the children’s

greenthread

greenthread

European Commission

the children, s

greenthread

European Commission

ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE-GENERAL

Last year, to coincide with Green Week 2001, the Environment Directorate-General of theEuropean Commission organised five competitions aimed at young EU citizens, who wereinvited to put their knowledge of environmental issues, creative skills and vision of the futureto the test. The response was amazing, with paintings, stories, photographs, speeches andvideo productions arriving from all corners of the European Union.

This small book contains a selection of the best paintings and stories that we received. Theygive a very personal account of what the environment means to many young people in the EUand show with chilling realism how they see the current state and future of the environment.

Above all, the paintings and stories speak volumes about just how sensitive young people areto the problems that affect our environment. If everyone shared as much caring and commit-ment about our environment as they do, then the future of the planet would look a lot brighter.

Margot WallströmEuropean Commissioner for Environment.

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).

Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.

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

ISBN 92-894-1379-4

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

Printed in Belgium

PRINTED ON 50% RECYCLED PAPER

Copies of this publication are available free-of-chargewhile stocks last from:

Information Centre (BU-9 0/11)Environment Directorate-General European CommissionB-1049 Brussels

Fax: (32-2) 299 61 98E-mail: ENV-PUBS@cec.eu.int

Original Idea - Graphic Elements -Co-ordination

Pavlina Kallidou

Art DirectorDemetra A. Papadonopoulou

EditingG. Dimitrakopoulos

D.T.P. - Films - Production Management Tzifas Bros S.A.

the children, sgreen thread

Once upon a grey time not exactly in a green world, there was a young thread.

A green – like a spring leaf – thread that created a big green ball.It lived at an unknown site somewhere on a small continent called Europe.

Most of all, it loved to listen to the stories that the older threadsused to tell about a past green, balanced world.

According to them, the human beings suddenly began destroying and pollutingthe environment without caring about the world that

they left to their children and grandchildren.

One day, the green thread decided to explore the world on its own. It started to meet the younger people of this grey world. All the children,

using their closest attention and their wide- open eyes, could clearly seethe dirty, polluted environment that they did not want to keep living in.

So the green thread took the decision to join up the dreams and the expectationsof the children as it travelled around Europe.

Silently, it began to unwind, and along its path it joined up all the young voices and paintings of the children who, from each and every corner of Europe,

dreamt of a better, green and balanced world.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect those of the EuropeanCommission. Neither the Commission nor any person acting on its behalf is responsiblefor the use which might be made of the following information.

Dear Mankind,

I’m writing to tell you that I’m not well. It’s me, the Environment, writing this letterto warn you that I’m very poorly and to ask you to change the way you behave sothat I can get better.

Let me describe the symptoms of my illness:● My atmosphere is polluted by all the fumes from the cars and factories.● Too much felling of trees and uncontrolled forest fires are causing me to suffer

desertification and deforestation.● My blood (oceans, seas, rivers, reservoirs, etc) is being weakened and dirtied by

all the filth and rubbish being thrown into the sea, the rivers, and so on.● Indiscriminate building and roads are destroying my landscapes.● Animals and plants, which are adapted to the environment they live in, are

undergoing changes and their very existence is being threatened, with theextinction of species.

All this makes me think that the cure for my illness lies in your hands. You needto change the way you live, for instance by not cutting down or burning treesunless you need to, by planting new trees, by not using the car so much, by notdumping rubbish in the sea, by using biodegradable materials and recycled paper,by respecting animals the way they respect us, and so on.

I hope all this will help to improve my health.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR LISTENING TO MY ADVICE

The Environment 7

Letter to MankindJulio Fernandez Amodia, 12, Santander, Spain

6

Chris Thomson, 8, UKMinna Pohjonen, 7, Finland Tobias Conen, 9, Germany

8

She fell asleep almost immediately.The next day was a Saturday. She thought of going to live with her aunt

Karin in Stockholm. She took her money, went to the station and got on the9.45 train. She bought a ticket, then went to the buffet car for a hot dog andan ice cream. Through the window, she could see the environment in all theplaces they passed through. She thought she should travel all over theworld and do something about all the rubbish and pollution. - “Next station Stockholm”, the conductor announced.

She got off the train and started walking towards the centre of town. Shegot to a block of flats where her aunt Karin lived and ran the bell. Nobodyanswered, so she went out and began collecting litter. When she saw heraunt coming, she ran to her and asked: - Can I stay with you?- Of course, but what's in that bag? - Litter!- What on earth for?- I want to save nature and the environment.

