Where's the Lorax When You Need Him?

When we walked our dogs, they always stopped under the Royal Poinciana tree on our corner.  We admired the orange blooms and long green pods.  It was the only shade for blocks.

When Hubby saw a "For Sale" sign in front of the property, he said, "Uh oh.  That tree's going to come down."

"Don't say that," I said.  "It might not."

A few weeks later, there were two men out there.  One had a chain saw; the other stood back with arms crossed.

"You're not going to cut down that tree," I said to the man with his arms crossed.

"I've got to," he said, gesturing.  "Look how it's hitting that wire up there."

"But we love that tree.  It barely survived the hurricanes, then came back to what it is now."

He shrugged.

I fumed.

It reminded me of this book, where residents saw an orange traffic cone one day near their beloved orange tree and knew trouble was brewing.

And this book about how Julia Butterfly Hill spent TWO YEARS living in a tree to save it from being cut down.

It wasn't long before the beautiful tree on our corner looked like this . . .

And then this . . .

The book we really need is this one . . .

Where's the Lorax when you need him?

"You're in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds.

And Truffula Trees (Royal Poinciana Trees) are what everyone needs.

Plant a new Truffula.  Treat it with care.

Give it clean water.  And feed it fresh air.

Grow a forest.  Protect it from axes (and chainsaws) that hack.

Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back." 

-- The Lorax by Dr. Seuss