Acting for Nature (Book Excerpt)

by Sneed B. Collard III

Children Who Would Save the World
Acting for Nature tells the stories of 13 remarkable kids who saw some beautiful part of their world threatened and decided to something about it. In Germany, 14-year-old Peter Klausch challenges a coal mine - and the local mayor - to protect the forests. In Spain, two 13-year-olds, Judith Pérez and Miriam Burgués Flórez, organize a children's crusade to save the Ebro River.

In Saudi Arabia, 11-year-old Aishah Ali Abakar Barnawi spends her days camping with scientists in the Aja Mountains, helping to count migrating demoiselle cranes. Back in the city, she carries snakes and reptiles on her shoulders and gives sidewalk lectures about the creatures of the Arabian Desert.

In Mexico, 15-year-old Elias Miguel Alcocer Puerto saves his earnings from washing dishes and founds Explorers of the Mayab, an organization dedicated to defending the culture of Yucatan's traditional Mayan descendants.

The Journal is pleased to reprint two stories from this inspiring new book.

Defending Andrew's Fishing Hole
When twelve-year-old Andrew Holleman read the letter, he felt sick to his stomach. The letter stated that a developer was planning to transform 16 acres of wildlands in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, into a new subdivision with roads, drainage pipes, sewers, and 180 houses. This development would destroy one of Andrew's favorite places on Earth.

A fishing pole balanced across his shoulder, Andrew had often followed a dirt footpath into the local wildlands area. Here, he would walk underneath towering white pines and pass enormous rocks left by glaciers ten thousand years before. After dropping his fishing line into a clear brook, he would study the cattails along the water's edge for a glimpse of a great blue heron or a wood turtle. Sometimes a large-mouth bass would gently tug at his line, and other times one wouldn't, but this spot always gave Andrew a chance to be alone with his thoughts and take a break from school, baseball, and the swim team.

Now, however, Andrew's special place was in danger.

After overcoming his initial outrage at the developer's plan, Andrew started thinking about ways he could save his sanctuary. Before he began, he knew he needed more information, so he visited the local library. With the help of a librarian, Andrew found information on the Hatch Act, a Massachusetts law that protected wetlands from being removed, dredged, or filled in. Andrew also located a copy of the town's master plan and learned that it classified over half of the threatened property as wetlands.

This information was just what Andrew needed, and over the next ten months he spearheaded a fight against the housing development. He drafted petitions, wrote to state and local representatives, contacted the news media and spoke at dozens of town meetings. Many other town residents, it turned out, also opposed the plan, and soon, Andrew had a neighborhood committee behind him.

Andrew knew, though, that people needed more housing, so he came up with an alternative to destroying the wetlands. Across town stood an abandoned drive-in movie theater. Andrew proposed that instead of destroying a precious natural area, the developer could reclaim the old theater site. His concern for both nature and people paid off. After ten months, the developer withdrew his original proposal and eventually built the new neighborhood on the theater site.

As word got out about Andrew's success, local, national, and international leaders invited him to speak about environmental awareness. He traveled to the United Nations on World Earth Day in 1990 and, later, flew to Russia. Shy and reserved, Andrew initially dreaded speaking in front of other people. But with practice - and coaching from his parents - it became second-nature.

Andrew's fight taught him about working with the local government, solving differences with opponents, and joining forces with others who care about protecting the environment. He urges other young people not to be afraid to take on causes they believe in - even if no one else seems interested. "Don't wait for others to become involved in environmental issues," he said. "Start protecting natural resources yourself, and others will join you."

Aika's Legacy: A Comic Book for the Earth
Twelve-year-old Aika Tsubota and her mother stood outside and gazed up at the night sky. Where they lived, in the remote town of Shimane in western Japan, few streetlights interfered with the light from the stars. Tonight, Aika could see the Milky Way, which looked like thousands of grains of shining sand flung across the sky.

Aika stared at the stars for a long time. Then she turned to her mother and said, "I feel big - like the universe. It's as though I'm one with it."

Indeed, Aika felt a special connection with the universe, Earth, and all life. A tall, healthy girl, she loved walking through the woods, exploring the different faces of nature. She had a special interest in history and often asked her father to take her to ancient burial grounds, where she spent hours studying monuments and inscriptions. She expressed her love for the world in her hearty laugh and, in particular, through her art.

