I recently signed up as Assistant Den Leader for my son’s Cub Scout den. This past weekend was our second camping trip together (yes, I’m still figuring out which end of the marshmallow stick to light). Corralling a pack of seven-year-olds and managing campsite logistics were both brand new skills for me (spoiler: neither came naturally at first).

We had an amazing time, got to know each other better, and I discovered quite a few things about myself (including that my “silent moderator” mode needs serious work). There were only a few critical moments when I had to reel them back in, to keep them from mistaking cliff-edges for slides or turning the hiking path into a free-for-all obstacle course. To maintain order (and my own sanity), I kept them engaged with fun facts about sustainability.

At one point I asked the den: “What is sustainability, and what does it mean to you?” and watched the wheels turn.

When talking about sustainability with children, fun facts are magical: they spark interest, provoke questions, and can even redirect a group that’s about to stage a spontaneous “who can run off the trail fastest” contest. This is especially helpful when you’re losing the attention of eight energetic boys in the woods, each one convinced they’re auditioning for their own action movie.

Here are some of the facts I used:

• It takes more energy to make 1 kg of paper than it takes to make 1 kg of steel.
• It takes nearly 500,000 litres of water to extract just 1 kg of gold.
• We should focus first on reducing what we use, then reusing things, and finally recycling — so: reduce, then reuse, then recycle.

After sharing a fact, I’d toss out questions like: “Did you know this? What do you think happens if people make lots and lots of new things all the time instead of re-using old ones?” or “What could we reuse in our house? What’s something that isn’t trash but we often throw away anyway?”

We chatted about water (where it comes from, how much is needed to make certain things, and why it’s super wasteful to treat it like candy). We talked about forests and animals, and about how the Earth gives us things we need, but only if we take care of those resources so they’re still around for the future.

So yes, I’m still learning. But if I can get the den to pause long enough to think about water or recycling instead of Minecraft or Roblox, then I consider that a win.