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Ireland McBrayer

Prof Jones

ENGL 1020

11 November 2019

Choose Clean with Crystal Clean and Terry the Turtle

The future of our beautiful city, Chattanooga, are the kids. If we teach kids at a young age

about what pollution is and what it does to our planet then I believe we can make a difference for

our future. We, Reagan, Alissa, and I, have created a comic book called “Choose Clean with

Crystal Clean and Terry the Turtle”. The stars of this comic book are Crystal Clean and Terry the

Turtle. Crystal Clean is a fairy but she is not an ordinary fairy; she is an environmental fairy. She

wants to reward kids for helping our environment. Her trusty side-kick, Terry the Turtle, lives

among our very own Tennessee River. He flies around the city of Chattanooga to see who is

picking up trash and then reports it back to Crystal Clean. If a kid picks up trash Crystal Clean

will place candy under their pillow.

We believe this comic book will help teach the kids from a young age that littering isn’t

right. Within our comic book, kids will see that it is up to us to keep our city and planet clean.

Before Crystal Clean became an environmental fairy, she stumbled upon Terry. One day, Crystal

Clean was walking alongside the Tennessee River and heard a cry for help. A turtle, named

Terry, was trapped in a plastic bag and couldn’t get free. We want this part of our comic to

attract the emotional appeal to the kids. It is expected that the children will feel sad for Terry the

Turtle. Crystal Clean swims over to him and pulled him on to shore. She helps free him from the

plastic bag that is wrapped around him. After her act of kindness, she became an environmental
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fairy. She then gives Terry the ability to fly and together they begin their journey of keeping our

environment clean.

One afternoon, Crystal Clean and Terry are flying around in the park. They see a little

boy go throw his trash away but miss the trash can. He ignored that his trash didn’t make it into

the can and walked away. Crystal Clean and Terry fly over to the little boy and ask him to pick

up his trash, but he asks why he should do that. They then proceed to tell him about what

pollution is and what it does to our planet. Terry also takes him to a part of the river that isn’t so

clean, to show the little boy the impact pollution has on rivers. This another attempt at emotional

appeal to the children. We believe using animals is a good way to grab ahold of a child’s

emotion. Now that he understands the importance of throwing his trash away, he passes on the

message to his other friends. Crystal Clean rewards him with a piece of candy and the boy is

happy. They continue to reward kids that pick up theirs or any other trash.

A big topic in today’s society is saving the turtles. Therefore, my group and I included a

sidekick for Crystal Clean, Terry the Turtle. Sea turtles are becoming an endangered species due

to pollution within the ocean. People don’t realize that the trash they throw out on land can make

its way to the ocean. All species of turtles are protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

This means that, “no person may take, harass, harm, shoot, kill, trap, capture or attempt to

engage in any such conduct to marine turtles, turtle nests, and/or turtle eggs.” If you are caught

doing any of these things you will be charged with a large fine and potentially be imprisoned.

However, that doesn’t help stop pollution. We hope that the comic book my group and I have

made brings attention to turtles and their homes. It is short strip about Terry’s home but it shows

the kids that trash travels and can harm bodies of water.
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Our comic book is short and to the point. We did this because our audience are young

children, around ages 4-12. Our comic book is also very bright and colorful. We assume this will

hold the attention of young children. Most children don’t care about pollution or don’t think

about it. The idea of Crystal Clean and Terry the Turtle are to grab their attention about this

reoccurring problem. One of the most common trash items found in the river or other bodies

water are; plastic bottles or bags, aluminum cans, and food packaging. I think that kids think

about throwing away their food packaging because their parents will throw it away for them, but

I think the kid should be responsible for their own trash. Even as young as 4 years old.

According to American Rivers, food packaging is the largest category or waste. “Almost half of

the litter in the U.S. is food packaging.” Along with food packaging the river contains plastic

bags. Plastic items are typical what water creatures are getting stuck in. Again, according to the

American Rivers, plastic bags only weigh about 8 grams each, but enough are littered annually to

weigh as much as 176 adult blue whales! Plastic bags, along with other items, take a very long

time to degrade. Plastic releases a chemical into our soil or bodies of water that can harm the

planet.

“If we don’t kill pollution, it will kill us.” This is Samantha A.’s slogan to a letter to the

president. Everyday people write letters to our president hoping to bring more attention to

pollution. She is correct, if pollution continues to increase then the exposer to toxins to humans

and our planet will continue to increase and will kill us. Instead of writing a letter we want kids

to take actions themselves. Our comic book is small leap to inform kids on the importance of

throwing trash away and it is the leap they need. If the comic book, Choose Clean, was published

kids would begin to understand that we should not liter and parents would begin to reward

children for helping to keep our planet clean.

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Citations

“Sea Turtles Are Threatened or Endangered Species.” NSU,

https://cnso.nova.edu/seaturtles/endangered.html

Hardinger, Ethan, et al. “The Five Most Common Things Found at River Cleanups.” American

Rivers, 23 May 2019, https://www.americanrivers.org/2018/01/five-common-things-

found-river-cleanups

A., Samantha. “If We Don’t Kill Pollution, It Will Kill Us.” Letters to the Next President,

https://letters2president.org/letters/22635

McBrayer Ireland, et al. “Choose Clean with Crystal Clean and Terry the Turtle.”

https://www.storyboardthat.com/portal/dashboard2