It's hard not to have a bit of a soft spot in our hearts for the House that Mouse Built, but growing up does involve certain responsibilities, not only as consumers, but on the part of the corporate giant. This year Disney ranks as the second largest entertainment company in the world, according to Fortune. Disney also has a huge influence over the next generation, so it is very important that they set a good example according to leading green social site, beTurtle . Does the company act as a role model when it comes to its environmental practices, or it is just a cat and mouse game?
Whistle While You Conserve
"Environmentality" is their word for their overall ethos on environmental and conservation practices. The Disney corporate website says that "Environmentality" was established 16 years ago, and since then, company-wide, they have recycled 850,000 tons of waste. In fact, last year, Disney was awarded an Honorable Mention WasteWise Award EPA with a Gold Achievement Award in Paper reduction, and in 2005, they diverted 40% ofits waste from ending up in a landfill. Not bad, and in the same year, the Wild Animal Kingdom composted 2600 tons of animal waste. Internationally, the Paris Resort increased cardboard recycling by 32% by adding more collection points throughout the park.
In addition to reducing its waste, Disney is reducing what it is using in the first place. The company is improving building efficiency, increasing its fleet of clean fuel vehicles, and they're using biodiesel to run those trains that circle the Disney World Resort. Last year, they implemented a program called the "Strive for Five", which includes a goal of cutting the energy consumption at the park by 5%. That may seem rather paltry, but in the first year of the program, energy consumption was reduced by 3%. That's 194,000 BTUs, and represents a savings of 1.8 million dollars in energy costs! Disney Cruise Lines has similar reduction goals, and intends to switch to non-toxic, longer lasting paints.
Disney shows concern for water and wildlife. Even though Disney World was built on a swamp, it doesn't mean that water is endless, and they know it. Disney is a responsible water consumer and has been for 15 years. Reclaimed water accounts for 25% of the water used in the Florida parks. By working with scientific and academic organizations, they also strive to consider wildlife and habitat conservation in the planning, development, and operation of its parks. The Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund was started in 1995, and since then has donated $10 million to such projects as a gibbon sanctuary in Asia and the reintroduction of white rhinos and whooping cranes to the wild.
Disney's park and resort menus now include seafood that has been raised or caught using sustainable practices. And in September 2007, the resort added 3 of their hotels to the Florida Green Lodging Program by reducing water use, installing lighting sensors and switching to low-flow toilets and shower heads. Even when it comes to reducing the pollution sources you don't think about, like the after effects of fireworks displays, Disney is on top of it. The parks use compressed air rather than gunpowder to launch the pyrotechnics.
Though they may not have been the most noteworthy of conservationists in the past, despite a film clip of Old Walt touting the merits of conservation in an older more innocent black and white world, Disney has stepped up its sustainability game in recent years. According to beTurtle.com the results speak for themselves. Corporate Knights Magazine and Newsweek named Disney as one of the top 100 most sustainable corporations in the world; number 52 to be exact.
The Dumbo in the room
The company has improved its environmental practices in the last couple of years. This is a good thing, of course, but there are some questions as to whether its reported "environmentality" actually reflects the reality of the program. The most glaring discrepancy is that despite good practices at one park, there is no codified plan for all the parks. Sure, the Paris Resort is recycling cardboard, but is the California Adventure Park doing the same? One group, the Center for Health, the Environment and Justice, is currently campaigning to have Disney switch to non-toxic "green" products at all of its parks and resorts. They already uses only green products at the Wild Animal Kingdom and three of its hotels, but not at all of its parks and hotels. Concerns have been raised about the fireworks displays. Though Disney uses compressed air at some of its parks (Hong Kong still relies on traditional gunpowder), there are still complaints lodged against the displays by neighbors of Disneyland due to debris and smoke from the pyrotechnics. The company has conducted its own study on the dangers of the fireworks and concluded that the cancer risk from heavy metals used in the fireworks is insignificant, according to an article in the Earth Island Journal. Local officials do not feel that there is a problem and that the company is not breaking any laws. However, Disney does shut down certain areas of the park during the displays and does not reopen them until a cleaning crew attends to the debris.
The major problem with Disney is its labor practices. They habitually relies on sweatshops to produce its unending line of children's clothing and products. Just last year, there were groups that called Disney out for using factories in China that violate international labor standards. Furthermore, in 2004, Greenpeace staged a protest outside a British Disney Store because toxic compounds were found in its children's pajamas. Last month, with the massive recalls of toys from China, Disney announced that it will conduct its own testing of products made in China. Hopefully, that testing will expand to all Disney-branded products.
When You Wish Upon A Energy Star
Disney seems to have a good thing going with reducing waste and energy consumption, but it is unfortunate that it isn't implementing such policies in all of its parks. True, the company is positioning itself as a role model in environmental awareness for children. That is obvious as Jiminy Cricket is the spokesperson for Environmentality. But Disney seems less concerned with who is making the products that children love and want than what is going into those products. As one of the largest entertainment corporations in the world today, they are making good progress, but could be doing a lot better.