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In the late 1960s, Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) fretted that he had read too many "dull things on conservation, full of statistics and preachy."1 He began work on what has become a classic of children's literature and a standard text for Earth Day ceremonies. The Lorax, published in 1971, received immediate attention. Its original drawings joined moon rocks as focal points at the opening of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. Since that auspicious beginning, The Lorax has sold around 600,000 copies. Moreover, it has been adapted to video. A cartoon version, complete with catchy tunes, has "far exceeded expectations" of its distributor.2
Despite its continuing success, no one teaching about the environment should use this book as a text without some trepidation. It does raise important questions, but it suggests answers that, despite good intentions, are misleading, perhaps dangerously so. The central truth of this wonderfully written story, that no society can prosper by depleting its stock of renewable resources, is undeniable: The difficulties with the story are twofold: It contains internal contradictions and its prescriptions direct attention away from alternatives that can actually achieve the stated goals. The latter failure is due to a common view that people, not incentives, must be changed if we are to avoid the fate depicted in the tale.
Before addressing the content of each of our assertions we review the story and follow up with an interpretation that calls into question its internal consistency. Finally we offer a view of how free markets tend to avoid the tragedy depicted (and implicitly laid at the foot of free markets).
Summary: The Lorax - Who he was and why he left
As the story begins a young boy goes to the far end of town to hear the Lorax's story. There a grumpy old man, the Once-ler, living in a run down store, agrees to relate the story, but only if paid fifteen cents. It all began, the Once-ler reports, back when the land was wild and clean. Birds (Swomee-Swans), Bears (Bar-ba-loots), and Humming-fish played. Beautiful Truffula Trees, bearing colorful tufts, grew in profusion. The Once-ler rode into this paradise on a horse-drawn carriage and immediately proceeded to cut down a Truffula Tree and knit its tuft into...