Ida lived there for seven years.Seven years later:Ida's now returning home. When she got back to the village, everything

had changed. The cars were running on rapeseed oil and the factories werepolluting less. Ida felt much better. She went home to her mum and dad andsaid she would never go away again without telling them.- “We now know how important the environment is to us”, said her parents. 9

Once upon a time there was a girl who lived in a little village where peo-ple didn't care much about the environment. They used to drop things likecans, bottles, orange peel and papers all over the place. The girl, whosename was Ida, wished there were fewer cars and less exhaust fumes so thatthe environment would be better.

She also tried to clear up all the litter during breaks between lessons andafter school. Ida's parents asked what she did so long after school, to whichshe replied that she went for long walks.

But when Ida came home one day, her mum and dad said she couldn't go outever again. Ida was very disappointed and wanted to know why. Her mum saidthey wanted to spend more time with her after school. Ida ran up to her roomand burst into tears. She thought she would run away, so she packed a bag withthree jumpers, three pairs of trousers, five pairs of socks and pantees, two booksand some food. She jumped out the window, and her mum almost saw her, butshe managed to get away. Suddenly she remembered she had forgotten the tentand had to go back. Her mother saw her as soon as she got home and askedwhy she was carrying a rucksack. She looked into the rucksack.- What are all those clothes and food doing in your rucksack?

Ida said she was going on a trip.- You'd better come in and have something to eat then.- But I'm going to have a picnic on the trip.- No, you must have something to eat first.

As soon as she was finished she slipped away. She took the tent with herand, when darkness fell, crawled in and snuggled down in her sleeping bag.

The environment can get betterEmma Fridlund, 10, Sundsvall, Sweden

Yvonne Dolerel, 10, Austria Sara Grande Cobo, 9, Spain

Planet earth, 2999 AD

My name is Mike. Tomorrow, on the 7th of February, I would have been 14,an age I never expected to reach anyway. I am about to die and today is thelast day of my life. I live on my own with my brothers and sisters and withR24, my faithful computer. These are very hard and difficult times.

Many children of my age are dying. The reason is that we are unable tosurvive. We are created by artificial insemination and brought up by robots.We don’t know the meaning of the word "nature".

I read books and wonder what on earth was this world which theydescribe. What is a beautiful blue sky, or a sea lapping on a shore, or brightgreen trees in the spring and the sound of birds singing?

I was reading that once the earth was green, that there were trees andsweet smelling flowers. The earth was fertile, water was plentiful and the airwas clean. That was back in the year 2000, when everyone was happy andpaid no attention to nature.

The years passed and there were all kinds of serious problems and lifebecame difficult. Global warming, water pollution, acid rain and the hole inthe ozone layer. Production increased and the forests disappeared.

By the year 2100 forests were scarce. Water was in short supply.Everything that man had done in the past had severe consequences for thesea, the lakes and the rivers, and even for the fate of the animals whichdepended on the water for the existence. They thought the sea was infinite,and that their stocks of water were so plentiful that they never paid them thenecessary attention.

When it rained, the rain was polluted by the air and turned into acid. Theacid rain polluted the rivers and the lakes, and harmed the fish and the treesand the rest of nature.

That was not to be my own fate, but the indifference of the people of thepast is being paid for now by the people of the present.

I like to imagine how the world would be today if our ancestors had notcreated so many environmental problems. I dream of a beautiful world withfresh air and clean water. Dreams are how we decide what we want. Wedream of something and then we do it. But I cannot perform miracles.

So I don’t know who will read this letter, or indeed whether anyone willread it, but I hope they understand what I am trying to say… 11