Aika began drawing when she was two years old. By the age of five, she was studying art books and copying the cartoon figures from comic books. Soon, she began creating her own characters and stories, making her own comic books, and sharing them with her delighted classmates.

As she grew older, Aika became more and more aware of the environment and the need to protect it. She often went walking with her grandmother to pick up trash in their neighborhood. When she was ten years old, she decided to write her autobiography. In it, she wrote, "I would like to become an Earth that is powerful, gentle to cradle, and fosters all of the lives on it."

In September, at the beginning of Aika's second semester in sixth grade, her teacher assigned each student a project of his or her choice to complete before the winter break. Aika decided to do what came naturally: create a comic book. But this comic book would be very different from her others. This one would teach people to care about the world she loved.

Aika set about creating three main characters: the planet Earth, a young boy named Eiichi, and Rumi, a young girl who looked a lot like Aika. In the story, Rumi checks out a book called Secrets of the Earth from the local library. When the children open the book, out pops Earth, shouting "Hi there!"

Earth proceeds to teach the two children about the planet's history, as well as explain the water and carbon cycles, photosynthesis, food chains, soil chemistry, weather circulation, and other natural wonders. Earth also shows the two children the many ways in which people have damaged the planet, from oil spills to destroying the ozone layer to cutting down rain forests.

After hearing all of this, Eiichi and Rumi ask Earth, "What can we do to help?" In the last part of Aika's book, Earth tells the children how people can work together to protect the planet. Earth describes how countries can create international laws to protect plants and animals, as well as the everyday things people can do, such as recycling, carpooling, and conserving water.

Aika worked furiously on her project, often drawing late into the night until her mother insisted that she go to bed. She checked out dozens of books on nature and the environment and carefully crafted each page of her comic book so that it was fun, accurate, and easy to understand. Her friends asked her to ride bikes with them or go to the movies, but Aika could think of nothing except her book.

Secrets of the Earth took Aika almost two months to complete, and she proudly handed it to her teacher in late December. Just hours after turning it in, however, Aika suddenly came down with a severe headache. Her parents rushed her to the hospital, but she never recovered. On the morning of December 27, 1991, Aika died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Devastated by their loss, Aika's parents, family, and friends thought about what they could do to honor her memory and passion toward life. Aika's parents decided to bind Secrets of the Earth and give a copy to each of her classmates and teachers.

Inspired by this idea, others decided to spread Aika's message to children throughout Japan and around the world. A group called the Foundation for Global Peace and Environment began publishing Secrets of the Earth and distributing it to schoolchildren in Japan. Teachers, students, and parents enthusiastically embraced the book, and it became a textbook in many schools.

Encouraged by this success, the foundation translated the book into Chinese, English, and Arabic and started a "Secrets of the Earth Aika Club" in Japan. Later, Aika's story and book were adapted into a play that was performed over 100 times. Television stations also ran special programs that talked about Aika, her book, and her life.

In 1993, Aika's parents traveled to Beijing, China, to receive the United Nations Environment Program's Global 500 Roll of Honor Award on behalf of their daughter. They also presented copies of Secrets of the Earth to hundreds of other children who attended international children's conferences in other parts of the world.

Since then, the foundation and the Aika Club have organized environmental seminars for adults and symposiums for children. They have sent young delegates to environmental children's conferences all over the world. One, held in Aika's hometown of Shimane, attracted over 400 delegates from nineteen countries.

The Foundation for Global Peace and Environment has continued to publish and distribute Aika's book. In addition to the original four languages, the book has been translated into French, Korean, Vietnamese, German, and Thai. Over 400,000 copies have been distributed throughout the world.

All of these activities would have pleased Aika. Shortly before she died, someone asked her what she thought about when she was working on Secrets of the Earth. She wrote down her reply: "The most important thing is for people to stop thinking they can't do anything just because they are only one individual. If everybody thought that way, planet Earth really would be doomed! If everybody pitches in, I know we can turn this planet into a beautiful place."

Excerpted from Acting for Nature: What Young People Around the World Have Done to Protect the Environment by Sneed B. Collard III and Action for Nature [2269 Chestnut St., No. 263, San Francisco, CA 94133, www.actionfornature.org]. Illustrations by Carl Dennis Buell, Published by Heyday Books [PO Box 9145, Berkeley, CA 94709, (510) 549-3564].