Dr. Seuss, so much more than “kids’ stuff”
Maybe it was just coincidence that a birthday celebration of Dr. Seuss was taking place earlier this month at our local public library in Elkader. I was using an example from Dr. Seuss from, “The Lorax” that day as part of a presentation on “Rivers and Flooding” at the Iowa Association of Naturalists Conference in Des Moines.
Although most of us think of Dr. Seuss books as simple kids reading material, the author actually tackled some very serious and controversial themes. “The Butter Battle” (1984) was about the arms buildup and nuclear war threat during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. The “Lorax” (1971) dealt with conservation awareness and the environment.
I often recommend “The Lorax” to both kids and adults as one of the most basic and simple first lessons on conservation. But for kids, the obvious conservation message being told is a little more complicated than “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.” It may take some further insight and discussion with younger readers from parents or teachers.
If you have never read “The Lorax” or don’t remember the story, the 10-minute time investment is well worth it. The story is a simplified saga of an abundant natural resource (Truffula Trees) being utilized to the point, that over time that limited resource and all the associated species, environmental quality, and scenic beauty of a once diverse landscape get significantly compromised in the end.
If you take the time to read or re-read the story, try to envision the historical landscape changes that have taken place, and are still occurring right here in Iowa. This will give you a heightened awareness for the reality of the simplified Seuss story. The hardest part will be trying to recall what our state’s diverse landscape looked and felt like before you were born. Harder yet will be trying to figure out what that landscape was like before your grandparents were born. That’s because the pages of the real life story of what has actually been lost turn so slow that current generations don’t have a good way to be reminded of what was on the previous page of our landscape history. Therein lies the true saga of the real life story playing out before our eyes. We are only left with incomplete references of what was actually lost through time because few, if any, were taking the time to fully observe and catalog what was here.A glimpse of that can be found by reading “A Country So Full of Game” by James Dinsmore, or “Iowa-Portrait of the Land” by Larry Stone.
The ending of the “Lorax” leaves us with hope that a few remaining seeds in the right hands can slowly bring back some of what was lost. We have similar hope in Iowa, with conservation organizations and a handful of farmers, landowners, and residents doing voluntary things on their property to bring back that landscape diversity and the wild species that depend on it. Wild species that have no voice, let alone a recognized line on our economic spreadsheet of $7.00 per bushel corn. These insightful organizations and individuals usually enjoy what they see return from their efforts of redefining true land stewardship with a better definition of “giving something back to the land”. We also have an upcoming young generation with the energy and hope to nurture those seeds we plant.
Gary Siegwarth is aNatural Resource Biologist at
Big Spring Trout Hatchery, Elkader