Letter from the futureNatalia Kirkopoulou, 12, Bruxelles, Belgium

10

Carina Maurer, 8, AustriaAngelina Voulgaridou, 8, Greece

I am eleven years old, I am in sixth class in the Jean Zay College in Morsangs/Orge to the South of Paris. I have a science teacher this year who is getting us to dowork on the environment. We have done lots of things. In September he suggestedthat we collect rubbish on the banks of the Orge. There were about thirty of us fromschool, some from each class. Journalists came to ask us why we were doing it, andthey took photos for the papers. We had gloves, t-shirts and these big bin-bags, wegathered up loads of things. Our bags were full. We also made other field-trips. Inclass we looked at these little animals under the microscope. Then our teacher told usabout a project in which we had to make a film. We met up every Wednesday after-noon at the House of the Environment to do surveys. We formed a club, the NicolasHulot Foundation, "the ecollegians of Morsang". We became interested in the springsin the town. We met and interviewed someone from the tourist office in Orge, a biolo-gist, some engineers, gardeners from the park, historians, a librarian, we even took aminibus to a neighbouring town to visit this amazing spring! We had great fun as wellas learning about lots of things. Last week our whole class made a film. We made upa story with our French teacher so we could explain about how springs begin, aboutthe quality of the water and the importance of springs for our town. The TV peoplecame and we were even interviewed! That was hard and it was freezing cold! We hadto redo some scenes several times. That's how I became interested in the environ-ment. We interviewed the Deputy Mayor for the Environment of Morsang. He told usthat there are houses in the town that are flooded regularly because of the springs andthat when they were being built nobody was bothered about protecting them, but nowthey are beginning to realise that they should have taken more care. I like working likethis, seeing lots of different people and places, learning to understand our town better.I hope that I will have this teacher again next year.

1312

Morsang-Les-SourcesFlorence Pruchon, 11, Morsang, France

Eva Keskinen, 10, FinlandElena Romani, 8, ItalyFederica Tedesco, 10, Italy

This is the story of Eco-baddie Bertil and Eco-mindful Mats. They are two very different people,as you can tell from their names. Mats and Bertilare both around 20 years old.

Bertil' s day

Bertil woke to the alarm clock ringing. He yawnedand stretched himself. He got up and ate breakfast,which consisted of toasted sandwiches and choco-late milk. When he had dressed and brushed histeeth, he got the car key and went out to his car.Once he was outside, he took out a cigarette, thena match, and lit the cigarette. He threw away thespent match after blowing it out. He got in the carand turned the key. The car started. He drove to thecorner shop, although it was barely 100 m away. Hisneighbours think he is lazy. When he arrived at thecorner shop he left the engine running while hebought a paper, chewing gum and an aluminiumcan of Coke. He said goodbye to the shopassistant. When he got back into the car, the enginestill running, he thought he would have a look at thepaper. He opened the can of Coke and turned topage 3. When he saw the picture he thought “She'sa bit of alright!” He threw away his cigarette-endand the empty can. He looked at the time, and

exclaimed “It's never already ten o' clock!” Hedrove off after a flying start. When he got home heput on the washing machine. He had a shirt whichneeded washing. He used lots of washing powder.After putting on the washing he took a shower foraround 40 minutes, then ate lunch. After eating hewent downstairs and watched TV. He took somesweets to eat while he watched.

Mats' day

Mats woke up to the sound of birds singing. Hestretched himself and got up. He had breakfast,consisting of porridge and juice. He switched offthe kitchen light before leaving. He got the key tohis bike lock and went out. He stretched andwalked over to his bike. Mats cycled to the cornershop. He went in and bought a loaf of bread anda litre of milk. When he came out he saw a Cokecan on the ground. He picked it up and took itwith him. Mats had collected 100 crowns thatway. He put the loaf and the milk on the baggagecarrier, cycled home and had a shower. Heshowered for around 4 minutes. He then put on aweek's worth of washing. He used only a smallamount of washing powder. He went into thekitchen and prepared lunch. After eating he went

to bed for a lie-down.

The meeting

Eco-mindful Mats got up and went to get break-fast. He looked in the fridge for an orange, butthere were none left. He put on a jumper and gothis bicycle to cycle to the corner shop.Bertil woke at the same time. He got up and wentto the breakfast table. He saw to his despair thatthere were no more cigarettes. He threw on hiscoat and got the car key. He drove to the cornershop at speed.When Mats got to the corner shop, Bertil cameout with a packet of cigarettes and a can of Coke.When Bertil had emptied the can he threw it onthe ground. Mats saw it and said:“Thanks! Now I can buy that computer game.”“What?” said Bertil“Yes, this month I' ve saved the last 100 crowns Ineeded for a computer game. How much moneydo you burn on cigarettes in a month?”“Around 1000 crowns”.“I can get 3 computer games for what you spenda month, and what's more, you're paying forthem.”Mats gave Bertil food for thought. 1514

Eco-Baddie Bertil and Eco-Mindful MatsNiclas Hägglund, 10, Sundsvall, Sweden

Raisa Pernu, 9, Finland

17

Luca Martin, 12, Innsbruck, Austria

16

Jeannine Weber, 10, Austria Riijja Saarela, 7, FinlandMartina Sandström, 8, Sweden

The environment is important ....

..... and not to be taken lightly,

it needs to be revered and not regarded as our own.

It has to be loved and cared for,

otherwise it will send us acid rain.

