Was it worth it to be angry with the leech? Of course not! After all, she knows nothing at all about Vasily’s existence and that she is very unpleasant to him. The river is her home, she was born in it, and her not-so-eventful life will end there.

You could just wait for the leech to crawl away. Or swim in another place... All creatures living in reservoirs are needed there. And even leeches, which seem so unpleasant to some people, are needed in lakes, ponds and rivers, just as fish, frogs, aquatic insects, shells and other living creatures are needed. We are sure that people will become much better (or so: people will become much better) if they learn to respect the life of all these creatures. Including the life of the most common leech.

RESPECT LIFE

EARTHWORM

He is known to everyone, both adults and children. But few people are seriously interested in his life, hidden from us.

Common earthworms are most often seen by people after rain, when they appear in large numbers on the soil surface. That is why they are called rain ones. Worms do not leave underground burrows of their own free will. Rainwater drives them out of there. But at night, especially in warm weather, the worms come to the surface of their own accord. True, they don’t quite get out, but only stick out, clinging to the walls of the hole with the back end of their body, so that in case of danger they can quickly hide back.

Stretching out of its burrow, the earthworm scours the ground around and grabs with its mouth damp, rotting leaves, half-rotten blades of grass... It drags all this into its burrow and swallows. Moving in the soil, it swallows it too. This is his food. You will probably think that it is very tasteless. But there’s nothing you can do about it, nature ordered it that way. The earthworm is supposed to eat what other animals cannot eat.

An earthworm is a harmless and almost defenseless creature. But in nature it is irreplaceable. If the soil has many earthworms living in it, it is in good condition. These creatures are

great workers of the soil. They make it more fertile by passing plant remains and soil lumps through them. And in the passages of earthworms the air necessary for the respiration of plant roots is “stored”.

The great scientist Charles Darwin, who specifically studied the life of earthworms, compared them to a careful gardener preparing the best soil for plants.

Some schoolchildren, not really knowing anything about earthworms, sometimes deliberately step on them, but in no case should they do this. On the contrary, it is better to help the unlucky worm, move it from the road to a safe place.

There was such a case. The sixth graders dug in the garden and dug up some earthworms. Some guys started cutting them with shovels. The teacher stopped them. She asked to feel sorry for the worms and talked about their role in the soil. The guys thought about it. It turns out that they considered worms harmful, they thought that they eat plant roots. And they were very surprised when they found out that this was not at all true, that they had completely different food.

If you're digging and see an earthworm, don't deliberately cut it with a shovel. After all, there is a living creature in front of you. Like all other living creatures, it deserves to be treated with respect. And also - special gratitude for working so tirelessly to improve our breadwinner, the soil.

WHY DO YOU NEED IT?

IN THE RIVER SHELLS

In lakes and rivers, the common pearl barley lives at the bottom. Who is she? She is a bivalve mollusk. The entire body of the pearl barley is enclosed in a hard, durable shell, consisting of two valves. The shell reaches almost 15 centimeters in length; in old shells it is greenish-brown. The body of the pearl barley itself is soft, but there is no head at all.

"Wow! - you say. - How can you live without a head? It’s just something small, ugly, and an animal should have a big head...”

But the pearl barley is not at all offended that it is headless. The fact is that all its near and distant relatives - other bivalves - also do not have heads, they simply do not need it. But they have one big leg, which they really, really need.

Here the shutters of the pearl barley open slightly and this very leg is shown. It stretches out, secures itself in a new place and pulls the shell towards itself. Then everything repeats itself. This is how the shell travels along the bottom.

When they want to say about someone that he is very slow, they sometimes compare him to a turtle. Yes, turtles crawl very slowly. But what then can be said about pearl barley, which moves along the bottom at a speed of about one meter per hour!

In river water, especially at the bottom, there are always small particles of clay, silt, and other impurities that make it cloudy. Among them there are also particles edible for pearl barley. To get them, she lets muddy water pass through her, lots and lots of muddy water. And at the same time cleanses it. The more pearl barley at the bottom, the cleaner the river water!

All bivalves are aquatic animals that live in rivers, lakes, ponds, seas and oceans.

Next to the pearl barley lives a similar common barley barb. This shell has the same bivalve shell, but the valves are wider and thinner. Toothless cleanses river water just as well as pearl barley.

