CUBMASTER'S MINUTES

RECYCLING
Sam Houston Area Council

Materials: 2 foot strip of paper about 2” wide (needs to be big enough to see), tape, marker, scissors, large picture/drawing of recycling logo, several products with recycling labels on them

[While the Cubmaster talks, he/she will be
 building a möbius strip.]

Cubmaster: I have with me today this long strip of paper. [Picks up paper]

I'm going to attach the ends here with tape [Put the ends of the paper together forming a loop, but before taping, twist one of the ends - now tape]

I now have a loop that has only one side. [Ask a Cub Scout from the audience to come up]. My Cub Scout volunteer will show us. He's going to draw a line down the middle of our loop and won't have to pick up his pen. [Cub Scout begins to draw the line, Cubmaster helping if needed]. [Thank the Cub Scout and ask him to sit down]

This is a special loop that goes on and on and on and as you follow the side around – you just can't figure it out how that happened [On a hard surface, shape the loop into a triangle (this will crease parts of it, but that's OK).]

[Hold up the triangle]. How many of you have seen something like this before? [Parents may answer – and some boys may too – that it looks like the recycling logo.]

[If no answer comes immediately, hold up the picture of recycling logo]. Just as this loop, called a möbius strip, has no end, the same is true of recycling. [Ask them if they know what recycle means] The symbol reminds us that the materials and resources that we use everyday can be recycled. This means that rather than use them just once and throw them away, we find other uses for these materials. Sometimes we are able to use them for something else at home. Can anyone tell me about something they use again at home instead of throwing it away?

If you can't use it again at home you can recycle it by saving it in a particular container and giving it to a business that can use it again. Often they are able to use the recycled material to make something else. Can anyone tell me an item that you save so it can be made into something else?

So recycling means that we try to use something in some way so it never has to be thrown away and then used again and then they can be recycled again... and we hope that we can continue going on and on and on. It was a möbius strip that was the inspiration for the recycling logo that we have today and it is used all over the world.

It is difficult to break that unity of recycling... [use scissors to cut the möbius strip along the line] because it just keeps getting bigger. [As you cut the möbius strip, you will now have not two strips, but a bigger strip].

Recycling means we try to keep the cycle going. Let's do our part to start recycling all that we can today.

This Apple Is The Whole World
Capital Area Council

PROPS: Apple, Pocketknife, Table

*Because this ceremony involves the use of a pocketknife, an adult should handle this.

CUBMASTER: Earth Day comes in April and it reminds us to be careful with our home planet. There is also an old song about April showers bring May flowers. Together, these remind me of how precious and valuable water is, and how important it is to use it wisely. I

Imagine that this apple is the whole world. Three quarters of the world is covered with water, and only one quarter is covered by land. (Cut one-fourth section off of apple and place it down on the table.)

Out of the three quarters covered in water, only about three percent is fresh water and the rest is salt water, mostly in the oceans. (Cuts off thin sliver from apple, and places larger piece down on the table. Holds the thin sliver up for all to see).

Of this 3% slice, about two-thirds of that is generally not available. Most of that is frozen in the North Pole and South Pole, and other hard to reach places. (Cuts off two thirds of the thin sliver and puts larger piece down).

Only this thin sliver is left. All the fresh water that is available to life on the land's surface. This is all the fresh water we have. What would happen to us if we ruin this thin sliver by pollution? (Eats thin sliver in one bite).

We would be gone just like that. Be careful with the world. We need to save it for all these young people here tonight.

Nature Closing
Capital Area Council

Wood and water, wind and tree,
Wisdom, strength, and courtesy,
Scouting favor go with thee.

Conservation Closing
Capital Area Council

Cubmaster(holds picture of outdoor scene): All of this great and beautiful America is ours to enjoy. Surely we want to preserve it for the thousands of boys who will come after us. Let us stand and repeat in unison a pledge that will remind us to conserve these wonderful things for those who follow us. Please repeat the outdoor code with me.

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,
And be conservation minded.