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JAMAE in 2002 reciting “The Lorax” by Dr. Suess on beautiful Maui, Hawaii
Summary & Transcript …
The video presents a narrated reading of Dr. Seuss’s classic environmental fable, The Lorax. The story is told through the voice of the Onceler, a character who recounts the rise and fall of a once-thriving forest filled with vibrant truffle trees and diverse wildlife, including creatures such as brown barbaloots, swammy swans, and humming fish. The Onceler initially cherishes the natural beauty but soon exploits the forest’s resources for profit by manufacturing products made from the soft truffle tree “toughs.” Despite warnings from the Lorax, a small, mossy creature who “speaks for the trees,” the Onceler expands his factory aggressively, cutting down more trees with increasingly destructive machinery. This leads to severe environmental degradation: the animals are driven away, the air becomes polluted with smog, and the once-beautiful landscape is devastated. Ultimately, the last truffle tree is felled, the Lorax departs, leaving behind a small pile of rocks inscribed with the word “UNLESS.” The Onceler reflects on the consequences of his greed and urges the listener, the new caretaker of the last truffle seed, to plant it and protect the environment. The narrative ends with a call to action, emphasizing that only those who care deeply can restore the natural world and allow the Lorax and his friends to return. The story is a poignant reminder of the importance of environmental stewardship and the dangers of unchecked industrial growth.
Highlights
- [00:02] Introduction to The Lorax and its significance, setting the stage for the story.
- [03:36] The Lorax appears, speaking for the trees and warning against the Onceler’s tree-cutting.
- [05:38] ⚙️ The Onceler invents the super axe hacker to accelerate tree cutting, increasing environmental damage.
- [07:18] Pollution caused by the factory silences the swammy swans and drives away wildlife.
- [09:00] The last truffle tree falls, marking the end of the forest and the departure of the Lorax.
- [09:39] The Lorax leaves a mysterious pile of rocks inscribed with the word “UNLESS.”
- [10:48] The Onceler entrusts the listener with the last truffle seed, urging care and protection to restore the forest.
Key Insights
- [00:02] Environmental storytelling through vivid imagery: The opening narration paints a detailed picture of a pristine natural environment—the “grile grass,” “truffle trees,” and diverse wildlife—drawing the audience emotionally into the setting. This immersive introduction underscores the value of nature before industrial interference.
- [03:36] The Lorax as the voice of environmental conscience: The character of the Lorax symbolizes environmental advocacy and moral responsibility. His repeated phrase, “I speak for the trees,” highlights the need for someone to defend nature’s interests, especially when it cannot speak for itself. The Lorax’s presence introduces a conflict between economic ambition and ecological preservation.
- [05:38] ⚙️ Industrialization and unchecked technological progress: The Onceler’s invention of the super axe hacker represents the acceleration of environmental destruction due to technological advancement when driven by greed. This metaphor critiques industrial practices that prioritize profit over sustainability, emphasizing how increased efficiency can exacerbate ecological harm.
- [07:18] Pollution’s impact on biodiversity and ecosystem health: The narrative clearly illustrates how factory emissions cause smog that silences the swammy swans and drives away fish and other creatures. This highlights the interconnectedness of species and the fragility of ecosystems when confronted with pollution, providing a stark warning about the consequences of environmental neglect.
- [09:00] The irreversible loss of natural resources: The felling of the last truffle tree symbolizes the final destruction of a once-vibrant ecosystem. It reflects the real-world consequences of deforestation and resource depletion, often resulting from short-term economic interests. The scene evokes a sense of loss and regret, underscoring the urgency of sustainable management.
- [09:39] “UNLESS” as a call to personal responsibility and hope: The Lorax’s final message, embodied in the single word “UNLESS,” encapsulates the story’s central moral: change and restoration are possible only if individuals care enough to act. This empowers the audience, especially younger viewers, to understand their role in environmental stewardship and inspires proactive behavior.
- [10:48] The importance of stewardship and regeneration: Entrusting the last truffle seed to the listener symbolizes hope and the potential for regeneration when humans choose to protect and nurture the environment. The instructions to plant, care, and protect the seed serve as a metaphor for sustainable practices and long-term ecological responsibility, emphasizing that future well-being depends on present actions.
