Story By Erin Gutzwiller
As the earth’s atmosphere steadily increases in temperature, a change in our climate is occurring as a result of global warming.
The Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Council begin to help fight global warming by initiating a pilot program to slow down the process of global warming.
Their goal is to educate the public about global warming and climate control, and they hope to begin doing this by teaching teen-agers just how serious this issue is. In return, these teen-agers will teach younger children about the harmful toxins that enter into the earth’s atmosphere.
This program began from two sources, unknown to each other at the time. Jessica Fagan, a former Girl Scout, wanted to give something back to the Scouts by developing a program that they could use to teach about climate change. She met Andrew Varyu at a United Nations conference in September, and the two began working together with the Girl Scouts. Varyu is earning his master’s degree at the Harvard Divinity School and is the president of ITSCOOL, Innovative Tactics for Sea Level and Climate Change Outreach and Opportunity Leaders.
He worked to gain the public’s participation of global warming though things that people are already accustomed too. Varyu’s idea was used by Boy Scouts from Cambridge, Mass., who sold energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs. The Girl Scouts here locally will sell these light bulbs to raise money for their troops and schools.
Training classes will be held to teach the older girls about this issue and then they will teach younger children through seminars and lectures about global warming. This will become a national program that will be launched on April 22 to coincide with Earth Day. This nonprofit organization has earned a $100,000 grant from State Farm Insurance to continue this mission to help save our planet.
Erin Gutzwiller is an Augusta Free Press.
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