Going Green

One Story A Day (Book 8 for August)

1 Going Green I decided to try to make some money during the summer holidays. I took our lawn mower and went around our neighbourhood asking if anyone wanted their grass cut. Our lawn mower was very old. It wasn't electric or gas-powered. It was called “ pushing power" because you had to push it to make the cutting blades move. It was a lot of hard work. I put a little sign on the mower saying Charlie's Lawn Cutting. After working for a few weeks, I soon had regular customers. Within about a month, I had enough money to buy a gas-powered mower. I thought, “ Now I can do the work faster and make more money! " The first time I brought my new gas-powered lawn mower to cut a neighbour's lawn, the lady came to the door and said, “ What's that?" I told her it was my new lawn mower and that it would do a better job than the old push mower.

She looked disappointed and said, " You mean you got rid of that old push mower?" I explained that it was such hard work using a human-powered mower, and now I could make more money. The lady said, “ You know, one of the reasons I gave you the job was because of that old lawn mower. It doesn't pollute and it doesn't make a big noise. I'm sure it's hard work, but it's great exercise for you, isn't it?" Then she said, “ I'll let you cut my grass if you use that old mower, but not that gas-powered one. " I was shocked. " I'll have to come back later with the old one, " I told her. I went to the next house and the same thing happened. People liked the fact that I was using good old-fashioned human power instead of gasoline power. I took the gas mower back to the store that day. Now I use my old push mower and I wear a T-shirt that says: Charlie's Lawn Cutting. No noise, no pollution -just me!