WE AND THE RAIN FOREST

At the convenience store on the way to the office this morning I bought for my afternoon coffee break which I'm having right now a double-espresso in one of those plastic cups with the plastic membrane and plastic dome lid that have the plastic straw glued to the side with some plastic glue, and I notice it has on its side - not far from the straw - a green and bulbous-toed, but otherwise nondescript rainforest frog standing alert in a tiny white space just above the symbols for Do Not Microwave and "PURA" (in katakana), the Japanese disposal code for plastic items as required by some international convention on preserving the whatever of the earth yeah sure, and the bar code for sheer biz purposes, and of course the corporate URL, then above the alert frog (who is, I note, trademarked), in a rectangle of definitely not gold, float a couple good-lookin' coffee beans, and beside the frog are some simple instructions on how to remove the straw from its plastic concealment on the side of the container without spilling the coffee all over yourself, and we're in charge of the frogs? They're depending on us for their survival? Oh yeah, the frog's tiny space is surrounded by a jagged green circle that says above the frog's head in accordance with said International Convention, in a kind of glory banner: RAINFOREST ALLIANCE, here among city canyons, and underneath the frog a ribbon across that says CERTIFIED. Aren't we the strangest of species.