From your friends at PBS Kids! Hello, podcast people! It's me, Arthur with the Arthur Podcast. What's up, Podcast Nation? That's Buster. My friends and I are at the creek for a picnic. Here we go, the perfect spot, right by the creek. Francine always picks the spot. And I always bring the blanket. Ladonna Compson, protecting the world from wet pants. I brought sandwiches. Yum! This is the perfect way to taste this. I brought something delicious, dry mushroom pâté with truffle oil on an artisanal onion crisp bread. Uh, Muffy? Is that food? It's hout cuisine. Well, I don't know what hout means, but I have some doubts about the cuisine part. Here, have one of these sandwiches. My dad made them for us. He sent cookies too. Um, the tuna on this sandwich sure smells a little, uh, different, right? Tuna? The sandwiches are cheese. Ah! Then what's that awful smell? I think it's coming from the creek. Let's check it out. Roast! Oh no! Podcast people, the creek looks terrible. The water is thick and yucky and the plants are brown and there are dead fish floating around. Eww! I just lost my appetite. I'm gonna record a video on my phone. Oh, this is awful. It's terrible. I don't really think it's the perfect picnic spot anymore. Ugh! Want to take our picnic back to my yard? Away from the snake. Yes, please. Let's pack it up. Well, at least we're still outside. Yeah, sure. I guess. Arthur's yard is better than anything with dead fish in it. Sorry about your creekside picnic, everyone. I made you some lemonade to cheer you up. Thank you! Thanks, Dan. Yum! You know, that creek has been getting worse and worse. It's mainly due to the way people care for their lawns. What do lawns have to do with it? Well, some fertilizers contain toxic chemicals. When we use too much, the extra chemicals spill into the streets and it ends up in the creek. So someone's green lawn fertilizers are making our creek gross? That's terrible! I know, but it's pretty hard to get people to change their habits. Well, enjoy the lemonade. Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Mr. Reed. Hey, Buster, is that video you took at the creek still on your phone? Yep. Then maybe we should show it to more people. No one wants to see those dead fish, Francine. That's the point. People need to see what's happening. If they knew what we knew, maybe we could help the creek. You mean, like, show it on YouTube? Yes. Want to help me turn Buster's recording into a cool video? Sure. We can use my microphone. Whatever you need, Francine. Especially if there are snacks. You're eating snacks now, Buster. I'll help you write the script, Francine. Ahem! Lucky Crosswire here, head of the Crosswire Motors video channel. I have the most video expertise and make the classiest used car videos on YouTube. So you need me. Great. Thanks, everyone. Let's get to work. Okay, podcast people. We've been working all afternoon. And now we're ready to shoot our video. Buffy is directing. Okay, Buster. You're a grown-up. And this is your lawn. You want it to be green. In three, two, one, action! My lawn is green. But I wish it was even greener. Super green. Hmm. I know. I'll use some extra lawn fertilizer. I'll spray it on with this hose. Okay. Here's my part. I'm the next door neighbor who sees what he's doing. Hey! That sneaky Pete is using extra lawn fertilizer. There's no way I'm going to let his grass be greener than mine. I'm going to spray extra fertilizer too. With extra chemicals. Nice lawn neighbor. Yours too, neighbor. Then Muffy films the yucky green chemical water running into the gutter. We made the water green with food coloring. Cool special effect, right? Oh, and now here's Francine's part. Lawn fertilizer. It sounds harmless. Just something to help the grass grow. But if you use too much or don't follow the directions, those chemicals can end up in garbage. If you use too much or don't follow the directions, those chemicals can end up in creeks, rivers and the ocean. Take a look at this. Then this is where we show Buster's video of the dirty creek. Nothing can live without clean drinking water. Don't believe me? Just ask all those dead fish. A green lawn is nice, but it shouldn't cost the lives of animals. Cut! That was it! It was perfect. I'll go home and post it on You Who Do right away. Then I'll send you the link and you can send it to everyone you know. How about smoothies at the Sugar Bowl tomorrow? We can celebrate and see how many views it had. Yes. See you there. Perfect. A green lawn is nice, but it shouldn't cost the lives of animals. It looks so good, Muffy. Yeah. Totally professional. How many views do we have? Let's see. Since I put it up yesterday, we have 429 views. Oh, I can't believe it. That's a lot. Buster, guess what? We already have 429 views. Well, it's going to be a lot more than that soon. The newspaper where my mom works wants to put it on their website. Amazing! Cool, right? And that's not all. My mom emailed it to the city's parks department and they want one of us to give a speech about the creek at their Earth Day rally. Wow. That's a big event. Who should do it? I will. It'll be a great opportunity to promote Alien Awareness Day. Um, yeah. Maybe someone else should do it? People. I think the choice is pretty obvious. We need someone fearless, someone who commands respect and is not afraid to speak her mind. I accept. Muffy Crosswire speaking about the environment? Ha ha ha ha. I'll have you know the Crosswires are very Earth-friendly. We give away a reusable water bottle with every car purchased. Well, I vote for Francine. She really cares about the creek and this whole thing was her idea. I agree. Well, Francine, do you want to do it? Okay. I mean, I get a little nervous in front of a crowd. But I guess I've already spoken to 429 people on the internet. How hard can this be? Need any help? We had a public speaking class in my own school. I was pretty good at it. Um, okay. Podcast people, you heard it here. Francine Fransky is going to give a big speech to the whole town. Francine! Francine! Francine! Hey, podcast people. We're up in the treehouse so we can hear LaDonna and Francine practicing. Okay, Francine. Have you got your speech memorized? Let's hear it. Here goes. Ladies and gentlemen, I know I'm