Chapter 10, Towards a Science of Up and Down
(How even a tiny word can make a world of difference)
Dave the Cleaner sat on the park bench. He was worried and fearful. He kept dusting his pants and exclaiming, “Woe, oh drear, oh deary me, this could damage my Clean, Clean Image! What will people think of me!”
Dave the cleaner sat on the park bench. He was interested and concerned. He kept struggling to read the torn, dirty magazine page and mumbling, “Hmmmm, woh, oh dear, oh dear me, does this really does put all our dear children in danger? How can we best care for them in this situation?”
All around them the gay coloured flowers and golden grass seedheads bobbed and waved in the ripples of the breeze. The ripples then rolled on into the trees, sending shivers up them, so the leaves shimmered and danced. Birds and clouds soared overhead in the blue sky. And the sun was shining. This is important to know because the sun plays a very important part in this story. Today the sun shone so bright and warm that all wise creatures took care not to look straight at it, for it would destroy their eyes.
The warmth of the sun cheered Dave the Cleaner up a little so he worried less about his dusty pants and Clean, Clean Image. “I sure am glad I bought my hat so the sun does not burn the skin on my bald spot on my head,” he said. “I still remember how the children of Mahoe class always wore hats on sunny days like this.”
“Yes, I am glad I have my sunhat too. Indeed the children of the Mahoe tree were wise people. They, of course, planned this new, white skin for me. I well recall the skin experts who made it warning me it would easily burn in strong sunlight.”
“True, very true. Sunburn scars do not look good and I have my image to care for. We have to be very careful with the sunshine.”
“Hey, that’s funny. That is exactly what this story is saying.”
“What story?”
“This story – the one I am trying to read. It says we have to be very careful with the sunshine.”
“Oi, here, give that piece of litter to me. I am better at reading rubbish than you.”
“Okay. Maybe you are. You better wear my other glove though because the paper is a bit dirty and smelly.”
And that is how Dave the Cleaner forgot to worry about his Clean, Clean Image for a moment and began reading this story to Dave the cleaner.
“Scientists say humans are changing the air in ways that could put all our children in danger.”
“Umm, er, excuse me please. A question. Who or what is a scientist?”
“Bah. Everyone knows what a scientist is. A scientist is a scientist. A scientist is a special type of person who knows a lot about how a tiny bit of the universe works.”
“Yes, but how does he or she get to know a lot about a tiny bit?”
“Simple. A scientist is really good at asking questions and testing if an answer is right or wrong.”
“Aha, then that means children are scientists too because they are always playing with questions and trying things out. They never stop asking questions like why is the sky blue? Where do the clouds come from? What makes rain? How high is the sky? Which wind is best for kite flying? Who can skip the highest? And children are always asking what if, what if. What if I could catch a rainbow? What if I could fly to the moon?”
“No, no. Children can’t be scientists. Only a special kind of adult is a scientist. They are most rare and clever people. They are experts at being a scientist and this means they can learn a lot about a tiny bit of the universe. For example, a climate scientist knows a lot about the special air here on planet Earth.”
“Aha, so does that mean a climate scientist is an expert at caring for our air?”
“No, no, a climate scientist just knows a lot about how air works.”
“So wait, wait, does this mean children who ask really good questions about air and actually look after the air are Air Care scientists?”
Dave the Cleaner shook the piece of paper in air. For some mysterious reason he was getting twitchy and grumpy.
“Bah! Stop pestering me with your questions all the time. You are as bad as a pesky five-year old. Do you want me to continue with the story or not?”
Dave the Cleaner was about to ask what the word “pesky” means but managed to bite his tongue. Instead he said, “Yes, please. Do carry on.”
“Okay. I will start the story printed on this scrap of rubbish paper again.
Scientists say humans are changing the air in ways that could put all our children and danger. They say some humans are burning so much of so many things that all the smoke and invisible gases from the fires is changing the air and causing it to warm-up. Climate Scientists warn that heating up the air like this will risk causing more storms, floods, droughts and diseases. They call it Global Warming because the air, oceans and land is being warmed up all around planet Earth.”
Dave the Cleaner stopped reading while he attempted to wipe a smudge of dirt off the page.
While he was listening to the story, Dave the Cleaner had been wriggling on the seat like a five-year-old with a nest of wasps in his pants. The tip of his tongue so itched with questions that he had struggled to keep his mouth shut and stay listening.
