LEO ART DIOSEP E. BORRES MAB-I THE LORAX AND THE ORIGINAL FORCE OF NATURE “It’s not about what it is; it’s about what it can become.” –The Once-ler The Lorax might be a fantasy-animated film tailor made for younger audiences but the reality it portrays on its story could have never been more accurate of what we are experiencing today. The message it wants to send is timeless and relevant. Amidst the vibrant and colorful animation, visual effects and mood of the movie, the themes of environmental destruction brought about by anthropogenic activities and foray into commercialization sets an alarming tone for its matured and enlightened viewers, especially to those who advocate for environmental conservation. In the walled city of Thneed-Ville, where everything is artificial and even the air is a commodity, a boy named Ted hopes to win the heart of his dream girl, Audrey. When he learns of her wish to see a real tree, Ted seeks out the Once-ler, a ruined old businessman outside of town in a stark wasteland. Upon hearing of how the hermit gave into his greed for profits and devastated the land over the protests of the Lorax, Ted is inspired to undo the disaster. However, the greedy Mayor of Thneed-Ville, Aloysius O'Hare, has made his fortune exploiting the environmental collapse and is determined to stop the boy from undermining his business (Chisholm, 2012). Environmental destruction has been the most notable and evident issue of The Lorax as Ted discovered the real aftermath of the “artificial world” he grew up to. On the first act of the film, the aftermath that opened Ted’s eyes includes deforestation of an entire villa, conversion of a once-bountiful forest area into a wasteland and the detailed LEO ART DIOSEP E. BORRES MAB-I inclusion of pollution brought by manufacture of several items and smog. There was even a subtle mockery towards the mention of smog in the film as the obnoxious mayor of Thneedville, Aloysius, pointed out a logic in which “the more smog is produced, the more people will buy the product”. The product Aloysius is referring to is the bottled air. Like water, air has become a commercialized commodity on the fictional yet alarming world of Thneedville, which inferentially would not last long as natural resources are exhaustible as well. It is very evident in the movie that environmental destruction is mainly caused by the aftermath of illegal logging and deforestation. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. An estimated 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest, which is roughly the size of the country of Panama, are lost each year, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). About half of the world's tropical forests have been cleared, according to the FAO. Forests currently cover about 30 percent of the world’s landmass, according to National Geographic. The Earth loses 18.7 million acres of forests per year, which is equal to 27 soccer fields every minute, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). It is estimated that 15 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation, according to the WWF. In 2016, global tree cover loss reached a record of 73.4 million acres (29.7 million hectares), according to the University of Maryland. The WWF& reports that half of the trees illegally removed from forests are used as fuel, to make more land available for housing and urbanization, to harvest timber to create commercial items such as paper, furniture and homes, to create ingredients that are LEO ART DIOSEP E. BORRES MAB-I highly prized consumer items, such as the oil from palm trees and to create room for cattle ranching. Subsequently, deforestation is considered to be one of the contributing factors to global climate change. According to Michael Daley, an associate professor of environmental science at Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts, the No. 1 problem caused by deforestation is the impact on the global carbon cycle. It could be implied from the movie that oxygen and air as commodity is commercialized because of this consequence. Moreover, it can also be seen on the movie how biodiversity was disrupted when the fictionalized species of the Trufulla need to leave after the trees were gone. This is an accurate depiction of an impact of deforestation which is Loss of species as eventy percent of the world's plants and animals live in forests and are losing their habitats to deforestation, according to National Geographic. Loss of habitat can lead to species extinction. It also has negative consequences for medicinal research and local populations that rely on the animals and plants in the forests for hunting and medicine. Furthermore, looking deeper into the movie, it could be inferred that the root cause for the environmental destruction hauntingly portrayed in the film is greed and apathy – greed for money and gratification and apathy towards the essence and significance of the environment. It is a trait observable towards the character of Aloysius, who is the main antagonist of the movie and the representative of real-life manufacturing executives who disregard sustainability and continue pursuing their environmentally detrimental businesses all in the name of money and gratification; and the Once-ler, who exhibited diverse character development on the movie from being a LEO ART DIOSEP E. BORRES MAB-I high-spirited inventor to a conscious individual until he was pressured by his family to revoke his principles for business, as well. If he represents someone, it is obviously the human race, as we always tend to compromise our principles for the sake of business and money. Ted, the carefree and curious protagonist who attentively listens to the stories of the Once-ler, represents the younger generation who could suffer the consequences of our generation if we do not start moving towards change and development. The Lorax subsequently represents a lot of personas – it could be the Divine Creator, Mother Nature or every heart that is devoted in the protection of our environment. Whoever persona it may be, one this is certain, the Lorax is the heart that guards the environment. Efforts are being undertaken to continually fight deforestation and other forms and environmental destruction and preserve our natural resources. Many conservationists are seeing hope as a movement is under way to preserve existing forest ecosystems and restore lost tree cover. Organizations and activists are working to fight illegal mining and logging—National Geographic Explorer Topher White, for example, has come up with a way to use recycled cell phones to monitor for chainsaws. In Tanzania, the residents of Kokota have planted more than 2 million trees on their small island over a decade, aiming to repair previous damage. And in Brazil, conservationists are rallying in the face of ominous signals that the government may roll back forest protections (Nunez, 2019). The Lorax might be a movie intended for younger audiences but the issues are subtly, if not, sugarcoated. What the movie has presented is the reality all of us are facing today and it would only take few more generations before our children’s children LEO ART DIOSEP E. BORRES MAB-I would also purchase oxygen for a living and would debate if the existence of a tree is indeed real or just a folktale because unless we care a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. References: 1. IMDB 2. LiveScience (2018) Deforestation: Facts, Causes and Effects. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html 3. Singh & Singh (2017) Deforestation and its Impact on the Environment. Retrieved from https://www.ijarse.com/images/fullpdf/1513767172_187.pdf 4. Daley, M. (2015) Climate Change: A Threat to Life on Earth. Retrieved from https://www.lasell.edu/alumniand-friends/alumni-stories/leaves-spring-2015/climate-change.html 5. Nunez, C. (2019) Deforestation Explained. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/
