Carbon-o-matic
When Dr. Pollution successfully finished changing the atmosphere over GreenVille, he went to Pol’ Tick Al and explained what was going on.
Now, Pol’ Tick Al was still a little depressed because of what happened to his pet tick, Poochie. (That is, his first tick. He found another tick and named it Poochie, too.) Always in the back of his mind was what happened to Poochie, and he blamed GoGreen Man for it.
When Dr. Pollution arrived at Pol’ Tick Al’s house, he saw Pol’ Tick Al busy with something. He asked him, “What are you doing? Are you still sad? I can’t believe GoGreen Man did that to Poochie!” (Dr. Pollution knew that GoGreen Man didn’t do anything, but he liked having Pol’ Tick Al angry at GoGreen Man.) Pol’ Tick Al sighed, “I’m okay. I found a new tick and I called him Poochie. But….I still miss my Poochie and I will never, ever forgive GoGreen Man for what he did to my old Poochie.” At this point, Pol’ Tick Al had to take a moment to compose himself because he was about to cry thinking about his precious tick.
“If GoGreen Man didn’t attack Poochie and put him into the elephant cage, none of this would have happened. Sure Poochie was a little out of control, but he was hungry! He would have calmed down eventually…I really think GoGreen Man killed Poochie! Everyone should know what a…no, I can’t. People can’t know it was Poochie… OOOOOHHHHH! What will I do without my Poochie!” Pol’ Tick Al’s outburst only made him more upset.
Smiling to himself, Dr. Pollution knew that he could use Pol’ Tick Al’s anger towards GoGreen Man. “Pol’ Tick Al, have you felt different while you’ve been outside lately?” Puzzled, Pol’ Tick Al asked, “No, I haven’t been outside much because I’ve been in mourning over Poochie. What I have noticed is that my air conditioning has been running a lot more. It runs all day long, why?”
“Well,” Dr. Pollution replied, “outside the weather is very hot even though it’s still spring. I created this weather!” Pol’ Tick Al didn’t really believe that Dr. Pollution could really change the weather so he asked him, “How could you change the weather? That’s impossible!” Dr. Pollution quickly retorted, “It’s not impossible for a smart person like me. Do you know anything about global warming?”
“Yes, a long time ago my grandparents talked about how high CO2 levels made the weather very strange in GreenVille. I think GreenVille was using a lot of fossil fuels then. It happened before they changed to renewable energy,” Pol’ Tick Al smugly replied.
“You’re right!” answered a surprised Dr. Pollution. “It’s called the greenhouse effect. But, enough about that, do you want to get back at GoGreen Man?”
“Of course I do!” retorted Pol’ Tick Al, “But first I want to understand what you’re talking about. It takes a lot of CO2 to create the greenhouse effect and I don’t see how you could get enough here in GreenVille.” Snickering, Dr. Pollution explained about his carbon-megaphone. An excited Pol’ Tick Al was curious about what would happen next and what his part in the plan would be.
Dr. Pollution told him that pretty soon, the citizens of GreenVille would start complaining about the hot weather. When that happened, Pol’ Tick Al would need to be ready to present his plan for a fossil fuel power plant. He would need to explain that GreenVille didn’t have renewable energy to run all the air conditioners for long periods of time.
Pol’ Tick Al asked Dr. Pollution about Professor Fusionstein’s Bubble E. Factory. Remember, Professor Fusionstein created it when Dr. Pollution blocked the wind and had Gas Goon cover the sky. “Bah! That little factory is fine for back-up but only our Petrol Power Plant will make enough energy to meet all of GreenVille’s needs this summer. It will have enough energy and then some for the citizens of GreenVille,” responded Dr. Pollution. Pol’ Tick Al was smiling as he told Dr. Pollution, “I will do everything I can to help you destroy GreenVille and especially GoGreen Man!”
All of GreenVille was complaining about the heat wave. The phones were constantly ringing at the GreenVille weather lab. Sandra Sunburn and Water Woman were among the citizens calling because they were the ones most sensitive to the heat and sun. Water Woman’s water garden was slowly drying up and Sandra Sunburn was burned even with sunscreen!
