The Girl Scouts of the United States of America has launched a campaign called Forever Green that included an online pledge girls could sign, promising they would encourage public officials to pass emissions-reducing legislation.

But after CNSNews.com asked the organization about the political advocacy on Tuesday, the pledge was removed from the Girl Scouts' Web site. The language should not have been so "inflammatory," one official said.

One of the tenets of the pledge was to, "Inform my elected local, state, and federal officials about my views on environmental policies and urge them to support legislation that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and promotes energy efficiency and renewable technologies."

A posting on a Girl Scouts website encouraged the families and friends of scouts to join in taking the pledge.

The Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) developed the campaign with the US EPA. But Michelle Tompkins, a spokeswoman for the national office of the Girl Scouts of the USA, said the pledge was not a case of the organization aligning itself with the Obama administration...

Tompkins later provided a written statement from the Washington, DC, office of the Girl Scouts of the USA, stating: "We have never and do not plan to take a position as an organization on carbon emissions-reducing legislation."

On its Forever Green Web page, however, the Girl Scouts invited readers to "join us in taking the Girl Scouts Forever Green Pledge," saying that "everyone is encouraged to participate – friends, families, schoolmates and members of the community."

After speaking with CNSNews.com, the organization removed the pledge from its website and replaced it with a "Coming Soon!" message. Asked why, Tompkins said she didn't know "how inflammatory" the language was until she was asked about it.

"I didn't know that this language existed until you and a couple other media outfits brought it to my attention on Tuesday. I didn't realize how inflammatory it was, and I talked to our DC team and it doesn't reflect what we're doing," she said. "While we still will have the pledge, it needs to be the correct language and be properly vetted through the folks at Girl Scouts"...

Asked whether the revised pledge would request that girls support specific legislation, Tompkins said "no."

Read more