Rove Around the World with Scouts.

The world is waiting, are you ready to rove around the world with Scouts Canada?

Challenge 4 | OCTOBER 25–31

Sustainable Development Goal:
#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Partner: Zero Waste Canada

Country: Denmark

Meeting Length: 20 min–1 hour

Gadget: Headlamp

Challenge 4
Light Up The Night

What a ride!

Thanks to the transporting compass, you’ve quickly made your way from Egypt to Denmark. The country is making large strides towards sustainable living—did you know that the Danish island of Samso, runs on 100% renewable energy that uses wind, solar and biomass power?

Sustainability goes beyond just the environment, it includes three main pillars: the economy, the environment and society. One aspect of sustainable cities is proper lighting in communities. Proper lighting is important for keeping communities safe through the night with increased visibility for cyclists, runners, sports games, driving and more! Think of a couple things that you do in Scouting that would be more difficult in the dark. Simple things like pitching a tent, cooking, or hiking a difficult trail are all accident-prone activities at night without lighting.

Learn about the importance of light by navigating this next activity in the dark! Imagine that you are meeting up with your new Danish Scout friends to embark on a night hike far from the light pollution of the city (optimal for stargazing!) Don’t forget your GADGET (headlamp) as you learn about the importance of community electricity and lighting. How can Denmark’s innovations inspire you with new ideas for making your home community brighter?

You can help work towards Goal #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, in many ways—adopt a park, keep your local greenspaces clean or consider writing to your town or city council to have more bike paths added to your area.

Missed the Zero Waste Canada (ZWC) presentation on Zero Waste principles and practices and how you can incorporate them in your Scouting adventures? No problem, watch the recording below!

Challenge:

Choose some fun challenges to do in the dark, or at least with limited light. It’s best to do this in an area that is as dark as possible, without lights, but do the best you can wherever you are! Here are some ideas to get you started, but your Section can choose other challenges that they come up with:

Set up a tent in the dark.
Lash a simple structure.
Tie a ribbon as high up around the trunk of a tree as you can.
Enjoy a bean bag tossing game.
Use oven gloves and try to string cheerios onto a piece of spaghetti.
Use three candles and one squirt (washing up liquid bottle) bottle of water. Light the candles and set them (safely) on the ground. Draw a line 6 inches away from the candles (this can be adapted to drawing the line closer or further from the candles to make the challenge easier or harder). Staying behind the drawn line, try to put out the candles.

Supplies:

Per small team:

Supplies are based on the challenges your Section has chosen to do. You may also plan for the Light Up the Night activity a week in advance with your Section leaders, so that it remains a surprise for the other participating youth.

Supplies list:

A headlamp or flashlight
A tent
Rope
3 candles
Squirt bottle
Ribbon
Oven gloves
Cheerios
Uncooked spaghetti
Bean bags and target

Safety Tips

While it may seem tempting to use blindfolds to make up for whatever ambient light is left in your area, it’s not advised. Youth may trip over things or get hurt while blindfolded—the activities will still be fun, even if it’s not pitch black.
Scouters—impairing vision comes with safety risks, so ensure there is a controlled area while conducting activities.

Virtual Meetings

You can try some of these in-the-dark challenges virtually by simply closing your eyes (you must sit if your eyes are closed.) Try some “minute to win it” style challenges and race against time or others virtually! You could even try having one person describe a drawing while the others draw it with their eyes closed. How close were they to the actual drawing? How much easier would these tasks be with proper light? You can even compare to see first-hand!

Take it further by exploring other ways to promote sustainable cities! In small teams, do a plastic audit of everything in your home. What about in your school, too? Explore Zero Waste at Home, to find ways to be more aware of waste and be mindful of ways to repurpose or reuse instead!

Other Activities

Other activities to explore the SDGs (through the Scouts for Sustainability program)

SDG #11—Sustainable Cities and Communities:

City Stars, Good City Planning, Track Your Carbon Footprint, DIY Disaster Preparedness Kit, Complete Community Challenge

Review

What would it be like if we did not have lights?
How do lights help us stay active and move about in our community safely?
How do communities decide where to put streetlights?
Can you see the stars when the light is bright?
How does Denmark light up their communities?

Resources

Resources to take the activity further or enhance it for Scouts, Venturers and Rovers:

SUBMIT YOUR CHALLENGE

KFUM-Spejderne i Danmark (YMCA-Scouts in Denmark) is a youth organisation based on the fundamental principles of Scouting. We “move the world” with more than 400 local groups, and through national and international projects that work with our cooperating organisations and business partners.

As an example KFUM-Spejderne i Danmark has more than ten years of collaboration with the Tunesian Scouts through the project, “Future Leaders”, to create the best possibilities for young Tunisians in an aspiring democracy.

On a national level we are preparing the Jamboree Denmark, which is one of the world's largest jamborees with more than 40,000 participants from all over the world.