The Lorax: Lessons in Going Green

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss is a didactic children's book addressing the issues of conservation, pollution, greed, and possible redemption by those who once blithely squandered their natural resources. In the "green times" of today, it is hard to imagine the controversy that the publication of this book in 1971 once caused. The story resembles a fable in which an entire community perishes due to over harvesting of the local resource, namely the Truffula trees. Pollution, climate change, deforestation, and the all too common human emotion of greed play a role in the eventual destruction of a once beautiful and vibrant community. The story ends on a hopeful note of rebirth. The Once-ler, the story's antagonist, has saved one Truffula seed- perhaps enough to allow a regrowth of the community that had been destroyed by a capricious and callous use of limited natural resources.

A Cat in the Hat film version of The Lorax can be accessed in its entirety on Youtube at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GECJcW2Ifm4.

Contemporary children's literature continues to be didactic in nature. Most social issues have been visited in books written for the youth market. Prejudice, bullying, the changing family, and conservation have all been addressed in recent literature. TheGreat Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest and A Christmas Tree in the White House are two recent books that tell stories of environmental conservation.