I am no fan of the creepy crawler. I don’t keep tarantulas and lizards as pets. Big southern roaches completely creep me out. And I let Charles and the terrier-mix Freida track the occasional mouse behind the hot water heater. But a scout knows her wildlife, and that includes the creepiest and dangerous ones. There … Continue reading »
You start a project like this, and you notice that you’ll be asked to do a bit of thinking about how you might help make the world a better place. Scout badges are chock full of tasks intended to improve our homes, our communities, our planet. And last January, after participating in No Impact Week, … Continue reading »
Yesterday, our nation’s manned space program at NASA came to an indefinite halt. Sigh. Big sigh. I wrote about this last week as well, but now seems like a good time to look at how much NASA‘s program has improved our lives. While much of the rumored NASA inventions like Tang, Teflong and Velcro turned out … Continue reading »
In one of last week’s posts, I offered up a word search puzzle around the theme of garden variety domestic travel. In this post, let’s go bigger. Let’s imagine ourselves aboard the Shuttle Atlantis and contemplate alternatives to our typical world view. BADGE TASK UPDATE: FINDING YOUR WAY For this badge, scouts are asked to … Continue reading »
Tomorrow, Friday, July 8, 11:36 A.M. EDT, is the scheduled date for the launch of NASA’s final space shuttle mission, flight # STS-135, Shuttle Atlantis. I’ll be watching, and I’ll be pretty bummed out, too. I mean seriously bummed out. It’s worth remembering that our nation’s commitment to space launched with its own kind of rocket booster … Continue reading »
For my next badge work I was a little surprised to learn that gene mapping is central to a badge task. Scouts are asked to look into an illness that’s linked to genes, then consider the pros and cons of genetic tests. Would a scout want to know what potential diseases that lay waiting in her … Continue reading »
Following up on last Thursday’s post, today we’re looking at a mini-experiment in just how hard it is to remove oil from water. BADGE WORK UPDATE: OIL UP Scouts are asked to create their own mini oil spill, then try their hand at removing the oil from the water, sand, plant life and feathers using things … Continue reading »
Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know that yesterday was the one year anniversary of the BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion, resulting in an oil disaster whose effects will be felt for years to come. Believe it or not, there’s a badge for scouts that’s devoted to teaching girls about oil in our lives … Continue reading »
There are lots of reasons to visit the Big Island of Hawaii, but for us, no adventure was so anticipated or rewarding as our coastline hike to see lava flowing into the ocean, to see the planet being born. It was a key reason for choosing to visit this island over the others for our … Continue reading »
Do you consider yourself a bottled water afficianado? Well, friend, then you definitely want to check out the newly-released report card on bottle waters from the Environmental Working Group. Think you should be worried about the quality of your tap water? It might be better than you think. Here’s a ranking of best tap water in … Continue reading »
