Sustainability, Programming and New Mountain Biking Option to Cycling Announced

Unless you are at the 2013 National Jamboree right now you probably didn't know BSA launched 2 new merit badges and revised the Cycling merit badge to include a new Mountain Biking option.

Today Scoutbook is excited to announce the full integration of these new badges into our online advancement tracking web app. Be one of the first to earn these new badges!

Sustainability New Eagle Required Merit Badge

Now Scouts have an option to Environmental Science with the new Sustainability merit badge.  Just like choosing between Cycling OR Hiking OR Swimming, Scouts can choose to earn Environmental Science OR Sustainability to earn the rank of Eagle Scout.

Scouts will discover ways to reduce water and food waste in their families and practice it for a month.  They will draw a sketch of how they would design a sustainable community.

They will learn about different energy sources including fossil fuels, solar, wind, nuclear, hydropower, and geothermal and discover how these affect the environment.

Topics such as plastic waste, electronic waste, food waste, species decline, world population and climate change will be explored and discussed.

Finally Scouts will log all the stuff their family purchases for two weeks and categorize each purchase as essential or desirable. Recycling and avoiding accumulating too much stuff will be discussed in detail.

To see the entire list of requirements visit our References section of Scoutbook or start tracking this merit badge from your advancement page.

Programming Merit Badge

Every wonder what it would be like to be a programmer?  Do you enjoy writing and debugging code? Today BSA has released an exciting new badge just for you.

There are 6 requirements to this new merit badge that take the Scouts through the history of programming, examples of different languages and which industry they are primarilly used.

The very first requirement states the Scout must show the counselor their up-to-date cyber CHIP. This new tool shows that Scouts know how to keep safe while online. For more information visit the official BSA Cyber Chip page.

Scouts will learn about intellectual property and how patents and copyrights protect a programmer.

Finally the Scout must write, debug and demonstrate functioning programs written in 3 different languages.

To see the entire list of requirements visit our References section of Scoutbook or start tracking this merit badge from your advancement page.

Mountain Biking Option in Cycling

For those who like fat tires, getting muddy and catching some air while jumping over tree roots, rocks and other crazy obstacles BSA announced today they have added a Mountain Biking option to the Eagle required Cycling merit badge.

In this new option Scouts will demonstrate to their counselor shifting skills for climbs and obstacles. They will show proper etiquette to hikers and how to yield the right-of-way.

We all know riding up steep mountain trails is hard work so BSA made some adjustments to the 7 rides the Scout must take to earn the Cycling badge.

The Scout must take two rides of 2 miles each, two rides of 5 miles each, and two rides of 8 miles each.

Finally instead of a planning a completing a 50 miler the Scout must lay out on a trail map a 22-mile trip. This may include multiple trail systems. The ride must be done in six hours.

To see the entire list of requirements visit our References section of Scoutbook or start tracking this merit badge from your advancement page.

What do you think of these new badges? How popular do you think these will be?

Leave your comments below.