Even
with their eyes closed, the
Kindness Kids could tell by
that wonderful sensation they
were quite used to by now, that
they had just been transported
through the hyperlink Ahmed
had pressed.
So, it's only natural that when
they opened their eyes, they
expected to be on the other
side of the EcoGate. But
unfortunately, they were still
standing in front of it. There
WAS something different, however.
There were three doorbells lined
up on the door. As the kids
moved closer, they saw that
there was writing under each
one.
They didn't need the magnifying
glass to read the words. Under
the first doorbell was the name,
"Jacques Cousteau." Under the
second, "Rachel Carson." And
under the last, "Jane Goodall."
The Kindness Kids felt certain
that they were supposed to press
the bell with the correct answer.
But what was the question?
Sunanda stepped back from the
door to try to think by herself
a moment. Then she noticed the
plaque above the door. She could
now easily see that it had a
question on it. "Whose 1962
book, Silent Spring,
helped to popularize the environmental
movement?" she read.
The Kindness Kids looked back
at Sunanda and realized what
she had discovered. Ahmed hesitated
only a moment, then was about
to start tapping on his computer
to research the answer.
"Wait,
Ahmed!" Ling gasped as she saw
what he was about to do. "We
don't want to risk being transported
somewhere else if you type in
another hyperlink…" Ahmed stopped
himself just in time.
"That's
okay. I know the answer to this,"
Michiko laughed. "This book
is on my reading list in Science
class this year. I haven't read
it yet, but I remember the author.
It's Rachel Carson!" she said
and she reached up to press
the second bell.
"Wait,
we should talk about it first!"
Sunanda gasped, not sure if
Michiko was pressing the correct
bell.
But Michiko was right, and the
bell chimed it so in a pleasant
voice. Unfortunately, the Gate
didn't open. Instead, a new
question appeared above the
door and instead of 3 bells,
there were now 5 bells with
answers beneath them.
The
children were a little surprised
to have heard the chiming-voice,
but the new question-placard
grabbed their attention. "What
are the 3 R's for the Environment?"
the kids read.
"That's
easy!" José exclaimed without
missing a beat. "Reading, Righting,
and Rithmitic!" he spurted out.
"No
way, José!" the kids groaned.
It seemed they said that a lot
during their Kindness Kids Club
meetings, because José was quite
a jokester.
"Uh,
guys, the first bell has that
written under it!" Jamal pointed
out.
"Yeah,
well the second has 'rivers,
rainbows and rhinoceroses …"
Erin said, shaking her head.
"They're all really cool
things, but I'm pretty sure
that's not the answer either!"
"How
about, research, rescue and
regulate?" Ling offered after
reading the label under the
third bell.
Sounded
good, but no one thought it
was the answer they were looking
for. The kids shook their heads
and peered at the next label
down the line. "Responsibility,
recreation, relaxation…"
No.
"Reduce,
Reuse, Recycle."
Of
course that was the right answer,
and they all reached forward
to press it. Lots of fingers
piled on top of each other.
"Alright
already," the bell chimed, annoyedly.
Suddenly, a few more bells popped
up under the others, until there
were 10 of them.
The
kids saw the question had changed,
too. They were starting to get
a little frustrated. This was
kind of fun, but how many questions
were they going to have to answer?
"In
what year did leaders from all
over the world gather in Kyoto,
Japan to discuss the problem
of global climate change?" the
children read together.
Then they looked down under
the doorbells. "1452, 1784,
1899, 1920, 1965, 1989, 1997,
2000, 2001, 2012."
"Oh,
I know this one!" Maya exclaimed.
"Grandfather went to that conference
for the non-governmental organization
he works for, the year my sister
was born. Let's see, she's,
um…"
"Right,
Erin exclaimed. "I know about
that. Most of the nations of
the world agreed to the Kyoto
Protocol. It set out specific
ways to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions…"
"Why
don't they like greenhouses?
Isn't that how we get beautiful
flowers in the wintertime!"
José piped in with a
smile.
All
the kids turned towards him
and rolled their eyes, thinking
about how to explain to him
what greenhouse gases were.
"I'm just kidding. I know what
they are! They're gases like
carbon dioxide that are released
when fossil fuels like coal
and oil are burned to run cars
and heat our homes. They trap
heat in the atmosphere, which
is a good thing, except when
there's too much. Which there
is now, and it's causing the
earth's temperature to rise…
which is causing a change in
climates all around the world."
The kids were impressed. He
really did know a lot about
it. But then, they should have
expected it from him by now.
José is always a big
jokester, but he is definitely
really smart!
"1997!"
Maya exclaimed suddenly. "I
forgot her birthday for a second.
But that's the year Grandfather
went to Japan for the UN conference.
1997. That's the answer!"
Maya
pointed at the bell above the
answer she chose.
"Are
you sure?" the other Kindness
Kids exclaimed. "Absolute… well,
pretty sure," Maya said, now
starting to doubt herself a
little. "No I'm sure!" she giggled.
"Okay,
go for it!" the Kindness Kids
agreed.
Hesitantly,
Maya pressed the buzzer. "Great
job!" the bell chimed.
Suddenly all the buzzers disappeared.
A single line of writing appeared
on the door. It was another
website address.
"www.EcoTreasureMap.com/maze.htm"
the children read together.
They paused a moment, took a
deep breath and gave Ahmed a
nod. He smiled and confidently
typed the new web address onto
his laptop.