Boys and girls often meet both pearl barley and toothless. And sometimes they treat them very badly. They take shells from the bottom in a shallow place (or even deliberately dive where it is deeper) and throw them ashore. But shells are alive, and on the shore, without water, they will certainly die. Guys throw them away just like that, for no reason, out of mischief. They also quit for a reason...

One girl once told her teacher: “When we swim, we hurt our feet on these shells. That’s why we throw them ashore.”

Well, what can you answer... Of course, neither the toothless ones nor the pearl barley deserved such an attitude towards themselves. It's not their fault that guys are careless. In the river you need to behave in such a way as not to harm yourself. You can, for example, choose a place where there are few or no shells. If the water is clear, you need to look at the bottom so as not to step on a shell. But you cannot deliberately harm living creatures living in the river. After all, we only relax here, and they live. This is their home, and they have no other home.

TAKE CARE OF CRASHES

Once, at the very end of May, seventh-grader Yasha brought crayfish in a transparent bag to biology teacher Alexander Ivanovich. There were five of them, two males and three females. The crayfish were full of eggs.
Yasha wanted to please the teacher, because crayfish can be boiled and eaten. This is exactly what he suggested that he do, but he was thinking about something completely different.
Alexander Ivanovich questioned the student and, to his great chagrin, found out: the guys catch crayfish in a small river in the spring and take them out of their holes with their hands; A lot of crayfish are caught, the number caught is measured in dozens per person; guys always take females with eggs.
The teacher asked: “Don’t you think that with such fishing there will soon not be a single crayfish left in the river?” Yasha didn’t answer anything to this, he just shrugged his shoulders.
Alexander Ivanovich poured water into a liter jar and planted the unfortunate crayfish there. They were alive because, although they were without water, they were in a damp bag. Once in their native element, the long-moustached creatures perked up, but it was noticeable that they still felt bad. Without wasting time, the teacher took them to the very river where they were caught. He was in a hurry, afraid that the crayfish would suffocate in the cramped jar. Finding themselves at home, the five sufferers slowly, as if still not believing in their miraculous salvation, crawled to a deep place and disappeared. And the teacher decided to tell the children about the life of crayfish in class tomorrow. Maybe, he thought, having learned more about these amazing animals, the guys will treat them differently. They will take pity on them and stop destroying them in such numbers.
And this is what Alexander Ivanovich said in class:
- Look more closely at the unusual appearance of the crayfish: its chest merges with its head, it has two clearly visible eyes and a long mustache. And he has ten legs. The front ones are claws, and with the help of the others he walks.
The crayfish grabs food with its claws and defends itself from enemies. Its food is aquatic plants and various aquatic animals, both living and dead: crayfish is omnivorous. During the day, he hides under stones, snags or in his burrow. At night it travels along the bottom in search of prey. However, sometimes crayfish look for food during the day, without waiting for the night.
When the time comes for reproduction, the crustacean attaches reddish eggs to its abdomen from below and carries them until a small crustacean appears from each. At first these crumbs just hang on their mother. Then they venture on short forays, but at the slightest danger they hide, like in a house, under the belly of their parent. Soon the children will part with their caring mother and will live independently. Unfortunately, not everyone will grow into large crayfish, because life in a reservoir is harsh, they have many enemies, and most of the crayfish offspring will die.
“Crayfish live,” the teacher continued, “in rivers and lakes with clean water.” And where the water is polluted, they disappear; they cannot withstand the pollution. Added to this is another problem: every year children and adults catch them. And sometimes they catch them without any measure. What is this? Greed, indifference to living things, irresponsibility? Probably all together.
And how we need these wonderful creatures in our lakes and rivers. After all, they are reservoir nurses. It is crayfish that purify the water by eating all kinds of debris at the bottom. For example, the time has come for a fish to die, and the dead crayfish eat it. But it's not only that. Isn’t it nice for us to simply realize that such extraordinary, beautiful, amazing animals live somewhere in the water? Don't they decorate our nature?
Dear guys, be kinder, take care of the crayfish. Don't catch too many of them. Do not catch in the spring, during breeding. Never take female crayfish with eggs, because from each egg a small crustacean will appear - the future big crayfish. And it’s best not to catch crayfish at all. People can live without boiled crayfish, and our reservoirs will feel noticeably worse without them. And so in many places crayfish has become a rarity...

