Eco-Scouting seminar
A huge success
Scouting’s outdoor program has always been great at connecting young people with nature & contact with nature is a vital component of creating environmental awareness.
The recent eco-scouting seminar held in Lough Dan was a huge success. As well as section leaders we had leaders who are involved in Cloughjordan’s eco-village, Birdwatch Ireland, SEAI (Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland) and of course from Lough Dan’s Scout eco-park.
Purpose of a green program in scouting is to make environmental responsibility second nature to young people.But how do you do it? Scouting has some great assets already. We invented outdoor education and Our Motto is still “Be Prepared”, our program is outdoor based and we are a values based movement that has always taught “leave a place better than you found it”. …..So important when you see the effects of Global warming in recent weeks…
We need easy to understand green program support material.
- Simple eco-action projects or ideas for greening your scout den, camp, hike & regular meeting. Simple ideas that focus at resourcing the “new” or inexperienced leader, pitched at “point of entry” level rather than difficult.
- Ideas need to have been tried and tested and the hard work of “filtering” the good ideas from the bad (from a google search or from Pinterest) done for leaders. And the Green program ideas must be easy to find and access on the scouting Ireland website. Perhaps with eco-branding to help.
We hope to produce the best 20-30 eco-actions into simple program resources similar to the scout weekly program resources?
Ideas for scout dens could include:
Making bird & bat boxes
Putting up bird feeders
Waste recycling
Green den code
Adding water butts
Creating areas for bees and pollinators
Making hibernation boxes for hedgehogs
Creating a pond for amphibians
Making insect hotels
Ideas for scout camps Hay box cooking,
Solar power battery chargers
Waste segregation units
Waste water filtration system (Grease Traps)
Leave No Trace
Conservation stoves
Using biodegradable toiletries
Ways to make a hike more educational
Wild life or habitat spotter sheets
Tree or wild flower ID sheets
Leaf scavenger hunt
Using Bug boxes and magnifying glasses
Nature Curio Hunts
Using of smart phones as a “microscope” to photograph wildlife
For the weekly meeting Designing Green Den Code
Posters
Recycling games / snakes and ladders
Menu planning without packaging and food miles
Leaders need more than web or paper support. No matter how good most new Leaders need more than just web based or paper support. They need opportunities to see things and try things out and talk to enthusiasts.
Lough Dan Scout Eco-Park will set up a demonstration area to show case a whole range of simple eco projects such as hay box cookers, conservation stoves, all sorts of bird and bat boxes, waste segregation units, grease trap/water filter, solar power for charging phones, Habitat management plans, insect hotels, bug hunting, pond dipping, LNT, hedgehog hibernation hut, bird feeders……
Through our Charles Darwin eco-base we will provide opportunities for hands on learning by running free one day workshops where green program ideas can be tried out by leaders.
And finally Lough Dan is also happy to become a point of contact to answer your green scouting queries …Just contact us at zef@loughdan.com
