GSEM Silver Award Project Catalog

Fighting Fast Fashion—Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Silver Award Team: Troop 4409

Issue: Many clothes end up in landfills, harming the environment. Root Cause: For many people it is easier to trash clothes than it is to find a place to donate them. Target Audience: Women in need at Community Women Against Hardships. Sustainability: People now know how, where and why to donate clothes to keep them out of landfills.

Project Details: For their Silver Award project, these young leaders wanted to find a way to prevent clothing from entering the landfill, while also helping those in need. So, Troop 4409 decided to organize a clothing drive. The Girl Scouts recognized that it is often easier to throw away old clothes instead of finding a way to donate them. To address this issue, they held a clothing drive in their community where individuals could bring their gently-used items. After collecting and sorting all the donated clothes, the Girl Scouts brought the clothes to Community Women Against Hardships for those in need.

Re-Build Your Local Ecosystem!

Issue: There was a significant decrease in the amount of local wildlife. Root Cause: Deforestation and habitat loss results in animals fleeing the area.

Silver Award Team: Simone C. of Troop 1230

Project Details: After recognizing that her local area had no native plants to help sustain wildlife, Simone decided to make a change to earn her Girl Scout Silver Award. Simone partnered with the Audubon Society to identify the root cause being a lack of resources for animals and develop a solution. She started by planting three separate gardens, filling each with a variety of native plants to support pollinators, and planted more than 20 trees. She then constructed and placed 20 birdhouses and 10 feeders to place in her community. These provided fresh food, water, and shelter for the animals and birds.

Target Audience: Local wildlife.

Sustainability: The new gardens and shelters will provide permanent habitats for the animals in the area.