GIRL SCOUTS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ENVIRONMENTALISTS

by Whit Gibbons

March 10, 2003

I have a new heroine. Daisy Low. To most she is known as Juliette Gordon Low, rather than by her nickname, "Daisy," and, on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Georgia, she founded what we now know as the Girl Scouts. This was an organization ahead of the times in many ways, including environmental awareness.

Some of the statements from an early "Girl Scout Leader's Guide," the oldest copy I could find having been published in 1955, sound like something even the Nature Conservancy or Sierra Club might be proud of because of their environmental message. "The Girl Scout approach to nature is not through collections of flora and fauna but through understanding of living things, appreciation of their beauty, and conservation of them as they live." Today's handbooks continue to support environmental conservation and encourage ecological understanding on a high plane, including such environmental education components as environmental health and appreciating the interconnectedness of nature.

Although the foundation of the Girl Scouts has always been aimed at developing personal traits such as self-esteem, leadership, and teamwork, girls today are also encouraged to address ecological issues. One of the badges that Girl Scouts can earn is called "Environmental Health," a joint project that was developed between the Girl Scouts and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promote environmental awareness and stewardship. The "Water Drop Patch" is an award that educates Girl Scouts about wetlands management and, according to the official Web site, "Linking Girls to the Land" is a "national initiative [that] covers all aspects of the environment."

When Juliette Low, at the age of fifty-one, organized a group of eighteen girls in 1912 in Savannah, she showed a strength of commitment unprecedented for the times. Not only was she not a member of the voting public because she was a woman, she had also become deaf as an adult. Although she would legally be able to vote eight years later, she would never be able to hear. Yet she forged ahead to develop what she at first called the American Girl Guides. The name was taken from the British Girl Guides, the female counterpart to the Boy Scouts, on which she modeled the newly formed American organization. Sir Robert Baden-Powell had founded the Boy Scouts in England, and his sister Agnes had helped create the British Girl Guides. Low and Baden-Powell had become friends during one of Low's numerous visits to England, and he and his sister strongly encouraged the development of a girl's organization in America, where the Boy Scouts were already established.

The Girl Scouts of the USA soon became the official name of the organization. Among the notable facts is that more American women--50 million, including my daughters--have belonged to the Girl Scouts than to any other women's organization in the world. Today almost 3 million girls and 1 million women in more than 80 countries are actively involved in the Girl Scouts.

Years after her death in 1927, as the Girl Scouts became recognized as one of the most significant women's organizations ever formed, Juliette Gordon Low received various well-deserved recognitions for her contributions to society. A liberty ship was named after her during World War II, and she was honored by a three-cent commemorative stamp in 1948. In tribute to her efforts, the U.S. Congress officially chartered the Girl Scouts in 1950. In 1979 she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York; in 1983 a government building in Savannah was named after her, representing only the second federal building named after a woman. The city of Savannah has various other landmarks commemorating her efforts.

Daisy Low was an impressive person who created a highly effective and constructive program for personal development among young women and with the proper attitude toward environmental matters. Another line in the 1955 book was "Nature activities help a Scout realize both her debt and her responsibility to all living things." If the Girl Scouts can maintain attitudes like that, let's hope that all young girls will become Scouts.



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