Save the Trees!

I just got back from the Central Park Zoo where I vied with about 30,000 obnoxious elementary school students on field trips for a prime position to view the sea lion feeding. But, in spite of the slight twitch I developed, we managed to survive the ordeal and have a little fun in the process. (This is an especially important accomplishment for Michael, who was stomped on more than once by kids who were old enough to know better).

Whether it was the accidental wandering down the wrong pathway in search of the zoo, which gave me more time to enjoy the leafy greenness of the park, (and also set me up for the misfortune of having my butt grabbed by a passing homeless man) or the inch-thick scum on the fish aquarium that made me feel as though I should be more environmentally conscious, I thought it would be an appropriate day to blog about a globally pressing issue:

Save the Trees!

For a small donation at any of the New York City area zoos, you can be part of the coalition to combat climate change and do your part to save a tree!

Apparently this is a popular cause around here, as my tasteless organic breakfast cereal has been telling me the same thing:


I just have one question before I sign up - hasn't anyone realized that trees are completely renewable resources? I mean, you chop one down to make your cereal box and you can plant another one in exactly the same place, right? Or am I missing something? And isn't cardboard or paper supposed to be more environmentally correct than plastic? So this cereal company is saying we should ditch the more earth-friendly cardboard box in favor of plastic, which is still considered evil in tree-hugging circles even when it doesn't contain BPA?

Somewhere fish are choking in grocery-bagged confusion. I mean, does the "made with renewable energy" somehow make the plastic bag instantly biodegradable? Or is using a plastic bag okay now because it was made with windmills and smiling sun rays?

I'm just so confused. We are not talking extinction of a species here, people. Use a tree, plant another one - that's my motto. Oh yes, I know we're supposed to be saving the rain forests, or whatever, but honestly, aren't there better causes out there - causes to save things that actually need saving instead of things that can be completely regrown?

How about a coalition for saving common sense? Now there's something I could really get behind.