Vi Lan Dao

BIOL 1120
12/01/2015

The Lorax extra credit

I. Comprehension questions:
1. The Truffula trees were scarce because first of all, they could
provide people with valuable economic use: they were used to
make fiber. Secondly, because they were overexploited for
their economic value, there were no trees left. As the result,
they became more scarce and valuable.
2. The Once-ler chopped down the first Truffula tree to take the
leaves for his experiment of inventing a new, innovative type
of fiber.
3. The Thneed brought about many benefits for its consumers. It
can be used as a fashionable head, a rack for catching
butterfly, a belt, a fabric that absorb water, a string for athlete
performance, etc.
4. No he was not. At first no one seemed to care about the
Thneed. But when the Once-ler almost gave up and threw it
away, it came into a fashion trend.
5. The Once-ler, after realizing the economic value of Truffula
trees, invented a whole factory for mass production and
machines for efficient harvesting.
6. The inhabitants of the Truffula forest were harmed the most.
The bears, the birds and the fishes lost their home, their
habitat and had to relocate somewhere else.
7. No it wasnt a wise idea to chop down all the trees, as it is a
short term thinking to make profits but not a sustainable one.
Once all the trees were chopped down, there was no resource
left for the business.
8. Because people and the Government realize the intrinsic
values of trees and the harmful effects we would have to

suffer if there is no trees left. Therefore, we now have laws

and regulations against overexploiting forests to protect the
trees and forest ecosystem.
9. When people realize their economic value and become
greedy, eager to make fast money, they will have the
tendency to chop down all the trees. Another condition to
promote chopping trees is when there is no laws or regulations
that prevent people from doing so.
10.
As goods, services, or natural resources become scarcer,
the price will go up significantly.
11.
At the beginning, the Once-ler were so excited about his
project that he didnt care about what would happen and the
long term impact of his action. However, at the end when all
trees were chopped down, he realized his mistake and
became very regretful about his action. But it was too late.

II.

Reflection questions:
1. The Once-ler succeeded and the Lorax failed for several
reasons. First of all, the Once-ler, as an ambitious
entrepreneur, was so eager to make money and become rich
that he didnt care about the result of his action. His thinking
was very short-term as he saw that there were plenty of trees
in the forest so if he chopped down one tree, it would not be
a big problem. In addition to that, the Once-ler was strongly
influenced by his family, especially his greedy mom. His family
induced him to chop down all the trees in an unsustainable
way to make money quicker. The Lorax, on the other hand,
was so kind to his new friend and wouldnt expect this to
happen. He trusted the Once-ler when he made a promise to
not chopping all the trees and became quite helpless in the
presence of the Once-lers family.
2. The argument about desert tortoises is correct, but not valid
for conservation effort. People cant just look at the aesthetic
aspect of an animal to evaluate its value. Aesthetic is just an
extrinsic value, not the intrinsic, the true, the more important
value of a thing. The desert tortoises have many intrinsic
values in biological, ecological, educational, and communal
term.

3. In my opinion, aesthetic appreciation cant be taught but can

somehow be influenced to some extent. I personally think that
people perceive things differently and the way they perceive
things is based on personal characteristics, preference, and
taste. For example, if someone doesnt like the sea, you cant
force or teach he/she to like the seashore just because you
think the seashore is beautiful in your personal opinion.
However, aesthetic appreciation can be influenced in some
case. For example, if many people compliment you on a dress
that you personally think that its not beautiful, you might be
influenced by their comments and gradually change your
point of view on the dress.
4. The reason for these laws to exist is because many people, for
economic or entertaining purposes, act cruelly, abusively, and
violently on the animals. These laws dont give the animal
rights, but do have some legal protections. However, these
laws dont state that animals have moral standing in their own
right, but fall under the purpose of morality, meaning that
they keep people from behaving unethically and unmorally.
5. The environmental issue that I believe to be overstated is air
pollution. I mean its not really correct to say that this issue is
overstated, but I believe that the situation has improved a lot
recently. First of all, we now have many laws, regulations, and
supervising system to prevent factories and power plants from
releasing detrimental, harmful gases to the air. They are only
allowed to release a certain amount of gases and they also
have to use filter system before releasing to the air. Secondly,
nowadays businesses become more aware of the environment
issues and are trying to embrace the social responsibility
trend. And lastly, since consumers today also care more about
the environment and their wellbeing, they are more likely to
consume environmentally friendly, sustainably produced
products, which push businesses out of the market if they do
not support the environment.
6. The Once-ler is greedy in a way that his wants were neverending. After he chopped down one tree, he wanted to chop
down more. Even when he was rich, he wanted to be richer. In
todays world where everything is mass-produced and become
so plentiful and widely available and fast changing, its hard to

differentiate between want and need. What used to be a want

now become a need. And we keep wanting more and more of
everything. Its true that everyone needs money, but money
has to go along with happiness, with health, and with
responsibility. Its wrong and unethical to obtain a lot of money
from destroying the environment and exploiting natural
resources.
7. UN-LESS here has many meanings. First of all, unless he
hadnt chopped down all the trees, unless things had never
happened, unless he had realized his wrongful actions.
Secondly, unless someone cared more about trees, unless
someone was willing to make a change. The responsibility of
that someone is to plant the last tree, to make people realize
the intrinsic values of trees and to make people save the
world by growing trees again. We have to ensure realize the
intrinsic values of trees and appreciate what their values. We
also need to protect trees from greedy, self-interest individuals
who want to exploit forests for economic purposes. And laws
and regulations need to be passed to prevent the chopping
down of trees.
8. I believe that its not a good excuse for his action. Of course
its likely that if he didnt do so, someone else would. But that
is more of an excuse for his greediness by blaming someone
rather than take the responsibility to himself.
9. The Lorax says he speaks for the trees because he if the forest
safeguard, the thinks and feels on behalf of the trees. And the
trees are just like him. Being friendly, helpful to humans but
helpless in protecting themselves. The attitude of the Lorax at
the end of the movie is the sense of forgiving and the feeling
of hope.