The video overall serves as both an engaging narrative and a profound environmental allegory, reinforcing the need to balance human progress with ecological care. It calls on viewers to recognize their responsibility in preserving the natural world for future generations and to act decisively to reverse the damage caused by exploitation and neglect.
00:02
So, here’s a story called The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. It was a story that really touched me as a child growing up in a a factory town in southeast Michigan. And it goes like this. At the far end of town where the grile grass grows and the wind smells slow and sour when it blows and no birds ever sing excepting old crows is the street of the lifted Lorax. And deep in the grile grass some people say if you look deep enough you can still see today where the Lorax once stood just as long as it could until
00:43
somebody lifted the Lorax away. What was the Lorax and why was it there? And why was it lifted and taken somewhere from the far end of town where the gripple grass grows? The old onsler still lives here. Ask him, he knows. You won’t see the onsler. Don’t knock at his door. He stays in his lurkum on top of the store. He lurks in his lurkham cold under the roof and makes his own clothes out of his bumper boot. And on certain dank midnights in August, he peaks out of his shutters. Sometimes he
01:18
speaks tells how the Lorax is lifted away. He’ll tell you perhaps if you’re willing to pay. On the end of a rope, he lets down a tin pale. And you have to toss in 15 cents and a nail and a shell of a great great great grandfather snail. Then he lifts up the pale, makes the most careful count. see that you paid him a proper amount. Then he hides you paid him away in his snug his secret strange hole in his grubless glove. Then he grunts. I will call you by whisper phone for the secrets I tell are for your ears alone.
01:59
Slop down slops the whisper phone to your ear and the old once whispers are not very clear. So I have to come down from a snurly hose. He sounds like he had smalish bees up his nose. “Now I’ll tell you,” he said, with his teeth sounding gray. How the Lorax got lifted and taken away. It all started way back, such a long, long time back. Back in the days when when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean and the song of the swami swans rang out in
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space. One morning I came to this glorious place and I first saw the trees, the truffle trees, the bright colored toughs of the truffle trees. Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze. And under the trees I saw brown barbalutes frisking about in their barbaloot suits while they played in the shade and ate truffle fruits. From the ripulous pond came the comfortable sound of the humming fish humming while splashing around. But those trees, those trees, those truffle trees. All my life, I’ve been
03:04
searching for trees such as these. The touch of their toughs was much softer than silk, and they had the sweet smell of fresh butterfly milk. I felt the great leaping of joy in my heart. I knew just what I do. I unloaded my cart. In no time at all, I built a small shop. Then I chopped down a truck with one chop. And with great skillful skill, with great speedy speed, I took the soft tough and I knitted a speed. The instant I finished, I heard a gazump. I looked. I saw something pop out of the stump of a tree I chopped
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down. He was sort of a man. Describe him. That’s hard. I don’t know if I can. He was was shortish and oldish and brownish and mossy and spoke with a voice that was sharpish and bossy. Mister, he cried with a sawdusty sneeze. I am a lurax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, but the trees have no tongues. And I’m asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs. He was very upset as he shouted and huffed. What’s that thing you made out of? My truffle. Look, Lorax, I said. There’s no cause
04:07
for alarm. I’ve chopped just one tree. I’m doing no harm. I’m being quite useful. This thing is a sneeze to find something that everyone needs. It’s a shirt. It’s a sock. It’s a glove. It’s a hat. But it has other uses. Yes, far beyond that. You can use it for carpets or pillows or sheets or curtains or covers for bicycle seats. But the Lorax said, “Sir, you’re crazy with greed. There’s no one on earth who would buy that fool.” The very next minute, I proved he was
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wrong. For at that very moment, a chef came along. Thought the feed I did was great. He happily bought it for 3.98. I laughed at the Lorax. You poor stupid guy. You never can tell what some people will buy. I repeat, cried the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I’m busy, I told him. Shut up if you please. Then I raced across the room and in no time at all built a radio phone. I placed a quick call. I called all my brothers and uncles and aunts. I said, “Listen here. Here’s a wonderful chance for the whole
05:08
