Hello all, Happy Earth Day, and welcome back to another blog post! I hope that everyone is staying safe and staying at home. I’m super excited to be bringing you today’s topic, not only because this is the first post that I’ve debuted on my new domain, but it is a topic that I was super passionate to write about. With everything that is going on in the world right now, today’s celebration has kind of taken a back seat and that is unfortunate because this year not only is it the 50th anniversary of Earth Day but also the 25th anniversary of the Disney Conservation Fund.

So today, I decided to celebrate the festivities myself by helping educate you all a little bit more about everything that Disney has done to celebrate Earth Day every day in way of its sustainability endeavors. The Walt Disney Company is very invested in its conservation efforts and it is a shame that not a lot of people know that, so today we are going to dive into the history of their applications, their sustainability efforts company-wide, and what their goals are for the future. So let’s get started!

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Walt & Conservation

“You’ve probably heard people talk about conservation. Well, conservation isn’t just the business of a few people. It’s a matter that concerns all of us.” -Walt Disney

Disney Conservation Fund

As an effort to keep Walt’s legacy for conservation going, the Disney Conservation Fund was created in 1995 to help conversation efforts globally. According to their website:

“Disney Conservation is committed to saving wildlife and building a global community inspired to protect the magic of nature together. Since 1995, the Disney Conservation Fund has directed $100 million to support nonprofit organizations working with communities to save wildlife, inspire action and protect the planet.

With these donations, the Disney Conservation Fund is able to support annual grants to nonprofit organizations around the world. As shown below, in the 25 years of its existence the Disney Conservation fund as done so much with its efforts.

Disney Nature

One part of the Disney Conservation fund is Disney Nature, a subsection of the Walt Disney Studios that focuses on nature documentaries. Inspired by Walt’s True-Life Adventure series, this modernized documentary series releases a featured film every Earth Day and has a conservation campaign based on the subject of the film, with the appropriate conservation charity receiving a donation of the box office sales. 

The Walt Disney Company’s Environmental Impact

• Renewable Electricity
  • In 2019, TWDC created a 270-acre, 50 megawatt solar facility at Walt Disney World that can power up to two of the four WDW theme parks annually.
• Conserving Fuel
  • The Steam Trains & the Mark Twain Riverboat at Disneyland Resort in California run on bio-diesel made from our own recycled cooking oil from the parks.
  • The entire transportation fleet of busses at the Walt Disney World Resort uses 50% renewable diesel fuel.
• Reducing Waste
  • The company eliminated single-use plastic straws and stirrers at all owned and operated locations across the globe, a reduction of more than 175 million straws and 13 million stirrers annually.
  • All Disney hotels and cruise ships are also transitioning to refillable in-room amenities, reducing plastics in guest rooms by 80%.

DAK & Conservation

Opened on April 22nd, 1998 (Earth Day) Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park is dedicated and themed entirely around animal conservation, the natural environment, and educating guests on what they can do to make a difference. Not only is DAK accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums but also the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which indicates they have met or exceeded the standards in education, conservation, and research.

One of my favorites things about Animal Kingdom is the park’s call to action. It challenges you to make a difference and educate yourself on the world around you and what you can do to make it better. For example, one little thing you can do to make a difference during your day at the park includes donating to the Disney Conservation Fund. If you purchase something at DAK, Cast Members will more likely than not ask if you’d like to donate to the Disney Conservation Fund. Not only are you helping out a good cause when you donate or round up your purchase to the nearest dollar, but you get a pin in exchange for your efforts. The park also prohibits plastic straws, lids, and balloons and stresses the dangers of these items out in the natural world to the environment.

Even during this quarantine, Disney is still making an effort to educate us during this time with activities like the Wilderness Explorers at Home, A new mini-series on the My Disney Experience App that teaches you how to become a Wilderness Explorer right from home!

What Can You Do?

Alright now that you know all Disney’s efforts in sustainability and conservation, now it’s your turn. This year’s Earth Day theme is climate action. According to the official Earth Day website, “Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable”.

So what does this mean and what can YOU do to make a difference? The biggest thing anyone can do is to further educate themselves on what is happening and make meaningful steps to “make action a habit”. For example, I’ve made a conscious effort to take my reusable bags with me wherever I go, and I am also pledging this Earth Day to start using reusable straws whenever I’m out to eliminate the pollution they cause. If we all can take small steps like this to start it will make a big difference in the long run.

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Once again, thank you all for reading! This a big anniversary for Earth Day and with everything happening in the world right now it has kind of been forgotten. I hope that this post helped you learned something new here today and that it inspires you to go out and do one thing to either educate yourself on more sustainable practices or take a stand and start making them yourself. Let me know below what you plan on doing this year for Earth Day and if you learned something new here.

Until then, Keep Moving Forward

-Kacey