What's all this about?

According to travelgreen.org , "The Walt Disney Company seeks to establish a positive environmental legacy for Disney and for future generations. In doing so, the Company is committed to minimizing its overall impact on the environment while encouraging and activating environmentally responsible behavior on the part of Cast Members and employees, guests and business associates throughout the world. Specifically, Disney aims to conserve water, energy and econsystems; to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; to mimimize waste and to inspire public consciousness in support of environmental sustainability. The Company seeks to identify, measure and understand the direct and indirect impact of its operations and develop innovative and realistic solutions for mitigating those impacts. It also complies with, and in some cases exceeds environmental laws and regulations. Since the company's earliest days, conservation and the environment have been recurring themes in Disney offerings, from motion pictures and television programming to our parks and resorts."(Theme Parks)

If Disneyland "aims to conserve water, energy and econsystems; to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; to minimize waste and to inspire public consciousness in support of environmental sustainability", then what are they currently doing to fulfill this goal what else could they be doing to help them reach it?

Disneyland Sustainability from a Sustainability Managers Point of View

I tried contacting the sustainability manager at Disneyland, but unfortunately never recieved a response back. However, I wanted my viewers to get a sustainability managers perspective on how and why Disneyland should be more sustainable. I set up an interview with Mackenzie Crigger, the sustainability manager at Chapman University, to see what her thoughts were on Disneyland and Sustainability.

How is Disneyland currently sustainable?

Disneyland has made various attempts in being sustainable. Besides alcohol, the only food or drink banned from sale inside Disneyland is gum. Walt did not want his guests to constantly be stepping in it or picking it off their shoes, a pet peeve he had with other amusement parks. (Fanning, Jim)

In December 2008, Disneyland introduced its new and improved 16 Disneyland Resort trams. These trams transport guests between the two theme parks and parking facilities, and were once fuled by diesel engines. They are now fueled by compressed natural gas (CNG). (Disneyland Transportation)

Many of the plants in and around Tomorrowland are edible, to emphasize a future where gardens do double duty as food sources. This is most noticeable in the bushes along the walkways, which are planted with lettuce, kale and an assortment of herbs. (Fanning, Jim)

The gas street lamps on Main Street are over 150 years old and were bought as scrap, for as little as 3 cents a pound, from St. Louis, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, which had no further use for them.
In December of 1982, the park had to be evacuated due to a power outage, and the gas lamps lit the way for all the guests to exit the park. (Fanning, Jim)
The New Submarine ride was once powered by diesel fuel, but in 2007 Disneyland reopened the submarine ride with a Finding Nemo theme, and changed all the submarines to be electrically powered. (Fanning, Jim) The coral reef in lagoon of the Finding Nemo submarine ride is painted with glass, which is much more environmental friendly than paint. Over 30 tons of recycled glass, in over 40 different colors were used. The glass will last a lot longer than your traditional underwater paint. (Fanning, Jim)

Why should Disneyland be more sustainable?

Because they use a lot of energy

According to the book "Little Known Facts about Disneyland", Disneyland consumes around 1 million Kwh per year. Although Anaheim has a publicly owned utility department, and Disneyland's rates are lower than what most others in the region pay who use Southern California Edison or Pacific Gas and Electric, that doesn't change the fact that they are using a lot of energy. (Hoffman, David)

People look up to it, as ideal (role model)
Disneyland should be a role model for its wide diversity of guests. Disneyland can be seen as an ideal place- an ideal place should be 100% sustainable!

Its Popular!
"According to the Themed Entertainment Association, roughly 14.7 million people visited Disneyland in 2008, second only to its sister theme park Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, which drew just over 17 million visitors. Comparatively, Disneyland's reached the following record numbers in regards to attendance since it opened on July 17, 1955:
September 8, 1955 - one million
December 31, 1957 - 10 million
April 19, 1961 - 25 million
June 17, 1971 - 100 million
January 8, 1981 - 200 million
September 1, 1989 - 300 million
July 5, 1997 - 400 million
January 12, 2004 - 500 million" (Disneyland Statistics)

Wild life in the park Disneyland needs to be more sustainable, not only to protect its people, but to protect the environment and all the animals that live there!

