Once upon a time there was a doll sitting on a shelf in a girl´s room. The girl was called Sophie and the doll was Poppy and she was Sophie´s favourite doll.
Poppy loved to sit on the shelf and look out over the room full of things and at her friend Sophie who Poppy really loved.
One day Sophie forgot to close the window before going to class, and Poppy caught a cold. Continue reading…
In faraway mountains there was a magic river that turned everything near him into life.
The Stones rolling down from the road above were transformed into a huge trees next to the river.The broken branches that fell into the river turned into beautiful fish.
Nearby the mountains there was a village where the citizens used cars to move from one place to another instead of walking. They didn’t realise what would happen if they used the car all the time. Continue reading…
Johnny was a very young boy when he started to care for the environment, and to keep his town clean from the litter that others threw on the streets. It all started when Johnny turned 9 and his parents threw a surprise birthday party in his yard for him and for all of his friends.
The parents had set a large table in the yard full of potato chips and other snacks like sandwiches, fruit and vegetables so the children could eat at the party.
When the party was over, Johnny’s father asked him to help clean up the mess. Johnny was surprised to see all the potato chip bags, paper plates and glasses on the ground. That really is a mess! – “Mom, did we really make this mess?” Johnny asked his mother. “Yes, quite a mess, huh?” his mother replied. Continue reading…
Once upon a time, there was an old lamppost named Claudia, which had always lived in the central square of a small village by the sea. Claudia the lamppost had spent her entire life illuminating the central square of this coastal town together with a few other lampposts.
Every day, when the sun disappeared over the horizon things were hard to see, so Claudia would turn her great light bulb on, and shed light and happiness over the town.
One day something horrible happened. As the sun was setting on the horizon, neither Claudia the lamppost nor any of her friends lit up. “Do you know what is happening?” Claudia asked her friend Izzy, “It’s the first time in 50 years that something like this has happened to me” – “I have no idea what is going on,” replied Izzy just as surprised as Claudia, “but look around you, the entire town is dark,” she said. Continue reading…
Plastic bags are used all over the world to carry everyday items such as bread, shopping, clothes, toys and lots of other things. But Pappy, the hero of our story, wasn’t a plastic bag like all the rest – he was a very special paper bag. And Pappy had a mission to complete…
Pappy knew that all over the world there were millions of plastic bags that had been abandoned by people and ended up floating in the seas and oceans, contaminating the water and causing damage to the creatures that lived nearby.
Pappy didn’t want things to go on this way, so he came up with a plan to put an end to plastic bags being thrown away. One day he went to visit a big supermarket to talk to the manager.
“Hello Mr. Manager, my name is Pappy and as you can see I’m a paper bag. I wanted to propose an idea to avoid using plastic bags in shopping,” Pappy declared. Continue reading…
Once upon a time, there was a white daisy called Fleur who lived in a very big field full of other daisies. All the plants had a very important function in life, and that was to perform photosynthesis.
Fleur was a very young plant, but she was also very intelligent because from the moment she was born she never stopped observing the actions of a yellow daisy that lived beside her.
One day, when she was just a little daisy, Fleur asked the yellow flower: “Yellow daisy, what’s photosynthesis? The other plants say that’s what we do.” And the yellow daisy answered: “Well, photosynthesis is when we plants absorb the light from the sun and water from the ground to feed ourselves and grow. That way we also help the nature maintain its balance.”
“But how do we help it maintain its balance? What exactly do we do?” Fleur asked, for she was very curious. Continue reading…
Once upon a time, there was a little drop of water called Glug who lived in a river. Even though she didn’t know it, she had a very important mission on Earth, and that was in the cycle of water.
Glug was a very young water drop so she didn’t know why her mother would often leave the river and return a few days later. So one morning when the sun was shining brightly, Glug asked: “Mum, why do you leave the river sometimes?” Her mother answered: “Well, because we water drops have a very important job to do: we must ensure that the cycle of water continues.”
Glug was very surprised, for she had never imagined that her mother was so important to Earth. However, Glug wasn’t very sure exactly what this mission actually was, so she asked:
“So what’s the important mission, Mum?”
“It’s not just my mission, but yours too, and all the water drops on Earth.”
Glug was open-mouthed, for she too was part of this important mission for the planet. Continue reading…
There was once a very special lion called Simba who lived on the African savannah. Simba would play in the plains, running and jumping with his friends the leopards and other lions in the area. Simba had a very special gift, for every time he roared he created such a strong wing it seemed like a hurricane.
On the savannah where Simba lived there were lots of kinds of animals: giraffes, elephants, hyenas, etc. and even though it wasn’t a particularly green place, there were lots of species of tree and plants.
One day, as Simba was playing with his friends, they saw enormous machines destroying part of the plain by digging into the earth. “The humans are building oil wells…” said one of the wisest lions.
Day by day, the men built more and more oil wells, destroying the local nature in the process.
Simba had fewer and fewer friends with whom to play, and fewer plains in which to run about, and he knew that it was the men that were causing it all.
So he decided to ask the wisest lion in the area for a solution. The wise old lion said: “The only solution is for the men to stop using petrol, and use renewable energies such as wind instead…” Continue reading…
Once upon a time, there was a very close family who lived in a humble house in the countryside. They had worked hard to build the house themselves, for they had always wanted to have a nice home that was energy efficient.
Most of their neighbours had all-terrain vehicles, so eight-year-old Mario, who was the oldest child in the family, had often asked his parents to swap their own car, which was now very old, for a 4X4.
Eventually, Mario’s parents went off to buy a new car, for their own had stopped working. When they got home, Mario was waiting for them in the garden, impatient to see what 4×4 his parents had bought. He thought: “I bet they’ve bought the biggest and fastest 4X4! Now I can show off the new car in front of the neighbours!”
But to his great surprise and disappointment, the new car driving up the road wasn’t a 4×4. Mario immediately ran to the car.
“Dad! Mum! Is this our new car?” asked Mario, looking anguished.
“Yes, darling. Do you like it?” answered his mother.
“No I don’t! It’s not a 4X4! It’s a rubbish old electric car, why did you buy it?” asked Mario angrily. Continue reading…
There was once a little boy of 6 years old called Lewis. One day, as he was looking out of the car window on his way to school, he discovered that a large mass of grey smoke was forming just above his dad’s car.
Somewhat alarmed, Lewis looked at the other cars on the road to find out if they too had a cloud of grey smoke chasing them. To Lewis’ surprise, all the cars travelling on the motorway had the grey smoke hovering around them.
So Lewis asked his father: “Dad, what’s that grey smoke above our cars?” Lewis’ father was a little surprised by the question, but answered: “Well, Lewis, it’s called pollution.”
“Pollution? What’s pollution?” asked Lewis, waiting intrigued for his father’s answer.
“Well, for example, it’s that grey smoke you can see above our cars. Cars that run on petrol or diesel give off gasses into the atmosphere, which are very bad for all living beings and the planet too. Today you can see a lot of the grey smoke because it hasn’t rained for a long time,” answered his father.
Lewis spent a while pondering on this, and began to put two and two together. If the grey smoke was bad, and it was all because of cars, then why were there so many cars on the road?
“Dad,” said Lewis slowly, “If the grey smoke is pollution and is bad for us, why are we going to school in a car?”
“So I can get to work on time, son. The bus or metro would make us late,” answered his father. Continue reading…
