Jenny Jellyfish vs. Missy Mayhem
(SMALL people can make a BIG difference!)
By Alli Louthain
Once upon a time there was a jellyfish named Jenny. She was a beautiful Sea Nettle jellyfish. She soft skin was semi-transparent (this means you could kind of see through her!!) with neat dots and brownish stripes all over the bell of her head.
(Why do you think her head is called a bell?)
She lived in the great big ocean just east of Oregon and Washington where she loved the cold water there all year long!
Every day Jenny lived life to the fullest drifting around stinging her prey and making nice meals of minnows, microscopic plankton and such!
All seemed balanced in her world. She’d never known sadness, until she met her first piece of litter.
“What is this horrible, ugly thing?” She thought. “It does not taste good, and it does not look good. It must be that nasty word trash I’ve heard my brothers talk about before! Trash in my home just doesn’t do!! But how do I get rid of it?
What could Jenny do? Her arms were tentacles created to catch prey, not hands to throw trash away!
As Jenny floated to one of her favorite shallow reefs she hadn’t visited in awhile-her day got much worse!
Her reef had changed drastically! The water seemed murkier and what used to be bright, colorful coral now looked damaged, dingy and lifeless.
The minnows and plankton she was accustomed to eating had all but vanished making the reef it a pitiful sight for a hungry creature.
“What had happened to my beautiful home?” Jenny bemoaned. “My coral looks so sad and my stomach aching for food.”
Jenny was truly perplexed, what could she do? If she was not the one destroying her natural habitat, who was?
As if Jenny’s anguished cry was her cue to enter the stage, a masked Missy Mayhem appeared by the Sea Nettle’s side with a cackling laugh and a sneering face.
“Who are you?” Jenny the jellyfish exclaimed surprised by the strange villain.
“Hee, hee I am Missy Mayhem,” She mockingly said, “You’ve never met me personally before, but you surely have seen the ramifications of my actions!”
“What? What are you talking about?” Jenny asked confused. She’d never met a malicious person before. “Are you being mean on purpose?”
“Well, well, well. Let me think.” Mayhem paused. “No, I guess I don’t try to be hurtful-not on purpose. But your mother earth has been trying to tell me to help her for some time now, but I just don’t really want to listen! Ugh, change means work and effort on my part. I just don’t have time to care…some might think that is almost as bad!”
“I still do not understand.” Jenny said, “What could a human being like you do, that would affect me here in my enormous blue ocean home?”
“Oh, where do I begin…?” Missy Mayhem exclaimed then paused for dramatic effect.
“I fill the bathtub up way high every morning and take long showers every night.
I never turn the faucet off when I brush (not MY problem)-though it does affect YOUR plight!!
I never check sink faucets to see if they are leaky!
And I do NOT compost anything- that is just too stinkin reaky!
I flush the toilet with every whim, not caring that water is wasted with each flush.
AND I definitely do not recycle! (What a bother-please HUSH!).
And littering…well let’s say I’ve done my share without a care!
Me bend over in my stilettos? Ugh-I wouldn’t dare!
Then there are lights! Oh, I leave all my lights on just because I can.
And I keep my appliances plugged in even when not used in my plan.
Let’s face it-it’s a drag to drag them out when I’d rather get a tan!
And the fridge! Don’t even get me started; I leave it open all the time!
Why should I feel rushed when choosing something to eat-really is that a crime!
All my clothes MUST be brand new and changed with every fashion and every whim.
And gas! (Well now that black oily stuff you may know from places that you swim.)
Cars, I must drive wherever I go…
To the store, to the park or to my favorite evening show!
Biking is so droll and walking what a bore.
I just do not like to conserve-need I say anymore?!”
Having made her point, that she clearly did not want to reduce, reuse or recycle, Missy Mayhem stopped her little rhyming monologue to see Jenny’s reaction.
Jenny the Jellyfish felt a little hopeless at this point.
“Did every human feel this way? Who was watching out for her, so she’d have a clean ocean where she could play?”
“Surely,” The little Sea Nettle Jellyfish said in a voice quite firm. “Not all people can be like you-I know that some will learn!”
Here is the story’s conclusion and it includes a special hero-YOU!
To all who are listening-Jenny is hoping you will not just hear but DO!
It’s up to you to be a hero and keep Missy Mayhem at bay!
Jenny needs your help, starting right now-this very day!
You may be small, and feel like you are just a little kid.
But YOU can make a difference by recycling just one lid.
Just by turning off the water while you brush your teeth,
Just by picking up the trash outside you save Jenny’s reef.
Just by turning off the light when you leave a room…
Just by donating your old clothes you can stave off Jenny’s doom!
Don’t let Mayhem take over our earth – Don’t let Missy win this fight.
Encourage your parents to reduce, reuse, recycle and rescue earth from its plight!
(Below is a letter/to do handout I gave all the moms that day.)
Hey Girls!