They generate tons of trash! (literally!)

Disneyland generates over 30 tons of garbage each day and approximately 1,850 tons each year. (Disney Challenge)

The cleaning crew uses 500 toy brooms, 400 dustpans, and 5,000 mop heads a year to keep the place clean! (Fanning, Jim)

Other amusement parks
Disneyland Paris just released its new idea for a sustainable resort concept titled Villages Nature.
http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2010/12/disneyland-paris-unveil-tomorrow.html

Disney's other parks in Orlando, Florida seem to be making more of a sustainability effort than here at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. http://www.benefits-of-recycling.com/disneysustainability.html (Disney Sustainability)

Good citizen

Disneyland should support the people that support them. For example, Disneyland should be buying their fruits and vegetables from local farmers markets which would not only to benefit Disneyland, but the local farmers can benefit as well.

How could Disneyland transition to more Sustainable Practices?

Energy consumption
–Add solar panels to the top of the parking garage
-People don’t like parking on the top anyways

Turn off unnecessary lights during the day

Product
–Brand promotion products
-Disney has 340 stores outside of Disneyland
-78 million Mickey Mouse ears were sold from the opening day to the 50th anniversary in 2005 (Fanning, Jim)

•Organic cotton clothing

•Biodegradable plastic products from corn





•Stuffed animals organic stuffing
Food
–Local
Each "land" has at least one fruit stand, but the fruits are not bought locally. Disneyland could be saving a lot of money and energy if they started buying locally...imagine how much the local farmers markets could make!
"As Sustainable Foods points out, the average American foodstuff travels 1,500 hundred miles from farm to fork, and 80% of the energy used in the U.S. food system is spent on processing, transporting, storing and preparing food. This is convenient for our salads, but inconvenient for global warming. By reducing your "food miles," you'll not only help the planet, you'll help your taste buds get to know how delicious things taste when they're fresh." (Eat This, Not That)

"In one year, guests consume...

1. 4 million hamburgers
   


2. 1.6 million corn dogs/hot dogs
   


3. 3.4 million orders of french fries
   


4. 43.7 million boxes of popcorn
   


5. 3.2 million servings of ice cream



6. 1.2 million gallons of soft drinks
   


7. 2.8 million churros" (Fanning, Jim)
   
   

Use alternative energy for rides!

Disneylands "Autopia" currently has gasoline generated cars. Since Autopia is located in "Tomorrowland", I think Disneyland could transition to a different source to power their cars. Electric cars would be a great influence on the young drivers today.

Counter Arguments

Its too Expensive!

According to Disney's 2007 Finance Report, about 10.6 billion dollars of revenue was generated from the combined parks.

Local fruits don't last very long!

Local fruits may not last as long as commercially produced fruits and vegetables, which have been treated to eliminate decay, but organically grown fruits are much healthier and will save everyone money in the long run when it comes to their health.

(Fanning, Jim) (Sustainable Foods)

Email Disney Your Great Ideas!

I strongly encourage each and every one of you to send Disneyland your sustainabiliy ideas, questions, comments or concerns at disneyland.com !

Works Cited

Adomaitis, Mary Beth. "Disneyland Statistics." Theme Parks, Amusement Parks and Roller Coasters. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. .
Berry, By Jennifer. "Disneyland Transportation to Run on Food Oil and CNG - Earth911.com." Earth911.com - Find Recycling Centers and Learn How To Recycle. Web. 20 Dec. 2011. .
"Disney Sustainability." Benefits of Recycling. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. .
"Eat This, Not That, in 2010 - Planet Green." Planet Green : Sustainable Living, Energy Conservation, Earth Day. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. .
Hoffman, David. Little-Known Facts About Well-Known Places: Disneyland. New York: Metro Books, 2008. Print.
Fanning, Jim. Disneyland Challenge. New York: Disney Editions, 2009. Print.
"Theme Parks." TravelGreen Homepage. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. .

*** Almost all images were taken by myself, Alexa Signorino, while several others were taken from Google Images***