Scouting/BSA/Environmental Science Merit Badge

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Environmental Science is a required badge to qualify for Eagle Scout.

Requirement 1Edit


Requirement 2Edit

Define the following terms and describe the relationships among them: 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. .
  • A population is the collection of people, or organisms of a particular species, living in a geographic area.
  • A community is a social group of organisms sharing an environment, normally with shared interests.
  • An ecosystem is a community of organisms (plant, animal and other living organisms - also referred as biocenose) together with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a unit.
  • The biosphere is part of a planet's terrestrial system— including air, land and water— in which life develops, and processes in turn transforms.
  • Symbiosis is an interaction between two organisms living together in more or less intimate association or even the merging of two dissimilar organisms.
  • A niche is the position of an organism or group of organisms within an ecosystem or the conditions making a habitat.
  • A habitat is the place where a particular organism usually lives or grows.
  • Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, exploitation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its forests, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to protect the natural world.
  • Threatened species is an animal or plant species under a serious, but perhaps not imminent, threat of extinction.
  • An endangered species is a species whose population is so small that it is in danger of becoming extinct
  • Extinction is the disappearance of a species or group of species.
  • Pollution prevention is an activity that reduces the amount of pollution generated by a process, whether it is consumer consumption, driving, or industrial production.
  • Brownfields are properties with real or perceived environmental contamination that cause a barrier to redevelopment.
  • Ozone is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic O2. Ground-level ozone is an air pollutant with harmful effects on the respiratory systems of animals. The ozone layer in the upper atmosphere filters potentially damaging ultraviolet light from reaching the Earth's surface.
  • watershed the region drained into a river, river system or other body of water.
  • An airshed is a part of the atmosphere that behaves in a coherent way with respect to the dispersion of emissions.
  • nonpoint source pollutants that enter our water system from runoff that cannot be traced to a single identifiable point or source.
  • A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that uses two or more distinct power sources to move the vehicle.
  • A fuel cell is an electrochemical conversion device. It produces electricity from fuel (on the anode side) and an oxidant (on the cathode side), which react in the presence of an electrolyte.

Requirement 3Edit


A. Ecology


B. Air Pollution


C. Water Pollution

  3. Describe the impact of a waterborne pollutant on an aquatic community. Write a 100-word report on how that pollutant affected aquatic fife and what the effect was.

D. Land Pollution


E. Endangered Species


F. Pollution Prevention, Resource Recovery, and Conservation

  4. Any of the experiments can be found near the end of the merit badge pamphlet which can be found at your local scout store for $4.49

Requirement 4Edit




Requirement 5Edit


Requirement 6Edit


External linksEdit

Earning Merit Badges in the Boy Scouts of America
Archaeology | Astronomy | Atomic Energy | Aviation | Chemistry | Electricity | Energy | Environmental Science | Geology | Oceanography | Space Exploration | Weather
Earning Merit Badges in the Boy Scouts of America