just... Tuck up at me. You're talking of people. Not paper. Ladies and gentlemen. Smile! This isn't a funeral. Ladies and gentlemen. Better. You're going to be the head of the rally, Francine. Let's do some vocal warm-up. Here, copy me. Hmmm— Hmmm———————— all week. And Ladonna said that Francine was ready for an audience now. So here we are. Buster, Muffy, George, Binky, Brain, Bud, and me are all in my living room. Here they come. Surprise! What are you all doing here? We're your test audience. Francine, you are ready. And these are your friends. So there's no pressure. Right. No pressure. Not like I'm the captain of a submarine or something. OK, crew, prepare to launch the Save the Creek speech. Oh, I warn you, captain. The anxiety capacitors have been overloaded. Try the courage boosters. Not working, captain. Try the focus torpedoes, the deep breathing sonar, the no pressure parasol. It's no use, captain. We're going down. Ah! Ah! Ah! Sorry. I was just thinking if I was captain of nevermind. OK, Gades and Lentilman. Oops. Oh, boy. Let me try that again. Gades and Lentilman. I may only be the third person to be a grader. No, that's not it. I play outside every day with dead fish. Forget it. I can't do this. It was short, but very powerful. Come on, Arthur. Let's go find her. Francine! Francine! Francine! Where are you? I'm in the tree house. But I'm not coming down. And I'm definitely not giving that speech. OK. Then we're coming up. I can't do it, Ladonna. Sure you can. It's just one little speech. Yeah, one little speech in front of a huge crowd of strangers. The worst part is this is an issue I really care about. Ladonna, you're such a good public speaker. Will you do it? But Francine, this was all your idea. I know, Arthur. But I might mess it up. I think Ladonna is my best chance at people hearing my ideas. I think you can do it, Francine. But I'll give your speech tomorrow if that's what you really want. Thanks, Ladonna. The creek is too important. Podcast people, today's the big Earth Day rally. Buster and Muffy and I are walking there. I feel a little bad that Francine isn't giving her speech. Yeah, the creek means a lot to her. Podcast people, I bet you have things you care about too. I'm checking my inbox to hear about the ideas that are important to you. So an issue that's important to me is at school, there are so many trash in the lunchroom, and a speech that I would make about it is, please don't forget, when you go to recess, clean up what's on the floor, top to bottom, left to right. One issue that is really important to me are wildfires that happen all around the world. An issue that's really important to me is choosing the right leaders. Cool, those are important things. Whoa, look at all the people in the park. The rally got a really big crowd. I think I see Ladonna by the stage. Come on. And now, a young activist will be talking to you about Melbourne City's Creek. Let's welcome to the stage Ladonna Thompson. Ladies and gentlemen, this speech is by Francine Frenski, a tireless crusader for the environment and my friend. I know I'm only a third grader, but I know a lot about the environment because I'm playing it every... Oh my, the environment just blew the speech away. Look at that, but it's okay. I'm just gonna wing it like a bird. So as I was saying, I play outside every day, except when it's raining then I read but not outside, or the pages in my book will get wet and well, that wouldn't be good. Oh good, my friend is here. Hold please. It's okay, I got it. Thank you. Go get him Francine. Thanks Ladonna. Um, you'll have to excuse me. I'm Francine Frenski and I've discovered two things in the past week that our creek is polluted and that I'm a terrible public speaker. I play outside every day and I was shocked to find that our creek was filled with dead fish. Then I learned that lawn fertilizer might be why those fish died. A lot of people don't use the fertilizer properly or they use too much. Then the fertilizer gets into our water systems and causes all sorts of trouble. That's why I'm asking each of you at this rally today to think about how you might impact the environment. Even something as small as the way you treat your own lawn. This is the only home we have. Let's take care of our creek. Yay! You were incredible. Thanks Ladonna. I never could have done it without your help. You're so welcome. Francine, you did it. Amazing Francine. And tabulous. I filmed it all and I've already uploaded it to YouTube. You'll probably be flooded with invitations to speak. No way. No more public speaking. Hey, do I smell kettle corn? Yeah. I saw them setting up. You want some? I do have my picnic blanket. Then what are we waiting for? Picnic redo. Podcast people? I gotta go. There's a kettle corn picnic about to happen at our creek. With the one and only Francine Fransky, guardian of the creek. Francine! Aww, thanks everyone. You've been listening to the Arthur podcast. Hey parents, do you want your kids to answer my next inbox question? First, go to the Arthur website at pbskids.org to find out what I'll be asking. Then email me a voice recording of your child's response to Arthur at wgbh.org. Your child's answer might even be featured on a future podcast. That's the Shell Podcast Nation. If you liked it, ask your grown-up to subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes. You can listen to all our podcasts, play games, and more at pbskids.org. The Arthur podcast is produced for PBS Kids by GBH Kids in partnership with Gen Z Media and distributed by PRX. Thanks for listening and have a wonderful kind of day. And I say, hey, what a wonderful kind of day. If you could learn to work and play and get along with each other. You got to listen to your heart, listen to the beat, listen to the rhythm, the rhythm on the street. Open up your eyes, open up your ears, get together and listen better. GBH Kids. Support for this podcast and the following message for parents comes from Ikea. As a parent, you child-proof everything. Well, almost everything. You may not have thought about one thing, and that's securing your dressers and chests to the wall. It helps avoid dangerous tip-over accidents. Secure it from Ikea. Working to create safer homes together. From PRX.
