Let me tell you a secret about the environment · Let me tell you a secret about the environment...
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European Commission
Transcript of Let me tell you a secret about the environment · Let me tell you a secret about the environment...
European Commission
European CommissionLet me tell you a secretabout the environmentLuxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities2003 — 20 pp. — 16.2 x 22.9 cmISBN 92-894-3866-5
Published in all the official languages of the European Union: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish.
European CommissionDirectorate-General for the Environment Directorate-General for Press and Communication — PublicationsB-1049 Brussel/Bruxelles
Script: Benoît CoppéeIllustrations: Nicolas Viot
Manuscript completed in August 2002
More information about the environment policies can be found at the DG Environment websiteon the Europa Server: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2003
© European Communities, 2003Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Printed in Germany
PRINTED ON CHLORINE-FREE PAPER
1
Lila the fox was resting outside her den at the MerlinCity rubbish dump. It was early morning and the sunwas rising.
Suddenly she heard a faint sound. She pricked upher ears. What could it be? A bird? No. Then sheheard it again. It seemed to be coming from acupboard someone had thrown away, quite close toher.
Lila tiptoed towards it. The cupboard door openedslightly and out came a small foot, wearing a shoe.Then came a leg. "What’s going on?” Lila wondered.
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Then out of the cupboard stepped a small boy. Helooked lost and the fox felt sorry for him. "Hello: I’mLila” she said. "Who are you?”
"I… I’m Tom,” said the boy. "I... I fell asleep inthis cupboard. And then… Where am I?”
"You’re at the Merlin City rubbish dump”, said Lila.
"The dump?” said Tom, puzzled and looking allaround. "Oh no! My Mum must be worried sick!How am I going to find my way home?”
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Lila smiled at him with her big, brown eyes. "I’llhelp you,” she said, gently.
Then she looked at the cupboard. "That’s a nicecupboard”, she said. "Why did your parents throw itaway?”
"My Mum said it wasn’t modern enough so Dadbought a new one. But I like the old one. It makesa cosy den and I wanted to curl up in it just oncemore. I must have fallen asleep. And now they’vethrown me away too!”
"Human grown-ups are a bit weird, aren’t they” saidLila. She lifted a paw and pointed in the direction ofMerlin City. In the air above the city hung a greyblanket of smoke.
"You see all that horrible smoke? That comes fromthe factories where human beings make things. Toomany useless things that soon get thrown away.Why do they do it? I wish they would stop”.
There were tears in Lila’s eyes. Tom sat down nextto her and she snuggled up against him. He couldfeel her heart beating.
"How can Merlin City breathe with all that dirt in theair?” said Lila. "And just smell the water in thisstream. Yuck! It’s like hundreds of rotting fish.What happened to the lovely scent of the wildflowers? I’m scared of what’s happening, Tom”.
Foxes are sensitive animals. And what’s more, they’realways right.
Lila stood up. "Come on”, she said: "Let’s go andfind your Mum”.
All around the dump was a tall wire fence. Lila ledthe way to a small hole in the fence. They were justgoing to crawl through it when the fox senseddanger. "Watch out!” she yelled: but it was too late.The man who looked after the dump was standingthere. Lila dived for cover behind an old washingmachine. Tom tried to follow her but tripped.
A strong pair of hands gripped him by the arms andlifted him up. "What are you doing here? You littlepest!” roared the man. "Can’t you see the sign? Itsays KEEP OUT: STRICTLY PRIVATE”. His face wasred and he looked very angry.
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"I… I got thrown away with the rubbish,” said Tom."I’ve got to find my Mum. She must be veryworried about me”.
The man put Tom down. Then he sat on the oldwashing machine and looked at the boy kindly, withsadness in his eyes. "Don’t tell me they’ve evenstarted throwing away children!” he said.
"No, it was an accident” answered Tom. "I fellasleep in the cupboard. Honest! Then my friendthe fox found me.”
Lila came out from her hiding-place. "Hello”, shesaid. "You look upset. What’s the matter?”
The man was lost in thought for a moment. Then hesaid:
"Listen, I’ve got something very important to tellyou. Something that matters to the whole world.It’s a BIG secret, but because it’s so important I wantyou to tell everybody. Everybody! Do you promise?”
"Oh yes! Yes!” answered Lila and Tom. They satlooking at the man, wondering what he had to say.The man took a deep breath and began…
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"If people aren’t careful about what they throwaway, then the water, the air and the ground willbecome so polluted that we won’t be able to go onliving”.
"That can’t be true!” said Tom.
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"Oh yes it is” said the man. "People throw all sortsof things away. Machines, bottles of medicine, potsof paint, anything. And they get rid of their rubbishany old how. But the rubbish has lots of poisonousstuff in it. Very dangerous stuff. And those poisonsget into the soil where our food grows, the air webreathe, the water we drink. We’re gradually….”
He stopped, unable to say the terrible word.
"You mean we’re gradually killing ourselves?” askedTom.
The man nodded. "If we don’t do something aboutit, that’s what could happen. We ALL have to changeour ways, before it’s too late”.