STORY WITH A LEECH

Tenth-grader Vasily is sitting on the bank of the river. It's hot and he wants to swim. He undresses, approaches the water, stands on a pebble and tests the water with one foot - isn’t it cold? No, just right. Vasily is about to enter the water and suddenly sees... Oh-oh-oh! A large leech crawls out of the green mud near the shore. He crawls out and slowly heads right to the place where the boy was about to step.
We will tell you the main thing right away: this leech would not and could not do anything bad to Vasily. It was a leech, which is not dangerous for humans, since it cannot bite through its rather thick skin. Scientists call this leech the false horse, or more precisely, the large false horse (because there are also horse and small false horse leeches). It is really big: its body length can reach up to 15 centimeters, and this is very respectable for a leech.
Scientists know all these details, you and I know now, but they were unknown to Vasily. He immediately imagined how a huge leech digs into his naked body and begins to greedily suck blood, swelling before his eyes, and he became scared. Of course, he lost all desire to swim, his mood deteriorated, and he wanted to deal with the unpleasant creature.
Meanwhile, the leech, fearing nothing, slowly crawled along the bottom. She stretched out the front end of her body, becoming long and thin, anchored by it, and then curved and pulled up the rest of her body, quickly turning into a short, plump one. In such an unusual way, she not only crawled, but seemed to “walk” along the bottom... Vasily found a long stick and tried to pick up the leech in order to throw it ashore, away from the water. But nothing came of this venture. While plunging the stick into the water, he lost his balance and fell into the river, almost next to the leech. This didn’t make her feel bad, she crawled to a large bunch of mud and disappeared. But Vasily had a hard time. Although the place was shallow, only knee-deep, the bottom turned out to be clayey and slippery, and the boy could not get ashore for a long time. Finally, wet, dirty, angry, he managed to get out of the water, but no matter how much he looked at the bottom for the culprit of the incident in order to take revenge on her, she did not appear.
Was it worth it to be angry with the leech? Of course not! After all, she knows nothing at all about Vasily’s existence and that she is very unpleasant to him. The river is her home, she was born in it, and her not-so-eventful life will end there.
You could just wait for the leech to crawl away. Or swim in another place... All creatures living in reservoirs are needed there. And even leeches, which seem so unpleasant to some people, are needed in lakes, ponds and rivers, just as fish, frogs, aquatic insects, shells and other living creatures are needed. We are sure that people will become much better (or so: people will become much better) if they learn to respect the life of all these creatures. Including the life of the most common leech.

RESPECT THE LIFE OF AN EARTHWORM

He is known to everyone, both adults and children. But few people are seriously interested in his life, hidden from us.
Common earthworms are most often seen by people after rain, when they appear in large numbers on the soil surface. That is why they are called rain ones. Worms do not leave underground burrows of their own free will. Rainwater drives them out of there. But at night, especially in warm weather, the worms come to the surface of their own accord. True, they don’t quite get out, but only stick out, clinging to the walls of the hole with the back end of their body, so that in case of danger they can quickly hide back.
Stretching out of its burrow, the earthworm scours the ground around and grabs with its mouth damp, rotting leaves, half-rotten blades of grass... It drags all this into its burrow and swallows. Moving in the soil, it swallows it too. This is his food. You will probably think that it is very tasteless. But there’s nothing you can do about it, nature ordered it that way. The earthworm is supposed to eat what other animals cannot eat.
An earthworm is a harmless and almost defenseless creature. But in nature it is irreplaceable. If the soil has many earthworms living in it, it is in good condition. These creatures are
great workers of the soil. They make it more fertile by passing plant remains and soil lumps through them. And in the passages of earthworms the air necessary for the respiration of plant roots is “stored”.
The great scientist Charles Darwin, who specifically studied the life of earthworms, compared them to a careful gardener preparing the best soil for plants.
Some schoolchildren, not really knowing anything about earthworms, sometimes deliberately step on them, but in no case should they do this. On the contrary, it is better to help the unlucky worm, move it from the road to a safe place.
There was such a case. The sixth graders dug in the garden and dug up some earthworms. Some guys started cutting them with shovels. The teacher stopped them. She asked to feel sorry for the worms and talked about their role in the soil. The guys thought about it. It turns out that they considered worms harmful, they thought that they eat plant roots. And they were very surprised when they found out that this was not at all true, that they had completely different food.
If you're digging and see an earthworm, don't deliberately cut it with a shovel. After all, there is a living creature in front of you. Like all other living creatures, it deserves to be treated with respect. And also - special gratitude for working so tirelessly to improve our breadwinner, the soil.

WHY ARE SHELLS NEEDED IN THE RIVER?

