The World Is Waiting

As the temperature cools and the leaves change, it is a wonderful time to be out in nature. It is a great way to educate your child or troop about the out-of-doors and to initiate conversation.

According to Richard Louv, author of “Last Child in the Woods,” many children today are suffering from nature-deficit disorder. As children spend more and more time indoors they suffer more with ADHD, childhood obesity and stress. How can we as adults help? By providing children with more opportunities to be outside. Our council has access to five wonderful campsites as well as city and state parks where children can explore while providing service.

Everyone today is concerned with the amount of litter we see and the amount of plastic that goes into our landfills. Any time that you take your girls on a walk or to a park or a campsite, carry bags to pick up trash and bottles that can be recycled. Remember that a Girl Scout always leaves a place cleaner that she finds it. This small act is a service project, as well as teaching girls to be responsible for the planet.

GSCTX is one of 36 pilot councils in the “Forever Green” Community Action Project. The program booklet is full of wonderful resources and ideas to use, even if you don’t decide to submit a project. It is full of ideas to help girls discover, connect and take action on environmental issues. This project will help girls, and adults, be more aware of our surroundings and develop ideas that can make a significant impact on our environment.

So, if being outdoors is good for our mental and physical health and is good for the health of our communities, schools and the planet……what are we waiting for? Lets get to work, the world is waiting.

-Jan Cate 

Forever Green is part of Girls Go Green, one of four focus areas guiding GSCTX programs. By introducing girls to environmental awareness, GSCTX is providing a generation of girls with the tools necessary to positively impact our planet.