Local scouts work toward Rachel Carson badge
FREEPORT — A local Girl Scout troop is tackling a new badge specific to Western Pennsylvania that honors a local female scientist.
Research was the first step for Troop 26460 on their way to earning the Rachel Carson badge, implemented by the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania in August.
Troop leader Lori Kibler said most of the scouts had heard of Carson, but did not know of her significance in the field of science.
“Some of them did,” Kibler said. “They knew of her but not the extent to why these things are named after her.”
Carson was a biologist, ecologist and writer, who grew up in Springdale, Allegheny County. Early in her career, she received attention for her novels relating to marine biology. But, her novel “Silent Spring,” in which she questions whether humans should forcefully control nature through chemicals and other means, changed the way people think about the environment entirely.
Stephanie Marshall, public relations and marketing associate for the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania, said the goal for the Rachel Carson badge and other like it is to show girls that women have done great things in scientific fields.
“Obviously it shows girls that there is a place for them in that environment,” Marshall said.
