unit: ​ # Requirement Date 1 Food: Help prepare a vegetarian dinner 2 Waste: Help separate your family’s trash for recycling, using local rules 3 Biodiversity: Identify 10 plants Which plants/animals did you find? or wild animals near your home 4 Explain to someone outside What are you doing and why? Who did of your immediate family what you tell? you are doing to improve human impacts upon the planet, and why 5 Complete four of the following 5a Grow a plant, or plant a tree 5b Build an insect hotel 5c Use a reusable drink container for 2 weeks version 1.2 5 Transatlantic Council Boy Scouts of America 5d Calculate the greenhouse Beef: gas created to serve your Lamb: family dinners of beef, lamb, Pork: pork, chicken, and fish Chicken: Fish: 5e Calculate the food miles in your favourite meal 5f Learn about two of the Which two SDGs? What activity? Sustainable Development goals at Scouts for SDGs (sdgs.scout.org). Start an activity related to one of the SDGs 5g Take part in an Earth Day What activity? activity (earthday.org) on any day 5h Take part in Earth Hour (earthhour.org) on 27 March 2021 5i Watch a documentary or read Which documentary or book? a book about a sustainability topic 6 Log all accomplishments in If you are completing the challenge with the TAC Sustainability your unit, give this information to your records Challenge Coordinator version 1.2 6 Transatlantic Council Boy Scouts of America Scout and Adult Challenge 2021 Requirements - Scout and Adult Challenge ​ 1. Energy: Reduce your home energy and/or transportation carbon footprint. (You choose the duration and amount.) Calculate the carbon you saved 2. Water: Reduce your water usage. (You choose the duration and amount.) Calculate the number of liters you saved 3. Food: Reduce your food waste. (You choose the duration and amount.) Calculate the amount of food waste you prevented 4. Food: Reduce the greenhouse gas impact of your diet. (You choose the duration and amount.) Calculate the Co2-equivalent savings 5. Food: Reduce the food miles in your family’s meals. (You choose the duration and amount.) Calculate the miles you saved 6. Waste: Reduce your use of single-use plastics. (You choose the duration and amount.) 7. Waste: Increase your family’s recycling of recyclable materials under local procedures. (You choose the duration and amount.) 8. Biodiversity: Use Ecosia for your internet searches. (You choose the duration and amount.) Note the number of trees they planted with your searches (ecosia.org) ​ ​ 9. Select one of the Sustainable Development Goals at Scouts for SDGs ​ (sdgs.scout.org).