The meteorologists got the results from Professor Fusionstein’s supertron, his supercomputer. It said that there would be a heat wave in the spring like summer and the summer would have an extreme heat wave, unlike any GreenVille had ever experienced. When they received this information, the meteorologists knew they had to warn the citizens of GreenVille so they could prepare for the heat waves - especially those people with small children and the elderly.
When GreenVille’s citizens heard the weather news, they were shocked and scared. No one seemed to know what to do and they hoped, for once, the meteorologists were way off on their predictions. While some people were panicking, Waste Woman was telling her servants to turn up all the air conditioners in her home and to go buy new, more powerful ones.
Petrol Pirate was at his factory and was excited because he knew he was going to make a lot of money selling air conditioners. He was even thinking about making less energy efficient ones that used more freon without telling anyone! “Ha! This is great! I’m in a win, win situation. People are buying my air conditioners and when the Petrol Power Plant is built, they’ll be using my petrol!” He ordered his factory to make extra air conditioners because he knew people would keep coming in to get them. If Petrol Pirate loved one thing, it was money and the more he made, the happier he was.
In Professor Fusionstein’s lab, GoGreen Man and Professor Fusionstein were discussing a solution. GoGreen Man had been going around GreenVille researching the situation on GreenVille and checking on Petrol Pirate’s coal mine. Professor Fusionstein asked, “How was Petrol Pirate’s coal mine?” “It was clean with no activity,” answered GoGreen Man, “But I know that Petrol Pirate has been busy working on his factories making more air conditioners. I really think Petrol Pirate is behind this. Do you want me to go to his mine and seal it off?” “No,” answered Professor Fusionstein alarmed, “Without proof of anything, you are trespassing on private property.” Sheepishly, GoGreen Man agreed with him, but asked, “How will we take care of this problem?
Professor Fusionstein had an answer for him. He explained that when trees grow, they convert CO2 into oxygen. After he explained the process (which GoGreen Man already knew), they both agreed that trees were the best way to absorb carbon dioxide, but it would take too long for them grow. It was then Professor Fusionstein brought up a project he’d been working on, “Recently, I’ve been working with trees and I’ve found something interesting. I think I can figure out a way to quickly reduce the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but GoGreen Man, you need to make sure Petrol Pirate and Dr. Pollution don’t put any more in the atmosphere. Keep a close eye on the coal mine and Petrol Pirate’s activities.” GoGreen Man readily agreed and said, “I can handle Petrol Pirate, no problem. I will be sure to watch what he’s doing to make sure he and Dr. Pollution aren’t up to polluting GreenVille even more.”
After a few more days of hot summer weather, the citizens of GreenVille were running out of patience. Not everyone in GreenVille had air conditioning, and some of those that did only used it in extremely hot weather. People in GreenVille weren’t prepared for the heat because they were used to the shade of trees and a nice wind. It was usually enough to keep people comfortable. But now, everyone was suffering and looking for relief from the heat.
Waste Woman was already using her air conditioner and had it put on the lowest setting so she would be cool and comfortable. Actually, it was more like cold because she kept her air conditioning at 60 degrees Fahrenheit!
The GreenVille Solar/Wind Power Plant noticed a spike in electricity usage. It alarmed them because it was reaching the peak of the plant’s electrical ability. They started using the stored electricity that was normally saved for summer. As a result, they put out an energy conservation alarm for GreenVille.
Hannah Heart, Water Woman and their friends got together to discuss how they could conserve energy after they heard the alarm. Hannah Heart, who was still having asthma problems, was worrying, “Do you think we should go buy an air conditioner? I have one in my home but it’s very old and weak.” By the time Hannah Heart finished her sentences she was trying to catch her breath. Assuring Hannah Heart, while concerned about her health, Water Woman told her, “Don’t worry, I’ve lived here in GreenVille all of my life. Sometime’s it’s hotter and sometimes not. I’m pretty sure the weather will change, though. If you get too hot, you can come to my water garden. You are always welcome to get in it and cool down. You need to take care of yourself.”
On the other side of GreenVille, friends of Waste Woman were already lined up to buy the extra large air conditioners that used more Freon. In Petrol Pirate’s stores, chaos was breaking out. His shelves were almost empty and people were fighting over the few remaining air conditioners.
The news of chaos in Petrol Pirate’s stores as well as the energy crisis, reached King Nature. He had already been feeling the effects of the heat. While he understood why everyone was using electricity, it had to be rationed or GreenVille would run out. So King Nature set up an emergency meeting with congress and GoGreen Man.
