Have you heard the SNAPP? Northamptonshire Scouts have agreed to support a year-long Community Impact project from 01/04/2019-01/04/2020 to help reduce the amount of plastic entering the sea which we are calling SNAPP. The SNAPP project, Scouts Northamptonshire Avoid Plastic Pollution is being launched by the county on 30/03/2019 utilising the international Earth Hour day.
Plastic Pollution is a growing concern, it is the accumulation of plastic products in the environment that adversely affect wildlife, wildlife habitats and humans. Right now there is estimated to be 150 million tonnes of plastic in the Oceans[1] - everything from the plastic bottle to the plastic bag, our everyday items that end up in our oceans. If we do nothing to reduce this annual additional to our oceans, then by 2050 there will be more plastic items in the ocean than fish. The term “Plastic Soup” is being used to describe our oceans and its effects, which are not just on the ocean are disastrous. Plastic is now entering every level of the ocean food chain. Nearly all the plastic ever created still exists in some form today. The greatest contribution to the plastic problem though are those items termed “Single Use” or unnecessary plastic, the plastic drinks bottle, the carrier bag or the Clingfilm protecting your fruit and veg.
But it’s not too late and within Northamptonshire Scouts we want us all to contribute our part -
Lord Baden Powell said that scouts should leave the world a little better than we found it. However Marine life is facing "irreparable damage" from the millions of tonnes of plastic waste which ends up in the oceans each year.
Whilst the scale of the problem sounds vast, Scouts Northamptonshire has over 8000 active members, 6000 of which are young people, who collectively and within their wider family context stand to make an impact on the plastic waste of Northamptonshire by working together on this campaign for 2019/20. With 8,000 Members – if we influence, our work, our environments, our families, our homes, in our local Scout community – what will 8,000 become?… 16,000?, 32,000
The Scout Association is committed to young people connecting and taking action on issues that affect our local communities and the wider world. The Community Impact staged activity badge is part of the scouting programme, alongside other environmental awareness activity badges such as Global issues and Conservation and through the senior awards where Community and sustainability are two of the key challenge areas.
Our Aim is to run a countywide Community Impact project during the financial year 2019/20 to raise awareness and help Scouts Northamptonshire take action on this problem. In raising awareness of plastic pollution/soup caused by the overuse of unnecessary plastic, we hope that all Sections, Scout Groups and Districts will take action to reduce our impact on both the local and international communities.
The project aims to be part of the scouting programme of activities on offer to Northamptonshire Scouts[2] throughout 2019/2020. Taking part in the project will involve a series of challenges and opportunities to Reduce, Recycle, Educate and Remove, single-use plastics from our daily lives where possible. There has been a Badge develop to support this initiative and the Badge requirements will be launched in February 2019, alongside the registration process and launch event in March 2019. We are currently visiting all ADC/ACC meetings DC meetings and GSL meetings to let you know about the project, which comes with a full pack of programmes on a plate to help support you take part alongside one or two county initiatives. We very much hope that as many groups as possible sign up to take part during the year of action. we have a SNAPP facebook page where you can start to find resources programme ideas and information about the problem.
we will be posting each week in the newsletter in the build-up to the launch.
[1] Reference from GreenPeace
[2] Scouts throughout the report refers to the collective Scouts ie beavers, cubs, scouts, explorers and network members. Leaders, executives and County/district teams
