Ready for Tomorrow Badge
For Junior Girl Scouts

The future is here. Are girls ready to meet it? They find out as they earn this badge.

The Ready for Tomorrow Badge appeared in Girl Scout Badges and Signs (1990) but was not included in the Junior Girl Scout Badge Book (2001). However, the badge is still available here online, adapted for the Web.

Complete at least six of the 11 activities.

1. Global Product Hunt

Go on a global product hunt in your house. Make a list of things that come from outside the United States. Include items such as clothing, footwear, electronics, food, cosmetics, art, and games. On a map, find the countries that are part of your daily life. Share this information with your troop/group.

2. Cooking With the Sun

Use the sun's energy for cooking! Construct a solar oven and use it to cook a simple meal or purify water. See page 139 of the Junior Girl Scout Handbook or visit solarcooking.org for plans.

3. Using Resources Wisely

Design an "Earth Matters" seal of approval to award products and services in your community. Make a checklist of important considerations (such as not using wasteful packaging, not polluting water, or being energy-efficient) that must be met before receiving the award. Use your consumer power to buy products that do not harm the environment.

4. Penny Power

With help from your family or Girl Scout troop/group, collect mail, magazine, or newspaper appeals that ask for financial help for social or environmental action projects. Pick ones you would like to help. Then set aside a dollar in pennies and pretend that it is your budget for charitable giving. Decide how you would divide the pennies among the different organizations.

5. Wildlife in Danger

Find out about an endangered species that lives in a different part of the world. If possible, watch a video or TV show, observe the species at the zoo or in an arboretum, or collect information about it. Learn how you can help through an organization that works to preserve this species.

6. Plant a Tree, Help It Grow

Trees are one of the earth's most important renewable resources. They are essential in removing carbon dioxide from the air and adding the oxygen we need to survive. Work on a tree-planting project in your community. Care for the trees after they've been planted.

7. Global Tree Action

Find out about an organization that helps people in other countries or other parts of the United States plant trees to fight pollution, prevent soil erosion, or add oxygen to the Earth's atmosphere. Or look for a group trying to prevent trees from being cut down. Find out what you can do to help.

8. A Credo

The word "credo" means "a set of beliefs or principles to live by." Write a personal credo that tells how you feel about the environment. Make a list of actions that you might take to live by your credo.

9. Local Issues

Learn about a community issue (such as water use, land use, landfills, recycling, toxic waste, land development, open space, or use of chemicals) that affects the environment. Attend a public hearing sponsored by a government agency or local government that addresses one of these issues. Find out how an informed person can be part of this process.

10. Get Political

Interview an elected official and ask how she or he feels about the environment. Find out what kinds of actions the official took that affect the environment in your community, state, nation, or the world.

11. Take Action

Participate in an environmental action project that has a positive impact on the quality of life in your community.

Adapted from Girl Scout Badges and Signs ©1990 by Girl Scouts of the United States of America.

Note: Participation patches must be worn on the back of the uniform only.

Girl Scout badges, patches, awards, and other insignia that are earned for the accomplishment of skill-building activities or any set requirements should be presented, worn, or displayed only after Girl Scouts have completed the requirements outlined in the appropriate program materials.

All insignia are owned by Girl Scouts of the United States of America and are protected by law for use by GSUSA. None of the insignia may be copied, duplicated, or reproduced without prior express written authorization from Girl Scouts of the USA. All rights reserved.