I came down here, book in hand, to sug­gest that every­one, every­where, every age, read The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss, for earth day. I have thought it a very sad book about the des­e­cra­tion of the earth since I first read it.

It is about the Once-ler who comes into the beau­ti­ful land and destroys if for his own gain because he wants to “keep big­ger­ing, and big­ger­ing and big­ger­ing.” The Lorax is the pro­tec­tor who keeps ask­ing him to stop. Even­tu­ally it gets so bad that even the Lorax leaves.…“And all that the Lorax left here in this mess was a small pile of rocks, with the word…“UNLESS.”

What­ever that meant, well, I just couldn’t guess.

That was long, long ago. But each day since that day I’ve sat here and wor­ried and wor­ried away. Through the years, while my build­ings have fallen apart, I’ve wor­ried about it with all of my heart. “But now, ” says the Once-ler, “Now that you’re here, the word of the Lorax seems per­fectly clear. UNLESS some­one like you cares a whole awful lot, noth­ing is going to get bet­ter. It’s not.”

Imag­ine my sur­prise when I read on the back of the book about a project that Con­ser­va­tion Inter­na­tional, Dr. Seuss Enter­prises, and Ran­dom house launched on Earth Day 2008 called The Lorax Project.  It is “a mul­ti­fac­eted ini­tia­tive designed to raise aware­ness of envi­ron­men­tal issues and inspire earth-friendly action world­wide by pas­sion­ate indi­vid­u­als of all ages.”

To learn more about The Lorax Project visit www.theloraxproject.com.

Please do your part to con­serve the earths lim­ited nat­ural resources. We are  all being asked to take charge of the “Truf­fula Seed.”

“And Truf­fula Trees are what every­one needs. Plant a new Truf­fula. Treat it with care. Give it clean wather. And feed it fresh air. Grow a for­est. Pro­tect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back.”

I’m plant­ing my Truf­fula seeds.…are you?