What is the timeline of The Lorax? Why don't the older townspeople remember the trees?

Question

My daughter is obsessed with The Lorax (2012), so I've watched a few times in the past week, and there's one thing that bugs me: what is the age of the characters of the movie? And in particular, the Once-ler, Aloysius O'Hare, and Grammy.

The Once-ler builds his company and destroys the trees in his youth; 
Shortly after (although this may arguable) the last tree is destroyed, we see a young Aloysius O'Hare cleaning in Thneedille along with other janitor
That janitor can be seen in present-time with white hair.
Grammy claims that she remembers when the trees were everywhere.

In the Seuss Wikia, it suggests that the Once-ler could be 21-years-old at the beginning of the movie (although it's not for certain), and no age is suggested for the time of the events in the movie.

Aloysius O'Hare should be around the same age as the Once-ler, the other janitor should be older (?) than them, and Grammy should be younger or the same age too... but that seems inconsistent with the storyline.

At least in theory, many other people should remember trees, but they don't seem to. The story appears to happen in a future in which people forgot completely about real trees (Ted is 12 and he has no clue), but there are plenty of people around who actually should. So how long has it been since the last tree was chopped? And how old is the Once-ler, O'Hare, and Grammy?

Engie Godinez · Answer

Granny is 90. Google say that. But I don’t think that the Once-ler and O’Hare are around the same age as her because O’Hare was a teenager and the Once-ler is about on his early 20s and O’Hare looks like he is around 55 later in the movie so I’m guessing the Once-ler is about 61-63.

Answered by Engie Godinez on July 27, 2020

Mary Hammond · Answer

In the movie, The Lorax Grammy Norma sings "I'm Grammy Norma I'm old, and I've got gray hair. But I remember when trees were everywhere and no one had to pay for air so I say let it grow!" This implies that she could be as old as the Oncler, whereas we don't see any other characters as old as them.

Answered by Mary Hammond on July 27, 2020

natural · Answer

I believe it is because they never knew the trees were there in the first place because the president or mayor only permitted artificial plants.

As you saw in the movie, people pumping up balloon hedges and in the parks they had ceramic or just hard false grass because when they finally defeated they mayor (the boy who found the man who cut down the trees) they smashed the fake grass and found real dirt underneath and planted a tree.

When you see ths, you see a bunch of people surrounding then in wonder, and there is only one reason why...

Because the people never knew that there were trees in the first place because they weren't allowed to know there was any left. That is why the town was situated so far away from the nearest forest, just to be sure and for security of the lie.

What is the timeline of The Lorax? Why don't the older townspeople remember the trees?

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