Environmental Science
Merit Badge Workbook
This workbook can help you but you still need to read the merit badge pamphlet.
This Workbook can help you organize your thoughts as you prepare to meet with your merit badge counselor.
You still must satisfy your counselor that you can demonstrate each skill and have learned the information.
You should use the work space provided for each requirement to keep track of which requirements have been completed,
and to make notes for discussing the item with your counselor, not for providing full and complete answers.
If a requirement says that you must take an action using words such as "discuss", "show",
"tell", "explain", "demonstrate", "identify", etc, that is what you must do.
Merit Badge Counselors may not require the use of this or any similar workbooks.
No one may add or subtract from the official requirements found in Boy Scout Requirements (Pub. 33216 – SKU 637685).
The requirements were last issued or revised in 2016 • This workbook was updated in June 2017.
Scout’s Name: Unit:
Counselor’s Name: Counselor’s Phone No.:
[Link] • [Link]
Please submit errors, omissions, comments or suggestions about this workbook to: Workbooks@[Link]
Comments or suggestions for changes to the requirements for the merit badge should be sent to: [Link]@[Link]
1. Make a timeline of the history of environmental science in America.
1500s
1600s
1700s
1800s
1900s
Workbook © Copyright 2017 - U.S. Scouting Service Project, Inc. - All Rights Reserved
Requirements © Copyright, Boy Scouts of America (Used with permission.)
This workbook may be reproduced and used locally by Scouting volunteers for training purposes consistent with the programs of
the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) or other Scouting and Guiding
Organizations. However it may NOT be used or reproduced for electronic redistribution or for commercial or other non-Scouting
purposes without the express permission of the U. S. Scouting Service Project, Inc. (USSSP).
Environmental Science Scout's Name:
2000s
Identify the contribution made by the Boy Scouts of America to environmental science. Include dates, names of people or
organizations, and important events.
Date People/Organizations Event
2. Define the following 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.
Population:
Community:
Ecosystem:
Biosphere:
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
Symbiosis:
Niche:
Habitat:
Conservation:
Threatened species:
Endangered species:
Extinction
Pollution prevention:
Brownfield:
Ozone:
Watershed:
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Airshed:
Nonpoint source:
Hybrid vehicle:
Fuel cell:
3. Do ONE activity in EACH of the following categories (using the activities in this pamphlet as the bases for planning and
carrying out your projects):
a. Ecology
1. Conduct and experiment to find out how living things respond to changes in their environments. Discuss your
observations with your counselor.
2. Conduct an experiment illustrating the greenhouse effect. Keep a journal of your data and observations. Discuss
your conclusions with your counselor.
3. Discuss what is an ecosystem. Tell how it is maintained in nature and how it survives.
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
b. Air Pollution
1. Perform an experiment to test for particulates that contribute to air pollution. Discuss your findings with your
counselor.
2. Record the trips taken, mileage, and fuel consumption of a family car for seven days, and calculate how many miles
per gallon the car gets. Determine whether any trips could have been combined ("chained") rather than taken out
and back. Using the idea of trip chaining, determine how many miles and gallons of gas could have been saved in
those seven days.
3. Explain what is acid rain. In your explanation, tell how it affects plants and the environment and the steps society
can take to help reduce its effects.
c. Water Pollution
1. Conduct an experiment to show how living things react to thermal pollution. Discuss your observations with your
counselor.
2. Conduct an experiment to identify the methods that could be used to mediate (reduce) the effects of an oil spill on
waterfowl. Discuss your results with your counselor.
3. Describe the impact of a waterborne pollutant on an aquatic community. Write a 100-word report on how that
pollutant affected aquatic life, what the effect was, and whether the effect is linked to biomagnification.
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
d. Land Pollution
1. Conduct an experiment to illustrate soil erosion by water. Take photographs or make a drawing of the soil before
and after your experiment, and make a poster showing your results. Present your poster to your patrol or troop. (Per
National, “troop” means “unit”.)
2. Perform an experiment to determine the effect of an oil spill on land. Discuss your conclusions with your counselor.
3. Photograph an area affected by erosion. Share your photographs with your counselor and discuss why the area has
eroded and what might be done to help alleviate the erosion.
e. Endangered Species
1. Do research on one endangered species found in your state. Find out what its natural habitat is, why it is
endangered, what is being done to preserve it, and how many individual organisms are left in the wild. Prepare a
100-word report about the organism, including a drawing. Present your report to your patrol or troop.
