Press Release

Boy Scouts of America Partners with Mother Nature Network to launch Earth Badge Initiative at 2016 Sustainable Brands Conference

At the 2016 Sustainable Brands conference in San Diego, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) announced a new environmental initiative – Earth Badge – to help more families and communities become actively engaged in outdoor activities and environmental projects. Developed by the Boy Scouts of America in partnership with Mother Nature Network, Earth Badge is a historic journey into BSA’s iconic heritage and unparalleled library of environmental and outdoor knowledge combined with new, innovative and relevant content that will be accessible to a new and broader population of youth and families.

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Owned by Narrative Content Group, Mother Nature Network the world’s most visited environmental network, was selected as BSA’s publishing partner following an extensive review by the organization. With this partnership, the BSA’s commitment to protect, respect, and interact with the outdoors will be shared with a wider audience of youth and their families not currently involved in Scouting. Along with content from the BSA’s extensive library and publications like Scouting and Boys’ Life magazines, the site will feature a variety of new, original material in a variety of formats from videos and quizzes, to photo galleries and articles, across seven key categories: Health, Faith, Service, Projects, Outdoors, Family and Gear. The launch date for this program is planned for the first quarter of 2017.

“As a leader in conservation, sustainability has been baked into Scouting’s DNA since our founding and helps to connect people to the planet,” said John Stewart, Chief Sustainability Officer, Boy Scouts of America. “Through Earth Badge, BSA looks forward to making our environmental archives accessible to everyone and ultimately helping others learn how to protect our planet by providing inspiration for meaningful outdoor experiences and immersive environmental educational opportunities to families that are not in our program today.”

According to recent studies, the U.S. general public is more engaged than ever before in taking action to learn about the environmental issues facing the world today. In fact, more than 60 percent of adults are concerned with how the environment impacts their own health and the health of their families, but are in need of more information to help them implement change in their own day-to- day lives*.

To address this need, Scouting’s vision for the Earth Badge is to provide a content-oriented online source of environmental knowledge – revolving around those categories that tie back to Scouting’s values and commitment to serving others. One key element of Earth Badge’s promotional and content plans is the establishment of partnerships with leading non-profit organizations, federal agencies, and corporations who are associated with environmental issues, promoting outdoor activities, and increasing the time families spend together.

"We are pleased to announce the launch of the Earth Badge program and are honored to be selected by the Boy Scouts of America as their partner in this new and important initiative,” said Emily Murphy, President, Narrative Content Group. “By combining our expertise in publishing and content with one of the world’s best known and most respected brands, we look forward to bringing a unique and innovative platform to families both involved in and outside of scouting."

Nationally recognized sustainability brands and companies will be invited to contribute content to the Earth Badge website on a regular basis, though it will be limited to three non-competitive marketing partners annually. This opportunity will help to build an innovative platform for promoting environmental responsibility in communities across the U.S. and will reflect Scouting’s commitment to sustainability and conservation and the pursuit of outdoor adventure.

For more information about the Boy Scouts of America’s sustainability efforts, visit greentodeepgreen.org

*National Environmental Education Foundation. (2013). Benchmark Survey Report. National Environmental Education Foundation. http://neefusa.org/ pdf/NEEF_Benchmark_Survey_Report.pdf