How Dr. Seuss and the Lorax helped Lake Erie

When famous children's book author Dr. Seuss realized Lake Erie is "the happy home of smiling fish," he did the right thing for his Ohio fans.He changed one of his books.Seuss' book, "The Lorax," is the source for a new movie of the same name now playing in theaters.The movie reminds current and former Ohio Sea Grant employees of the role the agency played in persuading Seuss to remove an unflattering reference to Lake Erie from the book."The Lorax," written about the importance of the environment, tells the story of how a greedy businessman wiped out an entire forest of trees.The book also deals with air pollution and water pollution. When it was first published in 1971, it included lines about the dire fate of animals called the "Humming-Fish" after their pond is polluted:"They'll walk on their fins and get woefully wearyin search of some water that isn't so smeary.I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie."Lake Erie did indeed have a reputation in 1971 for being badly polluted.But, by the mid-1980s, the lake had vastly improved, thanks to extensive anti-pollution efforts. The fish population had also rebounded. The employees at Ohio Sea Grant, who run Stone Laboratory near Put-in-Bay, wondered if Seuss could be persuaded to update his book.To read more on this story, including a letter from Dr. Seuss to the Stone Lab students, pick up Sunday's Register.