The Project

Girl Scouts Forever Green is a nation-wide Take Action Project.  Girl Scouts are turning 100 this year, for over a century, Girl Scouts have been working to protect their environment by using resources wisely.  To honor that, Girl Scouts will be leading their families, schools, and communities in improving the environment and protecting natural resources.  In Badgerland Council, we will be reducing waste council-wide!

 

Girls along with their families, friends and community members will learn about the effects of waste on our environment and help reduce the amount of waste being produced.  To do this we:

•  Use and support the use of reusable bags for shopping, school  lunches, or gym clothes.
•  Refuse single-use plastic bags by either buying or making reusable bags and giving them to others.
•  Pick out a bottle to carry at all times and refill with tap water or another beverage when thirsty.
•  Collect and recycle aluminum cans
•  Earn badges by going on a Journey!   Follow It’s Your Planet-- Love It! and find out more ways to reduce your waste!

 

Find other ways YOU can reduce waste!  Share them with a friend, your troop, your family, your community, your school… everyone!

In the Girl Scout Law, we promise to use resources wisely.  Did you know that in every cell phone, there are several rare metals?  After a person gets a new cell phone, they can recycle their old one.  This conserves (protects and maintains) these rare materials.  In 2009, only 8% of old cell phones were recycled.  Girl Scouts can increase this number and make the world a better place! 

Collect old cell phones from your friends, family and neighbors.  Bring them to our Girl Scout service centers, where we will ship them to a local recycler. 

Recycling old phones will reduce waste, Take Action today!  Find out more, here.

Girl Scouts Forever Green
The Patch

 
Have you taken action to collect trash, and recycled what you collected?

Have you made reusable bags and shared them with friends and family?

Have you or your troop signed the Girl Scouts Forever Green pledge?

Sign the pledge and hand out reusable bags, keep track of your use of reusable water bottles, recycle aluminum cans—and you’re eligible for the 100th Anniversary Take Action Project- Girl Scout Forever Green Patch.  You can find these at our Service Center locations!

 
1. Register your project at:
      http://girlscouts.org/gsforevergreen/
2. Take the Forever Green Pledge!
       
 
 
Contact Katie with
questions and
your project details!

foltsk@gsbadgerland.org

Are you working on an It’s Your Planet, Love It!  Journey?  Here are some ways to connect Girl Scouts Forever Green with your journey: 

Girl Scout Brownies: Brownies can make Reduce Plastic Waste a focus of their WOW! Wonders of Water Journey, by ending the use of plastic water bottles. See pages 56–59 of the girls' book.  Read about art made with plastic water bottles (page 71 of the girls’ book), and have the girls make their own!

Girl Scout Juniors: See the "Paper or Plastic" timeline starting on page 26 of the girls' GET MOVING book, and the "Waste, Energy, and Wasted Energy" section starting on page 27. Girls can also "crochet" a reusable bag from plastic grocery bags after being inspired by the profile of "Recycle Cindy" on page 41 of the girls' book, or make one out of other material- you could reuse an old t-shirt!

Girl Scout Cadettes:  As part of the BREATHE journey can participate in the permanent paper reduction on page 63 of the girls’ book.  Weigh paper used in your school and make and implement a plan to reduce waste!  Also, check out the trash bag kits on page 101 of the girls’ book.  Girls can make these and use them to spread awareness to reduce disposable plastic bag waste.

Girl Scout Ambassadors: As part of the JUSTICE journey, girls can choose to "Do the Math" (Step Two toward the Sage award) on water bottles or bags for one of their personal commitments to environmental justice. The "Do the Math" section of the journey begins on page 44 of the JUSTICE girls' book.  There is more information specific to plastic water bottles on pages 58-62 in the girls’ book.

If every Girl Scout in Badgerland refused single-use plastic bags, and used a reusable bag, we could save six million bags from entering the waste stream.  Try making your own reusable bags from old t-shirts.  You can make one for yourself, and make a few more to give to your friends and family.  Let them know the benefits of reusing bags.

You can find instructions for a sewing project to turn an old t-shirt into a bag here, or check out these instructions for a no-sew bag.  These bags are great, they reuse an old t-shirt, and they can be washed and reused over and over!