Environmentality & Sustainability - Week 4

During class this week, we learned all about Corporate Citizenship, which is that the responsibility that companies have that comes with their name. Obviously, we mostly focused on Disney and their environmental citizenship, but corporate citizenship includes social responsibility as well. We also discussed other big name companies that were doing it "right" and those that could use some work on their corporate citizenship, and we suggested ways for them to improve. 

From there, we began to talk about Disney's Worldwide Conservation Fund, which is a fund Disney set up along with the opening of Disney's Animal Kingdom. The DWCF gives grants and money to different environmental and wildlife agencies, with its mission being to protect wildlife and wild places. Each dollar that Guests donate in the Disney parks and resorts gets matched by Disney and 100% of it goes to the DWCF. We heard from a guest speaker about his role in the DWCF and watched some videos about its mission and values. 

My two favorite projects that the DWCF supports are the efforts to educate people about the cotton top tamarin in Columbia, as this is an extremely endangered animal and its habitat is currently restricted to one area in Columbia. By educating people about the tamarin and its ecological importance, the DWCF and its supporting companies have been able to empower the Colombian people to learn about and protect the cotton top tamarin. In fact, some of the merchandise made by these people are sold in Disney parks, and a portion of the profit goes back to Colombia to save the tamarins! Look for these "eco-mochila" products the next time you visit a Disney merchandise location. My other favorite project was one in which tried to conserve the elephants in India. Elephants in India would often knock over farmers fences and come into the villages and destroy plant life and scare people, which is turn is a reason why elephants are endangered. However, elephants have a weak spot: bees. Elephants are afraid of bees, so scientists have used this knowledge to encourage the Asian farmers to have bees nests on their fences. The elephants then stay away from the people and their villages, and it's also more beneficial to the farmers because they then have a new crop to harvest: honey!

If you see people wearing pins around the parks, then they are "conservation heroes" and have donated to the DWCF. I encourage all of you to consider making a donation, no matter how small, because every cent matters when it comes to saving the environment!