So, I get super excited about being eco aware and friendly (what I call being “hippyish” not that I condone drugs or rage against the system, but I like to, ya know, “Save the Earth” and all!) It is an ongoing process, in fact doing this unit for preschool helped give me the motivation to do some things I’ve wanted to implement forever (just one more reason why I love MAPP)!
Years ago I complained to my mom that it was lame to reuse sandwich baggies and take the same brown lunch bag to school until it was in shreds. Yet now I am really grateful she instilled in me the concept of stewardship of our Earth. She taught elementary school for 20 years and every year she did a unit on Reduce, Reuse & Recycle!! Trying to be environmentally friendly is just good economics…with our home, our budget and the earth God gave us! I don’t know about y’all but every single place Andy and I have lived we’ve done the “budget heating thingy” where you pay one set bill all year long…without fail the company has to reconfigure/lower the bill because we simply use less than the people living there before us! And it’s not like we live in the dark or set the thermometer at 60 degrees either, just simple “turn off the light when ya leave the room” kind of mentality!
Anyhow, I do not mean for the following to be preachy, just motivational! The U.S. makes up 5% of the world’s population and uses 30% of the earth’s resources and creates 30% of the world’s waste….Yikes! But it is amazing how much money can be saved (ie you won’t spend as much money on sandwich baggies if you put stuff in reusable Tupperware instead!) and how much of a difference one person, or one family can make! If you need some motivation to get started go to storyofstuff.com. That and so many other websites out there help “little ‘o me” understand why it’s important to make a difference.
I’m sure y’all are doing some of these things already, and if you’re not do not feel overwhelmed by the list below-just pick a few to start with (or I guess you could just throw it in the trash- heehee)!
This list isn’t supposed to be comprehensive, just a starter kit if you will. I would also love to hear any neat ways you have found to Reduce, Reuse & Recycle!!
I’m grateful I got to teach the R’s this week and get inspired to get “GREENER”myself. How cool is it that now I get a turn to carry on my mom’s legacy and pass on the tradition of “thrashed brown bags” so to speak to the next generation!!
Ofa atu,
Alli
GO GREEN & SAVE SOME $$ GREEN!
Simple ways you can help save the environment and your wallet!
One of the places I took my tips from, like how to make a cheap compost bin… http://simplemom.net/tips-to-go-green-at-home/
REDUCE
WATER
1- Turn off the water while you brush your teeth.
2- When brushing teeth or washing hands turn on a “pencil” width stream of water.
3- Check house for leaking faucets.
ELECTRICITY
1- Turn off the lights when you leave the room/aren’t using them
2- Unplug unused appliances (yeah, I’m talkin’ bout the toaster you use 1x a week!)
3- Switch out old light bulbs with CFL bulbs
4- When it’s time to buy new appliances, get “energy star” rated ones
5- Wash clothes in COLD water versus HOT water
GARBAGE
1- Grocery bags: Use reusable bags for grocery shopping etc (cheap to buy, or you can even make your own! Ask Anna how she likes her Envirosax!)
2- UNWANTED MAIL…ie “DIE JUNK MAIL!”
-Call #888.567.8688 to stop credit card, insurance, phone service offers and more for five years!!
-Go to http://www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org/ to stop receiving phone books…seriously, besides my parents-who uses phone books anymore?
-Call the customer service number for the catalog- that let’s face it; you barely buy from, you usually order online from and looking at it just makes you want it all! - and cancel their mail service.
(I just did this to 6 different retailers and as cheesy as it sounds, it was exhilarating!)
3- Paper: Make a “scratch paper pile” of unwanted printed paper. Use the other side for coloring pages or to print items you don’t need to “look nice” like that new recipe you want to try out.
4- Compost: What’s “IN” to put INTO compost from US EPA… seriously, so cool how much stuff can go in there!
Animal manure Cardboard rolls
Clean paper Cotton rags
Dryer & vacuum cleaner lint Eggshells
Fireplace ashes Fruits and vegetables
Grass clippings Hair and fur
Hay and straw Houseplants
Leaves Nut shells
Sawdust Shredded newspaper
Tea bags&coffee filters/grinds Wood chips
Wool rags Yard trimmings
REUSE
1- Containers: Glass containers, yogurt containers, etc…and use them for leftovers, to deliver dinner sides etc.
2- Clothes/Toys/Furniture/Books: No brainer-Donate/Resale instead of chucking. Also, check out 2nd hand stores, not just for kids either-I think most people know I frequent Plato’s Closet often for myself! There’s Goodwill, Craig’s List, yard sales, Kids Go Round, Once Upon a Time, Indy FreeCycle, Half Price Books…just to name! Definite $$$ saver!
RECYCLE Just do it. If you don’t get RAY’S curbside pickup for free/don’t want to pay for it-there’s a Kroger East of us on Country Club Road that recycles ALL the basics…glass, paper, plastic, magazines, aluminum etc.
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