In lakes and rivers, the common pearl barley lives at the bottom. Who is she? She is a bivalve mollusk. The entire body of the pearl barley is enclosed in a hard, durable shell, consisting of two valves. The shell reaches almost 15 centimeters in length; in old shells it is greenish-brown. The body of the pearl barley itself is soft, but there is no head at all.
"Wow! - you say. - How can you live without a head? It’s just something small, ugly, and an animal should have a big head...”
But the pearl barley is not at all offended that it is headless. The fact is that all its near and distant relatives - other bivalves - also do not have heads, they simply do not need it. But they have one big leg, which they really, really need.
Here the shutters of the pearl barley open slightly and this very leg is shown. It stretches out, secures itself in a new place and pulls the shell towards itself. Then everything repeats itself. This is how the shell travels along the bottom.
When they want to say about someone that he is very slow, they sometimes compare him to a turtle. Yes, turtles crawl very slowly. But what then can be said about pearl barley, which moves along the bottom at a speed of about one meter per hour!
In river water, especially at the bottom, there are always small particles of clay, silt, and other impurities that make it cloudy. Among them there are also particles edible for pearl barley. To get them, she lets muddy water pass through her, lots and lots of muddy water. And at the same time cleanses it. The more pearl barley at the bottom, the cleaner the river water!
All bivalves are aquatic animals that live in rivers, lakes, ponds, seas and oceans.
Next to the pearl barley lives a similar common barley barb. This shell has the same bivalve shell, but the valves are wider and thinner. Toothless cleanses river water just as well as pearl barley.
Boys and girls often meet both pearl barley and toothless. And sometimes they treat them very badly. They take shells from the bottom in a shallow place (or even deliberately dive where it is deeper) and throw them ashore. But shells are alive, and on the shore, without water, they will certainly die. Guys throw them away just like that, for no reason, out of mischief. They also quit for a reason...
One girl once told her teacher: “When we swim, we hurt our feet on these shells. That’s why we throw them ashore.”
Well, what can you answer... Of course, neither the toothless ones nor the pearl barley deserved such an attitude towards themselves. It's not their fault that guys are careless. In the river you need to behave in such a way as not to harm yourself. You can, for example, choose a place where there are few or no shells. If the water is clear, you need to look at the bottom so as not to step on a shell. But you cannot deliberately harm living creatures living in the river. After all, we only relax here, and they live. This is their home, and they have no other home.
We ask you very much: if you see a toothless or pearl barley at the bottom, never throw them ashore and do not harm them in other ways.
We hope that we were able to convince you that live bivalves are very necessary in a river, lake, or pond.

From the book “The Giant in the Clearing” “Respect the life of the earthworm” He is known to everyone, both adults and children. But few people are seriously interested in his life, hidden from us. Common earthworms are most often seen by people after rain, when they appear in large numbers on the surface of the soil. That is why they are called rain ones. Worms do not leave underground burrows of their own free will. Rainwater drives them out of there. But at night, especially in warm weather, the worms come to the surface of their own accord. True, they don’t quite get out, but only stick out, clinging to the walls of the hole with the back end of their body, so that in case of danger they can quickly hide back. Stretching out of the hole, the earthworm scours the ground around and grabs with its mouth damp rotting leaves, half-rotten blades of grass... It drags all this into its hole and swallows. Moving in the soil, it swallows it. This is his food. You will probably think that it is very tasteless. But there’s nothing you can do about it, nature ordered it that way. The earthworm is supposed to eat what other animals cannot eat. An earthworm is a harmless and almost defenseless creature. But in nature it is irreplaceable. If the soil has many earthworms living in it, it is in good condition. These creatures are great workers of the soil. They make it more fertile by passing plant remains and soil lumps through them. And in the passages of earthworms the air necessary for the respiration of plant roots is “stored”. The great scientist Charles Darwin, who specifically studied the life of earthworms, compared them to a careful gardener preparing the best soil for plants. Some schoolchildren, not really knowing anything about earthworms, sometimes deliberately step on them, but in no case should they do this. On the contrary, it is better to help the unlucky worm, move it from the road to a safe place. There was such a case. The sixth graders dug in the garden and dug up some earthworms. Some guys started cutting them with shovels. The teacher stopped them. She asked to feel sorry for the worms and talked about their role in the soil. The guys thought about it. It turns out that they considered worms harmful, they thought that they eat plant roots. And they were very surprised when they found out that this was not at all true, that they had completely different food. If you're digging and see an earthworm, don't deliberately cut it with a shovel. After all, there is a living creature in front of you. Like all other living creatures, it deserves to be treated with respect. And also a special thank you for working so tirelessly to improve our feeding soil.

