From: jim.speirs@canrem.com (Jim Speirs)
To: dannys@iis.ee.ethz.ch (Danny Schwendener)
Subject: Taking Care of the World
Summary: A pool of ideas on how to embed environmental awareness into scouting activities


Article #R120.
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Taking Care of the World
Linda Florence
The Leader,  April 1983


Spring lures us outdoors to witness a frenzy of regeneration after the
long winter rest period. There's fresh beauty to see, hear and smell.
There's also new ugliness, often man-made: a mess of litter bared by
snow's retreat; salt-damaged roadside vegetation; junk-strewn streams;
injured and dying trees, the legacy of thoughtless, careless or
malicious passers-by.

Spring's contrasts and its call to the out-of-doors make it an
excellent season to focus on the kinds of learnings that will make
Beavers eager to help take care of the world and Cubs keen to work for
Conservation badges. Since you can use any number of approaches and as
many activities as there are leaves in bud, the ideas you'll find here
are only a starting point.

My suggestions are not formal nature or conservation studies, but
rather enjoyable explorations during which a leader can pass on
whatever degree of factual knowledge suits the ages and capabilities
in the group. Let's face it; the feeling in the spring air is happy-
go-lucky and boys want to play, run around and laugh a lot. There are
many nature-oriented activities which give them the outlet and, at the
same time, intrigue Cubs enough to delve deeper into certain areas and
design more focussed projects, and increase Beavers' awareness and
appreciation of the world and their part in it.

Many of the ideas are from three excellent sources which I recommend
for your library: The Ranger Rick Activity Guide (monthly); Clouds on
the Clothesline by Jack Pearse, available from Scout Shops; and The
Second Cooperative Sports and Games Book by Terry Orlick, soon to be
available from Scout Shops.


Looking

A short silent walk with a lodge or six is a good way to encourage
boys to see, hear and smell the natural world. The "silent" part might
be a challenge for which you want to set the scene. You can ask the
boys to imagine they are walking underwater, for example. Or have them
recall the opening scenes of the movie and imagine they are E.T. and
his friends, silently studying earth life forms.

Invite them to keep senses alert and to share what they see, hear or
smell by silently pointing out things to others. You can also
encourage them to bring along a pad of paper and a pencil to draw or
describe in words some of their favourite things. Afterwards, sit in a
circle to talk about your experiences, feelings and impressions.

On another kind of walk, boys can keep a craft record as they go if
they carry along a small bottle of glue and a small flat board or
stiff piece of cardboard. As they walk, they pick up natural objects
(twigs, bark curls, dried moss, stones, acorn shells, evergreen cones
and needles, seed pods) and glue them into a collage on the board. The
finished products will make a nice display, and also can be the
starting point for identification.

Or try a day and night comparison hike. During the day, put reflective
tape in your pocket and take a walk. Stop at interesting spots along
the way to point out natural features and talk about the animals and
insects you see, the appearance of plants in the vicinity, and the
smells and sounds you notice. Before moving on, mark the spots with
pieces of tape.

Armed with a flashlight, repeat the hike after dark. Stop at the
glowing markers. What differences do the boys notice? Do things look
and smell the same? Are there animal signs or sightings? What about
insects?

As an indoors follow-up, have the boys draw day and night pictures of
one of the spots you visited.

"Match and find" activities also encourage observation. One idea is to
prepare duplicate sets of cards on which you glue pictures of three or
four natural objects found in the area (animal tracks; burrows;
leaves, seeds or bark from specific trees; moss; flowers; etc.)
Distribute the cards and have boys match them to find partners. In
pairs, they search a designated area for the objects on their cards.
Tell them to look only, and to remember where they found the things.
After all have reported back, group-walk the area so that boys can
point out what they've found.

A second idea means the careful division into two of natural objects
like twigs, leaves, dead flower petals and the like. Distribute the
"halves" and give boys time to match them up. Then, in pairs they
search for the source and, if they can, identify it.

A relay with a twist is an enjoyable way for Cubs to explore the
woods. Give each six a paper bag and send off the teams to pick up as
many fallen natural objects as there are boys in the six. They put the
objects into the bag and return to a central point to label their
bags. When all is ready, line up sixes in relay formation and tell
them to exchange bags.

On signal, the first person in each team pulls an item from the bag
and races into the woods to find a matching item. When he returns, the
second person grabs something from the bag and races off. The first
six to find duplicates for all items in a bag are declared winners.
Later, teams compare items and discuss which ones were the easiest or
most difficult to find and identify, and why.


Learning

Games are fun, but they can also deepen the boys' understanding of the
things they've observed and talked about while looking around
outdoors.

Web of Life requires only a piece of the out-of-doors and a ball of
string, but it shows, in a very vivid way, the inter-relatedness of
the natural world.

Boys form a circle around a leader who holds a ball of string. Ask
someone to name a plant which grows in the area. The response may be
"clover", for example. Give "clover" the end of the string to hold,
and ask players to name an animal that eats clover for dinner. Perhaps
it will be "rabbit". Connect clover to rabbit by string and have
rabbit hold on as well. Keep going, bringing in other plants, animals,
birds, soil, water, etc. For example, owl eats rabbit, and also mouse.
Owl rests in a tree. Tree takes food from the soil. Insects take food
from the tree. Birds eat insects. Soon everyone will be connected to
everyone else in a tangled string ecosystem.

