We know it by heart: “I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.” The trees got their voice on this day, August 12, in 1971, when Dr. Seuss published The Lorax.
Dr. Seuss is one of the most beloved authors in 20 Century American literature. Kid’s literature, true, but I’d guess that every adult still thrills to read his anapestic tetrameter, see his phantasmagoric drawings and escape to his whimsical worlds.
Dr. Seuss was born as Theordor Geisel in 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts (died 1991). He was an industry cartoonist, and Standard Oil was his biggest client. But he wanted to accomplish more significant work, writing serious books. The only problem was that his Standard Oil contract forbade almost every kind of moonlighting. There was one loophole—he could write for children. And so he did, writing and drawing more than 60 books, many of which can be found in every child’s room in America. He wasn’t immediately successful—his first book (And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street) was turned down by 26 publishers before hitting bookshelves in 1937.
Fast-forward to the start of the 1970s. Seuss, now a publishing whirlwind, was living in La Jolla, California, and was increasingly disturbed by the commercialization of the town and its environment. He decided to write a book about taking care of the world rather than just exploiting it. But he was blocked, unable to grasp how to present his ideas. A friend took him to Kenya for inspiration, and while watching a herd of elephants, inspiration struck. Back at camp, he sat down and wrote the text for The Lorax on the back of a laundry slip—in 90 minutes!
When the book hit stores in 1971, it wasn’t very popular. Readers and critics were disappointed that this story was serious, a downer compared to the zany tales they had come to expect. Some politicians and forestry leaders objected to what they saw as an indictment of the logging industry. After all, the Once-ler did cut down every last Truffula Tree to turn them into Thneeds.
Read MoreApril is Keep America Beautiful Month
Back in 1971, The Keep America Beautiful organization teamed up with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to create Keep American Beautiful Day. It was expanded in 1982 to a week, and then to the entire month of April in 1984. As spring takes hold of the weather and the landscape awaken with the greening of trees and grasses, the blooming of wildflowers and the melodies of nesting songbirds, we, too, ought to take special notice of our beautiful environment—and do something to, as they say, keep it beautiful.
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