Let me tell you a secret

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OFFICE FOR OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES L-2985 Luxembourg KH-40-01-117-EN-C 14 Let me tell you a secret about the environment European Commission

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Let me tell you a secret

Transcript of Let me tell you a secret

OFFICE FOR OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS

OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

L-2985 Luxembourg

KH

-40-01-117-EN-C

14

Let me tell you a secret

about the environment

European Commission

1

The sun rises over the Merlin City rubbish dump. A faint sound is heard. Lila the fox pricks up herears, trying to figure out what it is. No, it's not abird. There it is again ? It seems to be coming fromthat cupboard over there. Lila moves nearer.The cupboard door is slightly ajar. First a small shoeappears. Lila gets curious. Then a leg emerges. Lila wonders what on earth it can be. The little leg turns into a little child.Oh… Gently, Lila moves closer.

European CommissionLet me tell you a secret about the environmentLuxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities2001 — 20p. — 16,2 x 22,9 cmISBN 92-894-1714-5

Script: Benoît CoppéeIllustrations: Nicolas ViotTechnical production: Qwentès

More information about environment policies can be found at the DG Environment website onthe Europa Server: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment

Copies of this publication are available free-of-charge while stocks last from:Information Centre (BU-9 0/11)Environment Directorate-GeneralEuropean Commission200 rue de la LoiB-1049 Brussels Fax: (32-2) 299 61 98E-mail: [email protected]

A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet.It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int).

Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2001

© European Communities, 2001Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

Printed in Belgium

Printed on recycled paper

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Lila turns her big brown eyes towards the child andsays:

- Grown-ups are a bit weird. Your cupboard is stillperfectly good. Why did they throw it away ?

- My Mum said it was too old. Dad bought a newone. I wanted to sleep in my favourite cupboardone last time. And so… here I am !

Lila points with her paw towards Merlin City, whichlies under a blanket of grey smoke.

- I’m frightened, said the fox. Humans produce toomuch, a lot of things that are no use at all.The huge cloud of grey smoke you can see overthe city comes from all those factories, busymaking too many things, Tom. Oh…

There are tears in Lila’s eyes. The landscape becomesblurred. She hugs Tom. He can hear her heartbeating.

- My… My name’s Tom, says the child. I… I hidmyself in a cupboard… And then… Where am I ?

- You're in the Merlin City dump, says Lila.

- The dump?

Tom looks around.

- Wow! Mummy must be worried sick. How am I going to find my way home?

Lila's eyes look strong but gentle. They seem to say,“I’m going to help you, Tom”.

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- Look, Tom. I think Merlin City is going tosuffocate soon. Just smell the water in thisstream. Yuck ! It smells like hundreds of rottingfish. What’s happened to the lovely scent of theflowers ? I’m scared, Tom…

Foxes are sensitive animals. And what's more, they'realways right. Lila loosens her grip.

- Come on, Tom. Let’s go look for your Mum.

To get out of the dump you have to crawl through atiny hole in the fence. Lila squeezes through.Suddenly, she senses danger.

She stands up.

- Look out ! she yells.

But it’s too late. There's a man standing there.It's the man who looks after the dump. Lila hidesbehind a washing machine. Tom stumbles, then hefeels two large hands holding his arms very tight.The man lifts him up.

- What are you doing here, you little wretch ? It’s strictly forbidden to come in here! he saysharshly.

His bright red cheeks look as if they're going toexplode. His eyes look really angry.

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Lila and Tom swear to tell everyone. The man takes adeep breath and then he begins…

- If people aren't careful about what they throwaway, the water, the air and the ground willbecome so polluted that it will be impossible forus to survive !

- What on earth are you doing here ?

- I… I got thrown away with the rubbish fromMerlin City. I've got to find my Mummy. I’m sure she’ll be worried about me !

The man lowers Tom to the ground. He sits down onan old washing machine. His expression changes,and now he suddenly looks kind. But no, he looksmore sad than anything else. Something seems to bebothering him. He looks around at the dump.

- They’ve even started throwing children away now?He looks worried.

- No, it was an accident ! I fell asleep in thecupboard. Honest !

- I believe you, little boy. All the same…

Lila comes over.

- You look sad, sir ?

The man is lost in thought for a moment. What hehas to say is very important. What he has to sayaffects all human beings.

- I’m going to tell you a BIG secret. Normally youshouldn’t tell a secret to anyone, should you ?But I would like you to tell everybody my secret.You have to tell everybody ! Promise me you will !

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- Yes. If we don’t do something about it, that’swhat could happen. But it’s not too late. We ALLhave to help.

None of them speak for a while. Lila can’t believe herears. Tom is frowning furiously. The man goes on:

- For our own health, we need a healthy planet.If the Earth gets sick, we all get sick !

Really ! said Tom. But… Oh, if only Mum knew allthis !

