Rozzie Kids Magazine

by Katherine, 5th grade

There once was a girl named Ava. Ava had loved nature since she had been old enough to know what nature was. When she learned about pollution and climate change she was horrified and vowed to protect every plant and animal she could.

Ava’s street was populated by almost exclusively nature-lovers, with only a few exceptions (who all were neutral on the topic). Trees provided shade in a lot of places, gardens buzzed with honey bees, compost bins were placed neatly along the street. Ava’s street was gorgeous and eco-friendly, the perfect combo in Ava’s mind. Well, at least until a new neighbor, Leo, moved into a house at the end of the street. After Leo moved in, trash was scattered all over the street, plastic bags caught on tree branches, and compost bins were knocked over. Eventually, Ava decided to talk to Leo about what he was doing.

Ava walked up to the door to Leo’s house, and knocked. Leo opened the door after a minute or two and rolled his eyes when he saw Ava.

“Leo,” Ava said, “You can’t keep tossing your trash everywhere!”

“Why not?” Leo scoffed. “I can do whatever I want”

“Not when what you’re doing is harming the Earth!” Ava said sternly. “If you keep this up, I’ll —“

“You’ll what, scaredy-cat?” Leo asked. “Yell at me? Oh no! I’m so, so scared!” Sarcasm leaked purposefully into Leo’s words.

“Ugh!” Ava said. She stomped away angrily.

“Yeah, walk off!” Leo called after her.

After that, Ava decided to pick up whatever trash Leo decided to drop herself.

But that got really annoying to do. Leo would drop a candy wrapper, Ava would throw it away. Leo would leave a bag of chips in a flower garden, Ava would throw it away. Leo would laugh and point at Ava. But Ava kept it up.

She kept it up even when Leo threw trash deliberately in her face so that she would pick it up and throw it away. Ava cared a lot, but she didn’t really think that being mean back to Leo or yelling at him would do anything other than make Leo angry.

So Ava tried to talk to Leo again.

“Leo!” Ava said sternly when she saw him walking down the street with a backpack. “This littering habit cannot stay a thing!”

“What’s wrong with a little trash?” Leo said, grabbing a bag of pretzels from his backpack and opening it. “It’s not a big deal at all. I mean, what is this tiny bag of pretzels gonna do?” Ava’s eyes burned with anger, but she kept yelling as a last resort.

“It doesn’t matter if that plastic bag — which I’m taking from you — is small!” Ava said, snatching the pretzel bag from his hands.  “A small pebble can do a lot of damage! Chocolate is okay for humans to have, but if we eat too much, it’s not at all okay to have!”

“You are so over dramatic.” Leo said, rolling his eyes.

“I’m not ‘over dramatic’. I’m well informed!” Ava said angrily. “Littering is bad and you know it! You just don’t want to say it because a girl made you.” Leo glared at Ava, then walked away, leaving Ava with his pretzels.

Ava reached into the bag, and pulled a pretzel out. She put it in her mouth and crunched it between her teeth.

“It tastes of victory.” Ava said.

The trash mostly disappeared from places other than the trash bins for a few days after Ava’s second talk with Leo. However, the trash came back and at that point, Ava really wanted to yell at Leo. But there were a few other things she could do. Like putting up signs explaining — in even more detail than Ava had ever used before — why littering was bad or she could organize a day to clean up her street.

Ava decided to organize a cleanup, one with a speech at the end. Ava invited her friends and everyone on her street.

She wrote out her speech, trying to make it as encouraging as possible.  She prepared grabbers and trash bags.

Finally, the day of the cleanup came. Everyone came, even Leo. Ava handed out all the grabbers and trash bags and almost didn’t have enough for everyone, but thankfully Ava’s mother had brought extras.

The cleanup started soon after that, and the people in front got a lot of the trash, but missed some of it. The group went into other neighborhoods and even went downtown.

All the trash was picked up, whether when they were going downtown or when they were going back to their street.

When they got back to their original street, Ava gave a short speech.

“Thank you all for being here today! Before you go, I would like to deliver a short speech regarding being environmentally friendly and the benefits thereof.

“First, I would like to point out the health issues that pollution partially causes. If we dump our waste into the ocean and into our water sources, eventually all our water will be contaminated by trash and plastic and we won’t be able to grow food well and — after a while — at all.

“Furthermore, those who have asthma and other health conditions already are in danger and will be in even more danger if pollution rates stay as high as they are. Consider: The 235 million people with asthma have trouble breathing around some things. If we pollute the air, it will be harder for people without asthma to breathe, and since there is no cure for asthma, those with asthma may die.

“Adults, there are also economic benefits to being green. Produce and animal products will cost less. Switching to renewable power will lower your electric bill and your water bill.

“Look, many people think that global warming is just an expensive hoax made up by the government. But it’s not. It’s not a joke. It’s real and it’s a threat to our home. Our Earth. Sure, we can go to the Moon. And yeah, we can go to Mars, but if we take care of our current home, we won’t need to. If you want to stand with me in this fight against pollution, here are a few things that you can do: You can gather people together and protest against factories. You can start clubs to educate people about this.

“Also, daily choices like bringing your own bags to the grocery store and using your own water bottle instead of a plastic one help greatly.

“I know that’s a big step to make, but we have to try. We have to try if we want to survive. I know that we are a small community, but we can help our Earth.

“Please try to help. Helping the Earth is helping yourself! So, help yourself!

“Thank you again for being here, and have a good afternoon.”

Clapping and cheering sounded from the small crowd and Ava even saw Leo reluctantly, but genuinely, clapping.

As the crowd dispersed, Ava spotted Leo coming towards her.

“Come to apologize?” Ava asked when Leo reached her.

“And explain.” Leo said, looking down. “I’m sorry that I just threw trash around carelessly. I… look, I think I was careless because my family is.”

“Why is your family careless?” Ava asked, confused. Ava had just thought that Leo didn’t know the effects of pollution.

“Well, it’s because they hate plants and animals.” Leo said. Ava tilted her head. “They hate nature because, well, my second cousin, named Zander, died because of a watermelon rolling out of a truck and crushing him.”

“A watermelon?” Ava asked, suppressing laughter.

“Yeah, a prize-winning watermelon.” Leo answered. “Oh, and my grandmother, Christina, died by horse-bucking.”

“Oh…I’m so sorry for — “ Ava coughed to hide a giggle, “your loss.” Ava did not know how this could be real.

“It’s okay, I didn’t know either of them.” Leo answered. “Anyways, got to go!”

“Ava waited until Leo was out of earshot to let out her giggles.

THE END