If you like it, why d’you trash it?
Do you have a brain at all?
Has your grey matter turned to splatter?
Tie your laces or you’ll fall.
*
So you buy it and you eat it,
Crap and junk degrade your mind.
Fat and flesh foods, blood and death foods,
You’d be brighter if you’d been kind.
*
But you’re not bright, you’re a moron,
Piles of crap wherever you’ve been.
It’s our world you declared war on,
Stupid stinker, eat your greens!
Story continues from yesterday:
For all the Venus Aqueous stories click here 😀
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vegan, vegan stories, vegan children’s stories, vegan children, vegan comics, environment, litter, dolphins, vegetarian, swimming, ocean pollution,
Story continues from yesterday:
****
Luke put the gobstopper back in his mouth and wiped his sticky hand on his trousers. There were seven Year 6 boys again. The missing two had returned with snacks. Luke knew their faces but not their names. One of them was Katia Haines’s brother so his surname must be Haines. Luke picked up his comic again and peered over it in their direction.
The big boys hung around the swings, some sitting, some standing. The tall one thought it was funny to throw one of the swings over the top of the frame, over and over again until it was too high up for anyone to sit on.
They all had crisps and pop. Katia’s brother spat chewing gum on the ground before getting stuck in to his crisps. There was a litter bin next to the swings and when the boys had finished snacking they, one by one, tossed their rubbish into it. Each boy took his throw further from the bin than the one before him, to demonstrate his superior skills.
Haines went last and missed. The others laughed and teased him for his ineptitude when his rubbish hit the ground, so he proved them wrong by hitting every one of them with the football. All seven scuffled noisily out of the park.
Luke picked up his notebook and pencil,
LITTER: 1 TANGO CAN, 1 CRISP BAG, GUM
DROPPER: HAINES, YEAR 6
then he went over to the swings and collected the rubbish.
Suddenly he heard Butler’s loud shouting voice. The class 4 kids were coming back! Quickly he ran north and concealed himself behind the trees next to the pony paddock. He watched them through his binoculars. They sat together on the bench, eating crisps and drinking pop. Kenny White also had a sherbet fountain. Luke waited patiently for Butler to drop his rubbish on the grass. His pencil was poised for the inevitable notebook entry. Simon Butler would then be taught a lesson. But Simon Butler did not drop his rubbish on the grass. He put it in the bin, as did Christina and Becca. Luke was begrudgingly impressed.
He looked at his watch. It was 1.54pm. 1.54! Mum had said 2 o’clock, don’t be late! He had to get home for dinner! But he couldn’t come out from behind the trees, they’d know he’d been spying on them. He had to wait. So he waited. And he waited.
“Don’t you lot ‘ave ‘omes to go to?” he asked under his breath.
He looked at his watch again: 2.01. He heard Becca shouting.
“Let’s go on the swings!”
They all ran and Kenny, being the last to get there, found no swing for him (the fourth having been wound around the top of the frame). He shrugged and said he was going home for dinner. The rest of them followed his example.
2.09. Luke emerged from his hiding place and ran across the park. As he sped past the bench something caught his eye. He stopped. Looked back. There was something on the ground under the bench.
LITTER: 1 PANDA POP, 1 CRISP BAG, 1 SHERBET FOUNTAIN
DROPPER: KENNY WHITE
Sunday evening. It was nearly bedtime. Luke emerged quietly from his brother’s room.
“Hey! What are you doing in my room?” Jared scowled.
“Jus’ doin’ you a favour, that’s all!” said Luke, returning the scowl. “You left your school bag downstairs so I put it in your room. Mum gets cross when you leave stuff out so I’d say I did you a favour alright!”
Jared eyed his younger brother suspiciously. It wasn’t like him to be so considerate. Luke stomped off to his own room.
Monday morning. Time to implement part three of the plan.
********
Continues tomorrow, or if you don’t want to wait you can read the whole chapter here. The first eight chapters are also available in paperback.
Prepare to be inspired. Prepare to be in awe. Prepare to have your heart lifted and your eyes moistened 🙂
Eight year old Amelia Meyer, who was granted a wish by The Make-a-Wish Foundation because she suffers from brain cancer, wished that she could clean up all the litter in her local park.
“She chose to clean her local Swope Park in Kansas City, Missouri because she wanted it to look nicer for her friends and neighbors. “Another reason is because [litter] can stay dirty and it can get animals sick,” she added.
Fortunately, Make-A-Wish didn’t just hand Amelia a trash bag and wish her well on her endeavors. Instead, the foundation organized hundreds of people to participate in the cleanup, with everyone from local business employees, the Kansas City Fire and Police departments and schoolchildren getting in on the action. Amelia said she was surprised at just how many people showed up to help.
