At the far end of town where the Grickle-grass grows is the street of the Lifted Lorax.
Deep in the grass, so some people say, is where the Lorax stood before it was lifted away.
So, what was the Lorax and why was it there? Why was it lifted and taken somewhere?
We’ll ask the old Once-ler as he’s bound to know.
He’s lived here so long, and his hair looks like snow.
You’ll have to pay him to tell you the tale.
Put the coins you brought for him in this handy pail…
The Once-ler’s story
Way back in the time when the grass was still green,
I came to this place – what a beautiful scene!
I saw the tufts of the Truffula trees,
Sawing and bending in the breeze.
Those trees! Those trees!
All my life I’d been searching for trees just like these.
I knew what to do and in one massive chop
I brought down a tree and I opened a shop.
I took the soft tuft and knitted a thneed.
It’s a shirt. It’s a sock. Something all people need.
But all of a sudden, I heard a ga-zump!
And a strange little man came out of the stump.
“I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees!”
Said the small man, with a dusty sneeze.
He was pretty upset and told me to stop
That just one wouldn’t stock up my shop.
So, I called all my family and told them to come
For the chance to make us a tidy sum.
We opened a factory and made many thneeds
Chopping down Truffula trees with great speed.
The Lorax told me the Brown Bar-ba-loots
Were starving because there were no longer fruits.
“Business is business!” I said with a smile.
The Lorax shook his head for a while
Then watched as I sold all my thneeds far and wide
From North to South and East to Westside.
He moaned about smog and the gluppity glup,
And said many things which got my back up.
“Now don’t shout at me, son,” he said with a grin.
“It’s all in the law and you’ll have to give in.
“Take a close look at ISO 14001.
“Know your duties to the environment, son!”
Then at that moment, we heard a loud thwack
And a Truffula tree fell down with a crack.
“The last one, the last Truffula tree!”
Shouted the Lorax standing next to me.
No more trees, no more thneeds, so the work here was done.
“You’ve messed up the town badly and everyone’s gone!”
Said the Lorax so sadly, I thought he would cry.
Then I looked at the stumps and the smog in the sky.
The place was now such a terrible mess!
The Lorax left me stones spelling out UNLESS…
I and thought…and thought…and realised what he meant.
So now I pass on to you the message he sent:
Unless people like us care a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It's not.
Now in my new business I look after the trees
And I recycle plastic to save all our seas.
I know what I must do for ISO 14001
And keep records online to get everything done.
We use Mango so everyone in the team
Knows what we must do to work like a dream!
Saving the planet just makes business sense.
Caring for it makes us more pounds and pence!
Better still, we replanted all of those Truffula trees.
So, enjoy them and don’t cut them down, please!
Get the wisdom of The Lorax to help you get the ISO 14001 standard for the environment. Call our consultants at Penarth Management on 029 2070 3328 or email info@penarth.co.uk. Find out how online software like Mango helps your business stay on the right side of environmental law. Book a free demonstration which will be delivered via Zoom.