In the meeting, King Nature asked GoGreen Man to explain what was happening. GoGreen Man explained that there were extremely high carbon dioxide levels in the air, causing a greenhouse effect. When pressed further, he simply said they were trying to work on a solution. Since GoGreen Man knew some politicians sided with Petrol Pirate and Dr. Pollution, he didn’t want to give them too much information. He certainly didn’t want to tell them what he and Professor Fusionstein suspected.
As a result, King Nature told congress to find a solution to GreenVille’s energy problem. Most of the congressmen were very worried about the heat and what would happen if it continued. The solar panels and wind turbines generated a certain amount of electricity. While it was usually enough for year round use, this was an unusual situation. The Bubble E. Factory was still in the planning stage, but even then it probably wouldn’t generate enough electricity for the extreme heat that was forecast.
Since GoGreen Man and other politicians didn’t have a solution, Pol’ Tick Al threw out, “This weather is dangerous for GreenVille’s elderly and the very young. We must find a solution quickly. I have a suggestion for a temporary fix that would be just for this summer - short term mind you. I propose we build a temporary Petrol Power Plant.” He wasn’t thinking of just this summer of course, he wanted it for a very, long time! “If we start building now, it can be ready by this summer, in time for the extreme heat wave that has been predicted.”
Many congressmen didn’t like the idea (and they didn’t like it the first time he brought it up while discussing Petrol City), but no one else had submitted a solution. King Nature didn’t like it either, but asked them to consider Pol’ Tick Al’s plan especially since it was the only one that had been suggested. Even though he didn’t like the idea of polluting GreenVille’s air, he was worried about not having enough power to keep GreenVille’s elderly and young citizens safe. King Nature also emphasized the importance of obeying the energy conservation alarm. He felt it was so important for GreenVille to follow, he aired a special announcement asking GreenVille to please conserve electricity.
Even though King Nature made the announcement, GreenVille was getting more chaotic. Petrol Pirate was spreading rumors that there was really enough electricity, so even those reluctant to use extra electricity got in line for air conditioners.
Of course there were selfish people in GreenVille, too, like Waste Woman. She had a central unit, plus she wanted a window unit in every room because her house wasn’t staying cool enough for her! She sent her servant to go buy more air conditioners, but he came back without having enough to supply all her luxurious rooms. When she discovered there weren’t enough to fill her house, she became very upset. “I don’t care how you get them or how much you have to pay, I want air conditioners in every room in my house! I will not be hot this summer, do you understand?! My mansion must be comfortable at any cost.” So her servant had to go back and get in the long, mobbed line.
At Petrol Pirate’s stores, it was truly chaos. Not only were there long lines, but people were pushing and shoving others out of the way in their haste to get an air conditioner. Petrol Pirate was watching everyone with glee, “I’ve never seen so many people come into my store! This is great! My factory and robots are running 24 hours a day. Everything is selling out! I am the most successful businessman in my family’s history!” Petrol Pirate had already ordered his workers to manufacture as many air conditioners as possible, regardless of the quality or efficiency. He just wanted to sell as many as possible.
Since the air conditioners were selling so well, Petrol Pirate upped the price two and three times higher. When people saw how much Petrol Pirate was charging for his air conditioners, they started complaining, “You are charging too much for these air conditioners!” Petrol Pirate retorted, “You will tell me ‘thank you’ when the extreme heat wave comes this summer. My air conditioner will cool your house and make you more comfortable than you’ve ever been.” He was so confident in the idea that GreenVille would be hot that summer, he didn’t stop there, “As a matter of fact, I am so confident it will be hot this summer I will give you a money back guarantee. What do you think of that?” Everyone listening cheered and then waited for what else he had to say. “If it’s not hot this summer, you can return your air conditioner with no questions asked,” Petrol Pirate promised. The crowd was stunned and immediately stopped complaining about the high prices.
With people going out of control and mobbing Petrol Pirate’s stores (although they weren’t complaining about the price anymore), GoGreen Man was called onto the scene. When he arrived and saw everyone desperate for an air conditioner, he told them to please go back home. He promised he would try and find a solution to the heat wave.