We can find it beautiful, but also pollute it,

Which is to no-one' s benefit.

Many fish have to die in oil slicks

but no politician is willing to risk anything for them.

Traffic exhaust gases

have environmentalists in a rage.

If we can't solve the problems of CFCs and nuclear power

the hole in the ozone layer is going to get bigger.

We want to live with precious energy and clean air,

but give up the tropical forest for nothing.

For many the rain forest is free for clearing.

All we have left is hope.

To build houses that our children will inherit

more and more animals have to die.

We have to respect nature and the environment,

otherwise it will take its revenge on us in the future.

19

The environment is gradually being pollutedmore and more, because of man’s irresponsiblebehaviour. So, the whole of nature held a meetingand after a lot of discussion decided to give mana warning and do something to make him under-stand what he had been doing all these years byneglecting the problems of the environment, eventhough he had of course been trying to do hisbest by developing technology.

So the whole of nature decided to go on strikeand not to provide man with his needs. "Man isdestroying us. He is changing everything for theworse but without realising that he is destroyinghimself. He is forgetting that we are the most pre-cious thing that he and his children have." Thesewere some of the main thoughts of the environ-ment. And the organiser of the protest wasMother Nature herself.

The trees decided not to give their tasty fruits,

nor to release their precious oxygen. The soildecided not to give its crops nor its valuable vita-mins. The water was angry because it had beenpolluted by chemicals, and with poisonousnuclear waste, so that wherever it went trying todo good everyone was afraid of it because it waspolluted. The disgusting water also kept shoutingand cursing man because man does not realisethat he is polluting it. And the poor water cannotdo anything about it. Mrs Air and Mr Ozone werefurious with man: Mrs Air was grumbling that hehad made her all dirty and Mr Ozone was angrybecause there was a big hole in him which hecould not mend. Meanwhile Miss Grass wasmoaning because man had ruined her andreplaced her with plastic Mr Lawn and she was alittle jealous of him.

The whole group wrote out their demands on alarge piece of recycled paper. They explained in a

letter to the Minister for the Environment that theywere going on strike using a turtle (of the threat-ened species Caretta caretta) as the postman.They told man that if he did not come to his sens-es within five days at the most they would mounta General Environmental Attack. They startedpreparing warning signs and placards bearing theinitials GEA.

As the days passed, it did not look as thoughman would meet the demands of the environmentgroup. So the group decided to carry out itsthreat.

Everything was ready. They were about to givethe signal. One, two, three - GO! And then… Iwoke up!!! I was covered in sweat. I had been soworried about the fate of man - just as I am nowworried about the results of this competition. ButI am even more worried about the future of theenvironment and life on planet earth.

Eleni Kyriazi, 12, Giannitsa, Greece

18

Michele

Trimarchi, 9,

Italy

Konstantinos

Asonitis, 8

Greece

21

That summer Giorgio didn't spend his holidays in the usual way, sittingin the sun on the beach beside a dirty sea and surrounded by empty bottles,litter and all manner of other rubbish.

Thanks to a trip he had won, Giorgio and his friends went to Trieste thatsummer. On discovering such a clean city he started to dream about howmuch nicer it would be if his own town were so clean.

He imagined nice parks full of flowers and playing areas for children, litterplaced in the rubbish bins, clean roads and parks.

Dreaming and at the same time thinking of his own town and what thesummer holidays were like there. He was sad and disappointed that his owntown was not cleaner and less polluted. Giorgio wanted to do something.He had loads of ideas but he knew that they would never come to anything.

He allowed his imagination to roam once more, thinking about his town.He imagined relocating and modernising factories to leave more space for

green areas and clean air in the city.Coming back to reality, Giorgio felt unhappy that the nice dreams he had

had were over. All his ideas were just silly childish dreams.At that point Giorgio, lost in thought, broke away from his group of friends

and crept into a corner.Marco, his roommate, went up to him and asked him what he was doing

alone. Giorgio told Marco of his dreams and Marco, too, confessed thatsince he had been little he had always dreamt of nice parks to play in withclean roads and air. Now they could.

On returning to their town they began to think more about the environ-ment. They stopped dropping litter, putting it in the rubbish bins instead,they treated the green areas with respect and above all they tried to con-vince their friends that this dream of theirs and of so many other boys andgirls of their age might become reality.

Giuseppina di Giorgio, 13, Taranto, Italy

20

Cesar Castañeira García, 9, Spain Stefania Granieri, 10, Italy

23

Like just about every day, my friend Jerry and I are sitting in the hazelbush by the pond when I get an idea.

