ne morning Sharon woke up early. She wanted to find the 

environment. Her teacher, Miss Clark, had told her that 

people need to keep the environment clean. But to keep it clean, 

Sharon had to find it first. Since it was Saturday, she had plenty 

of time to look. 
1f hen she got out of bed, she decided to look under her bed. 


/ It was dusty under there. But where was the environment? 

---­

haron went to the window and opened it. She looked out at 

the trees in her neighbor's yard. Sharon smelled something a 

little funny in the air like smoke. Maybe it was from the old factory 

in town. It didn't smell good. Sharon went into the hall. Ugh-the 

smell of her dad's cigarettes. But if she was going to find the 

environment, she'd better hurry up. 
@2.. haron washed her hands and face and combed her hair. 

- She brushed her teeth and watched the water rush from the 

faucet and swirl down the drain. Where did it all come from? 

Where did it go? 

She went to the kitchen. Her mom was washing strawberries. 

Weren't they clean enough to eat? 
fter breakfast, she went outside to look. She hadn't walked 

far when she met Herman, a squirrel. He asked Sharon what 

she was doing . "I'm looking for the environment. Have you seen it 

out here?" Herman looked amused: "I haven't looked. But I guess if 

you haven't found it inside your house, maybe you'll find it out 

here." He winked at Sharon, but she couldn't think why. 
' 

haron asked, "Where do you usually look for the environment?" 

Herman said, "Oh, I don't." Sharon said, "Well then how do 

you ever find it? And if you don't find it, how do you keep it clean?" 

Herman said, "I don't look because I don't need to. The environment 

seems to be everywhere we go." Sharon looked to the right and the 

left. She looked up. She looked down. She looked right at her feet. 

"Where?" she said. "Where is it now?" 
erman said "You' re working too hard. You've got to sit 

down." Sharon sat. As if she might scare the environment 

away, she whispered, "Where is it now?" Herman said, "Take a 

deep breath." Sharon did so, and said softly, "There, now tell me 

where the environment is." Herman replied, "The air you just 

breathed is part of it." 
haron sat up straight. "Do you mean I've been breathing 

the environment all my life?" Herman flicked his bushy tail. 

"Oh, yes. And did you drink any water? That's more of it. Did you 

have, maybe, cereal and milk and fruit for breakfast?" Sharon began 

to see."My mom washed the strawberries!" Sharon said. "And what 

about dad's cigarettes and the dust under my bed?" Herman said, 

"You've got it! The environment is everywhere you look." 
ElJl erman poked at acorns under a nearby tree and bit into one. Eftl "These acorns are part of it. I must say, they taste pretty 

good. The environment can help make us strong and healthy. But 

sometimes it can make us sick. The environment is the air, the 

water, the soil, and our food. It's everything around us." 

\ 
haron thought and thought. "I'll bet the sun isn't part of the 

environment!" But Herman said, "Oh, yes it is. A little sun 

gives you a vitamin you need, Vitamin D. But you can get too much 

sun. You can get a sunburn. You can even get badly sick from too 

much sun. That's why we squirrels build nice deep, shady nests. 

And though you don't have anything as nice as a nest, at least 

you have a house." 
'>,I, 

~ 

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ftf ., .-4 

tanding up and turning around and around, Sharon said, 

ci,111 "So, the environment is everywhere. In the sky and in the 

ground. In the water and under the bed." "And we can all help by 

remembering that," Herman said, "and by being careful about 

what we throw out and where we put trash, and what we pour 

down the drain." 
~

.

haron said, "Also, by washing our hands before we eat." 

~'..-. Herman said, "That would be good. And by using things over 

and recycling newspapers and paper bags-you could help your 

mom do that. And by taking really yucky things like oil and old cans 

of cleaner and paint to a special collection place. That's so they 

won't make the environment dirty, leak into the water, and make us 

sick, squirrels and people both." 
haron said, "Gosh, that's an awfully big job to clean the 

whole environment." "That's why it takes nearly everyone, 

everywhere, all the time," Herman said. "I'd better get busy then," 

Sharon said. Herman made a chattering sound to say goodbye 

and scrambled up his tree. 
l / 

,-

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I 

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haron walked along feeling the breeze on her face. The 

environment was huge. It was the whole sky, the oceans, 

the mountains, and all of the towns-all around the world. Keeping 

it clean seemed like such a big job. Sharon thought it might take 

all morning ... or all day...or even all week.