The Lorax and the Polynesians
While “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss was a fictional story and the story of Polynesian people is real they both showed examples of modern environmental issues. “The Lorax” had many hidden messages underneath the children’s story and the Polynesian people showed us what would happen to society if we don’t learn from their mistakes. “The Lorax” messages included how bad our environment is in modern society and also had a few life lessons added in. Some environmental issues Dr. Seuss expressed of our society are: air and water pollution, deforestation, and overpopulation. At the same time the Polynesian people already showed us multiple examples of what could go wrong if we as human beings do not take care of our environment.
Dr. Seuss had examples to represent environmental issues in “The Lorax”. One example is his Truffula tree which provided the humans with thneed which was everything the humans would need. The truffula trees stand for Earths natural resources. So when you look back years ago to when Polynesians were stranded on an island which was rich with natural resources, it can relate. For example Polynesian people had created statues made of stone to express their culture but they would put them on platforms. According to the most reasonable theory they used a lot of trees to make materials to move these statues that weighed tons. Just like in “The Lorax” people used trees for thneed. But so much use of one resource can also cause problems.
Because of abusing their resources, in this case Polynesian people, they ate all species that the island inhabited. They didn’t exactly think of their actions at the time because they were thriving. But because they were a small group of people on a small island full of resources they eventually overpopulated. So when you have overpopulation you use up your resources way faster because you need your people to survive. Well in the end because of not planning ahead of what they were doing they used up all their resources. They had eaten all species and ran out of trees to make materials from. Unfortunately nobody really cared until they were fighting for what was left of these resources. This is extremely similar to the “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss uses the Once-ler’s family to represent human beings. So when he tells him to come they overpopulate. Sounds like the Polynesian people right. When everybody comes they start taking down resources at a faster rate because people need more. See the pattern. Eventually they chop down the last tree that is when the Once-ler realizes what he has done. Fortunately for him he gets the luxury of redeeming himself unlike the Polynesian people. Who resorted to eating each other in order to survive.
While both are similar there are still some differences. One major difference is that Polynesian people don’t have the modern technology we do so they didn’t cause water or air pollution. In “The Lorax” the Once-ler was not using eco-friendly technology. He polluted the air with nasty gasses that caused the birds to “Leave.” He polluted the water which caused the Humming Fish to, “Leave,” as well. Since the Polynesian people deforested their island they ate the rest of the animals left unlike what caused the animals to, “leave,” in The Lorax was the destruction of their habitat.
In conclusion what Dr. Seuss and the ancient Polynesian people taught us to take care of these resources we were given. If Earth provides these resources for us we should learn to take care of it more and plan out how to use them in the correct way in return. And we should take what happened at Easter Island as an example of what not to do. In the article “Easter’s End” by Jared Diamond he says, “By now the meaning of Easter island for us should be chillingly obvious. Easter Island is Earth writ small.”
Dr. Seuss had examples to represent environmental issues in “The Lorax”. One example is his Truffula tree which provided the humans with thneed which was everything the humans would need. The truffula trees stand for Earths natural resources. So when you look back years ago to when Polynesians were stranded on an island which was rich with natural resources, it can relate. For example Polynesian people had created statues made of stone to express their culture but they would put them on platforms. According to the most reasonable theory they used a lot of trees to make materials to move these statues that weighed tons. Just like in “The Lorax” people used trees for thneed. But so much use of one resource can also cause problems.
Because of abusing their resources, in this case Polynesian people, they ate all species that the island inhabited. They didn’t exactly think of their actions at the time because they were thriving. But because they were a small group of people on a small island full of resources they eventually overpopulated. So when you have overpopulation you use up your resources way faster because you need your people to survive. Well in the end because of not planning ahead of what they were doing they used up all their resources. They had eaten all species and ran out of trees to make materials from. Unfortunately nobody really cared until they were fighting for what was left of these resources. This is extremely similar to the “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss uses the Once-ler’s family to represent human beings. So when he tells him to come they overpopulate. Sounds like the Polynesian people right. When everybody comes they start taking down resources at a faster rate because people need more. See the pattern. Eventually they chop down the last tree that is when the Once-ler realizes what he has done. Fortunately for him he gets the luxury of redeeming himself unlike the Polynesian people. Who resorted to eating each other in order to survive.
While both are similar there are still some differences. One major difference is that Polynesian people don’t have the modern technology we do so they didn’t cause water or air pollution. In “The Lorax” the Once-ler was not using eco-friendly technology. He polluted the air with nasty gasses that caused the birds to “Leave.” He polluted the water which caused the Humming Fish to, “Leave,” as well. Since the Polynesian people deforested their island they ate the rest of the animals left unlike what caused the animals to, “leave,” in The Lorax was the destruction of their habitat.
In conclusion what Dr. Seuss and the ancient Polynesian people taught us to take care of these resources we were given. If Earth provides these resources for us we should learn to take care of it more and plan out how to use them in the correct way in return. And we should take what happened at Easter Island as an example of what not to do. In the article “Easter’s End” by Jared Diamond he says, “By now the meaning of Easter island for us should be chillingly obvious. Easter Island is Earth writ small.”