GIANT IN THE CLEARING,

OR FIRST LESSONS

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

A manual for students of general education institutions

"Education"

GIANT IN A CLEARING

Our planet Earth is very large in comparison with every person, and he is so small in comparison with it! But the same person, walking through a forest clearing, edge, meadow, turns into a huge giant. Firstly, because in clearings and forest edges there live creatures that are much smaller than humans: beetles and ants, caterpillars and butterflies, bees and bumblebees, spiders and snails and many, many others. Secondly, because even the large inhabitants of the Earth, for example, centuries-old trees, not to mention small creatures, are most often defenseless against humans. Moreover, not only an adult, but also a child can be a powerful Giant in a clearing. How good it is if this giant is kind. He will not deliberately step on an anthill hidden in the grass, will not offend a clumsy caterpillar sitting on a leaf, will not pick a flower in vain, will not leave behind garbage... And how sad if the giant turns out to be unkind, indifferent, or even cruel to something what surrounds him.

We will tell you how best to behave in nature, what you can do in it, what you can’t do, and why. After all, nature suffers not only from the smoke of factories and factories, from dirty waste constantly pouring into rivers and seas, from deforestation... Nature also suffers because many people, picking mushrooms, fishing, just walking and relaxing, often harm to her, sometimes without even noticing it. After all, many adults, when they were little, were taught almost nothing to take care of nature. And many children have not yet learned this.

The book is called "The Giant in the Clearing." But it can be called differently: “First lessons in environmental ethics.”

What does this mean?

Ethics is the science of a person’s spiritual qualities (such as kindness, honesty, responsiveness), about how one should and how one should not act in various life situations, about what is good and what is bad.

And ecology is the science of our natural home.

So it turns out that environmental ethics teaches how to relate to nature and how to behave in it.

But we wrote: “First lessons in environmental ethics.” What do first lessons mean? Of course, we do not mean ordinary school lessons at all. The book contains only stories, but we hope that they can teach something. Moreover very important and even the most important thing in relation to nature. In addition, we wrote this book so that it will help you not only in everyday life, but also in school lessons. If you study using textbooks that say “Green House,” then this book will definitely come in handy.

On the pages of our book, children live and act (just like you, or younger, or older than you), their parents, teachers and scientists, tourists and mushroom pickers. Most of the stories told are not made up, but taken from life.

Animals and plants, stones and soil, water and air - this is all nature. Man is part of it. And if a person is beautiful, kind, smart, then this is exactly what his behavior in nature should be - beautiful, kind, smart.

FUNNY STORY

WITH GOLDEN BRONZE

Lives next to us, found on forest edges and clearings, an emerald, sparkling beetle - the golden bronze beetle. If in the summer you walk along the edge of the forest and notice flowering rosehip bushes, stop and take a closer look at what is happening on them. Perhaps you will be lucky and in one of the bright, fragrant flowers you will see it, the bronze. What is she doing here? Of course, it feasts on pollen, which is so abundant in rosehip flowers.

One day, mushroom picker Pyotr Petrovich was walking through the forest. However, he was not an ordinary mushroom picker. Often, without picking mushrooms, he would come back from the forest very happy. Friends and neighbors said to him: “Why, Pyotr Petrovich, did you go pick for mushrooms, but the basket was almost empty?”

And he, a little embarrassed, replied that he was a completely unimportant mushroom picker and probably didn’t like mushrooms.

But the whole point was that in the forest he was interested not so much in mushrooms as in other living creatures inhabiting the forest. And most of all those that have six legs are insects. Meetings with interesting insects brought this good man more joy than finding a mushroom.

Pyotr Petrovich walked through the forest and carefully looked at his surroundings. I looked closely and listened: would a nimble, fleet-footed beetle run along the path? Will a bright bear butterfly flash above the grass? Will a handsome hornet, striped like a tiger, buzz somewhere among the trees?

There are many wonderful insects in the world, they are here, nearby. You just need to love them and know them at least a little, and then the desired meeting will definitely happen.

