On Earth Day, Justine and Savannah stood in front of the class for their presentation. Mrs. Howie, as usual, sat behind her desk.
“Before Justine and I show our video,” Savannah said, “I would like to tell you why I think nature is so amazing. It’s a system that works perfectly. There are species that are called producers. Like trees and plants. It’s so cool. All they need is sunlight and water to grow and produce edible energy. At the same time, they use up carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.”
Savannah didn’t need to read from her notes. She was enthusiastic. “Consumers are living beings that eat the producers. As the consumers use energy, they need oxygen, but they produce carbon dioxide. Isn’t that amazing? That the waste from consumers is fuel for producers and vice versa?”
Savannah didn’t stop there. “The third group is the decomposers. Like bacteria that go to work when an animal or plant dies, or break down animal waste products like poop. The decomposers make the soil rich with nutrients to support the producers. And the producers support the consumers. And the consumers support the decomposers. It’s called an ecosystem. The ecosystem is an amazing chain of interactions that will blow your mind if you stop and think about how it works. I was proud to help count species and send my numbers in to the scientists.”
“Yes,” Justine said. “But if any part of the chain is hurt by pollution or anything else, it can destroy the entire balance.”
Justine looked at Mrs. Howie. “You told us our assignment was to show why we should care about the environment. Although it saves resources and it can save money to reduce, reuse and recycle, I finally understand why I want to be the Queen of Green.”
Savannah jumped in. “And I really want to become green, so that’s why I want to be called the Queen of Mean to Be Green.”
“Yes,” Justine said. “We have the answer to your question, Mrs. Howie. Would you mind if we turned the lights down and let the class watch a video?”
“Not at all,” Mrs. Howie said.
The video began. Savannah and Justine had created it using footage from their trip into the woods. It began with the fawn that Michael and Blatzo had found. Then it f lashed to the spider Safdar had captured building a web. Savannah’s video of the baby birds in their nest came next, followed by footage of frogs from another one of Justine’s trips into the woods. The video ended with a slow-motion shot of a flower opening up to sunlight. They had added music to the video and edited it carefully. It was so beautiful that when it finished, everyone in the class stood up and cheered.
“Do we need to say more about why we should all want to be green?” Justine asked.
“No,” Mrs. Howie answered. “The ecosystem truly is amazing. Let’s work together to keep it that way.”
“Thank you,” Savannah said. “But there is one last thing the class needs to learn about nature.”
“What’s that?” Mrs. Howie asked.
“I would like to answer that by showing one last video,” Savannah said. “Watch closely.”
The video showed Michael as he reached down and scooped up some dark pellets.
“Only one way to find out if it’s deer poop,” Michael said in the video. The class watched as Michael popped the dark pellets into his mouth. “You taste them.”
The class laughed and laughed as the video showed Michael spitting and wiping his tongue with both hands. Michael laughed the loudest.
“Yes,” Savannah said as the video ended, “when you enjoy nature, it’s very, very important to never, ever eat deer poop. Leave that job to the decomposers.”
