Seeing the Lorax and Being Knowledgeable

Essay, Pages 7 (1632 words)

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In Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax there are many hidden messages that dig deeper than just the children’s story. It helps society see a connection to recent environmental issues we are experiencing. The Lorax emphasizes the consequential impact of the exhaustion of natural resources in our environment. In addition, it shows how air and water pollution, deforestation and overpopulation are just a couple examples of what could go wrong if individuals do not care and nurture our Earth. Now more than ever are people finally beginning to understand the concept of resource depletion and questioning if we are using up more than what is available.

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We must understand and appreciate the teachings and implications of both Easter Island and The Lorax and the similarities within them.

Easter Island is situated on one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. It is a captivating archaeological site, with massive heads surrounding the island; which were discovered by Dutch sailors the Easter of 1722.

They found an original society with approximately 3,000 people living in filthy huts or caves. Thus causing cannibalism, solely in an attempt to attain food on the island. Europeans who reached Easter Island also saw gigantic carved stone statues as indication of some form of prior cultured civilization.

The science behind Easter Island is both ecological and archaeological. Recent scientific work, including the analysis of pollen types, has revealed that at that time of the primary settlement, there was a dense vegetation cover as well as wide-ranging woods. As the population slowly increased, trees were chopped down to offer space for agriculture, construction material for domestic goods, and fuel for heating, cooking, and more.

However, the uppermost in demand was the desire to move the statues to ritualistic sites around the island. This resulted in one of the most unfortunate forms of resource depletion: deforestation. Deforestation can have a very negative impact on the environment, but the utmost impact is a lack of habitation for millions of species. Deforestation can not only initiate climate change, but 80% of Earth’s land animals and plants homes are within forests, and many cannot continue surviving the deforestation that destroys their homes. From this, one can see how Easter Island and The Lorax both suffered from deforestation merely due to the increase in global demand for possessions such as oil and paper, which countless businesses are attempting to clear forests at an alarming rate.

What will transpire if we cut down all the trees? 3.5 to 7 billion trees are cut down each year, and many people do not see how harmful this is. Trees are a crucial element of our carbon cycle: “a global process in which carbon dioxide constantly circulates through the atmosphere into organisms and back again” (Webster’s). Therefore, the lack of trees would result in significantly higher amounts of carbon dioxide and lower amounts of oxygen in the air. People cannot make land available for other uses by cutting down a viable part of our environment.

There are many more causes of deforestation like harvesting timber to create commercial items such as paper, homes and furniture, and mainly to make more land available for housing and urbanization. The removal of trees also poorly affected the soil of the island. With the lack of trees, therefore lack of canoes, islanders were trapped in their homes, unable to escape the consequences of the collapse of the environment. Of course, this led to increasing conflicts over diminishing resources. Overall, the society went into decline and regressed to more primitive conditions, “in just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society spiral into chaos and cannibalism” (Diamond).

“The Lorax” also had many examples that represented environmental issues. One example would be the truffula trees which stand for Earth’s natural resources. When one looks back on the Polynesians on Easter Island, they see that it was full of natural resources. For instance, the society on Easter Island had created statues made of stone to express their culture; they put them on platforms and used many trees to produce materials to move these statues that weighed tons. From what the article states, many trees were used during this process, just like on Easter Island, “eventually Easter’s growing population was cutting the forest more rapidly than the forest was regenerating” (Diamond). As stated and emphasized before, the abuse of natural resources is detrimental especially on Easter Island because there was a small group of people on a small island filled with rich nutrients; furthermore, resulting in overpopulation. In both The Lorax and Easter Island, there are many points that elaborate on human involvement and what they have done to the environment. In the film, the biggest corporation wants polluted air in order to keep successfully selling their product. To ensure this, rather than planting more trees and nurturing our environment, O’Hare Air establishes more factories.

Another important environmental issue exhibited in The Lorax was cleanliness. In the film, the citizens of Thneedville were scared of dirty things. The air was extremely dirty as a result of the production of plastic made to ensure the place was clean. This also falls into respecting the environment. The people of Thneedville are not fully aware of the issues going on in the environment. They are consumed in a world of plastic. The importance of plants in The Lorax also pertains to Easter Island because plants are essential to our environment. They create air, and are food sources for the bears and nesting places for the geese.

If one were to compare this to examples of resource depletion seen in everyday life today, a comparison could be drawn from water pollutants in The Lorax to the horrific decline of fish populations due to fishing. That is just one example of the global tragedies happening on our oceans. An example that really resonates with me is the Save the Turtles movement. Studies show that 50 percent of all sea turtles ingest plastic; green turtles are already endangered and there is no sign of improvement. In 2012, the likelihood of a turtle ingesting man-made trash jumped about 30 percent to 50 in 2012.

While there are so many more facts and knowledge gained on this study, I wanted to write about something that I have learned from a very young age six pack soda plastics. When I was younger, I would constantly see my dad take scissors to cut and separate the plastic circles, to prevent it ending up in the ocean and choking/possibly killing marine life. Many turtles for instance, end up with their heads and other body parts trapped between the six pack rims. The carelessness from society alters marine life lives forever. Peanut the Turtle is the first washed up turtle with a six pack holder stuck around his waist. As unfortunate as it is, this was a stark wake-up call for many people. People are unaware of the lasting impact plastic has on our environment.

From Peanut the Turtle, people have brewed up brilliant ideas, such as edible six packs that feed marine life if or when they end up in the ocean. There is a new concept of edible six pack rings that are made up of fish food which feeds, rather than kills. The rings are created with barley and wheat which are entirely safe for both humans and fish to eat. In addition, these rings are one hundred percent biodegradable and compostable, which simply increases the item’s sustainability game. Although these are more expensive, it is extremely worth it to purchase these in an attempt to help our environment and animal life. However, the brand that started this believes that if more people begin to purchase this or “hop on the bandwagon”, prices may decrease, especially if these companies invest in the proper technology.

With advanced and proper technology, production cost would decline and these edible rings would become competitive with plastic ones, thus saving marine lives. This is desperately needed. Six packs have been the nemesis of the environmentalist for a very long time. What are some other impacts should we consider with these new six pack rings? I believe that in order to further improve this great idea, companies should begin stamping the rings with a recycling symbol. Otherwise, people will continue throwing them into the trash.

In conclusion, what was predominantly emphasized in this essay was how the depletion of resources can potentially be detrimental to our environment. In both The Lorax and Easter Island there are similarities and differences such as running out of natural resources, environmental ignorance, and environmental damage driven by greed. Originally the forest of the Lorax had a healthy natural environment, it was a peaceful place, and the Lorax was a symbol as the protector of the forest. In Easter Island, the production of their statues was for profit just like OnceLer and his products.

Overall, what people can take away from seeing The Lorax and being knowledgeable on the events that transpired on Easter Island is that common resources can easily be depleted. The common theme is without a doubt Tragedy of the Commons which describes a situation in which resources which are made available to everyone are used unsustainably and eventually are depleted. The example shown above regarding edible six pack holders is an idea on how to prevent the resource from being depleted or damaged to begin with. Lastly, what is the most important takeaway, is that now we can save our society and environment and hope for generations that we may now choose to learn from what happened at Easter Island and in The Lorax.