Pyotr Petrovich stopped in a small forest clearing and suddenly saw a sparkling green beetle flying around him. It was her - golden bronze. Reducing her circles, the beauty approached the man. Then the insect lover, deciding that the beetle was looking for a place to sit down to rest, raised the index finger of his right hand and froze. And a small miracle happened: a wonderful beetle “landed” on the tip of the finger and stayed there. Resting on her finger, the bronze woman moved her antennae, and the man’s face lit up with a happy smile.

Moments flashed by, and she soared into the air, flying somewhere about her business. Why the green-winged beetle chose a human finger to rest on remains a mystery. After all, there were a lot of twigs and leaves around on which one could calmly sit. What if the little creature felt the kind warmth emanating from a person who loved all living things so much? And it was precisely this, this warmth, that attracted the beetle to him? Anything is possible, because people, although they know a lot about the life of insects, don’t know even more...

Maybe you will be lucky too, and someday an emerald beetle will also fly to rest on your index finger.

WHAT THE CHABIGLE TOLD ABOUT

Two cockchafers were sitting on a birch leaf and talking peacefully.

“How good it is to live in the world,” said one and with pleasure took a tasty bite from a tender leaf.

Yes,” another supported. - Pleasant conversation, delicious food, warm day - what could be better?

The melodious songs of birds were heard from all sides, a light breeze pleasantly moved the birch twig...

And suddenly...

Help! Help! - the beetles heard.

Help! Help! - a minute later it was heard very close, and a cockchafer, just like them, plopped down on a branch.

What's happened? - two friends asked in one voice.

By... By... Help! - the arriving beetle tried to catch its breath. - By... By... Look, are they running after me?

Who?! - the beetles exclaimed, and again in one voice.

“Boys, of course, boys,” their new acquaintance answered in a frightened whisper.

Calm down,” one of the beetles said gravely. - Nobody was running after you. There is no one here but us. It's very nice here. Nice conversation, delicious food and all that. Who are these boys?

“You are happy,” said the arriving beetle, a little

calming down. - You don't know who the boys are. And I know, alas...

And he told his story.

I didn’t know any boys before either. Until I fell into their clutches. They have terrible paws with five huge toes. You know, I will never again forget those fingers that grabbed me and pushed me into a tight box. The boys called him a matchbox. I could barely fit in it. Oh, how stuffy and dark it was there. They put this box in a huge bag, which they called a pocket, and shook it all the time, which made me dizzy. From time to time they opened the box, and I thought that they wanted to eat me. But they just looked at me, touched me with terrible fingers and closed this unbearable prison again.

Our planet Earth is very large in comparison with every person, and he is so small in comparison with it! But the same person, walking through a forest clearing, edge, meadow, turns into a huge giant. Firstly, because in clearings and forest edges there live creatures that are much smaller than humans: beetles and ants, caterpillars and butterflies, bees and bumblebees, spiders and snails and many, many others. Secondly, because even the large inhabitants of the Earth, for example, centuries-old trees, not to mention small creatures, are most often defenseless against humans. Moreover, not only an adult, but also a child can be a powerful Giant in a clearing. How good it is if this giant is kind. He will not deliberately step on an anthill hidden in the grass, will not offend a clumsy caterpillar sitting on a leaf, will not pick a flower in vain, will not leave behind garbage... And how sad if the giant turns out to be unkind, indifferent, or even cruel to something what surrounds him.
We will tell you how best to behave in nature, what you can do in it, what you can’t do, and why. After all, nature suffers not only from the smoke of factories and factories, from dirty waste constantly pouring into rivers and seas, from deforestation... Nature also suffers because many people, picking mushrooms, fishing, just walking and relaxing, often harm to her, sometimes without even noticing it. After all, many adults, when they were little, were taught almost nothing to take care of nature. And many children have not yet learned this.
The book is called "The Giant in the Clearing." But it can be called differently: “First lessons in environmental ethics.”
What does this mean?
Ethics is the science of a person’s spiritual qualities (such as kindness, honesty, responsiveness), about how one should and how one should not act in various life situations, about what is good and what is bad.
And ecology is the science of our natural home.
So it turns out that environmental ethics teaches how to relate to nature and how to behave in it.
But we wrote: “First lessons in environmental ethics.” What do first lessons mean? Of course, we do not mean ordinary school lessons at all. The book contains only stories, but we hope that they can teach something. Moreover, it is very important and even the most important thing in relation to nature. In addition, we wrote this book so that it will help you not only in everyday life, but also in school lessons. If you study using textbooks that say “Green House,” then this book will definitely come in handy.
On the pages of our book, children live and act (just like you, or younger, or older than you), their parents, teachers and scientists, tourists and mushroom pickers. Most of the stories told are not made up, but taken from life.
Animals and plants, stones and soil, water and air - this is all nature. Man is part of it. And if a person is beautiful, kind, smart, then this is exactly what his behavior in nature should be - beautiful, kind, smart.

