The Lorax Traditional Cache

"The Lorax" is a story by Dr. Seuss that expresses the importance of protecting and respecting our environment and the consequences that follow if we fail to do either. In the story, the "Lorax" is a creature who is the physical manifestation of Nature appears when the story's antagonist named the "Once-ler", who represents greedy big business, begins to cut down all the Truffula trees in the forest for his quirky invention the "Thneed" with the idea that "a Thneed is something that everyone needs." The Thneed was a super versatile invention made from Truffula trees that could be used as a hat, a shirt, a seat cover, a pillow, a curtain and countless other ridiculous things. The Lorax appears out of a Truffula stump saying "he speaks for the trees, for the trees have no tongues" and constantly warns the Once-ler of the consequences he will face if he continues cutting down the Truffula trees. The Once-ler ignores the Lorax's pleas and instead calls on his relatives to come work for him in his factory, causing the destruction of the Truffula trees to increase quite rapidly. Eventually the whole forest is thick with smog and pollution, so the Lorax sends all the creatures of the forest away to find a better habitat. The Once-ler, thoroughly fed-up with the persistent Lorax, declares that he will never stop producing his Thneeds and says that his company will only grow larger. Just as the Once-ler declares his intentions to keep "biggering" his industry, the sound of the last Truffula tree is heard by both the Lorax and the Once-ler. Without the raw materials necessary to continue his business, the factory is shut down and his relatives leave as a result, then the Lorax, with a deeply saddened expression, silently lifts himself into the air and flies off through the clouds, leaving the Once-ler alone in his decaying factory. The Once-ler continues to dwell in his corroding residence, pondering the message left on a stone by the Lorax that simply reads "Unless." The meaning of the message isn't clear to the Once-ler until a small boy from the nearby town pays him to recount his story of what happened to the surrounding forest. He realizes that the Lorax’s message means unless someone cares, the situation will never improve. So with this revelation, the Once-ler gives the very last Truffula seed to the concerned boy and implores him to plant it, saying that if the boy grows a whole forest of Truffula trees, the Lorax and woodland creatures will all come back. The moral of this story is if we don't protect, respect, and replenish what we take from nature, it will eventually be gone forever and so this cache is dedicated to that idea.