Some of the people (Waste Woman’s friends) jeered at him, “GoGreen Man can catch a criminal and he can stop a monster tick but, change the weather? That’s impossible! Besides it’s our money and we can spend it how we want to.” They laughed and stubbornly continued their pushing and shoving.
While most of GreenVille was in a panic over the heat, Pande Opposito wasn’t. He simply put on more clothes, which caused quite a stir in GreenVille. “It’s hot? Great! I’ll just put on more clothes. Let’s see, my thick, heavy coat? Yes. My gloves? Yes. What else…oh! My scarf!” Pande Opposito was the comic relief in GreenVille during this time of pandemonium. No one could believe what they were seeing when he came walking down the street!
GoGreen Man realized the situation was quickly getting out of control. So he asked Roger Recycle to keep an eye on Petrol Pirate’s store until he came back from Professor Fusionstein’s. Roger Recycle was also worried about the scene in front of him. He had never seen people acting with such greed before and it made him sad.
When Professor Fusionstein saw GoGreen Man arrive in his lab, he started to burst out with his news. But GoGreen Man didn’t even notice as he exclaimed, “There’s a big problem! We’re running out of stored electricity and everyone is rushing to buy air conditioners. These aren’t just any air conditioners either, they have extra Freon and are huge, which will use even more electricity!”
Professor Fusionstein didn’t even hear him. He could barely hold in his own news, “I think I’ve ….. Do you want to see my new invention?” Confused, GoGreen Man asked, “What is it? What does it do and how will it help GreenVille?” Startled, Professor Fusionstein answered, “Right, right. Come along and I’ll show you.” They walked to where Professor Fusionstein had his invention and GoGreen Man was rendered speechless.
What he saw was something that was part tree and part machine. It was situated on top of a moveable track (like a bulldozer) and, well, it was beyond words. “How does this thing work and how will it reduce the carbon dioxide!” stuttered GoGreen Man.
“It’s my carbon-o-matic, a bio-machine! It’s half living and half machine. Actually, I think it’s the greatest invention I’ve come up with so far! The great part is that it’s certainly useful for GreenVille! As for how it works, well, you know that trees take the carbon dioxide out of the air and convert it to oxygen, right?”
Interested, but not sure of how it would work, GoGreen Man answered, “Yes, but I know it’s not a fast process.”
Impatiently, Professor Fusionstein continued, “Yes, but I’ve invented this machine to accelerate the tree’s conversion process from carbon dioxide to oxygen. Do you see the machine part of this tree? It helps speed up, that is, dramatically accelerate the conversion process. According to my research, if this carbon-o-matic runs for a few days, it will dramatically reduce the amount of CO2 in the air. It’s like running an air purifier in your home, only the carbon-o-matic goes outside and cleans up the atmosphere. Best of all, it converts it as quietly as nature.”
Amazed, GoGreen Man exclaimed, “That’s great, Professor Fusionstein! I’ll go and start running this thing right away.” Professor Fusionstein agreed, “Yes, from the sound of it, we don’t have much time before things get worse! Let’s give Petrol Pirate and Dr. Pollution a big surprise by bringing normal weather back to GreenVille.”
After a crash course on how to operate the carbon-o-matic, GoGreen Man took it outside, where it started working immediately. The tree side sucked in CO2 and the machine side pumped out the converted oxygen. It was wonderful to see the tree working in harmony with the machine. GoGreen Man was determined to stay and run the carbon-o-matic until GreenVille was back to normal, however long it took.
A few days later, as GoGreen Man was still operating the carbon-o-matic, Pol’ Tick Al was in congress about to make his proposal for the temporary Petrol Power Plant. Just as he stood up to speak, GreenVille’s lead meteorologist came bursting in with the news, “The summer forecast has changed! The carbon dioxide levels are dropping at an accelerated rate. Since these numbers are dropping, GreenVille’s summer will have average to just below average temperatures!”
Pol’ Tick Al demanded, “What are you talking about? You said it was going to be the hottest summer in history! What changed that?”
The meteorologist replied, “We said that because the carbon dioxide levels were high and steadily increasing. Now there is no more greenhouse effect. It means a normal summer is predicted and this is good news for GreenVille.”
Pol’ Tick Al was embarrassed and left the podium. He immediately got on the phone with Dr. Pollution, “What is going on?” Pol’ Tick Al then told him what he heard from the meteorologist.
