My 3-year-old daughter is really into Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax lately. This isn’t her parents trying to indoctrinate her as an environmentalist. She just picked it off her shelf the other day and I’ve read it to her at least ten times in three days. I don’t mind as I happen to be a big fan of Dr. Seuss’s musical qualities and the reminder that if you can’t find a rhyming word, just make one up. The book also gives me the chills every time…even after ten readings in three days.

The basic story is about a guy named the “Once-ler” who finds an amazing tree and builds a business selling a garment made from its leaves. As the business grows, he ends up cutting down every last one of these beautiful trees, pollutes the air and water and basically destroys the forest. The Lorax is a funny-looking little man who tries to stop him. “I speak for the trees for the trees have no tongues,” he proclaims.

Seuss’s naming of the businessman as “Once-ler” is particularly apt to the theme of sustainability in today’s business environment. Once-ler builds a very financially successful business, making his whole family rich. He is only able to achieve this feat once, however, because he uses up all the resources and raw material inputs for his product. After the last tree is cut, the business no longer can exist and Once-ler must sit and contemplate the impact of what he’s done while his factory crumbles around him.

Published in 1971 in close proximity to the origins of the environmental movement, the Lorax is also a parable of the failings of this movement. While the Lorax pleads with the Once-ler to stop what he’s doing, Once-ler simply becomes more adamant about growing his business regardless of the consequences.  This confrontational attitude of environmentalists certainly succeeded in curbing some of the most egregious infractions of industry, but has fallen short of building a sustainable world.

I can imagine a modern-day Lorax who is the sustainability consultant who meets with the Once-ler to help him develop a plan for sustainably managing the forest and eliminating the toxic outputs from the factory. In this vision, the story ends with a thriving business employing lots of people and a sustainable forest filled with abundant wildlife. I think Dr. Seuss would be pleased with this adaptation.