Environmental Science Merit Badge - requirement 1, 2, 3a and 3b

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
MERIT BADGE

Make a
timeline of the
history of
environmental
science in
America:
Environmental Science Merit Badge
1. TIMELINE

BEFORE EUROPEAN SETTLERS ARRIVED IN
NORTH AMERICA, AMERICAN INDIANS USED
FORESTS AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL
RESOURCES FOR CENTURIES.
AT TIMES, TRIBES OVERUSED CERTAIN FORESTED
AREAS. IF A FOREST BECAME OVERUSED OR TOO
HEAVILY DAMAGED TO SUPPORT A TRIBE,
THE GROUP WOULD MOVE ON AND THE FOREST,
LEFT ALONE , WOULD RECOVER.
REQUIREMENT 1: TIMELINE
AS MORE SETTLERS ARRIVED IN NORTH AMERICA, THEIR NEED FOR
NATURAL RESOURCES GREW. WHEN THEY RAN OUT OF NATURAL
RESOURCES IN A SETTLED AREA, PEOPLE MOVED WESTWARD AND
BEGAN THE CYCLE AGAIN. SETTLERS BELIEVED THEY COULD ALWAYS
MOVE FARTHER WEST TO FIND MORE SPACE AND MORE RESOURCES.

1626 Plymouth Colony passed a
law to control the cutting and sale
of timber.
1639 Newport Rhode Island
Restricted deer hunting to six
months of the year.
1681 William Penn decreed that
one acre must be left forested for
every five acres of forest that
were cleared.

REQUIREMENT 1:
ENVIRONMENTAL TIMELINE

DDT was a pesticide used on crops to kill mosquitoes. At the time people where afraid of getting malaria from
mosquitoes. People thought DDT did not hurt any animals because it did not effect humans, but they were wrong.

 1910
 The Boy Scouts of America was
incorporated
 1914
 First tree-planting project was held in
New York
 Planted 12,000 Boy Scout war gardens
 1938
 Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp
established
 35,857 acres of land near Cimarron, New
Mexico (conservation)
 1940-1949
 Philmont Scout Ranch established
 Additional gift from Waite Phillips, 1941
 Contiguous to former Philturn Rocky
Mountain Scout Camp
 Total combined acreage: 127,000
 Councils and campsites by 1949
 543 councils
 831 campsites
 288,545 acres
 1970-1979
 Scouting Keep America Beautiful Day
 June 5, 1971
 Scouts collected more than a million tons
of litter
 1980-1989
 First Scouting for Food National Good
Turn, 1988
 More than 60 million food items were
collected
 2000-2009
 ArrowCorps5, 2008
 In cooperation with the U.S. Forest
Service
 3,600 Scouts and adult volunteers
participated
 $5.6 million worth of improvements
made to national parks
 The Summit Bechtel Family National
Scout Reserve, 2009
 Present Day
 Thousands of Eagle Scout projects,
service days, etc
BSA CONTRIBUTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCE

Outdoor Code
As an American, I will do my best to -
Be clean in my outdoor manners.
Be careful with fire.
Be considerate in the outdoors.
Be conservation minded.
SCIENCE

The Principles of Leave No Trace
1. Plan Ahead and Prepare
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
3. Dispose of Waste Properly (Pack It In, Pack It Out)
4. Leave What You Find
5. Minimize Campfire Impacts
6. Respect wildlife
7. Be considerate of other visitors
SCIENCE

Nature study is the
key activity in
Scouting.
The aim in Nature
study is to develop a
realization of God
the Creator, and to
infuse a sense of the
beauty of Nature."
SCIENCE

 Met Lord Baden-Powell in 1906
and shared ideas
 LBP read Seton’s book The
Birch Bark Roll of the
Woodcraft Indians
 Early fascination with wolves.
Hunted Lobo in New Mexico
 Co-founded BSA through merger
of YMCA, Sons of Daniel
Boone, and Woodcraft Indians
in 1910
 Seton’s work is in large part
responsible for the American
Indian influences in the BSA
 One of America’s earliest and
most influential
conservationists
SCIENCE

Define the
following
terms in
your
workbook:
2. DEFINE TERMS

 Population
 Community
 Ecosystem
 Biosphere
 Symbiosis
 Niche
 Habitat
 Conservation
 Threatened species
 Endangered species
 Extinction
 Pollution prevention
 Brownfield
 Ozone
 Watershed
 Airshed
 Nonpoint source
 Hybrid vehicle
 Fuel cell
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE TERMS

Population -a
group of the same
organism in an
area.
Community -many
populations living
and interacting
together.
Ecosystem -the
interaction
between all living
and non-living
things in an area.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE TERMS

Our living world where all trees, bugs, and
animals live.
The biosphere extends to any place that life
(of any kind) can exist on Earth.
2. BIOSPHERE

A close and
often long-
term
interaction
between two
or more
different
biological
species.
2. SYMBIOSIS

The way of
life and the
particular
area within
a habitat
occupied
by an
organism.
2. NICHE