Outraged, Dr. Pollution exclaimed, “That’s impossible! We put a lot of CO2 in the air! I will go check the CO2 levels myself!” When he checked the levels, he saw it was true. He was shocked and befuddled. Regardless of how the levels dropped, he needed to get the carbon-megaphone out again to get the levels back up.
In a rush, Dr. Pollution called Petrol Pirate, “Petrol Pirate, get out the carbon-megaphone and start it up again. The CO2 levels in GreenVille are decreasing and I don’t need to tell you what this means, do I?”
Of course Petrol Pirate saw his profits dwindling and went immediately to the coal mine to try and reactivate the carbon-o-matic.
Unbeknownst to Petrol Pirate, Roger Recycle (on GoGreen Man’s request) was observing his activity. When he saw Petrol Pirate rushing toward the mountains, Roger Recycle thought Petrol Pirate was going to his grandfather’s coal mine, again. Since this was exactly what GoGreen Man thought might happen, Roger Recycle immediately notified him of Petrol Pirate’s movements.
GoGreen Man knew Petrol Pirate was going to run the machine again (he didn’t know what it was called) and this time he vowed to destroy it.
Petrol Pirate was dumping coal in the carbon-megaphone to activate it, when GoGreen Man rushed onto the scene. When Petrol Pirate saw GoGreen Man, he was afraid. “Oh, no!” he thought, “GoGreen Man has found me while I’m dumping coal in this machine!” He tried to escape, while denying he was the person behind the CO2 emissions in GreenVille, “This isn’t my carbon-megaphone! I know nothing about it, so don’t ask me!” At that point, the coal he’d dumped in the carbon-megaphone activated it and started spewing CO2. GoGreen Man knew he had to think quickly, “If I block the area where the CO2 comes out, it should cause the machine to malfunction.”
Rushing to the coal mine’s entrance, GoGreen Man picked up a large rock and hoisted it into the mouth of the carbon-megaphone. Just as he thought, the rock blocked the CO2 exit. The pressure built up in the machine and GoGreen Man dashed for cover. The carbon-megaphone couldn’t handle the pressure anymore and exploded with a loud boom into a million pieces. Unfortunately for Petrol Pirate, the explosion collapsed the entrance to his coal mine.
In GreenVille, GVTN’s emergency broadcast was showing the good news from GreenVille’s meteorologists. They were announcing that there was no longer any danger of an extreme heat wave. When people started asking how it happened, the meteorologists told them it was Professor Fusionstein who saved the day. The CO2 levels had dropped to normal thanks to Professor Fusionstein’s new invention.
When pressed for a comment from the reporters, Professor Fusionstein was very humble. “I only did what I could to help GreenVille. My invention is really not completely my idea, anyway. It’s what trees do naturally, I just sped up the process a little bit. This is why having trees is so important.” People cheered Professor Fusionstein, but when he saw GoGreen Man arrive, he said, “I couldn’t have done it without GoGreen Man’s help. Because he ran the carbon-o-matic, my invention, for several days non-stop, without rest. He did that for GreenVille. Thank you, GoGreen Man.” When the citizens heard that, they went wild adding GoGreen Man’s praises to their cheers.
After Petrol Pirate had safely escaped from the coal mine, he went to close down his stores. Unfortunately, it was too late. There were long, long lines of people returning their air conditioners. Petrol Pirate was upset and shouted, “No returns!” But he was stuck because he had given an open return policy. He may not have remembered what he said, but the citizens of GreenVille certainly did! He’d said that if GreenVille didn’t have a hot summer, then the air conditioners could be returned – no questions asked. Petrol Pirate’s heart sank down into his stomach…he was doomed, he just knew it!
Petrol Pirate called Dr. Pollution in a panic, “What are we going to do?! GoGreen Man found the carbon-megaphone at my mine! Not only that, he destroyed it! Plus, my air conditioners are being returned! I’m going to lose tons of money. I’ll probably lose everything!” Dr. Pollution didn’t care about Petrol Pirate’s problems. In anger, he threw the phone against the wall in his lab. “Again…again… AGAIN! They did it to me, AGAIN!” He screamed, “You two think you’re smarter than me? Ha! Professor Fusionstein, you just wait and see what happens next. I’ll get you back for this! Your silly invention won’t stand a chance against my brilliant ideas!”