Now the leader tells a story. It may be about a careless camper who
doesn't extinguish his fire, or perhaps about the day when a logger
cuts down the tree. As "tree" falls, he tugs on his string. Everyone
who would be affected by the death of the tree will feel the tug, and
all of these give a tug on their string. As the chain reaction
continues, all members of the ecosystem will find they are, in some
way or other, affected by the tree's death.

If bats have been part of your observations and discussions, Bats and
Moths is a great game to help boys run off energy and better
understand how bats use sonar to locate food.

Form a large circle and place one or two blindfolded "bats" and four
or five "moths" in the centre where they move around freely. Bats try
to locate moths by calling out "Bat". Each time they do, moths must
bounce back the sound by calling out "Moth". Bats try to trace the
sound and get close enough to catch moths by tagging them.

Play rounds in short spurts so that everyone has a chance to be bat or
moth. Tagged moths and unsuccessful bats rejoin the circle and are
replaced by other players.

Frogs, Insects and Flowers is another active game for the whole group.
Boys form three concentric circles: insects in the inner circle; frogs
in the middle circle; and flowers, which remain stationary and
standing, in the outer circle. Insects start the game with one knee to
the ground, and frogs stand.

A whistle blast gives insects 10 seconds to run to tag flowers while
frogs try to catch them. Insects can "fly" (touch knee to the ground)
in order to avoid capture. When this happens, chaser frogs must make a
360 degree pivot before chasing them again, which gives insects a
chance to escape.

At the end of each round, a captured insect becomes a frog and a
successful insect or frog remains what he was. An uncaptured insect
who hasn't reached a flower dies and becomes a flower, as does an
unsuccessful frog.

The game is fast fun which shows how populations can change. If frogs
do too well, they wipe out the insects and ultimately die. If they do
poorly, too many of them die and the insect population becomes very
large in comparison. In either case, the flowers, which need insects
for pollination but can be killed by an overpopulation feeding on
them, will suffer and, eventually, disappear.

Predator on the Prowl is an adaptation of the game Red Light; Green
Light, which will be familiar to many Beavers. Have the boys name
animals which prey on other animals for food and choose one of them--a
hawk, for example. One boy becomes Hawk and stands on a designated
finish line. Some distance away, the others form a line facing him.
Hawk turns his back to the others and yells, "Hawk's not watching!"
The others start to move towards him, trying to cross the finish line
without being seen. At any time, Hawk can turn to face them, yelling,
"Hawk's watching!". The others must freeze. If he catches someone
moving, he challenges the player to name an animal that Hawk likes for
lunch! After a few turns, let the boys choose another predator and
another boy to play the part.


Doing

Observing leads to appreciation; appreciation stimulates learning; and
learning fires a desire to do something with the new-found knowledge.

During their explorations, your boys will certainly learn about
litterbugs. They'll notice that litter not only spoils nature's
beauty, but also damages natural life. They'll probably want to do
something about it, and there are a number of approaches you can take.

Equip everyone with plastic garbage bags and go for a "litterwalk", or
pull junk out of that badly-treated stream you've noticed during your
rambles.

Bring back the findings and have the boys create a "junk monster" from
them. Caution them to handle metal junk with care to avoid cuts. In
fact, it's a good idea if all wear some sort of work gloves both while
collecting litter and creating with it.

The monster may be a free-form sculpture held together with epoxy
cement, or a "junk king". For the latter, provide a basic skeleton--
two strong planks or poles lashed to make a cross which the boys then
"dress" with the litter they've found.

When the creation is complete, see if you can set up a display
somewhere in the community. "Junk King" is particularly suited to
standing outside, in a park, for example, though it's important to
cement him together so that his parts can't be removed and strewn
around again.

Have the boys make anti-litter posters to accompany the monster, and a
sign which explains what it is and where it comes from.

You may prefer to let small groups work together to create "junk and
foil" sculptures with the products from the litter bags. The first
step is to glue an arrangement of junk onto a sturdy piece of
cardboard and let the glue dry. Next, paint the whole surface-
cardboard and junk--with a mixture of two parts white glue to one part
water. Lay a sheet of foil over the arrangement, carefully crinkling
and molding it over all the junk shapes. The foil sheet should be
large enough that the edges can be folded over the edges of the
cardboard and taped securely to the underside.

For an antique look, mix a few drops of liquid detergent with black
tempera and paint over the surface of the foil. Let dry for a day, and
gently polish the sculpture with a soft cloth. These creations also
will make an effective anti-litter display.

Another way to increase community awareness is to have the boys make
and wear "campaign buttons". Use 8 cm (3") diameter circles cut from
heavy cardboard and create slogans (We Love Trees: Litterbugs are
Losers!) to apply with brightly coloured magic markers. Give the
button faces a protective shine by covering them with clear contact
paper, and glue safety pins to the backs.

Consider a long-term conservation project for the pack or colony, like
adopting the trees along a street in your neighbourhood, for example.
Each six or lodge can be responsible for one or two trees. It means
arranging for permission, learning about the particular kind of tree
so that the boys know how best to care for it, and year-round interest
and attention.

As a tree's guardians, the boys will have a number of
responsibilities: keeping the base clear of litter and dog droppings;
loosening the soil around it; covering the soil with wood chips or
planting ground cover to hold moisture and prevent soil erosion;
fertilizing young trees once a month from April to July; and
persuading neighbours to use calcium chloride rather than tree-
poisoning rock salt to clear sidewalks of ice during the winter.

Spring opens up almost endless opportunities to make the concepts of
ecology and conservation more than simply words to your boys. Grab as
many of them as you can to put sparkle into your program and a shine
on the world.