Can you believe it? My humans forgot to buy me breakfast. I arrived in the kitchen all perky and keen, and asked for my bowl to be filled, please. Yes, I remembered to say please ever so nicely. But did they produce the pellets? No! What use has a human got if not to dance to the whims of a cat!
I tried to show them how cute I was by doing the kinetic thing – running around and rolling over and catching things and playing hide and seek behind the Whale Coast Conservation banner. But they just laughed and took my photo, so I had to ambush their feet to remind them that an empty bowl is not a joke.
I had a mind to just go outside and catch a mouse, but I remembered an eco-cat is not supposed to catch wildlife, so I gave them one more chance to go get the food!!
My Delray human tried to distract me by telling me they are going to an arbour day event. A what day? She said arbour means tree and they are going to plant some trees. Well then why not just call it ‘tree day’? Why try to confuse a cat with big words? I think the eco thing is just made more difficult with all the eco-speak.
I asked her why make a big thing about planting trees? Delray explained that trees do very good things in nature. If I’m to be an eco-cat, I have to know about that. Trees catch the energy of the sun in their leaves and make food that some animals can eat. Not only that. To make the food they slurp up the carbon dioxide in the air. Oh yes, I remember – carbon dioxide is one of those bad gases that cause global warning. Oops, I mean global warming. Yes, said Delray, but it’s better to call it global climate change. That is because the earth is not getting warmer every single day.
Some days can be colder, but if you look over a long time, the earth is definitely getting warmer. So what happens over a long time with the weather is called climate, and the climate is changing. We are getting more very hot days, or very cold days and more storms and flooding and other extreme events. This is because when things warm up they get more of that kinetic energy thing – just like me.
So let’s get back to the trees, Stripes, she said. Pay attention. As I said, trees help to take some of the carbon dioxide out of the air so they help to slow down climate change. The deep roots of the trees can also suck up lots of water that they then give off into air through their leaves. This helps to put water back into the air to make more rain to water other plants.
Hey, that’s cool, I said. Yes, Stripes, it also helps to keep you a cool cat….