Sly James, the mayor of Kansas City, attended the event at Swope Park to congratulate Amelia on being selfless and an all-around “really neat kid.” He then proclaimed February 27 “Amelia Meyer’s Take Care of the World Day” throughout the city.
Amelia’s story didn’t just motivate people in her own community, but people in other parts of the state and even the world. As word of her wish spread on social media, other people organized cleanups in their own areas, tagging photographs of their efforts with #AmeliasWish.
Though Amelia’s wish is unconventional, it seemed to bring her no less joy than another child’s trip to Disneyland might. Throughout the day, she ran around collecting trash with a big smile on her face. Jill Meyer, Amelia’s mother, said that the night before the cleanup, Amelia expressed she was “so excited” for the litter patrol. When Jill asked her why, she responded, “Because I get to pick up trash!”
It’s hard not to feel inspired by Amelia’s caring attitude. She clearly hasn’t let her age or life-threatening illness stop her from doing her part to make the world a better place. May her selfless wish serve as an inspiration to people who come from more fortunate circumstances.
Meanwhile, my wish is that Amelia overcome her battle with cancer because we absolutely need more people like her in this world.”
Support this fantastic Florida group, Eco-Action, and maybe start one in your area 🙂
Look at these fantastic real-life Venus Aqueouses 😀
Save the Planet Associate – a community organisation in Thailand. Support and share their work and like their page 😀
Once upon a time there were three humans and their names were Dowatiwant, Dowateewants and Dowatheywant. They did everything together. Dowatiwant was the one who decided what they would do, Dowateewants would copy him and Dowatheywant would copy them.
One day Dowatiwant went into the cornershop, followed by Dowateewants and Dowatheywant.
Dowatiwant bought a packet of crisps and a can of fizzy pop. Then Dowateewants bought a packet of crisps and a can of fizzy pop. Then Dowatheywant bought a packet of crisps and a can of fizzy pop. All three left the shop, one after the other, and walked to the park.
Dowatiwant sat down on a bench and opened his packet of crisps and his fizzy pop. Dowateewants sat down next to him and opened her packet of crisps and her can of fizzy pop, and Dowatheywant sat down next to her and did the same.
There they sat, talking and laughing, eating and drinking, crunching and slurping, until their crisps and their fizzy drinks were all gone.
Dowatiwant dropped his crisp packet on the ground and tossed his drink can over his shoulder. Dowateewants laughed, dropped her crisp packet on the ground and threw her drink can at a tree. Dowatheywant held on to his empty can and his empty crisp packet and picked up those tossed by his friends.
“What are you doing?” asked Dowatiwant.
“Why don’t you do what we did?” asked Dowateewants.
“I’m changing my name,” said their friend as he deposited their rubbish in the bin, “to Sharperthanimaner.”
“The connection between chucking bits of plastic on the ground and cute animals dying of starvation is a demonstrable fact. It’s not even one of those join-the-dots facts like fossil fuel use and homeless polar bears. It’s a dead-hedgehog-with-its-head-stuck-in-a-plastic-cup fact,” wrote Alex Proud, in ‘If you drop litter, you’re an idiot and must be punished’, The Telegraph, 17 February 2014
“… I’d ramp these [litter fines] up and enforce them with the kind of zeal that would have Dirty Harry gasping with mute admiration.”
Look at this can, and picture if you can
What it would do to Peter Rabbit’s paw.
It’s as sharp as a knife, it would cut like a knife,
And cause bad infection for sure.
This is how it goes, when someone just throws
Their drink can on the ground.
Inevitably it must, succumb to the rust,
Get dangerously jagged and unsound.
Now think of this, just think of this –
What if Mrs Tiggywinkle walked over?
What if she trod, right over the sod
Where this can was hidden in the clover?
Or Tabitha Twitchit, perhaps Mrs Twitchit,
Might be walking her youngsters to school.
Moppet and Mittens, and Tom, her kittens
Could, on this can, cut their feet cruel.
“Oh I wish,” they would say, at the end of the day,
“That the can had never been left there.”
Their feet would sting, as infection set in,
“But humans who litter just don’t care.”
Wetsox Puddlesplasher,
That is my name.
My job is important
But it feels like a game.
***
We clamber through ditches,
And sink in the mud.
We jump down from earth mounds
And land with a thud.
***
Soggybottom Puddlesplasher,
My close relation,
Is my partner at work,
This mucky vocation.
***
***
***
But that is no matter,
There’s no turning back.
We have to keep going,
And fill our sack,
With bottles and cans,
Some broken, some shredded,
That were dropped by the stupid,
The thoughtless, wrong-headed.
***
These everyday things,
Used once and tossed out,
Are dangerous now,
To the others about
Their business as usual,
Living their lives.
They step on a shredded can,
That cuts like knives.
