Press Release

Earth Day Network, World Organization Of The Scout Movement, Boy Scouts Of America Commit To One Billion Service Hours Around The World Over Next Five Years

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In commemoration of Earth Day's 45th anniversary, the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) commits to Earth Day Network to donate one billion service hours to local service projects over the next five years, including - planting millions of trees that will capture carbon, reduce soil erosion, provide and protect natural habitat and improve the quality of life for people.

Published 9 years ago | About a 2 minute read

In addition, Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will announce a new Earth Day Award program: every year leading up to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in 2020, a commemorative patch can be earned by Scouts and Scouting volunteers by making individual commitments and acts of service in celebration of Earth Day. BSA has been involved with Earth Day since its inception in 1970, working with local communities to enhance the environment and to conserve natural resources.

These announcements come in advance of the Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day on April 18th at the National Mall.

"Since 1907, the universal values of Scouting are now embraced in 223 countries and territories around the world. Scouting develops youth into active citizens who become leaders. Today, in partnership with Earth Day Network, our 40 million Scouts commitment to a billion hours of local service projects to help protect our planet and support the Sustainable Development Goals," said Scott Teare, WOSM Secretary General.

Scouts, through their flagship initiative "Messengers of Peace" (MoP), have logged over 600 million service hours in more than 6 million community projects over 2 years.

"The actions taken by the Scouts in their local communities will have global environmental impacts," said Kathleen Rogers, President of EDN. "Their commitment to Billion Acts of Green (BAG) demonstrates the global cry for environmental action. Citizens are stepping up to take action."

EDN's BAG service campaign encourages individuals, organizations, businesses, and governments to commit to sustainable living practices, with more than 1.1 billion acts of green logged since 2010.

EDN works year-round with tens of thousands of partners in 192 countries to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement. www.earthday.org

WOSM is an independent, worldwide, non-profit and non-partisan organization that serves the Scout Movement. www.scout.org

BSA is one of the nation's largest and most prominent values-based youth development organizations. www.scouting.org

Contact: Bridgette Borst
[email protected] Mobile: (304) 546-3788

SOURCE Earth Day Network