2. Do research on one species that was endangered, or threatened, but which has now recovered. Find out how the
organism recovered, and what its new status is. Write a 100-word report on the species and discuss it with your
counselor.
3. With your parent's and counselor's approval, work with a natural resource professional to identify two projects that
have been approved to improve the habitat for a threatened or endangered species in your area. Visit the site of one
of these projects and report on what you saw.
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
f. Pollution Prevention, Resource Recovery, and Conservation
1. Look around your home and determine 10 ways your family can help reduce pollution. Practice at least two of these
methods for seven days and discuss with your counselor what you have learned.
2. Determine 10 ways to conserve resources or use resources more efficiently in your home, at school, or at camp.
Practice at least two of these methods for seven days and discuss with your counselor what you have learned.
3. Perform an experiment on packaging materials to find out which ones are biodegradable. Discuss your conclusions
with your counselor.
g. Pollination
1. Using photographs or illustrations, point out the differences between a drone and a worker bee. Discuss the stages
of bee development (eggs, larvae, pupae). Explain the pollination process, and what propolis is and how it is used
by honey bees. Tell how bees make honey and beeswax, and how both are harvested. Explain the part played in
the life of the hive by the queen, the drones, and the workers.
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
2. Present to your counselor a one-page report on how and why honey bees are used in pollinating food crops. In your
report, discuss the problems faced by the bee population today, and the impact to humanity if there were no
pollinators. Share your report with your troop or patrol, your class at school, or another group approved by your
counselor.
3. Hive a swarm OR divide at least one colony of honey bees. Explain how a hive is constructed
4. Choose two outdoor study areas that are very different from one another (e.g., hilltop vs. bottom of a hill; field vs. forest;
swamp vs. dry land). For BOTH study areas, do ONE of the following:
a. Mark off a plot of 4 square yards in each study area, and count the number of species found there. Estimate how much
space is occupied by each plant species and the type and number of non-plant species you find.
Study Plot Location 1: Number of Species:
Plant Species Space each occupies
Non-Plant Species Number found
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
Study Plot Location 2: Number of Species:
Plant Species Space each occupies
Non-Plant Species Number found
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Environmental Science Scout's Name: _
Write a report that adequately discusses the biodiversity and population density of these study areas. Discuss your report
WI·th your counse Ior.
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
b. Make at least three visits to each of the two study areas (for a total of six visits), staying for at least 20 minutes each
time, to observe the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem. Space each visit far enough apart that there are readily
apparent differences in the observations. Keep a journal that includes the differences you observe
Study Area 1:
Visit 1 Date: Time Started: Time Ended
Observations of living parts:
Observations of nonliving parts:
Differences noted:
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
Visit 2 Date: Time Started: Time Ended
Observations of living parts:
Observations of nonliving parts:
Differences noted:
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
Visit 3 Date: Time Started: Time Ended
Observations of living parts:
Observations of nonliving parts:
Differences noted:
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
Study Area 2:
Visit 1 Date: Time Started: Time Ended
Observations of living parts:
Observations of nonliving parts:
Differences noted:
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
Visit 2 Date: Time Started: Time Ended
Observations of living parts:
Observations of nonliving parts:
Differences noted:
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
Visit 3 Date: Time Started: Time Ended
Observations of living parts:
Observations of nonliving parts:
Differences noted:
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
Then, write a short report that adequately addresses your observations, including how the differences of the study areas
might relate to the differences noted, and discuss this with your counselor.
5. Using the construction project provided or a plan you create on your own, identify the items that would need to be included in
an environmental impact statement for the project planned.
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Environmental Science Scout's Name:
6. Find out about three career opportunities in environmental science.
1.
2.
3.
Pick one and explain how to prepare for such a career.
Discuss with your counselor what education and training are required, and explain why this profession might interest you.
Education
Training
Why this profession might interest you.
When working on merit badges, Scouts and Scouters should be aware of some vital information in the current edition of
the Guide to Advancement (BSA publication 33088). Important excerpts from that publication can be downloaded from
[Link]
You can download a complete copy of the Guide to Advancement from [Link]
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