“Hey, Jerry, let's do something,” I shout across to him. He just sits there onhis branch, rather lazy and unenthusiastic. “It's nice just sitting here, though,”he grunts. But I' m not for giving in. “We can play cops and robbers again,” Isuggest. “Yeah, sure, Gina and Jerry, the environment cops,” Jerry jokes.

“Why not? I think it's a great idea,” I say. “Let's go.” “And where totoday?” asks Jerry, starting to get a bit more interested.

“Over to the town. There' s always something going on there,” I reply asI fly off. Jerry has no choice but to fly after me. It's quite a hike to town, andJerry soon starts to moan. “Blimey, Gina, are you trying to break the speedrecord!” he gasps. But I carry on regardless. “Shut up! Then you' ll flybetter!” I shout back. We reach town and land on the first chimney we cometo. “Thank goodness for that. Now I can have a rest,” Jerry pants. But todayhe's out of luck. No sooner has he said that than a mass of smoke comesstreaming out of the chimney, engulfing us both in a black cloud. “Yuk!Gross!” I splutter, complaining myself now. “It's terrible up there,” Jerrysays. “Maybe we should go a bit lower,” I reply. So we land on a traffic lightthat's showing red. “Fresh air again,” Jerry rejoices. But just then the lightschange to green and a massive line of cars starts to roll by, exhaust gases

billowing out and stinking the place out. “I' m starting to feel quite poorly. Iwant to go home,” Jerry groans. “There's a park over there. Let's go andcatch our breath,” I suggest. “Good grief! What's going on here? Looks likea rubbish tip,” Jerry shouts. “Bottles, cans, and all manner of stuff. What apity, in such a lovely park,” I sigh. “Now where?” Jerry asks. “Over to theavenue lined with chestnut trees. A lot of people go walking there. It'sbound to be clean.” “Let's hope so,” says Jerry, not very convinced.

“Looks OK,” I say. But Jerry isn't too sure. “What's that on the pathway?”he asks, “people are giving it a wide berth.” “I thought as much,” I shout inhorror, “dog dirt! Let's get out of here.” We finally find a nice spot in thepark, with no smoke or stench. “There's a fearful din over there,” Jerryshouts, “let's fly over and have a look.”

An old man is screaming at some children playing: “Good-for-nothings!Someone should fetch the police.” “Poor people,” I think to myself. We'renow enjoying our outing less and less. “I think we should head back,” I say.On the way back we fly over a would-be flea market that looks more like abattlefield. It's full of clutter and junk. Once back at our hazel bush we justenjoy the peace first of all. How nice town would be without all that smoke,noise, dirt and stench. “Humans should take a bit more care and think aboutus animals and plants. Without us they won’ t survive!”

My environment (A bird’ s-eye view)Kristina Weitacher, 11, St Josef, Austria

22

Dario Fernandez Amodia, 9, Spain Picha Robert, 8, Germany

25

Since the 1995-96 school year, something beautiful has developed atthe College Heilig Kruis-Sint Ursula 1 [St Ursula College of the Holy Cross1]. With the help of the World Wildlife Fund and the City of Maaseik[Belgium], we could announce that we would be establishing an education-al nature reserve with a pond in it.

This was very important for the school but also for the local residents.Our school is located in the Dorperveld district, from which the pondderives its name of Dorperveldpoel [Dorperveld pond]. We owe a great dealto our biology teacher who has been very active in developing theeducational nature reserve within our school into something beautiful andusable for many different subjects taught at the school.

We have also cooperated in a large number of projects. Last year weworked out the Houtwal voor Dorperveld [wooden bank for Dorperveld] pro-ject. For this project, we planted out an 18 are green belt around the play-ground. Every class was assigned a small plot to cultivate. The first-year pupilsimmediately went to work on the proliferation of grass. Of course, the teach-ers kept an eye on who joined in and who didn’t, and when the whole area hadbeen freed of weeds, prizes were awarded. As a result, the small plots over-grown with that awful grass became a pleasure to the eye. During the lunchbreaks, we covered the footpath around the pond with wood chippings.

In November, we organised the Wetenschapsfeest [science fete]. Second-year pupils analysed the water in the Dorperveldpoel pond. It was perfectly

pure, and we had of course not expected anything else! The science teach-er conducted physics experiments, which, of course, had also something todo with water. We were allowed to assist in the experiments, making objec-ts float in the air, float on water, or sink. Pupils in the first year caught littlefish and other water creatures from the pond and occasionally allowed theyounger kids to also catch a little fish. Of course, they also made sure thateverything went as it should. In the school canteen, the small creaturescould be looked at under a magnifying glass or a microscope. At the end ofthe day, the Dorperveld pond book was presented, entitled Dorperveldpoel,een educatief reservaat [Dorperveld pond, an educational nature reserve].The book sketches the development of the reserve. To sum up, a great dealis done at our school to benefit the environment.

