Scouts Canada up for the challenge

Projects engage youth in environmental sustainability

As the spectre of climate change looms ever closer and, increasingly, more and more inevitable, we'll need to prepare a generation to be savvy with their supplies and to think as sustainably as possible.

That’s the goal of a recent program launched by Scouts Canada, called

Scouts for Sustainability. It’s an eightweek series of challenges to scout troupes across Canada to get young, ecologically conscious people to make them more aware of the world around them and its resources.

“It’s basically helping to launch our new Scouts sustainability program, and also to kind of get people excited for the new scouting year,” says Siobhan Ward, a youth program specialist with Scouts Canada, based out of Ottawa.

“It’s based on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, based on things like environmental sustainability, bringing things to light like poverty and inequalities throughout the world.” Thinking sustainably isn’t exactly new territory for Scouts Canada. Much of their programming is about teaching self-sufficiency and survival skills. But Ward hopes this program will hammer home the importance of being sustainable in the world, especially going forward. Plus, many young Scouts want to make change in the world, according to Ward.

“We know that younger and younger youths want to be engaged in these things,” says Ward. “We’re seeing it around the world – young people are so interested, so engaged, and they want to be part of the solution, even though they’re young.”

The sustainability challenges launched the first week of October and will run through November. The first challenge issued was on a resource close to the hearts of many Atlantic Canadians – the ocean. One of the activities was called Making Waves. “The goal associated with it is life below water, and … human interaction with water,” says Ward. “So we’re challenging our youths to build a boat that they can float, see how much weight it can hold, and to build it out of unconventional materials.”

The challenges were chosen with the help of people across the globe, and this first challenge was the brainchild of Australia, explains Rover Scout Kayla Bernard, of Halifax.

“Australia, like Nova Scotia, is oceanbound,” says Bernard, who belongs to the oldest regiment of Scouts (18-26) and is also a Scouter – an adult volunteer who helps run younger scout troupes, like Beaver Scouts.

“They want to highlight the importance of clean water, and the impact that it has on the marine lands around them. So they challenged our youth to create a boat, sustainably, out of (different) materials.”

The larger threat of climate change may be above the heads of the younger scouts taking part in the challenge, but the hope is that these projects will lay a strong foundation in the minds of these youngsters, upon which a lifetime of positive, sustainable practices and habits can be built.

“We’re looking to build awareness, build knowledge, but also have lots of fun,” says Bernard. “Together, we can all do small things to create big change.”

Lunenburg County high school student Stella Bowles is proof of that. A few years ago, her sixthgrade science fair project snowballed into a multimillion-dollar project to clean up one of Nova Scotia’s waterways.

“I did a science fair project … testing the La Have River for fecal bacteria,” explains Bowles, 17, and a recipient of the Order of Nova Scotia. “After all three levels of government heard about it … it actually became a $15.7-million program to clean up the river.”

Bowles has been involved with Girl Guides for a long time. While not a member of Scouts Canada herself, she will be speaking on their behalf as one of the speakers at the Youth Sustainability Panel, which is part of another Scouts Canada sustainability initiative, Around the World in 60 Days. The virtual panel was broadcast online Oct. 24 and Bowles will be talking directly to her international peers, urging them towards advocating for changes in their own backyards.

“No matter what your age is, you can make a difference in the world,” says Bowles, explaining how shedding light on an unspoken issue – even at the tender age of 11 – led to someone taking action. “Nova Scotia alone has a lot of sewage problems in our water. Water looks beautiful, but it has a gross secret. Straight pipes, which are pipes from the home toilet right into the water, they’re 100 per cent illegal in Nova Scotia, and that’s not being enforced. That’s probably the scariest thing … the government isn’t doing what they should to enforce these laws. If it’s not spoken about, it’s not ‘an issue.’

“I’m definitely looking forward to hearing what other youth have to say about how to take care of the world,” Bowles adds. “Because we only have the one world, and we really need to step up and take care of it.

“Our generation is being left with a disaster, so we might as well start young, cleaning up this mess.”

The best part about this Scouts sustainability programming is that it's not just for Scouts. Anyone can take on the same challenges with family and friends.

“The content is on our social media pages and on our website, so even people who are not Scouts can join in with us,” says Bernard. “You can take an hour together, turn off your screens, and do something together, hands-on, and learn about the environment.”

And with the importance and the need of adopting a worldwide, sustainable society becoming more evident each year, Scouts doesn’t have plans to mothball their sustainability programming anytime soon.

“I foresee us doing more of these in the future,” says Ward. “I’m not sure how often, but I can certainly see them being once or twice a year.”