The It's Your Planet—Love It! Leadership Journeys and their award-earning projects dovetail nicely with all three of the Girl Scouts Forever Green projects—Reduce Waste, Save Energy, and Rain Gardens. Girls enjoying these Journeys can plan their Take Action projects around Girl Scouts Forever Green and take advantage of the wealth of related Journey content.
Adults should use the It’s Your Planet—Love It! Adult Guides as they guide girls. Review Get Moving! with Girl Scouts Forever Green (PDF) for an example of how to follow activities in the adult guide and add a special GSFG focus to the Get Moving! Journey for Girl Scout Juniors. Juniors not your grade level? Integrate Girl Scouts Forever Green into the It’s Your Planet—Love It! grade level that suits the girls.
Below are GSFG ties to the It’s Your Planet—Love It Journey girls’ books. There are also examples of girls’ projects that are connected to Journeys that incorporate Girl Scouts Forever Green projects—Reduce Waste, Save Energy and Rain Gardens projects. Check back periodically for updates.
Girl Scout Brownies: Brownies can make Reduce Waste a focus of their WOW! Wonders of Water Journey, which emphasizes loving and saving water by ending the use of plastic water bottles. See pages 56–59 of the girls' book and pages 70–74 of the adult guide for specific Journey content that matches up with this GSFG project.
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.
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.
Also see:
Girl Scout Juniors: Juniors can use this effort for the "Now, What Can You Do?" challenge (see pages 18–19 of the GET MOVING! girls' book), which offers plenty of great ideas for what to do in the dark. Girls can go even further by turning off the lights for an hour each week (or each day!), over a month's time. To get girls familiar with energy and energy use, make the most of pages 10–13 in the girls' book and the pledge on the inside back cover of the girls' book (especially the first three parts that directly relate to reducing energy use); the Team Energy Pledge on page 40 in the adult guide; Sample Session 4, which is all about Energy in Buildings; and the Energy Audit in Sample Sessions 5 and 6.
Girl Scout Cadettes: Cadettes can prepare for their Earth Hour effort by getting familiar with the information on electricity and air pollution on page 35 of the BREATHE girls' book. They can also read about making electricity sustainable, in the "Feeling the Wind at Your Back" section that begins on page 91.
Girl Scout Ambassadors: Ambassadors will be able to find plenty to "Do the Math" about for Earth Hour. They can even use this effort in their commitment to a personal action that can have a positive impact on environmental justice. (See "The 6 Steps to Earning Sage" on page 8 in the JUSTICE adult guide; Sample Session 3, starting on page 46, including the details of "Do the Math," beginning on page 49; and pages 45-63 of the JUSTICE girls' book.)
Girl Scout Daisies: Daisies can match a Rain Garden to all they learn along the Between Earth and Sky journey about native plants and natural habitats, and the need for fresh, clean water. Use the "Science Time: How Plants Drink" activity on page 58 of the Between Earth and Sky adult guide to show girls how plants drink water.
Girl Scout Brownies: Throughout theWonders of Water journey, Brownies learn to appreciate water as one of the earth's many precious resources. Girls can have fun putting this appreciation into action by creating a Rain Garden in order to save water and improve water quality.
Girl Scout Juniors: All along the Get Moving! journey, Juniors can view rain gardens as energy savers! And, as girls "Investigate Spaces" (page 61-67 of the girls' book) and dream up their Dream Green Home on page 63, they can see how rain gardens and other water systems can be incorporated to use less energy and fewer resources. Girls can then create community rain gardens to turn their dreams into realities.
Girl Scout Cadettes: Cadettes taking the Breathe leadership journey can use a rain garden as a way to clear the air with green space while recycling water! Girls can make use of green space content on page 63, "Greening with Greenery" on pages 82–83 where they learn that they can improve air quality by planting gardens, and the pledge (especially the line about planting native, air-clearing greenery) on the inside back cover of the girls' book.
Girl Scout Seniors: Seniors on the SOW WHAT? journey are invited to consider developing rain gardens that include edible plants! In doing so, girls will save water, create greenery, lower their "food prints," and boost their "leader prints!"
Girl Scout Ambassadors: In a rain garden, many elements come together to create an efficient whole. Ambassadors on the Justice journey come to understand that achieving environmental justice happens in the same way. Chapter 2 (page 45 of the girls' book) asks girls to Do the Math and assess their own, and the world's, ecological footprints. Girls can later Do the Math on the water saved and benefits created by a rain garden.