Recently, we also set up an environment working party in which a widerange of subjects is discussed, e.g. how to keep the school as clean as pos-sible. Some time ago, it came up with a new proposal, and now the play-ground is cleaned up by a different class every day. Only if there is any rub-bish lying around, of course! And only a few days ago, we planted a numberof new trees: chestnut, linden and oak. These are some of the many projec-ts intended to make our school as environmentally friendly as possible.

Anyone seeing the results of our projects realises that we treat naturewith proper respect. We ask others (family, friends and acquaintances) to dothe same. If we are good to nature, it will be good to us all in the future!

DorperveldpoelNele Vanstipelen, 13, Neeroeteren, Belgium

24

Elina Ritala, 9, FinlandLuigi Rizzo, 10, Italy

27

What does the future hold in store for us? This is a question many peopleare asking, but no one has an answer yet, not even the scientists or researchers.

Some think aliens will come and populate earth, others imagine a future whereeveryone has to walk around with gas masks. Others that mankind will die outsooner or later, like the dinosaurs did. Some people hope for life in big settlemen-ts under water, others for resettlement on other planets. Who knows what willactually happen? My view is that our environment is bound to change. All theexhaust gases our cars produce will make the gap in the ozone layer bigger andthe sun will become so unbearably hot and dangerous that we will be forced tostay indoors between 10 o'clock in the morning and 6 o'clock at night. This heatwill also result in glaciers and icecaps in the polar regions melting and thus sealevels rising. Entire towns and villages near the sea or below the previous sea levelwill have to be deserted as they will be submerged.

I also think that in the next century we will suffer from all manner of diseasesbrought on by the poor air quality and toxic gases and radioactive contamination.

The human race will expand at a tremendous rate and more and more peoplewill populate this planet. It will go so far that there will be no more room left andsomeone will have to come up with new ideas, although just what I don't know.

I also feel that there will soon be no more plants on earth, that rain forests willbe cut down and people will prefer artificial flowers at home to real ones, whichwill lead to excess CO2.

For me the future looks anything but rosy.

Our futureTamara Sonderegger, 13, Innsbruck, Austria

26

Sami Rantanen, 8, Finland

Laura Draber, 9, Austria Alexander Bäsecke, 8, Germany

29

I think that in a perfect environment there ought to be above all greencolours. When you look at your environment, you should not see dirt andrubbish but beautiful things instead. Everyone can have their own environ-ment, but also their own perfect dream environment. Maybe some peoplelike to be right in the centre of the city, surrounded by dirt. And there areothers who like to be in the middle of a hot desert. But at this moment youare asking me my opinion about what is a perfect environment and my storygoes something like this:

I can imagine going out of my house in the middle of the rainforest inSouth Africa, where I would see my pet monkey, Tano, jumping from tree totree and then into my arms. I would give him a banana from the nearest treeand he would eat it, while I myself was getting my breakfast from the treesnearby. And even the rainforest would be no ordinary forest, but a perfectrainforest. Naturally. I would take two mandarin oranges for myself fromanother tree and a water-melon from the field for breakfast and lunch. Then,of course, another banana for Tano.

After breakfast - and now it's almost midday - the sweat would bepouring off my forehead and I would go to my own swimming pool in mybackyard to swim and sunbathe. Then, if my skin started to burn, I wouldgo inside. I would pour myself a glass of punch and take a good book from

the library. After that I would sit in a big, soft armchair and read the bookwhile drinking the punch made from exotic fruits.

When I'd read enough of the book - and now it's close to 5 o'clock - Iwould go outside back to my tree on which meat grows. I would pick anykind of meat I wanted from the tree. I would then go inside and roast themeat, having eaten my water melon. Then I would start my normal work,which is nature-watching. In other words I would take the most beautifulpictures of nature you could imagine. I would have to go deep into the for-est and there my turtle friend, Bono, would meet me. There I would takephotographs not only of flowers but also of animals, from the smallest to thelargest.

Once I had taken enough pictures I would return home on Bono's back.Tano would already be waiting at home, munching a banana. After that, Iwould spend a while in my day-time room, where I would have all kinds ofreally cool gadgets (I would even have a Playstation 2). I would spend myevening there playing and watching films on DVD.