Which human beings are messing up the air and what are their names? What could happen to all the children in the world?
How can you see invisible smoke and gases?
What exactly is this thing called planet Earth and is it a round thing like a ball?
What makes wind?
And now he was busting with a super important question about this thing called Global Warming.
Dave the Cleaner finished wiping the dirt off the page and held it up. “Look at this,” he commanded, “you can see it clearly now. Here is a picture of children with signs that read Stop Global Warming Today!”
Well, if you were watching the park bench from afar you might well of imagined the nest of wasp in his pants had all stung Dave the Cleaner in this moment. He leapt to his feet shouting and waving his arms at the sky. Mighty questions can make people suddenly do that. Sometimes other people don’t begin to understand at all. They say, “Calm down! What on Earth has come over you!” Teachers often instruct, “Sit down and behave yourself this instant!”
As you know well, there are also people who tend to leap about just because they are bored or silly or both.
Some people leap up waving their arms around with excitement and then realise they have not yet thought up a question to be excited about.
Some people think up a great question but it vanishes from their mind as soon as they leap up.
Then there are people who leap up waving their arms all over the place with a humongous question but then they get tongue-tied. The more they try to talk about the question, the worse their words seem to get tangled up in a knot.
It seems the children of the Mahoe tree had made a Dave the Cleaner who was a bit like this type of person because he just danced on the spot gibbering at the sky, “warming, warming-up…warming or warming-up… What’s the true story? What’s the true story about Global Warming?”
“Hey, calm down Mahoe Dave the Cleaner, sit down and listen to the rest of the story. I am reading the story exactly as it is on this piece of rubbish paper. What on Earth has come over you!”
“But, but, is this story is true just because it is written in a magazine? It is telling us Global Warming is bad. Why does that feel so wrong? Is this really true.”
Now it was the turn for Dave the Cleaner to get upset and he too leapt to his feet waving the piece of paper at the sky. “The story is right,” he shouted, “Global Warming is bad. Its real. Humans are making all this smoke and invisible greenhouse gases, which are heating up, warming up, hotting up the world and that is bad, bad, bad. We have got to stop Global Warming before it kills us all!”
“Surely Global Warming is good? Where would we be without Global Warming? What would happen to us if the Sun went out and Global Warming stopped?”
“We would stay alive and so would our children and so would their children!”
“No, we would be dead if Global Warming stopped.”
“Alive!”
“Dead.”
“No, alive!”
“Yes, dead.”
You may well have noticed that adults are as good as anyone at squabbling. They can argue and argue with each other all day over some tiny difference. They can even stay awake all night arguing with themselves about some tiny, wee, niggly thing. So it was with the Dave the Cleaner and Dave the Cleaner in the park that day.
As you know, they started arguing not long after breakfast and sunrise. If you had walked by when the sun was high in the sky some hours later, you would have noticed two identical people arguing with each other by a park bench with a glass bottle on it. And even from a distance you could be easily have heard their argument.
“Alive!”
“Dead.”
“No, alive!”
“Yes, dead.”
You probably would have concluded these were two identical twins arguing over something super important. After all, everyone knows there is a world of difference being alive and being dead. You may however have been surprised to learn they were arguing over a word, a tiny word, a word with just two letters. It is a word so small you only have to close your lips for it to pop out. So you might have wondered how such a little word could make such a big world of difference.
If you had looked more closely you would have seen some difference between the twins.
One twin waved a piece of paper in the air, occasionally stopping to read out aloud from it, which he did in a most authorative, know-it-all way.
The other twin clutched a bag of litter in one hand and he too waved his arms in the air. He seemed less bossy, more uncertain. Indeed he often stopped to cup his hand to his ear as though he were listening to distant voices for advice. If you were a good lip reader you would have learned he was whispering ‘”Help me please, children of the Mahoe tree.’”
You see, Dave the Cleaner was remembering how the children in Mahoe classroom had saved him when he turned into puddle one night. They had taught him so many valuable lessons while they decided how best to rescue him.
He recalled how they put him in a jar with a lid on to stop his atoms floating away in the air and then into a freezer where his atoms cooled down and everything was stiff as ice.
They had seen with their eagle eyes how liquid water changes to invisible gas when it warms-up.
They had seen with their eagle eyes how liquid water changes to a solid when it is cooled down.
