Calin Georgescu Lorax

I recently overheard Calin Georgescu quoting an old proverb that was also spelled out in Lorax, and although he doesn’t quite disclose his sources, it’s worthy of a discussion.

Varianta în limba română pe FaṭăCarte Meta Zamolxis.

• documenting / cross-referencing CG quote with The Lorax.
• continuing the idea and applying to the Romanian context

(In case you have a deja vu with the illustration, I used it before; ditto for trees and the Tragedy of the Commons.)

Here’s the quote:

Only when the last Tree is cut down, the last Fish caught, and the last Stream poisoned will we realise we cannot eat Money

The account TightyYT posted it on Youtube in 2023, itself quoting an IG account as inspiration, with at least 3 shorts remixing it (a, b, c).

It’s from the book “The Lorax” by Dr Seuss (Amzn). Wait, CG reads!? Well, it’s also been made into movies, such as the original (imdb-l72), basically animating the book, and a newer one (imdb-l12), giving Taylor Swift a voice role.

Here’s Calin Georgescu saying it in Romanian: znt, cgo, gnd, with shorts vr26, da, vk.

I don’t want to discuss CG, but his quote / translation of The Lorax is interesting and merits discussion. To be even more clear, although the situation is funny, I want to use the quote irrespective where it comes from, to continue a conversation started on fb (fb-vs).

That one started on his observation that the air in Bucharest stinks, and I followed basically with all that stuff I’ve been writing on traffic.

• -If we had an environmental guard in Bucharest, maybe they would take notice, given that it smells of burnt garbage from Dâmbovița, throughout Unirii Square and up to Carol Boulevard.
• I confirm that it smells in Iasi and other cities as well. There are citizens with stoves and little understanding for what constitutes "toxic waste". This is in addition to far too many cars and the lack of infrastructure for alternative transport.
• -I don’t think that cars and individual users pollute as much as heavy industry and massive combustions, which are becoming more and more frequent.

(Road traffic — the single biggest contributor)

• Traffic accounts for around 60% of harmful emissions in Bucharest.

• High levels of PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, and NO₂ come from:

• Old diesel cars

• Congestion and stop‑and‑go driving

• Delivery fleets and buses

• Many streets exceed EU limits for NO₂ and PM.

• -Ahh yes, at a general level I think it's traffic, but road traffic has nothing to do with that smell of burnt plastic that sometimes appears in Bucharest and that has to do with either industry or waste burning.

  Globally, the source of pollution depends on the gas you are "looking for": [ovid-aps]

  As for traffic, I don't see an immediate solution: Bike lanes are a dream that has nothing to do with reality, and scooters are a terrible danger (which will soon require RCA, fortunately). Public transport is still dusty in Bucharest, but much higher than it was 10 years ago.

  What could be done: no entry into residential areas with anything under Euro 6 except some transport cars and higher tolls for certain areas of the city + waited until electric and hybrid technology catches up. Otherwise, in recent years there have been so many situations in which I didn't have the alternative transport for where I wanted to go (the subway didn’t cover that area, the bus used to take hours, and Bolt had dynamic fare on), so I don't suddenly see people getting off cars and riding their bikes.

And that was it. I’m disclosing my source here (lest I become CG) as the “State of the environment in Bucharest” 2025 report (br-buair).

*(*This article is unfinished – it was scheduled to appear in the hope that it will be finished before, but since this message is here and until it is removed, the article is to be considered work in progress*)*.

Sources / More info: imdb-l72, imdb-l12, fb-vs, owid-aps, br-buair

Also Sprach Zamolxis: lorax OLD, #lorax, cg OLD, #cg, calin georgescu OLD, #calin georgescu, georgism OLD, #georgism, suveranism OLD, #suveranism, environment OLD, #environment, politics OLD, #politics, politichie OLD, #politichie, mediu inconjurator OLD, #mediu inconjurator, tragedia comunelor OLD, #tragedia comunelor, tragedy of the commons OLD, #tragedy of the commons, poluare OLD, #poluare, pollution OLD, #pollution (Tags)