The Lorax - WHAT CAN WE DO?

When we lose rainforests, we lose the flora and fauna which live in the forests. This image, by James Hamilton, depicts a jigsaw puzzle of “Rainforest Parrots.” Image online via Amazon.

 

The Lorax's still worried
But he's no longer blue;
He went searching for helpers
He's just thrilled he found you!

When we use trees to make things, we produce another consequence beyond losing the trees.  We create waste.

Whenever we make anything, we usually create waste.  Dr. Seuss called that waste "Gluppity Glup" and "Schloppity-Schlopp."  By whatever name we call it, waste can be a problem if it isn't properly managed.

Today we sometimes use tree-barren land to manage our waste.  After the trees are chopped down - and we don't use the land for growing crops, raising cattle or building towns - it becomes available to receive our junk. 

Today we sometimes call junk yards by a different name which sounds a little better.  We call them land fills. 

Land fills are places where the land is scooped-out, then it is filled with the things no one wants anymore.

If The Lorax could spend a bit of time with us, he'd recognize that not all the trees are cut down because people are greedy.  Many times trees are cut down so people can live their lives, work their jobs and support their families.

But The Lorax would probably tell us something else. 

He'd say that we have to be careful about how we use the trees in all our countries.  He'd ask:

• Why chop down a tree, which takes years and years to grow, just to make tooth picks or chop sticks which we throw away after a single use? 

• Why destroy large areas of trees without a plan to replace them?

• Why take the trees - and the forests, and the birds, and the fish and the plants - for granted?

Why not treat them like the treasures they are?

The Lorax would also tell us something else.  He'd let us know how many rainforest trees are being chopped-down every day:

The world's rainforests are currently disappearing at a rate of 6000 acres every hour.

To help us understand what 6,000 acres really means, The Lorax would remind us that it takes 6,000 acres to build 4,000 football fields.  So ... the world is losing the equivalent - in rainforest trees - of 4,000 football fields every hour.

That's a lot of trees we're losing!

When we think about all the trees we're losing, we also have to think about the people who live in the rainforests.  About 50,000,000 men, women and children live in the world's rainforests.  They are native to these areas, just like the animals and plants which live and grow there.

That's a lot of people to think about!

After he talked with us, and we answered his questions, The Lorax would probably not ask us to totally change our own lives.  But he most certainly would urge us to develop better habits. 

And ... if we have to cut down more trees, he'd probably warn us to do it wisely and sparingly.

If The Lorax gave us that warning, do you think he'd be right?