FUNNY STORY
WITH GOLDEN BRONZE

Lives next to us, found on forest edges and clearings, an emerald, sparkling beetle - the golden bronze beetle. If in the summer you walk along the edge of the forest and notice flowering rosehip bushes, stop and take a closer look at what is happening on them. Perhaps you will be lucky and in one of the bright, fragrant flowers you will see it, the bronze. What is she doing here? Of course, it feasts on pollen, which is so abundant in rosehip flowers.
One day, mushroom picker Pyotr Petrovich was walking through the forest. However, he was not an ordinary mushroom picker. Often, without picking mushrooms, he would come back from the forest very happy. Friends and neighbors said to him: “Why, Pyotr Petrovich, did you go pick for mushrooms, but the basket was almost empty?”
And he, a little embarrassed, replied that he was a completely unimportant mushroom picker and probably didn’t like mushrooms.
But the whole point was that in the forest he was interested not so much in mushrooms as in other living creatures inhabiting the forest. And most of all those that have six legs are insects. Meetings with interesting insects brought this good man more joy than finding a mushroom.
Pyotr Petrovich walked through the forest and carefully looked at his surroundings. I looked closely and listened: would a nimble, fleet-footed beetle run along the path? Will a bright bear butterfly flash above the grass? Will a handsome hornet, striped like a tiger, buzz somewhere among the trees?
There are many wonderful insects in the world, they are here, nearby. You just need to love them and know them at least a little, and then the desired meeting will definitely happen.
Pyotr Petrovich stopped in a small forest clearing and suddenly saw a sparkling green beetle flying around him. It was her - golden bronze. Reducing her circles, the beauty approached the man. Then the insect lover, deciding that the beetle was looking for a place to sit down to rest, raised the index finger of his right hand and froze. And a small miracle happened: a wonderful beetle “landed” on the tip of the finger and stayed there. Resting on her finger, the bronze woman moved her antennae, and the man’s face lit up with a happy smile.
Moments flashed by, and she soared into the air, flying somewhere about her business. Why the green-winged beetle chose a human finger to rest on remains a mystery. After all, there were a lot of twigs and leaves around on which one could calmly sit. What if the little creature felt the kind warmth emanating from a person who loved all living things so much? And it was precisely this, this warmth, that attracted the beetle to him? Anything is possible, because people, although they know a lot about the life of insects, don’t know even more...
Maybe you will be lucky too, and someday an emerald beetle will also fly to rest on your index finger.

WHAT THE CHABIGLE TOLD ABOUT

Two cockchafers were sitting on a birch leaf and talking peacefully.
“It’s so good to live in the world,” said one and with pleasure took a tasty bite from a tender leaf.
“Yes,” another supported. - Pleasant conversation, delicious food, warm day - what could be better?
The melodious songs of birds were heard from all sides, a light breeze pleasantly moved the birch twig...
And suddenly...
- Help! Help! - the beetles heard.
- Help! Help! - a minute later it was heard very close, and a cockchafer, just like them, plopped down on a branch.
- What's happened? - two friends asked in one voice.
- By... By... Help! - the arriving beetle tried to catch its breath. - By... By... Look, are they running after me?
- Who?! - the beetles exclaimed, and again in one voice.
“Boys, of course, boys,” their new acquaintance answered in a frightened whisper.
“Calm down,” said one of the beetles gravely. - Nobody was running after you. There is no one here but us. It's very nice here. Nice conversation, delicious food and all that. Who are these boys?
“You are happy,” said the arriving beetle, a little
calming down. - You don't know who the boys are. And I know, alas...
And he told his story.
- I didn’t know the boys before either. Until I fell into their clutches. They have terrible paws with five huge toes. You know, I will never again forget those fingers that grabbed me and pushed me into a tight box. The boys called him a matchbox. I could barely fit in it. Oh, how stuffy and dark it was there. They put this box in a huge bag, which they called a pocket, and shook it all the time, which made me dizzy. From time to time they opened the box, and I thought that they wanted to eat me. But they just looked at me, touched me with terrible fingers and closed this unbearable prison again.
The beetle took a breath and looked painfully at the shocked listeners.
“Yes, yes, that was all, yes, yes,” he said and continued. “And then they pulled me out and began to force me to crawl across a huge field, which they called the teacher’s table. They placed some kind of logs called pencils in front of me and forced me to climb over them. And when I refused, they pushed me from behind with all their might. How humiliating it was...
Then they took a thick rope, which they called thread, and wanted to tie it to my feet. They wanted me to fly on this thread for their amusement. Oh, how I struggled, how I struggled... Fortunately, at that moment there was a deafening ringing sound. My tormentors shouted: “The bell is ringing! The bell is ringing!” and everyone ran somewhere. I took advantage of the turmoil and escaped from the clutches of the main tormentor. My wings, my wonderful, strong wings, saved me. I flew out through the open window and ran as fast as I could. I flew, not understanding the road, further and further. I was afraid that they were following me... And here I am. Please, see if everything is intact on me - legs, antennae...
The two beetles carefully examined their exhausted brother and hastened to assure him that everything was fine.
“Eat,” one of them suggested with a deep sigh, “there is a very tasty leaf here.”
And the other said thoughtfully:
- It’s amazing how dangerous it is to live in the world...

