In Mrs. Fusiarska's Library we are beginning the Year of Sustainability by telling the story of "The Lorax".
This story was written by Dr. Seuss in 1971 and it is very contemporary in its theme.
The Lorax is a small creature who comes out of a tree stump to protect nature. He tries to warn the "Once-ler" about his unsustainable habit of destroying nature for the mass production of "Thneeds" which is a "Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need".
The Once-ler is a greedy industrialist, who only wants to grow his business and his money, and he doesn't listen to the Lorax, so the once beautiful land becomes polluted and infertile.
Of course, when all is dead, the Once-ler realizes he cannot continue his factory and closes down, so his work was only done "once" and never more.
At the end of the story the Once-ler gives the last seed of the tree to a little boy, in hope he will be able to replant the forest and he says:

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot
Nothing is going to change, it's not."

By listening to this story we hope the children will be able to understand better the meaning of the term "Sustainability", think about their consumer habits and the processes of production that use irreplaceable resources from nature.