When it was time to go to sleep, I would go bed and when I woke up inthe morning suddenly I would find myself in some small Baltic state in somesmall village far away from the dirt and pollution. Remember, this would bea perfect environment.

A perfect environmentJooel Tuokola, 14, Pietarsaari, Finland

28

Alessia Consiglio, 9, Italy Iordanis Panidis, 10, Greece

31

- "Pedro Alexandre, do you take Elzbieta to be your lawful wedded wife?"

Calmly, his voice filled with the joy of a dream come true, he replied: - "I do."

- "Elzbieta, do you take Pedro Alexandre to be your lawful wedded hus-band?"

Trembling, blushing with emotion, she replied: - "I do."

And that was the result of a real-life encounter, which is still a fairytale today.

At a time when so much is said about "real-life novels", a rapidly perish-able, easily consumable product, it is good to see that there are still youngpeople who are drawn together by values and ideals. Young people whocement their love with stronger, more lasting ties than a few Internet chatsor an artificial, empty encounter on some "Big Brother".

It started two years ago. They first met in Romania, at a gathering spon-sored by the Council of Europe to debate environmental issues. He, fromPortugal, met Elzbieta, from Poland.

They both say it was love at first sight!

The nature which they love so dearly lent the whispering of the wind, themystery of the forests and the babbling of the brooks to awaken their senses.

Pedro, at the end of a civil engineering course, was torn between asecure, promising career and his love for such a mistreated planet. At thetime, photography was more than a simple hobby. It was already one sideof the passion which drove him to observe dragonflies and butterflies, birdsand secret flowers.

She, after a sociology course, saw the world as a common home.

And so the ties which united them in observing nature grew stronger, asdid their will to devote their lives to protecting the environment. From therethey joined the European Voluntary Service to work on an environmentalproject in a nature park in Spain.

Today they are still united in protecting the same ideal.

They married. They are living happily and believe that it is for ever. Willthey have many children? I do not know, but they are already preparing forthem a cradle-world measuring up to their love.

"Happy end"Gabriel Campos, 13, Coimbra, Portugal

30

Sanni Mattila, 7, Finland Adrián Álvarez Alonso, 9, Spain

Hello my friends,

Let me introduce myself; my name is Peruco and I am one of those treesyou tend to see in most parks. I’m going to tell you about something thatreally caught my attention today and that pleased me a great deal.

The thing is, children in the olden days had great respect for the environ-ment and took good care of it. But as the years have passed I’ve got olderand the children I see nowadays do terrible things.

Before, they used to amuse themselves by playing in the sand, they madetheir toys out of the twigs that fell from the trees, and they even took shel-ter under me when it rained. And in the spring they used to make dens inthe great big pine tree that stood in the park. Also, in the summer time, theywould go for a dip in the pond that used to be there, keeping themselves inclose contact with nature.

Today, as time goes on, children are always wanting more (a bag of crisps,some chewing gum, etc.) and even their toys have changed, from balls madeof rags to perfect balls with funny names on them, and from home-made

dolls to dolls made of something called plastic and then painted.

Youngsters and adults sometimes drop litter and they also stick thosesticky things they call chewing gum onto me. My friend Papi (she’s the litterbin) complains because the children don’t put their litter in her (except nowand again). Sometimes, when they feel like writing silly things, they carvethem into my bark and wound me. They might think it doesn’t hurt, butbelieve me it does!

Well now, all these years of experience have made me ramble on toomuch, but let me just tell you what has made me so pleased. This morningsome thirteen-year olds came along with their teacher. He was telling themall the things they shouldn’t do, like dropping litter and mistreating us trees.Oh! and then, even though you might think it’s strange, they made nests,planted trees and picked up all the rubbish that was lying around the park.You wouldn’t recognise the place now!

That’s all from me. I hope you’ll follow their example and come and see me.

33

Diary of a treeMargarita Diaz Miguel, 14, Valladolid, Spain

32

Veronica Ferretti, 9, Italy Frederic Röttger, 8, Germany

35

- Hi, I'm Siri the anchovy and I would like to tellyou about my life under water.

Many many years ago, the water was clean andclear. There were no cars or nuclear powerstations. In short, everything was just fine. Butthen things started to change. Before people knewthat it was dangerous to dump oil drums in waterthey sailed far out to sea to dump them there.

- Come with me, Mona, and I will show you. It isamazing how much rubbish there is in the water.Besides oil drums there are jars, returnablebottles, plastic bags, sweet papers, rusty old carsand bikes, etc.

