Sustainability Merit Badge

The nine requirements, with the six choices drawn as questions so the plan shows only the branches the reader is actually taking.

10 steps (24 parts inside them). 21 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Sustainability Merit Badge

No questions answered

This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the 6 questions at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.

Which of this applies to you

You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering 6 short questions will take out the parts that are not for you.

Answer the questions

The steps

Stage 1 of 10

1 step

1. Say what sustainability means, in your own words Task

And explain why it matters to society, and how you can help meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future. Everything else on this page is a worked example of this sentence.

Stage 2 of 10

1 step

2. Water, one of three Requirement

Do one and discuss it with your counselor.
3 parts
- 2(a). Evaluate your household water usage Optional May not apply
- 2(b). Where your clean water comes from, and where it goes Optional May not apply
- 2(c). Too much water, or too little Optional May not apply

Stage 3 of 10

1 step

3. Food, one of three Requirement

Do one and discuss it with your counselor. One of the three takes two weeks.
3 parts
- 3(a). Where four foods come from Optional May not apply
- 3(b). What limits food availability around the world Optional May not apply
- 3(c). Cut your household food waste, and measure it Optional May not apply Often forgotten Two weeks, and a baseline established before them. This is the only option under requirement 3 with a clock, and it cannot be reconstructed after the fact, so if you are going to choose it, choose it now rather than after the other requirements are finished.

Stage 4 of 10

1 step

4. Community, one of three Requirement

Do one and discuss it with your counselor.
3 parts
- 4(a). Sketch a sustainable community Optional May not apply
- 4(b). Find one unsustainable practice and plan the fix Optional May not apply
- 4(c). Rate your own home Optional May not apply

Stage 5 of 10

1 step

5. Energy, one of three Requirement

Do one and discuss it with your counselor.
3 parts
- 5(a). Compare the energy sources Optional May not apply
- 5(b). Eight ways your family uses energy Optional May not apply
- 5(c). Five reductions, with the benefits and the risks Optional May not apply

Stage 6 of 10

1 step

6. "Stuff", one of three Requirement

Do one and discuss it with your counselor.
3 parts
- 6(a). List 15 things you own and sort them Optional May not apply
- 6(b). Five ways too much stuff costs you Optional May not apply
- 6(c). What waste does to land, water and air Optional May not apply

Stage 7 of 10

1 step

7. The bigger picture, TWO of six Often forgotten Requirement

Not one. Two, each discussed with your counselor.

TWO of the six, not one. This is the requirement most often half-done, because it sits among five requirements that each ask for one and the eye slides over the difference.
6 parts
- 7(a). A UN Sustainable Development Goal Optional May not apply
- 7(b). The planetary life-support systems Optional May not apply
- 7(c). The life cycle of a product Optional May not apply
- 7(d). Population and the planet Optional May not apply
- 7(e). Species decline Optional May not apply
- 7(f). A century of temperature change Optional May not apply

Stage 8 of 10

1 step

8. All three of these, and one needs a campout Often forgotten Requirement

No choice here. Requirement 8 asks for all of it, and 8(a) happens on an outdoor Scouting activity you attend.
3 parts
- 8(a). Observe sustainability on a campout Often forgotten This one is not yours to schedule. It happens on a campout or other outdoor Scouting activity that you attend, and requirement 8 is "do the following". There is no alternative option to pick instead. Find out when the next trip is before planning anything else on this badge, and go with the observation list already in hand: transportation, forestry, soil conservation, water resources, habitat, buildings, campsites and sanitation.
- 8(b). The Oath, the Law, Leave No Trace and the Outdoor Code
- 8(c). Five changes you and your family could make

Stage 9 of 10

1 step

9. Careers in sustainability Task

Learn what is out there, pick one, and find out the education, training and experience it needs, then explain to your counselor why it might interest you.

Stage 10 of 10

1 step

Counselor signs it off Milestone

The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.

Usually comes after 8. All three of these, and one needs a campout, 9. Careers in sustainability and 7. The bigger picture, TWO of six.

Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.

This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.