About a year ago, our family visited Disney World. We had a great time, but also thought about ways Disney could be innovative and 'green' the park. I even wrote a blog entry about it. Little did I know that a year later, we would be invited back, as Olivia and Jackson participate in one of their new programs, Friends for Change/Project Green, a terrific initiative to get young people involved in improving the environment. Already a long-standing supporter of environmental groups like the Audubon Society, Disney's conservation program and its senior vice president of environmental affairs, Dr. Beth Stevens, have set ambitious goals in lowering the park's carbon footprint through cutting water use, energy consumption, waste, and emissions. Stevens, who recently won Audubon's Rachel Carson Award for her conservation efforts, has a philosophy about nature that we share--if people are inspired to love nature, they are more inclined to protect it. Like Rachel Carson, Dr. Stevens is helping to shape how our country views its relationship with the environment, a tradition of environmentalism that has had a profound impact on our family, especially Olivia and her fundraising efforts for the Gulf.
Check out Project Green's site for eco-friendly ideas on how to clean up your local environment. I plan on sharing it with my high school students, challenging them to set some eco-friendly goals for the new school year.
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