THE CASE OF THE MUSHROOM BEETLE

On that warm July day, Tanya’s dad brought a lot of mushrooms from the forest. Tanya looked at the different mushrooms in the basket with interest. She especially liked the big boletus. She took it and exclaimed with delight: “Mom, look what a beautiful mushroom!”
And at that moment, a small, no more than a centimeter, nimble creature jumped out of the mushroom cap and ran along the girl’s hand, and then fell to the floor and rushed under the closet.
“Oh, who is this?!” - Tanya exclaimed and dropped the mushroom in fright.
Mom looked under the closet. The little creature ran out into the middle of the room and darted around there, and then ran around the leg of the chair. It was some kind of insect, it seems - a beetle.
“You need to crush it immediately, otherwise it will bite again,” said my mother and began to catch the beetle. And he, as if realizing that he was about to die, quickly climbed onto his father’s leg and froze, as if asking for protection.
Dad sat silently and looked at the unusual beetle with curiosity. And that one was truly unusual. Most beetles have a covered abdomen with hard elytra, but this one does not. While running, he raised and lowered his abdomen. This movement probably scared my mother, as if the beetle wanted to sting, but it didn’t have any trace of a stinger.
Scientists call this beetle a mushroom picker, or, more precisely, a red mushroom picker. It is called so because it is found in mushrooms and is mainly colored red. However, its head and part of its abdomen are black. The mushroom picker’s head is large, and it has long jaws like daggers. Another name for this beetle is the red predator. He is indeed a predator, but is dangerous only for small animals living in mushrooms. And above all, for the little “worms” - the larvae of fungus gnats and flies, the very ones that cause mushrooms to become wormy.
This is what a beetle turned out to be.
What should we do with it?
Opinions were divided. Mom still wanted to crush it, but dad suggested taking the beetle into the forest.
Tanya was very happy about this, because she did not at all want the mushroom beetle to die.
Dad deftly caught the red mushroom picker and put it in a jar. Then he brought it and put a few green leaves there. He closed the jar with a lid with many holes so that the beetle would not suffocate. The next morning, on the way to work, dad went into the nearest small forest and released the beetle into the wild...
Yes, adults and children love to go to the forest to pick mushrooms, berries, and nuts. This is a necessary and good thing. But here’s what we shouldn’t forget: along with berries, nuts, and mushrooms, a variety of small animals end up in our baskets, bags, and jars. These are all kinds of insects: small bugs, bugs, ants, caterpillars... These are spiders and sometimes small centipedes. These are snails with and without shells.
All of them, along with mushrooms, nuts, and berries, come to our home. And here most often a sad fate awaits them. Many people will destroy them right away when disassembling the mushrooms and berries. And those who manage to escape and hide somewhere in the apartment will also die. After all, they are all inhabitants of the forest and can only live there.
How to be? Here's how: when picking mushrooms, berries, nuts, be careful. Examine them and remove all living creatures and leave them in the forest. Or just wait until the animals run away and crawl away. For the most part, they do it pretty quickly. Who wants to disappear!
And still, some of them will end up at your home. In this case, they can be collected in a small closed box or jar, but one in which they could breathe and would not die. And then don’t be lazy and take them to the nearest forest, park or square.
Here, you say, what a gimmick. But let your reward be the joy of having saved the lives of so many living beings!