Local Girl Scout to host Camp Footprint to promote environmental education

A Torrey Pines High School student is recruiting students for free weeklong summer camps on environmental education this June, an initiative to earn her Girl Scout gold award.

Camp Footprint will run at Seagrove Park in Del Mar from June 5-9 for students in grades 2 to 5, followed by a second week from June 12-16 for students in grades 6 to 8. Each day will begin at 9 a.m. and conclude at 3 p.m. It is open to students from all over the area, with a planned capacity of 10 students for each week.

“When I first started my Girl Scout gold award, I was looking for issues in my community and I obviously wanted to do the environment because I think it’s today’s biggest issue,” said Charlotte Sach, 16. “It affects everyone on the earth, it’s not just a one party or one group sort of cause.”

Both weeks of Camp Footprint are organized around a daily theme: plastics on Monday, reusing on Tuesday, waste management on Wednesday, food sustainability on Thursday and wildlife on Friday.

“Each day is basically just a blend of activities, lessons and games that are all related to global climate change and human impacts,” Charlotte said.

She added, “I just noticed that it starts with people not understanding or not having the will to follow the systems that are already in place. So I wanted to focus on environmental education.”

The camp weeks will culminate in a collection of illustrations, writings and other content that will be published in a book to be released on Kindle.

The gold award is given to Girl Scouts who use the skills they have learned to fix a problem in their community or make a difference in the world. About two years ago for a Silver Award project Charlotte started a program with local businesses to offer 10% discounts to customers who gather bags of litter. The goal was to promote ocean conservation and cut down on the flow of plastics and other garbage that make it into the ocean.

Charlotte said that another motivation for starting Camp Footprint is to provide some environmental education to students earlier than they would receive it in their schools.

“I want to make it inclusive and free for everyone to be able to get that,” she added.

For more information on Camp Footprint and to access the signup form, visit the camp website.