Sustainability is about meeting today's needs without using up what future people will need. You will look at how your family uses water, food, energy, and stuff, and find small changes that make a big difference. It's a badge you can share with your whole household.
Why it's worth it
Sustainability is about making sure there is still clean water, good food, open land, and energy for people who come after you, including your own future kids. This badge turns that big idea into small changes you can measure at home, like less water down the drain or less food in the trash. You'll learn to spot waste, ask good questions, and lead your family in a few real changes, which is a lot like what sustainability jobs do for whole cities and companies.
Start this week
- Look in your trash and recycling bins tonight and guess what you throw away most.
- Ask your Scoutmaster for the name of a Sustainability counselor, and send them a short message with a parent copied to set up a first meeting.
- Talk with your family about which activities to choose for water, food, community, energy, and stuff, since many work best as a household project.
- Start a simple notebook where you can track your measurements, like water use, trash, or energy, so you can see change over time.
Requirements · 9
Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab).
- Requirement 1
In your own words, explain what sustainability means, why it matters to society, and how you can help meet today's needs without hurting future generations' ability to meet theirs
Tip: Talk about what sustainability means to you and one simple thing you can do this week.
For example: Give a definition in your own words, like "meeting our needs now without using up what future people will need." Then name two ways you already contribute, such as packing a reusable lunch or biking to school.
- Requirement 2
Water. Choose 1 of 3
Tips for this section: Track how much water your family uses for a week and look for ways to save some.
Example for this section: Track your family's water use by reading the water meter or bill, then try a few changes like shorter showers, fixing a dripping faucet, or running the dishwasher only when full. Compare before and after.
- Requirement 2a
Evaluate your household's water use; if you can, review a year of water bills for seasonal changes. Find three ways to use less water. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 2b
Explain why we need water. Diagram how your home gets clean water from a natural source and where it goes after use, and give two ways to protect your community's clean water for the future. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 2c
Find out if your area deals with flooding, drought, or both. Identify three water-saving or flood-control efforts, successful or not, tried locally or in a place that interests you. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 3
Food. Choose 1 of 3
Tips for this section: Trace where a few of your favorite foods come from, or track how much food your family throws out for two weeks and find ways to waste less.
Example for this section: Trace four foods, like milk, eggs, tuna, and ketchup, from farm or sea to your table. Or measure how much food your family throws out for a few days as a baseline, try ideas like a leftovers night or smaller portions, and record the results for two weeks.
- Requirement 3a
Explore how sustainable plant-based, animal-based, and aquaculture foods are. Trace where four foods (like milk, eggs, tuna, avocados, or ketchup) come from and how they're processed and shipped to you. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 3b
Identify four factors that limit food availability around the world and how each affects global food sustainability. Share three ways people, families, or communities can produce their own food. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 3c
Make a plan to cut your household's food waste sustainably. Set a baseline, then track and record results for two weeks. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 4
Community. Choose 1 of 3
Tips for this section: Look for ways your town handles transportation, housing, or parks, and suggest one improvement.
- Requirement 4a
Sketch a sustainable community you'd design and be ready to explain how its housing, workplaces, shops, schools, and transportation affect energy, pollution, natural resources, and the local economy. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 4b
Find one unsustainable practice in your community and write a plan to fix it. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 4c
Identify five sustainability factors for housing and rate your home against them. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 5
Energy. Choose 1 of 3
Tips for this section: Check lights and devices at home and find ways to use less energy.
Example for this section: Walk through your home and list everything that uses power, from lights to chargers. Try turning off and unplugging what you're not using, then check whether your family's electric bill changes.
- Requirement 5a
Learn how sustainable various energy sources are (coal, gas, geothermal, hydro, nuclear, petroleum, solar, wind). Pick three common in the U.S. and describe how producing and using each affects sustainability. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 5b
List eight ways your family uses energy (appliances, electricity, heating, cooling, transportation). For one home use and one transportation use, list three ways to use less and shrink your carbon footprint. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 5c
List five ways your family could use less energy at home, such as changing the thermostat, using window shades, opening windows, lowering hot-water temperature, or using less water. Identify each idea's benefits and risks and try them if you can. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 6
Stuff. Choose 1 of 3
Tips for this section: Sort what you own into needs and wants and find things to donate or recycle, or look into what the numbers on plastics mean and where trash ends up.
Example for this section: List 15 of your things and sort them into needs, like soap, and wants, like a video game. With your family, pick out things you no longer use and decide what to donate, repurpose, or recycle.
- Requirement 6a
List 15 of your things and sort each as a need (like soap) or a want (like a video game). With your family if possible, find extras you no longer need and donate, repurpose, or recycle what you can. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 6b
List five ways having too much stuff impacts you, your family, your community, AND the wider world, considering cost, time, upkeep, health, storage, and waste for each. Identify habits that keep stuff from piling up. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 6c
Research how waste harms land, water, and air. Explain the trash vortex and how it came about, what the numbers on plastics mean and which plastics get recycled most, and one home device's usual lifespan and whether it can be recycled. Discuss it with your counselor
- Requirement 7
Global topics (discuss your picks with your counselor). Choose 2 of 6
Tips for this section: Pick two global topics that interest you, like climate or population, and learn the main ideas.
