Once-ler
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The Once-ler is a fictional character created by Dr. Seuss in the children's story The Lorax.
The Once-ler is never actually seen in the story. All the reader views is his hands, which are green and humanoid. His body is always concealed.
Throughout the course of the story the Once-ler shows blatant disregard for the environment for the sake of profit. By the end of the story, he has reformed, but only after he has done irreversible damage to the ecosystem by clearcutting the Truffula trees and forcing the Swomee-swans, Brown Bar-ba-loots, and Humming-fish out of the area by polluting the environment with industrial waste.
The Once-ler is a symbol of aggressive greed, and the story The Lorax is a warning as to what can happen when greed is allowed to go too far.