A young boy goes to meet a ruined industrialist in a tireless wasteland and hear his tale of what happened to him. His tragic story is about how he began a thriving business with a useless fashion product derived from the trees of a forest. As his business booms, the forest and its inhabitants suffer as he wantonly clearcuts without regard to the warnings of a wise old creature called the lorax about the dire consequences of his greed.

The Lorax is a children's book, written by Dr. Seuss and first published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax (a mossy, bossy man-like creature resembling an Emperor Tamarin), who speaks for the trees against the greedy Once-ler. As in most of Dr. Seuss works, most of the creatures mentioned are original to the book.

The book is commonly recognized as a fable concerning industrialized society, using the literary element of personification to give life to industry as the Once-ler (whose face is never shown in any of the story's illustrations or in the television special) and to the environment as the Lorax. It has become a popular metaphor for those concerned about the environment.

On July 28, 2009, it was announced that Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment are teaming up to produce a 3-D, CGI film based upon the book. It will be co-directed by Chris Renaud, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, with Paul & Daurio writing the script.[5] Mike Fleming writes in Variety that "the picture is targeted for a March 2, 2012 release, which falls on the birthday of Dr. Seuss, who died in 1991