Momster: I want to ask you guys a few questions about the earth and the environment, and pollution.

Georgia: And shoes on the wire! And I’ll tell you now in fact. Shoes on the wire are for silliness!
(We had passed some guerilla art, visible all over town, various pairs of shoes — not just your usual sneakers, but high heels and cowboy boots, this time a pair of oxfords — slung over the power lines.)

Momster: Yes, that’s true! But let’s talk about the environment now.

Baxter: Oh that’s easy! 'Cause I know a lot about the earth and the environment!

Georgia: Me too!

Baxter: 'Cause I know a lot about pollution…

Georgia: 'Cause the environment is bad right now ‘cause lots of animals are getting killed…

Baxter: …and there’s a lot of cars and trucks driving and that causes pollution…

Georgia: …and squirrels can get ran over…

Baxter: And war can break things.

Georgia: And wars can break the land.

Baxter: … So what are your questions?

Momster: What can be done about the cars and pollution?

Georgia: I have an idea…

Baxter: Well, if, if, if we just broke down all the cars and just made…

Georgia: BICYCLES!

Baxter: …and broke the trucks and bicycles and everything and we ultimately made buses, it would still cause pollution, but there wouldn’t be so many things to drive because there’d be a whole lot of people on just one bus.

Georgia: So that would be better for the environment!

Momster: Some people live in places where there are no buses and no public transportation, what can they do?

Georgia: They could just make bikes.

Baxter: And cars for only then, because people need to have tools so they could just be able to build something that they can just drive in. They could even maybe build a small car for their selves that only allowed two people that only ran with electricity.

Georgia: And about electricity, here’s a problem that I can answer; to save electricity at nighttime, for a while you can just use candles and flashlights.

Baxter: But the problem about electricity is that if anybody rides in that car at night they’ll waste energy and that’s bad for the environment.

Georgia: So they can turn the electricity off and they can have a pedal that can turn a candle on that can run the car, then that would be better for the environment too.

Momster: Wow a candle to run the car? Cool. Now, why do we need to be so concerned about the trees?

Georgia: 'Cause lots of trees need to be chopped down, because of people wasting toilet paper, so we have to be very careful.

Baxter: And ‘cause as more and more people come and turn into grown ups they need more and more houses…

Georgia: And, and, and, and…

Baxter: And trees give us lots of things and one of those things in the environment is air and plants, and trees give us air and sometimes they chop those things down to make forts of plants, and build things from trees.

Georgia: And that’s bad so they have to start thinking about the environment and try to explain to people that they can’t use a lot of toilet paper and paper towels 'cause that’s better for the plants.

Baxter: …and flushing it down the toilet and into the sewers so nobody’s going to be able to use it anymore, and there would be a whole tree — gone!

Momster: What would you invent to make the world a better place?

Georgia: I bet when I’m a scientist, then maybe I can figure out how to make a machine that can plant lots and lots and lots of plants and that would help the plants so that would help the environment.

Baxter: Well if I tried to save the world, I think I would invent a bicycle with no gas and no wheels but nothing to make it go, you just push your feet and the rest of the way it just goes on without you doing anything.

Momster: Do you think grownups are taking good care of the world?

Baxter: NO!

Momster: Do you think they need to do a better job?

Baxter: Yeah!

Georgia: Don’t you?

Baxter: They are cutting down the world, they’re breaking it up, they’re polluting, they’re making more trees die out because they need to make more houses.

Georgia: And one of my ideas is maybe they can just chop down some branches of some trees!

Momster: Ah, instead of the whole tree, right… What would you like to tell to adults?

Georgia: That they should be more careful about the environment. And help us instead of…

Baxter: And treat it goodly instead of badly.

Georgia: Yeah!

Momster: When you are an adult do you think you will be careful about the environment?

Baxter: Yeah, because I’ll be going to school and I’ll learn a lot about pollution!

Georgia (to Baxter): Are you going to be a scientist too? ‘Cause if you want you can marry me, and we can both be scientists and work in the same room!

Baxter: Sure!

Georgia: OK!

Image courtesy of eyeliam.