Footsteps Toqueer and Pete joined the Cole Valley District Scout camp for an afternoon on Saturday 17th June to provide an activity for scouts aiming to achieve their ‘faith encounter’ badge. Around 40 young people aged between 4 and 14 made a flashcard with tips on how to save energy, to share with friends, family or their faith-group.
Having been introduced to Footsteps as being about different faiths working together for the environment’, and seeing some examples of the flashcards we have produced for energy champions to use, the scouts set about making their own. Often the first tips that come to mind are the simplest, such as turning off light switches or taking shorter showers. As the young people were working, there was space for informal discussion about less obvious energy-saving tips. Several of the scouts brought up ideas like turning off your screens and getting outside, walking instead of using a car, or speaking up for change – some scouting values clearly coming through! Similarly, with some of the older scouts, there were informal discussions about how energy links to climate change, and making more systemic changes like switching to renewables.
You can see some examples of what the young people came up with below: