Save the Earth!, page 1
Save the
Earth!
by ABBY KLEIN
illustrated by
JOHN MCKINLEY
To Carol,
the Compost Queen!
Your passion for taking care of our Earth
has inspired me to be more green.
Thanks for being such an amazing teacher!
Love,
A.K.
I have a problem.
A really, really big problem.
My teacher, Mrs. Wushy, gave us
an Earth Day Challenge, but I don’t
know if I can do all the activities
on the list by Friday.
Let me tell you about it.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Dear Reader
Chapter 1: What Is Earth Day?
Chapter 2: The Challenge
Chapter 3: Litterbugs
Chapter 4: Walk, Don’t Drive
Chapter 5: Plant a Tree
Chapter 6: Worms and Trash
Chapter 7: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Chapter 8: Go Green!
Freddy’s Fun Pages
Freddy’s Shark Journal
Join the Green Team
Wiggly, Wiggly Worms
Don’t be a Litterbug
Have you read all about Freddy?
Don’t miss any of Freddy’s funny adventures!
About the Authors
Copyright
DEAR READER,
We are lucky to live on such a beautiful planet, and we need to do everything we can to protect it. Did you know that there are many things kids just like you can do to make the world a better place?
If you love the Earth, and all the things that live on it, then find a way to help. A great place to start is Scholastic’s Act Green website: Scholastic.com/actgreen. This website lists over one hundred things kids can do to be more green and help the environment. Just like Freddy, you and your class can become members of the Green Team.
So get involved and make your voice heard! Participate in a neighborhood cleanup, make a compost bin for your home or classroom, or start a Green Team club at your school. One person can make a difference.
Hope you have as much fun reading Save the Earth! as I had writing it.
HAPPY READING!
CHAPTER 1
What Is
Earth Day?
“This Friday is a very special day,” said our teacher, Mrs. Wushy.
“I know why! I know why!” said Chloe, waving her painted red fingernails in the air.
“You do?” asked Mrs. Wushy. “Would you like to tell the class why it is so special?”
“Friday is my dance recital, and I am the star of the show!”
“Is she for real?” whispered my best friend, Robbie.
“It’s always about her,” said Jessie, shaking her head.
“I can do some of my dance for you,” said Chloe, jumping up. “Right here. Right now.”
“Sit down, Dancypants,” said Max. “No one wants to see you dance.”
“Says who?” asked Chloe.
“Me!” said Max, getting up out of his seat and walking over to her.
“Get away from me, you big bully,” said Chloe.
“Max,” said Mrs. Wushy, “please go back and sit down.”
“Yeah,” said Chloe with her hands on her hips. “Go back and sit down.”
“Chloe,” said Mrs. Wushy, “you are not the teacher. You both need to sit down.”
“But what about my dance?” Chloe whined.
“Maybe you can show us another time,” said Mrs. Wushy. “I want to talk about the special day on Friday. I know you have your dance recital on Friday, but that was not what I was thinking of.”
“I know why Friday is special,” said Robbie. “It’s Earth Day.”
“Earth Day? What’s that?” asked Jessie.
“It’s like a holiday, to celebrate our amazing planet, Earth,” said Robbie.
“That’s right,” said Mrs. Wushy. “Earth Day is celebrated each year on April twenty-second.”
“Is it kind of like the Earth’s birthday?” said Max. “Do you eat cake and ice cream?”
“Oooh. Ice cream,” said Chloe. “I love ice cream. Cotton candy is my favorite flavor, because it’s pink, and pink is my favorite color.”
“You don’t eat cake and ice cream on Earth Day,” said Mrs. Wushy. “You think about our beautiful planet, and you come up with ways you can help take care of it.”
“That sounds cool,” said Jessie.
“People all over the world celebrate Earth Day,” said Mrs. Wushy.
“When I looked on my computer, I saw that over one hundred countries celebrate it,” said Robbie.
“Over one hundred!” I said. “That’s a lot.”
“What are we going to do to celebrate?” asked Jessie.
“Well, we’re going to be doing different activities all week to celebrate and to help the planet,” said Mrs. Wushy.
“But what can kids do to help the Earth?” I asked.
“A lot!” said Mrs. Wushy. “Even little things add up to make the world a better place. You’d be surprised.”
“Like what?” asked Max.
“You tell me,” said Mrs. Wushy.
“I know,” said Robbie. “We can recycle.”
“I recycle cans at home,” said Max.
“You can recycle more than cans,” said Mrs. Wushy. “What else can you recycle?”
“We recycle cans, plastic, glass, and paper at my house,” said Jessie.
“Us, too!” I said.
“You recycle all that stuff?” asked Max.
“Yep,” I said. “We just have to look on the package or bottle to see if it has that recycling triangle on it. If it does, then we can put it in our recycling bin.”
“Good,” said Mrs. Wushy. “What else?”
“We can save energy,” said Robbie.
“How do you do that?” I asked.
“It’s easy. You can save a lot of energy by turning off the lights when you leave a room, or turning off the TV or computer when you’re done with them. Leaving your computer on wastes a lot of energy.”
“My dad always forgets to turn off the lights,” said Chloe.
“Well, then, you can turn them off for him,” said Robbie.
“Can you think of anything else?” asked Mrs. Wushy.
“I know!” said Jessie. “We can save water.”
“Saving water is very important,” said Mrs. Wushy.
Jessie nodded. “My abuela, my grandma, always turns off the water when she brushes her teeth. She said that when she was a little girl in Mexico, her family didn’t have a lot of clean water, so they had to save as much of it as they could. She also taught me to take a shower instead of a bath.”
“Why?” I asked.
“You use a lot less water when you take a shower,” said Jessie.
“I never knew that,” I said. “I’ll have to ask my mom if I can take showers from now on.”
“I know something,” said Chloe.
“Yes?” said Mrs. Wushy.
“We can pick up trash. I think it is really yucky when people throw their trash on the ground,” said Chloe, holding her nose. “It’s stinky and makes the park dirty.”
“Picking up trash is a great idea,” said Mrs. Wushy.
“I just thought of something else!” I said. “We can keep the air clean.”
“What can kids do to keep the air clean?” asked Jessie.
“We can walk or ride our bikes instead of driving somewhere.”
“We can also carpool when we go places,” said Robbie, “instead of taking separate cars.”
“These are all fabulous ideas,” said Mrs. Wushy. “So you see that kids really can make a difference. Even the little things add up.”
“But I don’t do all of those things,” I said.
“Me, neither,” said Jessie.
“Well,” said Mrs. Wushy, “over the next two days you’re going to get a chance to try doing many of them during our Earth Day Challenge.”
“What’s that?” said Max.
“It’s kind of like a contest,” said Mrs. Wushy.
“Oooh, I love contests,” said Jessie.
“Me, too,” said Robbie.
“What do we have to do?” asked Max.
“It’s time for recess,” said Mrs. Wushy, “so I will tell you all about it when we get back to the room.”
CHAPTER 2
The Challenge
When we got back to the classroom after recess, Jessie pulled a bunch of stuff out of her jacket pocket. “Look what I found on the playground, Mrs. Wushy.”
“What is it, Jessie?”
“A bunch of trash: a chip bag, a candy wrapper, a napkin, and a spoon.”
“Eeeewwww,” said Chloe, backing away. “All that stuff is full of germs. Why did you pick it up?”
“Because it doesn’t belong on the playground,” said Jessie. “It belongs in a trash can. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to play on a playground full of trash!”
“Good for you, Jessie,” said Mrs. Wushy.
“I can’t believe that all of that stuff was out there,” I said. “I never noticed it before.”
“Me, neither,” said Jessie. “But since we started talking about taking care of our planet, I decided to look carefully today.”
“It’s amazing what you notice once you start looking, ” said Mrs. Wushy. “Maybe as part of our Earth Day activities this week, we can do a playground cleanup. What do you all think?”
“I think that sounds like a great idea!” I said. “Can we do it now?”
“Not right now,” said Mrs. Wushy. “We’ll do it one day later this week. Right now I want to tell you all about the Earth Day Challenge.”
“I know I’m going to win,” Max bragged.
“How do you know?” said Jessie.
“Because I know,” said Max, sticking out his chest.
“But Mrs. Wushy hasn’t even told us what it is yet,” said Jessie. “Why don’t you stop bragging for one minute and let Mrs. Wushy explain it?”
Max glared at Jessie.
“You might win, Max,” said Mrs. Wushy.
Max grinned. “See? I told you!”
“But everyone else might win, too.”
Max frowned. “What do you mean?”
“There is not going to be just one winner. If everyone works hard to take care of the planet, then everyone will be a winner.”
“Even planet Earth,” said Robbie, laughing.
“Even our Earth,” said Mrs. Wushy.
“What do we have to do?” I asked.
Mrs. Wushy pulled out a piece of paper. “On this paper, I have listed ten things kids can do to help the planet. If you do all ten things by Friday, then you will become a member of the Green Team.”
“But I don’t like the color green,” said Chloe. “Can I be a member of the Pink Team?”
“No,” said Mrs. Wushy.
“Why not?” asked Chloe.
“Because it is called the Green Team for a reason. Has anyone ever heard someone say, ‘I’m going green’?”
“Yes, but I never knew what they meant,” I said.
“It means that they are doing things that are good for the planet and protecting the environment,” said Robbie.
“That’s right,” said Mrs. Wushy. “So this week we are all going to go green!”
“Cool,” said Jessie.
“Let’s look at the list,” said Mrs. Wushy. “Number one: Bring in some materials, such as cans and newspapers, that we can recycle by using them for projects here at school.”
“That’s easy,” I whispered to Robbie. “We have a ton of stuff like that at my house.”
“Number two: Be a power saver. Turn off all the lights when you leave a room. Also, remember to turn off the television and the computer when you are not using them.”
Robbie smiled. “This is going to be easier than I thought.”
“Number three: Turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth and remind other people in your family to do it, too.”
“But I always leave the water running when I brush my teeth,” Chloe whined. “What’s so bad about that?”
“You are wasting a lot of water,” said Mrs. Wushy. “If everyone turned off the water when they brushed their teeth, think about how much water we could save.”
Chloe let out a big sigh.
“Number four: Bring a reusable water bottle to school instead of the plastic kind that you throw out.”
“But I don’t have one of those,” said Max.
“Well, if you explain to your mom why it’s so important to have one, then I’m sure she will buy one for you. She will end up saving a lot of money by not buying bottles of water every week.”
“I never thought of that,” said Jessie. “That’s a good point!”
“And there will be a lot less trash,” said Robbie.
“You all are catching on,” said Mrs. Wushy. “Number five: Pick up ten pieces of trash in your neighborhood.”
“Ten!” said Chloe. “My mom doesn’t want me to touch even one piece of trash on the ground. It’s full of germs.”
“If you are worried about the germs, then you can wear a pair of gloves when you pick up the trash,” said Mrs. Wushy.
“Oh, I have the perfect pair!” said Chloe. “They’re pink with silvery sparkles on them!”
“Only Chloe would think about what she was going to wear to pick up trash,” Jessie whispered.
I giggled. “This doesn’t seem so bad,” I thought. We were halfway through the list, and the first five seemed pretty easy to do.
“Number six: Walk or ride your bike to school one day this week instead of taking the bus or riding in a car. You can find a friend or a parent to walk or ride with you.”
“But I can’t walk that far in my party shoes,” said Chloe.
“Well, you little fancy-pants,” said Max, “I guess you’ll just have to wear sneakers that day.”
“But sneakers don’t match my party dresses. Only my party shoes do!” Chloe jumped out of her chair and twirled around so everyone could admire her outfit. “See?” she said.
“Chloe, please sit down,” said Mrs. Wushy. “I need to tell the class about the last four items on the list. Number seven: Take cloth bags to the grocery store so you don’t use plastic bags for your food.”
“I don’t have any cloth bags,” said Jessie.
“Many grocery stores will give them to you for about one dollar if you ask,” said Mrs. Wushy.
“I’ll do that,” said Jessie.
“Number eight: Use both sides of a piece of paper before you recycle it. When we save paper, we save trees,” said Mrs. Wushy.
“A lot of trees are cut down every year,” said Robbie.
“That’s right, Robbie,” said Mrs. Wushy. “Number nine: Use a cloth towel to dry your hands in the kitchen instead of a paper towel.”
“You mean like a dish towel?” said Max.
“Yes,” said Mrs. Wushy. “That is exactly what I mean.”
“My mom already has one of those hanging in the kitchen.”
“And finally, number ten: Take a shower instead of a bath.”
“But I have to take a bubble bath every night,” said Chloe. “My mom says that’s how I keep my skin baby-soft.”
“Oh brother,” Jessie mumbled. “What will the princess do without her royal bath?”
“Just explain to your mother that when you take a shower, you use half as much water as when you take a bath,” said Mrs. Wushy. “You can always use lotion to keep your skin soft.”
Chloe frowned. “It’s not the same.”
“I will give you one of these challenge lists to take home. Do each of these activities sometime during the next two days and check them off as you go. If all of the activities are checked off by Friday, then you will become a member of the Green Team.”
“Cool!” said Jessie. “This sounds like a lot of fun!”
“We get to have fun and help the planet at the same time,” said Robbie. “Are you ready, Freddy?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, smiling weakly. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to do all these things by Friday. But if I didn’t do them all, then I wouldn’t get to be a member of the Green Team.
I gulped. I’d have to get started as soon as I got home.
CHAPTER 3
Litterbugs
Robbie came home with me after school. We decided to pick up litter in the neighborhood together.
“How was your day, boys?” asked my mom when we walked in the door.
“Good,” we both said.
“How about a snack?”
“I’d love a snack,” said Robbie. “Thanks, Mrs. Thresher.”
“Come on over and wash your hands in the sink. I want to make sure they are clean before you touch any food.”
We both washed our hands, and my mom started to reach for paper towels. “Wait, Mom, no!” I yelled.
“Freddy, what is the matter?” asked my mom.
“We need to dry our hands on a dish towel, not a paper towel.”
“But you always dry your hands on a paper towel.”
“I know, but today Mrs. Wushy was teaching us about things kids can do to help the planet. A dish towel doesn’t use paper, which saves trees.”
“That is good thinking,” said my mom, handing us a dish towel.
I went to my backpack and pulled out the Earth Day Challenge paper. “See, Mom? We have to do all of these things by Friday. If we do, we get to be a member of the Green Team.”
“These are great ideas,” said my mom.