Onsler family to get mighty rich. Get over here fast. Take the road to North Mitch. Turn left to we hawk and sharp right at South Stitch. Then in no time at all in the factory I built, the whole Onsler family was working full tilt. We’re all making knees just as busy as bees. The sound of the chopping of truffle trees. And oh baby oh how my business did grow. Soon chopping one tree at a time was too slow. So I quickly invented my super axe hacker which whacked off four truffle trees with one smacker. Now we’re all making
05:38
seeds four times faster than before. And that Lorax, he didn’t show up anymore. But the very next week he knocked on my new office door. I’m the Lorax, he cried. I speak for the trees, but you seem to be chopping as fast as you please. But I’m also in charge of the brown barbaloos who play in the shade in their barbaloo suits and happily live eating truffle fruits. Now think you’re hacking my trees to the ground. There’s not enough truffle fruits to go around. My poor barbaloos
06:07
are all getting the crummy because they have gas and no food in their tummies. They love living here, but I can’t help them stay. They have to find food and I hope that they may. Good luck, boys. He cried and he sent them away. I the once felt sad as I watched them all go. But business is business and business must grow. Regardless of crummies and tummies, you know. I I meant no harm. I most truly did not. But I had to grow bigger. So bigger I got. I biggered my factory. I bigger my roads. I bigger my wagons. I bigger the
06:41
loads. The knees I shipped out. I was shipping them for to the south, to the east, to the west, to the north. I kept right on bickering, selling more needs, and I biggered my money, which everyone needs. Then again, he came back. I was fixing some pipes when that old nuisance Lorax came back with more gripes. I am Lorax. He coughed and he whipped. He sneezed and he snuffled. He snargled. He sniffed. “What?” He cried with a cuffulous croak. Mustler, you’re making such smogous smoke to my poor swammy swans. Why, they
07:18
can’t sing a note. No one can sing who has smog in his throat. And so, choked the Lorax. Please pardon my cough, but they cannot live here, so I’m sending them off. Where will they go? I don’t hopefully know. And he had to fly for a month or a year to escape from the smog you smugged up around here. And what’s more, snapped the Lorax. His dander was up. Please say a few words about Clumpity Glump. Your machinery chugs on day and night without stop making glumpity glop. Also schlloppity schlop.
07:47
And what do you do with this leftover goo? I’ll show you you dirty old ones for man. You clumping a pond where the humming fish humor can hum for their gills are all gone. So I’m sending them off. Oh their future looks dreary. They’ll walk on their fins and get woefully weary and search for some water that isn’t so smeary. And then I got mad. I got terribly mad. I yelled to Laura. Said, “Listen here, Dad. All you do is yap, yap, and say bad, bad, bad.” Well, I have my right,
08:20
sir. And I’m telling you, I tend to go on doing just what I do. And for your information, you Lorax, I’m bigger. I’m bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, turning more truffle trees into me, which everyone everyone everyone needs. Then at that very moment, we heard a loud whack. Out in the fields came a sickening smack of an axe on a tree. Then we heard the tree fall. The very last truffle of trees of them all. No more trees, no more sneeze, no more work to be done. So in no time, my
09:00
uncle’s fans, everyone all waving goodbye, jumped into my cars and drove away under the smoke smuggered stars. And all that was left here in this mess was my big empty factory. Lorax and I. The Lorax said nothing. Just gave me a glance. He gave me a very sad sad backward glance as he lifted himself by the seat of the pants and took leave of this place through a hole in the smog. And all he left here in this mess was a small pile of rock with one word. I’m left. Whatever that meant, I just couldn’t
09:39
guess. But that was long, long ago. And each day since that day, I’ve sat here and worried and worried. Through the years, my factory has fallen apart. I worried about it with all of my heart. But now, said the one, now that you’re here, the word of the Lorax is perfectly clear. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, things aren’t going to get better. They’re not. And you have to remember to this very day Max is still hacked the old forest away for the Lorax and all his friends to survive. Somehow
10:14
these wild places must be kept alive. You have to protect the last that remain. The giant old grundle trees that live in the rain and the twisty frimlers in their pale desert green. But truffle trees, they’re no more to be seen. So catch, cries the onsler. He lets something fall. It’s a truffle seed. It’s the last one of all. You’re in charge of the last of the truffle seeds. And truffle trees are what everyone needs. Plant a new truffle. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. Feed it
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with our future. to life and the Lorax. Aloha.