- Requirement 7a
Pick a UN Sustainable Development Goal: Affordable and Clean Energy, Clean Water and Sanitation, Climate Action, Life Below Water, Life on Land, Responsible Consumption and Production, Sustainable Cities and Communities, or Zero Hunger. Summarize it and its effect on your life, family, community, and the world, now and later
- Requirement 7b
Explain how Earth's life-support systems (soil, climate, freshwater, atmosphere, nutrients, oceans, ecosystems, species) sustain life and interact, and what happens to sustainability when nature or people disrupt them
- Requirement 7c
Explain how a product's life cycle (design, sourcing, production, use, and reuse or disposal) affects sustainability now and later, using one common product to show every stage
- Requirement 7d
Learn how world population affects Earth's sustainability, and talk about three human activities that may endanger Earth today and in the future
- Requirement 7e
Explain what species (plant or animal) decline means, which human activities cause it, what can help reverse it, and how it affects a sustainable environment
- Requirement 7f
Find a world map showing temperature change over at least 100 years. Identify three factors scientists think affect global weather and temperature, and discuss how climate change affects food, water, or other resources
- Requirement 8
Sustainability in Scouting and at home
Tips for this section: Practice Leave No Trace on your next outing, then work with your family to set a few new habits.
Example for this section: On your next campout, practice Leave No Trace by repackaging food and packing out all trash. At home, hold a family meeting to choose two or three new habits and check in on them a few weeks later.
- Requirement 8a
During a campout or other outdoor Scouting activity, take notes on the sustainability practices you and other Scouts follow, observing transportation, forestry, soil conservation, water, habitat, buildings, campsites, and sanitation. Tell your counselor what you saw and learned
- Requirement 8b
Discuss with your counselor how following the Scout Oath and Law, the Outdoor Code, and the Leave No Trace Seven Principles every day helps sustainability
- Requirement 8c
Identify five changes in behavior you and your family can make to live more sustainably at home, and discuss each with your counselor
- Requirement 9
Learn about careers in sustainability. Choose one and research the schooling, training, and experience it needs. Discuss with your counselor what you learned and why it might interest you
Tip: Research jobs in sustainability and ask someone in that field about their work.
Places to visit
Ask an adult to set it up, and go with your family, den, patrol, or crew.
A recycling center or composting facility
You'll see where your recycling actually goes and what happens to items that don't belong.
How: Have a leader contact your city or county solid waste department and ask about group tours or education programs.
A farmers market or community garden
Growers can explain how they raise food locally and what they do to keep soil healthy.
How: Go with a parent and ask a few growers about their farms, or have a leader ask the garden coordinator about a group visit.
Where it can lead
- Sustainability managerHelps businesses, schools, or cities cut waste, energy use, and costs.
- Solar or wind technicianInstalls and maintains renewable energy systems; a fast-growing trade.
- Urban plannerDesigns neighborhoods with parks, transit, and housing that work for the long run.
- Environmental scientistStudies air, water, and soil to protect people and nature.
- Recycling or waste operations specialistRuns the systems that keep materials out of landfills.
Ask yourself
- What did you find out about your family's water, food, energy, or trash that surprised you?
- Which change was easiest to stick with, and which one was hardest?
- How did your family react when you suggested new habits, and what helped them agree?
- What global sustainability topic worries or interests you most, and why?
- What's one habit from this badge you want to keep for life?
Good questions to ask someone who works in sustainability
- What does your job look like on a normal day?
- What's the biggest change you've helped a business, school, or city make?
- Which small habits make the biggest difference at home?
- How do you convince people to change when it costs time or money?
- What skills or classes would help me work in sustainability?
Helpful reads
- Earning a merit badge, step by step, From picking a badge to getting the final signature: how to find a counselor, set up meetings safely, work the requirements, and keep your progress., Youth · Families · 6 min read
- Contacting counselors, experts, and organizations, Email and phone scripts, who to ask for, how to follow up, and how to say thanks, with a parent copied every time., Youth · Families · 7 min read
- Choosing your next merit badge, How to pick a badge you'll actually finish: start with what you care about, balance Eagle-required and just-for-fun badges, and make the most of camp., Youth · Families · 6 min read
For leaders & parents
- Encourage scouts to involve their families in tracking and changing habits.
- Tie outdoor sustainability practices into troop campouts.
People & places that can help
- Merit badge counselor — Talk with them early; they can explain what's expected.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (opens in a new tab) — Information about saving water and energy.
- Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics (opens in a new tab) — Outdoor practices that protect nature.
- County extension office — Local help with gardening, food, and conservation.
- Energy Saver (U.S. Department of Energy) (opens in a new tab) — Ways to save energy at home, room by room.
- EPA WaterSense (opens in a new tab) — Simple ways to save water and test your home for leaks.
- NOAA Climate.gov (opens in a new tab) — Clear explanations and maps about climate for students.
Pairs well with
Helps you earn
Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.