A place where
plants and
animals naturally
live. It provides
what the animals
and plants need
to survive like
food, water and
shelter.
2. HABITAT

Practices that protect animals,
plants and the environment.
2. CONSERVATION

Any species
(including animals,
plants, fungi, etc.)
which are
“likely” to
become an
endangered
species
within the
foreseeable
future.
THREATENED
SPECIES

An animal
or plant
species in
danger of
“extinction”
throughout
all or a
significant
portion
Of its
range.
ENDANGERED
SPECIES

The end of an organism or species.
2. EXTINCTION

Activities that
reduce the
amount of
pollution
generated by a
process,
whether it is
consumer
consumption,
driving, or
industrial
production
2. POLLUTION PREVENTION

Brownfield
sites are
abandoned
or underused
industrial
and
commercial
facilities
available for
re-use.
2. BROWNFIELD

Atmospheric Ozone is produced
when ultraviolet radiation
interacts in the stratosphere.
Ozone in the atmosphere is
naturally produced and destroyed
at a constant rate.
Ozone protects the earth from
harmful UV radiation which
damages skin, eyes, and the
immune system of life forms.
Ozone makes life on earth
possible.
Ground-level Ozone is a major
pollutant and green house gas.
2. OZONE

A watershed
is the area
of land
where all of
the water
that is
under it or
drains off of
it goes into
the same
place.
2. WATERSHED

 An airshed
can be
compared to
a watershed.
an airshed is
a geographic
area where
air pollutants
from sources
"upstream" or
within the
area flow and
are present in
the air.
2. AIRSHED

Nonpoint source
(NPS) a source
of pollution,
discharged over a
wide land area,
not from one
specific location
such as a pipe
discharge.
Example:
rainwater runoff
2. NONPOINT SOURCE

A vehicle that uses
two or more
distinct power
sources to move
the vehicle.
2. HYBRID VEHICLE

A device that converts
the chemical energy
from a fuel into
electricity through a
chemical reaction with
oxygen or another
oxidizing agent.
2. FUEL CELL

Describe An
Ecosystem in
your workbook
3. A. ECOLOGY

3. A. ECOLOGY
(3) DISCUSS WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM, TELL HOW IT
IS MAINTAINED IN NATURE AND HOW IT SURVIVES.

An ecosystem is a
community of
living organisms
(plants, animals
and microbes) in
conjunction with
the nonliving
components of
their
environment.
3. A. ECOLOGY
(3) DISCUSS WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM, TELL HOW IT IS
MAINTAINED IN NATURE AND HOW IT SURVIVES.

Acidity is a property
measured on a scale called
the pH scale with a range
of 0 to 14.
Pure water has a pH of 7.
Rain is naturally slightly
acidic, with a pH of about
5.6, this is because carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere
reacts with water vapor to
become carbonic acid.
3. B. AIR POLLUTION
(3) EXPLAIN WHAT IS ACID RAIN.

 Sul f ur di oxi de
and ni t r ogen
oxi des ar e t he
pr i mar y causes
of aci d r ai n.
 When vehi cl es
and power pl ant s
t hat bur n f ossi l
f uel s emi t
sul f ur di oxi de
and ni t r ogen
oxi des i nt o t he
ai r , t hese gases
i nt er act wi t h
wat er vapor t o
f or msul f ur i c
and ni t r i c aci ds.
 These acids then
mix with rain and
fall to Earth’s
3. B. AIR POLLUTION
(3) EXPLAIN WHAT IS ACID RAIN.
Acid rain can deplete the soil of the nutrients that plants need to
grow. When acid rain falls, it filters down through the soil and
dissolves soil nutrients and other materials, moving them down to
layers out of reach of plant roots.

Plants and Trees
 Reduces crop production, damage to
seeds
 Reduces quality of crops
 Plants may die from acid rain or be
weakened so that they are more easily
harmed by other kinds of stresses in
the environment, such as cold
temperatures, insect damage, or
droughts.
Aquatic Ecosystems
 Acid rain damages aquatic ecosystems
by changing the pH of the water and
depleting nutrients.
 Many aquatic organisms may die when
acid rain falls into lakes and ponds.
 Affects marine food chain, damage to
fisheries result
Materials
• corrosion of metals (such as bronze)
and the deterioration of paint and
stone (such as marble and
limestone).
• These ef fects significantly reduce
the societal value of buildings,
bridges, cultural objects (such as
statues, monuments, and
tombstones), and cars.
3. B. AIR POLLUTION
(3) TELL HOW ACID RAIN AFFECTS PLANTS
AND THE ENVIRONMENT.

 Acid rain is a worldwide problem because the gases that make it may be produced in
one state or country and be blown to another state or country by winds.
3. B. AIR POLLUTION
(3) TELL HOW ACID RAIN AFFECTS PLANTS
AND THE ENVIRONMENT.

3. B. AIR POLLUTION
(3) WHAT ARE THE STEPS SOCIETY CAN TAKE TO
HELP REDUCE THE EFFECTS OF ACID RAIN?

Environmental Science Merit Badge - requirement 1, 2, 3a and 3b

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