Plastics in our World for Cub Scouts

United States of America

Plastics in our World for Cub Scouts

Our Cub Scout Pack picks up trash in the parks and open spaces of our city, and plastics are the most abundant material that we pick up. Plastics are increasingly everywhere, from our local streams, all the way to our oceans. We were motivated to teach our Scouts about plastics in their daily lives, how they end up in the environment, and ways that we can reduce the use of plastics in our society.

Our Pack performed two projects on plastics in our lives: The first project was a trash pickup at a park with a creek running through it. We removed plastic and trash from the waterway and learned about how plastics don't readily biodegrade, eventually flowing downstream to the oceans. Our second project focused on minimizing the use of plastic by sewing reusable snack bags. Our scouts shared what they learned with a non-scout group, and now take their snack bags to school and share what they learned about single use plastics and the environment.

Our trash pickup benefited hundreds of people that enjoy the Dry Creek Park in Roseville. By removing the plastic and debris that had accumulated over the years, the waterway is now cleaner and a healthier ecosystem within our community. Our reusable bag project will benefit the environment through decreased single-use plastics usage, but the largest impact will be through advocacy and education within our schools by our scouts proudly using and displaying their reusable bags.

We learned more about the Messengers of Peace program, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, and we anticipate organizing more projects as our kids grow older and can handle more complicated SDG concepts. Our projects were designed to include our youngest scouts, so we needed material that was applicable and understandable by a 5 year old. The Scouts for SDGs website and resources are great, and we applaud your efforts. What a wonderful program!

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