Spotted lanternflies (斑点灯笼蝇) are an invasive species. Since 2014, they have been seen all across the eastern United States. The insects are harmful to many plants, and can disturb entire ecosystems. State officials have urged people to kill spotted lanternflies wherever they see them.

When Joy saw the pests in her school courtyard, she thought she had to do something. “I’ve always wanted to take environmental action,” she says, “and show people that no one is ever too small to make a difference.”

So she started a club called Squash (压扁). Its mission is to kill spotted lanternflies around the school. More than 20 students have joined. At first, they trapped the pests in empty water bottles and then squashed them. In a single day, the club managed to kill more than a hundred spotted lanternflies.

Joy wanted to do more. With research, she discovered a plant called milkweed. It’s nutritious for pollinators (传粉昆虫) such as monarch butterflies but poisonous to spotted lanternflies. Joy thought that using milkweed along with the traps made specifically for spotted lanternflies would be a better way to kill them. The issue was that they didn’t have enough money to buy milkweed and the traps.

The kids were hoping to raise money for their school to address the big problem. Their goal was to raise $200, the cost of the equipment needed to kill spotted lanternflies around their school. They got part of the way there, with about $75. They decided to attract more fundraisers. “We discovered that if you find your voice,” Joy says, “you can do much more.”

In May, Joy and other students from Squash gathered in Columbus Park, in New York City. They set up a table with lemonade, cookies, and origami figures for sale. The money will be used to buy milkweed and the traps.

To attract more attention, the students divided their work into various roles.

As the day progressed, the students’ efforts paid off.

It was a pleasant morning. Meena was leaning out of her window and feeding the birds. The roads were empty because of COVID-19 lockdown. Just then a strong blow of wind came and Meena saw something flying in the air from distance. “Is it a kite?” Meena thought. As it came closer, Meena saw that it was a mask.

Curious to know where the mask came from, she ran to catch the mask and finally ran to the beach nearby. The mask fell into the sea water. As Meena looked around, she saw many masks floating in the sea and lying on the beach. She wondered where they came from.

Suddenly Meena heard a low voice nearby so helpless as if crying out for someone for help. She went closer to the voice – it was a huge turtle from the sea, with something stuck into his mouth. Apparently the turtle was choking (噎住) and in great pain. Meena moved closer to him, without wasting any time pulling it out of his mouth – it was a mask! The turtle finally recovered from the pain and seemed to express relief from his eyes as if to say “thank you” for her kindness.

Meena was sad to see so many masks thrown around. Just then she saw a man dumping rubbish here, with many single-use masks poured out. “Stop!” she screamed. “Please don’t throw the waste here. The turtle might swallow the mask again and fall sick!” The man stopped at once. He was sorry for his actions and decided to help clean the beach. He called a few people from the village to help them clean it. In no time the beach was free of rubbish.

Meena was happy and couldn’t wait to go home and tell her mother about it. Her mother was very proud of her, and told her the importance of throwing single-use masks into a rubbish bin so that animals wouldn’t swallow them. Yet Meena was still worried. She didn’t want the turtles to fall sick again due to people’s ignorance.

“Shouldn’t I stop wearing a mask?” asked Meena.

The next day Meena and her mother gave out their homemade cloth masks around the village.