They eat plastic pieces
Or cigarette butts,
Which hurt them as much,
As the broken glass cuts.
***
So our job is important
And we’ll always stay
Proud Puddlesplashers,
Day after day.
All together now:
Here we go round the shopping mall,
The shopping mall, the shopping mall,
Here we go round the shopping mall
On a dirty, dusty morning.
***
This is the way we’re kicked about,
Knocked about, blown about,
This is the way we get about
On a cold and windy morning.
***
This is the way we go for a swim,
How we slip in, how we drop in,
This is the way we go for a swim
On a bright and blustery morning.
***
This is the way we float down stream,
We float down stream, we float down stream,
This is the way we float down stream
On a hot and sunny morning.
***
This is the way we go to sea,
We go to sea, we go to sea,
This is the way we go to sea
On a calm and cloudy morning.
***
This is the way we poison the life,
Strangle the life, entangle the life,
This is the way we choke the life
Out of each and every ocean.
***
Here we go round the ocean gyres,
The ocean gyres, the ocean gyres,
Here we go round the ocean gyres
For a hundred thousand mornings.
***
vegan nursery rhyme
*
Venus works hard trying to clean up the rubbish in the ocean in order to save the animals who are being poisoned and ensnared by it. But since 80% of the rubbish in the oceans originates on land, it’s impossible for her to keep her beloved sea clean. So, the rest of us need to make sure that all our rubbish is properly disposed and not littered. More than that, we need to actually pick up other people’s litter in order to protect wild animals and help Venus.
Yuck! That sounds like a dirty job, and it’s important to take care not to pick up anything dangerous like broken glass or needles (ask a grown up to deal with that stuff) but if we don’t do it, who will? Of course it would be better in the long run if we stop buying things that don’t degrade harmlessly in the environment – namely plastic – and then this nasty litter problem might be solved.
Anyway, I’ve invented a board game that you can make for yourself and all you need is paper; something with which to draw or paint; stones or buttons or whatever little things you’ve got lying around to use as counters; and a dice pinched from another game.
1. Paint an aerial view (map-type) picture of Venus’s home town (it doesn’t have to be the same mine, you can use your imagination 🙂 )
2. Add places to visit, like shops and cafes
3. Then add ways to score points like picking up litter; refusing to buy plastic items; recycling what you’ve found or bought; and freeing animals who have been trapped in cages.
4. Finally add stepping stones which link all these places on your map.
Now your picture should look something like this:
NOW YOU’RE READY TO PLAY!
Imagine you have come to visit Venus and are staying at the campsite (place all the counters at the campsite to start). But Venus is out diving, cleaning up the rubbish in the sea, so while you’re waiting for her you can explore the town.
Each person rolls the dice and the one with the highest score starts.
When you roll the dice you move that number of spaces (stepping stones) from the campsite. You can go in any direction but you can’t change direction in the middle of one roll.
The idea is to go around the town, accumulating points by landing on the award-giving spots. You have to roll the exact number to land on the award-spots (and that doesn’t mean the stepping stone next to the award-spot – you actually land on the award-spot).
You can go around the town as many times as you like and land on the same awards more than once, but if you go back to the campsite the game will be over.
In other words, the game can last as long as you like. As soon as the first person gets back to the campsite, the game is over and you add up all your points. The person with the most points is the winner (not the first person back to the campsite). So, you need to be aware of when you are in the lead on points and then get back to the campsite as quick as you can before someone else overtakes your score.
It’s fun and very easy to make 🙂
EVE PICKED THESE UP IN 20 MINUTES AT THE LOCAL PARK
It is estimated that several trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide every year. That’s billions of cigarettes flicked, one at a time, on our sidewalks, beaches, nature trails, gardens, and other public places every single day. In fact, cigarettes are the most littered item in the world. Maybe it’s because people think they’re made of harmless biodegradable material,
BUT THEY’RE NOT!!
Cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate tow (plastic fibers) and they can take decades to degrade. Not only does cigarette litter ruin even the most picturesque setting, but the toxic residue in cigarette filters is damaging to the environment and the animals that mistake them for food. The filter is specifically designed to trap toxic chemicals (to stop the smoker sucking them in) and when they’re discarded, these toxins leak into the environment (and the bodies of those who eat them).
Click on the pic for more info
Crack crunch shingle slides
Under my feet, the sand hides
Salt smells float on the breeze
It makes me smile, the scent of the seas
***
Waves crash, advance and retreat
Gulls call, for others to meet
But sharp tones, unnatural, manmade
Objects litter, spoil and invade
***
I lift and tidy, pick up the mess
Don’t allow plastic to spoil nature’s dress
Dangerous to some, others think it’s food
Getting it out of harm’s way makes me feel good
Violet's Vegan Comics 