Promise To The Planet
You don’t have to be a scientist to know that climate change is a big deal.
As Scouts, we’re committed to finding a global solution because we’re led by young people – and they know whose future is at stake. From this year, 57 million Scouts from across the world are taking a stand to work towards a better world by taking action to reduce climate change. They are getting hands-on to make a difference wherever they live, using their voices to inspire decision makers, and recording their actions for the planet.
This global Scout campaign helps towards a number of Sustainable Development Goals, including: Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, Life Below Water and Life On Land – to find out more, head over to the Scouts for SDGs web page.
Downloads & Resources:
Our Cheshire Scouts Pledge
By 2023, all Cheshire Groups and Units will have achieved or completed an environmental project or taken climate action, impacting their local community in a fun, inclusive and youth-led manner.
We would like every Group and Unit in Cheshire to undertake an environmental project or take local climate action in 2022. This could be as inspiring as a youth-led discussion about global issues or as epic as building a conservation garden in your local area. Try to encourage Young Leaders and youth members to lead the actions.
Whatever you choose, consider the safety and impact of your actions. And have fun!
Get your voices heard
Thank you for taking action as part of Promise To The Planet. We are looking forward to hearing what you get up to with your Colony, Pack, Troop or Unit. Why not post your success on social media, tagging @CheshireScouts or using the hashtags #CheshirePTTP #PromiseToThePlanet.
To share any reports, experiences, interesting activities or newsworthy events, contact Graham Proctor (Deputy County Commissioner) at [email protected].
Choose your action
Activity ideas and background information.
Activities to consider:
- Build bug hotels
- Plant seeds
- Upcycle objects
- Plant trees
- Design water filters
- Debate climate change
- Cultivate wild spaces
- Invite guest speakers
- Contact local councillors
- Partner with locals
- Nominate eco-captains
- Start composting
- Influence local businesses
- Start an eco-enterprise
- Cycle or walk to Scouts!
R E C O V E R
Everyday actions make a huge impact on our planet. To reduce climate change, we need to eat, travel, and power our lives in planet-friendly ways. If we keep living as we are, we’d need more than one Earth to keep up with the resources we use. But we don’t have another home.
Hands-on action: choose a planet-friendly diet, reduce your food waste, use less fossil fuel
powered energy, and avoid fossil fuel powered transport.
Things to consider:
- Choose food that’s in season and from local sources. Local food doesn’t have to travel long
distances to reach you, and food that’s in season doesn’t have to use as much artificial heat
or water to grow. - Reduce your food waste. Food takes a lot of time and energy to produce. Make sure none gets wasted by planning meals, only buying what you need, and giving any spare food to others (or a charity).
- Change what’s on your plate. We all need to eat – but some foods take up lots of space and generate lots of greenhouse gases. Do your research and choose foods that are better for the environment. We’ll give you a hint – it’ll probably mean eating more plants.
- Change how you get around. Walk or cycle more, or swap car journeys for a train or bus.
Use your voice action:
- Encourage businesses and decision makers to promote eco-friendly choices in your community and adopt ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gases.
Things to consider:
- Encourage businesses and decision makers to choose carbon-neutral supply chains and sustainable food production. You could make a video, use social media, start a petition, or write letters.
- Speak to decision makers about making public transport in your area accessible and affordable. Are there plans to expand or improve public transport options?
- Work with others in your local area to put on community events that help people to live more sustainably.
R E C Y C L E
When plastic isn’t disposed of properly, it pollutes habitats, releases substances that harm humans and animals, and emits gases that make climate change worse. To reduce climate change, we need to recycle as much as possible.
Hands-on action: Collect plastic, sort it out, and recycle it appropriately.
Things to consider:
- Keep yourself safe. When you’re collecting rubbish, wear suitable clothing to protect yourself, including a pair of gloves. Never collect anything from a dangerous area, and always wash your hands thoroughly before eating, touching your face and when you finish.
- Keep track of how much rubbish you collect. You can use this information to record your action and show decision makers that plastic pollution is a big issue in your area.
- Use your voice action: speak to decision makers and businesses about plastic pollution and encourage them to recycle plastic properly.
Things to consider:
- Ask decision makers and businesses to reduce their use of unnecessary single-use plastic, as well as investing in cleaning up the environment.
- Think about what type of rubbish is a problem in your area.
- Make people aware of microplastics. These are small pieces of plastic (less than five millimetres big) – they’re everywhere, and they make their way up the food chain and hurt animals and people. How could your decision maker stop microplastics from entering habitats and remove the microplastics that are already there?
