Remember when some idiot poisoned a lot of the trees at Toomer's Corner at Auburn University? Well, some student environmentalist figured out the best way to help the trees...was to symbolically hug them. Seriously. Instead of devoting time to scientific study and experiments that might help the trees (You know where they do that? At a university!), these folks showed up to a "Toomer's Tree Hug" rally in February and hugged the air in hopes that it would "push" the poison out of the trees. The tree huggers asked that students not actually "hug" the trees, because they might hurt them. You can see the symbolic hug in the picture here.
Look, sentiment is nice, but reality is nicer. Why not raise money for the trees' care? Because in this day and age, as long as you mean well, you don't actually have to DO well. It's like wearing a colored ribbon to support a cause. It doesn't do any good, but it is easier than working for that cause and it makes you feel better.
Ironically, these same Auburn students have a tradition of "rolling" these trees to celebrate something at the university, like a win in football. These trees would be covered in hundreds, if not thousands, of toilet paper rolls, so much so that the trees look iced over and the ground is covered in piles of unrolled toilet paper. The tree huggers have asked students to stop rolling, as it might hurt the trees. Never mind the fact that with every roll, a tree somewhere else had to die.
But hey, as long as everyone feels good, it's OK, right? Maybe they should be given a Nobel Peace Prize for all of their symbolic work.