They had given him clear, eagle eyes also so he too saw the many, many tiny changes continuously going on around him. So often he found himself asking how, when, why, what is this amazing thing happening here? He was constantly exclaiming with delight “Aha” and “Oh wow”.
Already he was aware this made him different to most other adults. They were either too busy or too know-it-all or too worried to give time to noticing what is going on in front of their eyes. They didn’t seem to see that anything and everything is always changing somehow. They did not even seem to feel the breeze on their skin and so had forgotten how everything is always cooling and warming.
So now he danced in circles, waving his arms and pleading, “Please wait, wait, wait, or we will all rue this story about Global Warming something dreadful.
I feel Global Warming is so good. In fact it feels superdooper to me. This story is putting us way wrong and leading us astray. Its got a mistake, a gigantic blooper. Can’t you see it? Can’t you feel it?
The story is missing a minuscule word and this makes the story so untrue. Its such a tiny, wee word and it makes a whole world of difference to us.
Dave the Cleaner placed the scrap of paper on the park bench, folded his arms in his most superior, scornful way and smirked, “Hahaha, this I must hear. Do tell me this magical word that changes everything we know.”
Dave the Cleaner stood silent for a moment, whispering, “So help me children of the Mahoe tree”. Then, for no reason he knew of, he put his gloved hand into the bag of litter and did another Lucky Dip. This time he pulled out the glossy, crackly wrapper of a crunchy, lemon ice-block. “Aha,” he asked himself, “I wonder what is the story here?”
“Doh!” interrupted Dave the Cleaner in his most superior voice. “Even a five-year old kid knows the story. It was probably a hot day and some kid heated-up too much. So to cool down they went to a shop near here with a freezer where they bought a lemon ice-block with that wrapper on it. They took the wrapper off and threw it away. They then licked the ice block with their hot tongue so it warmed-up until it melted in their mouth. The cold lemon liquid cooled them down and soon the ice block was gone. End of ice block. End of story.”
“Hurrah. Hurrah. “ Dave the Cleaner was now dancing in circles with glee. “You said it. You said the missing word. Can’t you see? The ice block was an ice-block until it warmed-up and only then did it become an ice block no more. There is a world of difference between warming and warming-up. The ice block has changed and disappeared since it warmed up.”
By now you have probably noticed the word that made all difference. Yes, the word was “up”. And, yes, you surely agree, “up” is such a tiny, wee word to say.
However you would be very wrong if you are imagining know-it-all Dave the Cleaner would now say, “Yes I see, this story is really all about human beings causing Global Warming-up and this is bad. I will stop my polluting the air.”
Instead he became very cranky. “Bah,” he grumped,”A word means what I mean it is. I say Warming and Warming-Up mean the same thing and that suits me down to the ground. End of story!”
However it is not the end of the story, for as we find out in the next chapter, the children of the Mahoe tree more truly understand the ways of the universe than adults like old Dave the Cleaner.
End Chapter Ten
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Please note: this is a first draft script (Jan 2020) and prototype format of How the Children of the Mahoe Tree Saved Our World. I plan to create illustrations to complement each chapter as soon as possible.
Please enjoy tolerance – my diplopia means I struggle to read what I write.
This story is based on a true event. A class of five-year olds created the central plot. In the process they showed young children, unlike many adults, retain the vital spirit of inquiry and comprehension of the fundamental thermodynamics required to care for Earth’s atmosphere.
Some grand ideas and questions from Chapter One
IDEA Science is a state of being we are all born into -each of us is both a scientist and non-scientist to some degree.
QUESTION Is science a moral way of being or an amoral body of knowledge?
IDEA “Spacetime” (Maori “wa”) transforms (changes) continuously.
QUESTION How and what do we experience the continuous transformation as?
IDEA The human experience of existence is paradox.
QUESTION Can you think of anything that is not a paradox?
IDEA The paradox of the Conservation of Energy Principle reminds us that energy (the universal potential, all of which is active) is so bounteous it can be usefully understood to be a constant; energy continuously transforms.
QUESTION What does the Principle remind us of the nature of our human form?
IDEA Heat always moves from hot particles (forms with more energy) to colder particles (forms with less energy)
QUESTION What happens if the warmer form has no incoming energy from another warmer source of energy e.g a living human form isolated on an iceberg?
IDEA Any form is a unique fleeting balance or equilibrium of warming and cooling i.e the form experiences no change of temperature.
QUESTION What happens to any form if this equilibrium ceases and its temperature goes up or down?