Atlanta airport
Freddy Velazquez
Sonia Carranza
2nd grade

It seemed like such a cheesy little Facebook application--where friends send you these phony flowers and cartoon vegetables to plant in your cartoon garden. You’re promised that every time you send someone a plant (like a girl with purple flowers growing out of her head, or a baby with a carrot head), you rescue the rainforest. You get glimpses of this ad or that, and a portion of the ad revenue goes toward rainforest protection.

The messages that go with the plants you send your friends seem a little harassing—you're giving a plant gift, but have to ask for a plant back at the same time "to fight global warming" together.

But some plants don't cost anything to send, and the others--well, it's about spending pretend cash for pretend flowers.

It's when you start looking for rainbows that you learn about the larger (lil) Green Patch community. As you chase rainbows, you end up in strangers’ gardens, and every now and then you’re tempted into caring for their plants. When someone steals your rainbow, they may take care of your garden as long as they’re there. They water it, give a dog a bone, or walk a deer back home.

Sometimes people leave a greeting on the garden walls, like a hi! from Amsterdam or I raked your leaves! from Texas and then a stranger named Signe is sending you little dolphin gifts of appreciation, spending her greenbucks on you, and a stranger named Jessica is sending you thank you's for taking care of her garden and...

it all feels very nice.

Maybe we are protecting the rainforest, one tender act of cyber-love at a time. Maybe in our green patches, we're growing thoughtfulness and trust. Who am I to judge what's phony and what's real?