Though it's technically a book and not a cartoon, we couldn't leave out Seuss' The Lorax. At first glance, it appears to be a nonsensical children's story with cutesy rhymes and whimsical illustrations. But take a closer look, and you'll find a powerful social commentary, relying on anthropomorphism and allegory to point out that our destructive, wasteful ways are ruining the Earth. In the story, the "Once-ler" cuts down a bunch of trees in the town to set up a store where he sells "Thneeds," which he insists "everyone needs." The business grows, causing the sky to get dark and smoggy and forcing the Lorax to leave his home.

The story was so controversial that at the time of the book's debut, timber industry groups sponsored a book called The Truax (because The Lorax was just lore, of course...), whose message insists that the logging industry is careful and re-plants trees. Even crazier? The book was banned in several schools. The good news: the book is still around. The bad news: not much has changed.

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