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For a minute or two, nobody spoke. Lila couldhardly believe her ears. Tom just sat there, frowning.Then the man went on:
"If we want to be healthy, we must have a healthyplanet. If the Earth gets sick, we all get sick!”
"Yes, I see,” said Tom. "But… Oh, if only my Mumknew that!”
The man looked up at the sky. His hands weretrembling. "There’s another secret I want to tell you”,he said. "A very important, hidden secret. Somethingterrible is happening high above us, way up in thesky. You can’t see it. You can’t smell it. You can’ttouch it. But it’s happening, and it’s very worrying”.
"What is it?” asked Tom and Lila.
"All around the Earth, way up in the sky, there’s alayer of gas. It’s a gas called ozone. It’s veryimportant to us. It lets in the good sunlight andkeeps out most of the bad sunlight – the harmful raysthat could otherwise make us terribly ill. The ozonelayer protects us from those rays. But the trouble is,we’re damaging the ozone layer. We’re using too manyspray cans with stuff in them that destroys ozone. Sonow the ozone layer has got a hole in it!”
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"A hole?” said Tom, worried.
"Yes. If we don’t stop using those spray cans thehole will get bigger and bigger, and we’ll end upgetting lots of harmful rays of sunshine”.
Lila frowned. Tom thought hard, staring up at theclouds. Suddenly he said: "Right! I’m going hometo Mum”.
"Wait”, said the man: "I’ve got one more secret totell you”.
"No! No! I’ve had enough!” shouted Lila. "Yoursecrets are scaring us to death! We want to hearabout nice things. Flowers and… and pretty thingslike that”.
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The man stood up. "Oh dear” he said. "I thoughtyou were old enough to hear some serious secrets. Iwas wrong. I’m sorry. Oh well…”
He picked up a stone and threw it into a big puddle.It made a splash. Lila looked at Tom and said,almost in a whisper: "Perhaps we’d better hear thelast secret?”
"Yes, all right!” said Tom. "OK, I will listen to thesecret. I want to hear it, because I want to knoweverything! But please hurry up!”
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The man put his hand on Tom’s shoulder and said:"You’ll have to be brave to hear this one”.
"But I am brave!” Tom shouted.
"Me too!” barked Lila.
"Right” said the man: "Here’s the third secret. Byburning oil and gas and petrol we’re sending toomuch pollution up into the air, and the pollution issurrounding the whole earth. It’s like agreenhouse: it stops heat escaping from the Earthinto space, so our planet is gradually heating up”.
"So we won’t get so cold in winter!” said Lila,looking pleased.
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"Maybe not” said the man: "but it will also causeterrible storms. And think about the huge amountsof ice and snow at the North Pole and South Pole.If it melts and runs into the sea, the sea will riseand whole countries could be drowned. It’s veryserious”.
"Then we must break open the greenhouse and letthe heat out!” said Tom. "We must stop burningall that oil and gas and petrol!”
"You’re right,” said the man.
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"But that’s impossible!” exclaimed Lila. "You can’task humans to stop driving cars! And they need allthose factories! Oh dear…”
"No!” answered Tom. "I’m not standing for that!There has to be a way! We’ll have to think up newways of running factories! When I grow up I’mgoing to invent those new things. I’ll invent a carengine that doesn’t need petrol. And heating forhouses that doesn’t need gas or oil. Tomorrow I’llgo to school by bike! I’ll…”
VROOM!! Tom’s voice was suddenly drowned by theroar of a car racing into the dump at top speed andscreeching to a halt in a cloud of dust.
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Two people jumped out and two pairs of panic-stricken eyes peered through the dust cloud. "Tom?Tom! Where are you? It’s Mummy, darling. TOM!”
"Tom? It’s us! It’s Daddy!”
"Oh DADDY! MUMMY! I’m HERE!”
And Tom rushed into his mother’s arms. His Dadcould hardly speak for joy.
"Mummy, Daddy, I want you to meet my friends”.
"Friends?”
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"Yes: Lila and the man. They’ve been looking afterme. They’re over there”.
Tom turned round, but Lila and the man werenowhere to be seen.
"But they were there” said Tom. "Lila and I, we…”
"Lila?”
"Yes, Lila the fox. And the man who looks after thedump. Where can they have gone?”
"There’s nobody here,” said Tom’s dad. "Yourimagination again!”
"But…”
"Let’s go home,” said his mum.
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Tom put his arms round his dad’s neck andwhispered something in his ear. His dadsmiled. "All right” he said.
A few minutes later they were driving alongthe road to Merlin City – and on the car roofwas Tom’s favourite cupboard!
Standing right at the top of the rubbishdump, Lila sadly watched them go. She feltshe had just lost a friend.
"Cheer up, Lila” said the man. "Tom had toleave us. He’s got an important job to donow”.
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"Yes, a very important job” agreed Lila.
As the rubbish dump disappeared from viewTom looked out of the car window and staredup at the sky.
"Dad, Mum… Do you want to know threesecrets?” he asked.
"Three secrets? Go on, Tom. We’re listening”.
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