Hey I’m Alexis, and I’m a new intern here at Greenpeace and I’m just getting into the swing of this whole blogging thing. When I was younger I was mildly fanatic about Dr. Seuss and his works, including Green Eggs and Ham, Cat in the Hat, but especially The Lorax. Those “bright-colored tufts of the Truffula Trees” intrigued me and I could not seem to get enough. Despite being six years old, I sympathized with the poor Lorax and wanted to help with his fight against the Once-ler. When he abandoned the place where his beloved trees once stood I wanted to call out to him and tell him to come back. I didn’t understand why anyone would want to destroy the environment for such shallow purposes. As you may have noticed, I was a rather intellectual six year old.

Recently, a startup coal-gassification company is seeking investors for what they boast as their recent development of a state-of-the-art polygeneration facility that willemploy the latest Green Coal Technology. They have named themselves LoraxAg after my popular protector of the truffula trees, the Lorax, a character fabricated by Dr. Seuss in 1971. The children’s book narrates the plight of the environment from the perspective of the Lorax, who “speaks for the trees”. The company’s president, Mike Farina gave a statement in a recent publication, Massachusetts High Tech, “The Lorax is the protector of the truffula trees,” he informed the publication. “We think this is the greenest use of coal.”

“Clean coal” is an umbrella term used to refer to the advancing technologies with an aim to dilute the harmful environmental effects of the coal energy generation. However, it is also a duplicitous oxymoron. There is no such thing as clean coal, and this term has created a blockage in the political system towards substantial energy reforms.
  

Contriving a connection between the fictional ecological protector and this large-scale mining operation is dubious at best, which is probably why LoraxAg practiced complete disregard of copyright laws established to prohibit corporations from using such an iconic figure for their own promotional purposes. Personally, if I were in elementary school again, I would probably throw my toys around in anguish and draw brightly colored pictures in protest. Karl Zobell, an influential representative from Dr. Seuss Enterprises, found what most would perceive as a more effective approach and is now suing them for copyright infringement (We all have our own ways of going about getting things accomplished). He stresses the fact that Dr. Seuss created and coined the Lorax icon and courts are considerably stricter when the case pertains to trademarks. Zobell has attempted a quiet resolution and has sent the company a cease-and-desist letter, however the LoraxAg has yet to respond. The courts probably have a whole lot more power than my magic markers.

While their technological development of creating a less toxic use for high sulfur coal can be considered laudable, comparing themselves to the Lorax’s duty to protect natural resources from unnecessary urbanization is outlandish. It hardly seems that clearing a large expanse of land to extract coal could be considered an appropriate tribute to the Lorax and Dr Seuss’; especially when mining is one of the dirtiest and most detrimental forms of creating energy. Let’s just hope the Lorax doesn’t turn over in his fictional grave due to this gross misuse of his legacy.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my indignation at this insolent accolade to one of my childhood heroes. No mining company can replace the Lorax, the original speaker for the trees. I’ll be posting weekly, so stay tuned!