- You know when that nuclear power stationexploded in Chernobyl? It happened 17 yearsago. The wind took the radium to Sunsvall. Mybrother was there on holiday and he still hasn'tcome home.- Oh dear.- People have got a lot to answer for.- I know.

Up to the surface...

- Hi, Martin Gull.

- Hi, Siri Anchovy.- Can you take Mona on a journey of discovery,she said with a knowing look at Mona.- Certainly, what do you want to see?- Something good, please.- That might be difficult.- You can always try.- OK, then.- Thank you.- What do you want to see?- First you can show me some bad things andthen some good things.- Sure. First we should go to Kuball- What? Kuball?- Yes, what about it?- My daddy works there. What are they doing wrong?- 1. They are using too much electricity.- 2. They are releasing poisons.- Oh dear, I shall have to talk to my daddy aboutthat.- Do that.- Now let's go to Ortviken. Here is the paper-mill.- I know. My mummy used to work here. What arethey doing wrong?- They release poisons into the water.

- What did you say?- They release...- I heard you the first time. I suppose you'll besaying next that Saab are behaving badly as well- That was the third one I wanted to show you.Who works there?- My mummy.- They...- I don't want to hear about it. Can you show mesomething good for a change?- Let's fly to the coast.

Much much later...

- Look how beautiful it is.- I know.- If you look in the water you can find jellyfish, fish,plankton (which you can't see with the naked eye),birds (not in the water) and much much more.- Do you know what I want?- No.- I want a world where there are no cars, factories,radium or anything else that can harm animals andnature- Yes, if we make an effort the environment can beimproved, can't it?.

The environment can be improvedMicaela Jonasson, 11, Sundsvall, Sweden

Hanna Ottman, 8, Finland

34

37

Fight to the right to stayAlison Lindsay, 13, London, UK

36Alessandro

Fanfani, 8, Italy

Tommaso Grechi, 8, Italy

“All rise. Case five, an argument between Laura Scottworth and the gov-ernment. Calling Laura Scottworth to the stand please.”I stood up as smartly as I could and walked to the stand.“Now Laura! How old are you may I ask?”“Thirteen,” I replied.“And you’re here to make the government leave your environment alone?”“Yes.”“Why?”“Because the more this environment is ruined the more things will die. Ifthey cut down all our trees then they’ll kill all our animals. If they kill all ouranimals then they will be closer to becoming extinct. They are even takingour old people to homes when they don’t want to go. Families have beenliving here for over one hundred years and we don’t want to go. Also, thereis nothing wrong with town so they have no reason to knock it down. Inother words they haven’t got any rights and we have! They’re useless!”“Objection!”It was the head of the government.“How dare you call us useless, we’re not useless, it’s this run down little

town of yours. We’re doing you a favour. You need us!”“Some favour,” I said patiently. “You’re ruining everything in sight and caus-ing pollution to go through our nostrils. No-one want you here. No-one likesyou here and no-one needs you here. In fact, no-one wants you full stop.You can try and ruin us but we’ re not going to give up without a fight. Wehave human rights!”There were screams and cries of agreement, everyone saying that we hadthe right to protect our environment.“Order! Order!” shouted the judge banging away. “I have come to a conclu-sion!”I waited, while biting my nails.“Laura Scottworth has given true statements and has put up a fair fight. Shemanaged to keep her temper unlike the head of the government. Therefore,the government must lose this case and leave the Worpleston environmentalone. Thank you!”

There was a burst of applause, everyone coming to shake my hand andcongratulate me! I did it! For once, I actually felt good about myself!

Shortly after its marvellous journey around Europe, the green thread was certain.Having joined up a long series of trees, fruits, crops, animals and fish, it had an undeniably positive vision.

If children ruled the world, it would be in a much better state.Children could see clearly the dead- end where those “grown- ups” were stubbornly leading them.

An environment polluted by waste, chemicals, exhaust gases, noise. This situation needed some changes and a lot of action.

“It cannot stay the same,” said the green thread. “I travelled from freezing northern climates to places in the Mediterranean where the sun nearly discoloured me, and from small villages to huge cities

where I nearly got lost. Everywhere, the thoughts of the children were the same.”

We cannot continue living in an environment like this. We want a clean and safe environment.

The world belongs to us. We’ ll make it like we deserve it!

European Commission

The children’s green thread

Luxembourg: Office for Official Publicationsof the European Communities

2001 - pp.40 - 17,6 x 25 cm

ISBN 92-894-1379-4

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