Updated Nov. 1: Answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about these changes.

Updated Dec. 18: Here are the new requirements for Cooking MB.



Moms and dads, prepare the needle and thread!

Sustainability and Cooking merit badges will join the list of Eagle-required merit badges over the next 14 months, the Boy Scouts of America’s National Executive Board announced today.

Sustainability, a new merit badge, will join Environmental Science as an Eagle Scout option after its debut at the 2013 jamboree.

Cooking, meanwhile, will become Eagle-required as of Jan. 1, 2014.

The total number of merit badges required for the Eagle Scout Award will remain at 21. In other words, instead of 12 Eagle-required badges and 9 elective badges, a Scout must earn 13 Eagle-required and 8 elective badges.

Why the change? The goal is to “reflect a better balance of the needs of youth and our nation today and in the future,” according to the BSA’s resolution. Personally, I like it. Keeping up with the ever-changing world means questioning the way things have always been done.

Sustainability becomes more important as our population increases while resources decrease. And a boy who reaches Eagle without skills in cooking and healthy eating habits hasn’t become fully “Prepared. For Life.” in my opinion. I think the BSA’s board got it right on here.

What do you think?

For the list of Eagle-required merit badges as it looks now — and as it will look in 2014 — follow the jump.

Current list of Eagle-required merit badges

Earn a total of 21 merit badges, including the following:

First Aid

Citizenship in the Community

Citizenship in the Nation

Citizenship in the World

Communication

Personal Fitness

Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving

Environmental Science

Personal Management

Swimming OR Hiking OR Cycling

Camping

Family Life

List of Eagle-required merit badges, effective Jan. 1, 2014

Earn a total of 21 merit badges, including the following:

First Aid

Citizenship in the Community

Citizenship in the Nation

Citizenship in the World

Communication

Personal Fitness

Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving

Environmental Science OR Sustainability

Personal Management

Swimming OR Hiking OR Cycling

Camping

Family Life

Cooking

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