Dirt

So, today in class we watched a documentary about dirt. "Dirt! the Movie."
It talked about how badly we treat our dirt. We blast it out of the way, bury it under cement, let it wash away into rivers, and let it dry out and lose its nutrients.
Dirt is very important, and it takes a very long time to make. We need to take better care of it.
It talked about how some elementary schools are tearing out some of their solid cement campuses to make gardens and get kids working and playing in dirt again.
And they take some convicts out to gardens to work, and it makes them feel better. They can get jobs helping at those sorts of places after they get out, and it keeps them out of trouble.
It was actually a pretty interesting movie.
One lady (who I'd seen in other environmental documentaries) told a story that I liked:
There was a forest fire, and all the animals sat by and watched as the fire destroyed their homes. But a little hummingbird went to the river, took a drop of water in its beak, and put it on the fire. It kept flying back and forth with one drop at a time, trying to put out the fire. And the other animals said "what are you doing? You're too small to put that fire out." And the little hummingbird said "I'm doing my best."
It reminded me of a story Elise told us a few years ago. I'd never heard it before, but I've heard it about 10 times since.
So, this guy's walking down the beach and he sees a bunch of starfish on the sand. They got stranded when the tide went out, and there's hundreds of them strewn around. The guy keeps walking and sees a kid standing on the beach, picking up starfish and throwing them back into the water. The guy goes to the kid and says "What are you doing? There's no way you'll be able to save all the starfish. There's too many for you to make a difference." And the kid picks up a starfish and tosses it into the water and says "It made a difference to that one."