- Talk about offshoring. This is when countries send their waste away to be processed by other countries. It damages the environment because it uses lots of transport to move the rubbish, and the countries it ends up in don’t always process it correctly – they may put it landfill sites or even burn it! Could your decision maker do more to reduce, reuse, and recycle in your area?
R E D U C E
Everyday actions make a huge impact on our planet. To reduce climate change, we need to eat, travel, and power our lives in planet-friendly ways. If we keep living as we are, we’d need more than one Earth to keep up with the resources we use. But we don’t have another home.
Hands-on action: Choose a planet-friendly diet, reduce your food waste, use less fossil fuel
powered energy, and avoid fossil fuel powered transport.
Things to consider:
- Choose food that’s in season and from local sources. Local food doesn’t have to travel long distances to reach you, and food that’s in season doesn’t have to use as much artificial heat or water to grow.
- Reduce your food waste. Food takes a lot of time and energy to produce. Make sure none gets wasted by planning meals, only buying what you need, and giving any spare food to others (or a charity).
- Change what’s on your plate. We all need to eat – but some foods take up lots of space and generate lots of greenhouse gases. Do your research and choose foods that are better for the environment. We’ll give you a hint – it’ll probably mean eating more plants.
- Change how you get around. Walk or cycle more, or swap car journeys for a train or bus. Use your voice action: encourage businesses and decision makers to promote eco-friendly choices in your community and adopt ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gases.
Things to consider:
- Encourage businesses and decision makers to choose carbon-neutral supply chains and sustainable food production. You could make a video, use social media, start a petition, or write letters.
- Speak to decision makers about making public transport in your area accessible and affordable. Are there plans to expand or improve public transport options?
- Work with others in your local area to put on community events that help people to live more sustainably.
R E T H I N K
Hands-on action: Fix things whenever you can and buy products from sustainable sources.
Things to consider:
- Fix what you can, so you only buy what you need. You don’t have to fix things on your own (especially if it wouldn’t be safe). There may be other in your area with the right skills and tools for the job.
- If something can’t be fixed, do your research so you buy something that’s sustainably sourced. For example, lots of clothing brands are moving towards organic materials and carbon-neutral production. Alternatively, you could try repairing clothes at home.
- Sew holes in socks for example or repair the hems on trousers.
- Watch out for greenwashing – when companies use clever branding and messaging to trick you into thinking their product is good for the environment when it isn’t.
Use your voice action: raise awareness about how people can help fight climate change by
spreading the word in your community or online.
Things to consider:
- Set up sessions in your community to help people fix things. Encourage everyone to share their skills, tools, and top tips. It’s not just good for the planet – it’ll help your local community bond and save money too.
- Notice when businesses aren’t operating sustainably. Do your research, then get in touch to ask them to take care of our planet. You could create and write an open letter.
Badges and awards
By taking part in a PTTP project, young people will qualify for the Promise To The Planet Badge. This is a fun/campfire blanket badge and is available at The Scout Store, alongside other cool PTTP merchandise.
As well as this, most environmentally-themed activities will cover requirements of young people’s badges and Top Awards. Try to think about how best to work challenge, activity and core badge work into your programme using themed activities. Check out the activity ideas below for some inspiration.
Contact Team Cheshire
For enquiries relating to Promise To The Planet, contact your sectional representative from the Cheshire Scouts Programme Team below. Alternatively, you can invite a Programme Team member to one of your meetings.
Click here to request a Team Cheshire visit
Ruth Clemson
Assistant County Commissioner
(Beaver Scouts)
Cheshire, UK
@CheshireScouts
[email protected]
Pam Owen
Assistant County Commissioner
(Cub Scouts)
Cheshire, UK
@CheshireScouts
[email protected]
Charly O’Brien
Assistant County Commissioner
(Scouts)
Cheshire, UK
@CheshireScouts
[email protected]
Amelia Riley
Assistant County Commissioner
(Explorer Scouts)
Cheshire, UK
@CheshExplorers
[email protected]
Diane Blurton
Emma Williams
County Explorer Leaders (Young Leaders)
Cheshire, UK
@CheshireYLs
[email protected]
Ian Turnbull
Assistant County Commissioner
(Network)
Cheshire, UK
@CheshireScouts
[email protected]
Carol Frain
Assistant County Commissioner
(Top Awards)
Cheshire, UK
@Ches_Top_Awards
[email protected]
