Does Environmental Education Need a Thneed? Displacing The Lorax as Environmental Text

Abstract

The Lorax, written by children's author Dr. Seuss in 1971, has been used extensively by educators with participants of all ages in outdoor and environmental education. This paper results from a critical reflection upon my own practice of employing The Lorax as a teaching resource with senior secondary and tertiary students in Australia. The paper provides an overview of the narrative contained within the text and considers a range of critiques that have been made of The Lorax by other authors, primarily situated in North America. In calling for a more thorough and pedagogically critical reading of The Lorax, I suggest other texts speak more specifically to Australian and other colonial contexts.