Thanks to Scouter Jim, who prepares this section of Baloo for us each month.  You can reach him at ScouterJim57@yahoo.comor through the link to write Baloo on www.usscouts.org.   CD

Roundtable Prayer
CS Roundtable Planning Guide

O Lord, we thank you for the many beautiful things you have given us.  Help us better understand our world and its resources.  Help us show our Cub Scouts how to conserver our resources.  And in so doing may we honor you by helping keep our world beautiful as you have given it to us. Amen

Reuse to Reduce
Scouter Jim, Bountiful, Utah

This month’s theme is all about conservation.  There are the three “R’s” of conservation; Recycle, Reduce, and Reuse.  We all know about recycling.  Many cities around America have Recycling Programs with curb-side bins.  Many of us, sort our trash and recycle everything we can.  I even recycle kitchen waste and leaves  mixed with bunny droppings into compost for my yard and garden.  Some people reuse durable bags when they shop to reduce waste.  But how many of us really Reuse?  Recycling is great, but still uses valuable resources end energy to make those discarded items into new products. 

This month’s theme, “Litter to Glitter,” is all about Reusing.  Making use of things that would normally be discarded or recycled.  Most of the projects our Cub Scouts do, are made from things that have been used originally in other ways.  They are literally using litter to make new things.  As a boy, I remember using old glass baby food jars to make parts bins for Father’s Day gifts as a Cub Scout.  But as leaders we need to be supporting Reuse ourselves.  But how do we do that?

In my community, we have a local thrift store that employs dozens of individuals; most with challenges in their lives.  Not only does this chain of stores, give these people jobs, it also has training programs to help them prepare for better employment elsewhere.  There are other organizations in our communities that use donated goods to help specific groups of people, either with the goods themselves or with the revenue generated for the sale of those donated goods.

As Scouting leaders, not only can we let our Cubs use our junk to make new things, but we can teach them the value of reusing.  We can do this by donating  items we no longer need that are still in good useable condition to organizations that will reuse or resell those things.  We can donate to organizations like Friends of MS, the ARC and others.  Don’t donate garbage that is worn out and of no value to anyone.  That takes valuable resources away from the charities we give our items to, as they have to pay to have our trash hauled away.  Make sure the items we donate are in good usable condition, or we are just adding to the problem.  We can organize collection drives with our Cub Scouts to collect items to donate to these worthy organizations, allowing our Cub Scouts a hands-on experience in helping our communities, and turning Litter into Glitter.

We can support charities like, Goodwill Industries, the Salvation Army, Deseret Industries, and others that provide assistance and employment for those with special needs in our communities by shopping at their stores.  Not only are we providing a revenue for those organizations, we are saving money ourselves and helping the world around us.   There is also the chance that you might find a treasure at one of these stores.  We have all seen what happens on Antiques Road Show on PBS.

Let us all learn to practice conservation by reusing more, and turning our Litter into Glitter to help our communities and our world.  Don’t just do it for a month, but make it part of you life and do it for the future.

Quotations

Quotations contain the wisdom of the ages, and are a great source of inspiration for Cubmaster’s minutes, material for an advancement ceremony or an insightful addition to a Pack Meeting program cover

"Just as we cannot blame others for destroying the environment, so we cannot look to others to protect the environment. Responsibility for both begins at home."  Paul Griss, The Daily Planet

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."  Proverb

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.  Henry David Thoreau

There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.  Mohandas K. Gandhi

There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all.  Robert Orben

Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find.  Quoted in Time

Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites. William Ruckelshaus, Business Week, 18 June 1990

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.  Native American Proverb

There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth.  We are all crew.  Marshall McLuhan, 1964

If civilization has risen from the Stone Age, it can rise again from the Wastepaper Age.  Jacques Barzun, The House of Intellect, 1959

When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves.  David Orr

We cannot command Nature except by obeying her.  Francis Bacon

Take care of the earth and she will take care of you.  Author Unknown

Waste not the smallest thing created, for grains of sand make mountains, and atomies infinity.  E. Knight

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.  Richard P. Feynman

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.  ~Henry David Thoreau

Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it.  ~Henry David Thoreau, "Chesuncook," The Maine Woods, 1848

We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.  Albert Einstein

When you use a manual push mower, you're "cutting" down on pollution and the only thing in danger of running out of gas is you!  Grey Livingston

Sam Houston Area Council

“We are not to throw away those things which can benefit our neighbor. Goods are called good because they can be used for good; they are instruments for good, in the hands of those who use them properly.” – Clement of Alexandria

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” – New England proverb

“Most of us are familiar with recycle and reusing, but how often do we think of the third R - REDUCE? 'Reduce' is probably the most important of the three R's because, if we reduced, it would limit the need to recycle and reuse.” – Catherine Pulsifer

“I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.” – Mother Teresa

“One thing you can’t recycle is wasted time. - Anonymous