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# What of the Future?
- URL: https://www.andyposner.org/save-the-rainforest/
- Published: 2019-08-30T20:12:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-15T05:03:09.000Z
- Description: I’ve been hearing Save the Rainforest since I was small enough to sleep in the safety of my parent’s bed or snuggled with stuffed animals— pandas, giraffes, monkeys, frogs;
- Author: Andy
- Tags: Be The Change, poetry, protest, social change, #Migrated-1784090317409, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-15 04:39

I’ve been hearing *Save the Rainforest*  
since I was small enough to sleep  
in the safety of my parent’s bed  
or snuggled with stuffed animals—  
pandas, giraffes, monkeys, frogs;  
since I lived for lullabies and storytime;  
since the world was as small as a crib  
and as big as my imagination;  
since a nightlight could douse fears  
and a drop of Tylenol could erase pain;  
since adults could assure me  
tall was well and would always be well.

Now I hear that 20% of the Amazon is lost,  
that the remainder is on fire,  
that a tipping point [may soon be passed](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/world/americas/amazon-rainforest-fires-climate.html?ref=andyposner.org)—  
all life in peril.

Now I have a beloved wife, toddler, dog—  
great plans for our lives.  
Now my parents are older, frailer.  
Now, at thirty-four, I have traveled enough of life  
to know that adults have always betrayed their children,  
that absent drastic change I, too, will betray my child,  
and that without a future for him  
there can be no real joy or pleasure in the present.