- Oh ! says Tom. That can’t be possible !

- Yes it is, little boy. People throw everything away.They get rid of their things any old way. All kindsof machines. Medicines. Paint. You name it.Their rubbish is full of poisons. And those poisonsare contaminating the Earth. We're poisoning theground, the air… and the water. What we aredoing is…

The man can't bring himself to say it.

- Mister, do you mean we are… killing ourselves ?asks Tom.

- High above us, way up in the sky, the Earth issurrounded by a huge layer of gas. That gasprotects us. It filters the good and bad rays ofsunlight, because the sun sends us harmful raystoo. Those harmful rays can cause terribleillnesses. We're using too many products thatdamage this layer around the Earth. It's in a badshape. It's got a hole in it now !

- A hole ? says Tom, looking worried.

- Yes. If we don’t try to mend the hole, we couldend up getting lots of harmful rays of sunshinesome day !

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The man looks towards the sky.

- I have another secret to tell you. A very important, hidden secret.

The man sits down. His hands are trembling slightly. He says:

- Terrible things are happening high above us, wayup in the sky. You can't see them. You can't smellthem. You can't touch them. But they're there,and they're very worrying.

- What ? said Tom and Lila.

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The man gets to his feet. He stares at his hands awhile, then he looks at Tom, and then at Lila. He says:

- Too bad… I thought you were old enough to hearsome serious secrets … Too bad… I was wrong.The thing is… oh well,…

The man picks up a stone. He throws it into apuddle. It makes a splash. Lila turns towards Tom.She squeezes her lips, then opens them.

- Maybe we'd better listen to his secret ?

- Yes, alright !, answers Tom. OK ! I’ll listen to thesecret ! I WANT to hear the secret ! Because IWANT to know everything ! EVERYTHING ! But be quick !

Lila frowns. Tom is thinking hard. He's staring up atthe clouds. Suddenly he says:

- Right ! I’m going home to my Mum!

- Wait, said the man. I want to tell you anothersecret.

- NO ! I've had ENOUGH! shouts Lila. Your secretsare scaring us to death ! We want to hear aboutnice things ! Flowers and things like that !…

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- It won’t be so cold then ! points out Lila.

- It mightn't be so cold, agrees the man, butglaciers and icebergs could start melting. The seas and the rivers could rise.Whole countries could be submerged. It’s very serious.

- The cloud of pollution could be broken up !suggests Tom.

- Yes, that’s right.

- It’s impossible ! argues Lila. You can’t ask humansto stop driving cars ! They need all thosefactories ! Oh…

The man draws closer to Tom. He says:

- You have to be brave to hear the last secret.

- I AM brave ! cries Tom.

- Me too ! says Lila.

- You both sound very grown-up, smiles the man.Here’s the third secret. We are sending too muchpollution up into the air and the pollution iscreating a kind of greenhouse overhead. The heat from the Earth can no longer escapeinto the universe. And the heat is heating up theplanet.

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Two pairs of panic-stricken eyes emerge from thecloud of dust.

- TOM? TOM? Where are you ? It’s your Mummy,darling ? To-om…

- TOM? It’s us ! It’s Daddy !

- OH ! MUM…! MUMMY! DADDY…

And Tom rushes towards his mother. His dad seemsto be overcome with emotion.

- Mummy, Daddy, these are my friends !

- Friends ?

- Yes, Lila and the man… Come on… They’ve beenlooking after me… They’re…

Tom turns around, but… Lila and the man havedisappeared.

- Honest, says Tom. They were there… With Lila, I… That is…

- Lila ?

- Yes, the fox ! And the man… The man who looksafter the dump… Where have they gone ?

- NO ! says Tom. No, I’m not standing for that !There has to be a way ! We have to dream upnew ways of running factories ! I’ll invent newthings when I grow up. I’ll invent a petrol-freeengine. From now on I’ll go to school by bike, orby bus ! I'll…

Tom is interrupted. A loud noise shatters the peaceand quiet. VROOM! A car rushes into the dump attop speed, throwing up a huge cloud of red andbrown dust. The car screeches to a halt.

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- There’s nobody there ! says his dad.

- But…

- Let’s go home ! suggests his mother.

Tom goes over to his dad and whispers afew words in his ear. His dad smiles at him.

- All right ! he says.

They drive off towards Merlin City. On theroof is Tom’s favourite cupboard ! Meanwhile,Lila is standing on top of the rubbish dump,feeling a bit down. She's just lost a friend.The old man is feeling sad too.

- Tom had to leave us, Lila, he says. He has an important task now !

- An important task, whispers Lila.

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The car disappears over the horizon. Tomlooks out the window, up at the sky.

- Dad, Mum, do you want to know the threesecrets ?

- Three secrets ?… Go on, Tom, we’re listening…

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