Seeing Green

Rrr! Thump! Huge trees that seem to reach into the sky snap like toothpicks and crash to the ground with a frightening thump. Birds and animals scatter in all directions as an enormous steel leg of a giant machine breaks through, making its own clearing. Blue sky turns to black, as a foul-smelling cloud of smoke descends. Crack! Another great tree snaps, and colorful Macaws take to the sky as a nest falls to earth with its precious eggs, now lost. Onwards the lumbering eight-legged machine marches, cutting a brutal scar into the land. In the distance, a clear blue river flows. Thump! Thump! Thump! Tremors from the steel giant shake the ground, causing water to splash onto the banks, as the machine creeps ever nearer. Then, it stops, as a big steel arm comes out. BOOM! With a deep rumbling thump that sounds like an explosion, a powerful, enormous steel arm thrusts into the hill side, sending dirt and rock into the air in a huge cloud. Moments later, it happens once again, sending another tremor through the ground.

Inside the machine, a huge, pig-faced man stands at the controls, looking out the window at the growing destruction. Gleefully, he smiles to himself.

SNORT! SNORT! "This place sure is green, green with cash! Plunder, we're going to be wallowing in hog heaven." Hoggish Greedly says with a laugh, and another loud snort.

Behind him a door opens with a swish. A man in a green business suit, with a pony tails steps out of a side room and walks up to the controls. For a moment, he gazes out the window at the endless forest before them. An evil grin covers his face as he nods.

"Now this is my idea of a business venture. We're going to need more dump trucks once we find the motherload. If our first test run works, we can start up the ore factory to really make some profit from all of this."

The two men begin to laugh out loud.

"Rigger, deploy the dump line!" Greedly shouts with a snort. "It'll go faster once we can get rid of the waste."

"Right away, boss!" A skinny guy in a cap and overalls says, hopping around.

The wiry guy runs to the back of the machine and pushes a button on a panel.

Back outside, a door opens, and a long steel pipe drops down into the water. Moments later, thick black, smelly sludge begins to bubble up covering the river, as fish and other animals float to the top. Plunder and Greedly gaze down, smiling and nodding to each other.

"Boss, ain't all that stuff we dumped going to kill the animals?" Rigger asks.

Greedly turns to his tough helper, snatching him by the shirt and lifting him off the floor. "Who cares!" He thunders, shaking him. "There is only one thing in the world I care about, and that's me! Now get back to drilling you stupid klutz!"

"Right away, sir!" Rigger says scrambling off.

"This is our test rig! If it works out, we can send more to mine the Amazon. Thousands of miles of profit waiting for us." Greely says with a snort.

"Now, I'll drink to that. Plundering for profit!" Looten Plunder says, holding up a bottle and two glasses. "How about it?"

The two men laugh and high-five, as the destruction outside grows. Moments later, the door opens, and the first batch of gold comes into the machine, sparkling in the light.

"Ooo, now that's pretty!" Greedly says with a snort. "The Amazon is going to be the greenest place on Earth. Green with money!"

The two men begin to laugh once more. Out of the bushes appear some local people, clearly natives of the area. They begin waving signs and yelling.

"Save our homes! Save our homes! Save our homes!"

"More of those nosy green do-gooders." Greedly snorts. "I'll teach them to mind their own business! Rigger, fire the oil cannon!"

"Right away, Boss!" He replies, pulling a lever and pressing some buttons.

Outside the great machine, a huge arms with a nozzle turns and fires a thick, sticky blast of smelly black liquid, knocking several people to the ground. Screams of terror erupt, as the remaining protesters scatter in all direction.

"They won't be back so soon, will they?" Plunder says. "Which is just as well. I have to put all of my money somewhere."

"What if they call the cops?" Rigger asks.

"We're in the middle of nowhere. There are no police out here." Greedly snuffed, grabbing him by the shirt and shaking him. "By the time anyone realizes what we're doing, we'll be long gone and selling the gold for millions!"

He hastily throws Rigger to the ground and moves in, hovering over him.

"Get back to work! Now!"

In a panic, the wirily little guy jumps to his feet and scampers off. Moments later, black smoke fills the air in front of the window, and the hum of engines revving fills the air as the powerful mining bot plunges its steel arm into the hill side, sending tremors through the ground and opening a huge crack. Growing clouds of thick smog turn the sky dark, as the great forest begins to die. Once more the two men laugh!