H.A.C. -Environmental Science Traditional Geocache
H.A.C. -Environmental Science
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Environmental Science
Please write your experience in the log book, other that signing
and dating it only. That's what it's for.
A little trek down the Amana Nature Trail. You will be looking for
a 30 cal ammo can with a few trading items. Please stay on the
trail, the cache is just a few feet from the trail and there's no
need to leave the trail. This area is closed during Iowa's deer
shotgun season.
While earning the Environmental Science merit badge, Scouts will
get a taste of what it is like to be an environmental scientist,
making observations and carrying out experiments to investigate the
natural world.
Merit Badge Requirements:
1. Make a time line of the history of environmental science in
America. Identify the contribution made by the Boy Scouts of
America to environmental science. Include dates, names of people or
organizations, and important events.
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.
3. Do ONE activity from EACH of the following categories (using the
activities in this pamphlet as the basis for planning and
projects):
1. Ecology
1. Conduct an 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 counselor.
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.
5. 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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6. 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 conclusion with your
counselor.
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:
1. 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 nonplant
species you find. Write a report that adequately discusses the
biodiversity and population density of these study areas. Discuss
your report with your counselor.
2. 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. 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.
6. Find out about three career opportunities in environmental
science. Pick one and find out the education, training, and
experience required for this profession. Discuss this with your
counselor, and explain why this profession might interest
you.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)