NEWS: Celebrating Earth Day with Disney Parks

Happy Earth Day and Happy Anniversary to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We love this park and how it celebrates nature and how it challenges us to take care of our Earth. It has always been inspiring to us the work that the Walt Disney Company accomplishes through the Disney Parks’ environmental and sustainability initiatives and the Disney Conservation Fund. Catch the details below on how these programs are making a huge impact!

Here are all the details from Disney Cast Member Dr. Mark Penning:

Happy Earth Day!

Today marks the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day, and here at Disney, we recognize the important role that nature plays to ignite joy during these unprecedented times. All month, we have shared the Magic of Nature to inspire hope and share educational information about this extraordinary planet we inhabit.

We also celebrate 30 years of dedicated Disney Parks’ environmental and sustainability initiatives, implementing programs in support of waste and emissions reduction and water and resource conservation. We are continually exploring, testing and implementing new ways to turn things we see and do every day into sustainable experiences. These efforts have led to incredible progress towards conserving natural resources – protecting the magic of nature for the future of our business, community and the planet.

This year also marks a special year for several anniversaries for The Walt Disney Company. The Disney Conservation Fund (DCF) is supporting nonprofit organizations globally in their efforts to save wildlife, inspire action and protect the planet.

Throughout our parks across the globe, we have continuously enacted efforts to celebrate this planet that we all call home. Stay tuned to learn more, and follow the conversation with #DisneyMagicofNature, to see how all of our parks around the world celebrated Earth Month!

Honoring 25 Years of Action and Impact Through the Disney Conservation Fund

Here are all the details from Disney Cast Member Kim Sams:

As Dr. Mark Penning recently wrote, during these unprecedented times, we can look to nature to bring us hope and inspiration. This Earth Day, the Disney Conservation Fund (DCF) marks a milestone — 25 years of recognizing and supporting conservationists and communities that embody that hope and inspiration.

Check out this inspiring anniversary message from one such conservationist, world-renowned primatologist, Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & U.N. Messenger of Peace.  You can learn more about Dr. Goodall’s inspiring story with a new documentary called JANE GOODALL: THE HOPE, premiering on April 22, at 9/8c on Nat Geo, Nat Geo WILD, and streaming beginning Earth Day on Disney+ and Hulu.

Thanks to generous donations from people around the world, the support of our employees and cast members, and funding from The Walt Disney Company, the DCF has directed $100 million to protect the magic of nature since 1995. We have supported 600 respected nonprofit organizations –and counting – that are working with communities to save wildlife, inspire action and protect the planet. Grants directed to these organizations have helped protect more than 315 million acres of habitat and 1,000 species globally from lions and leopards, to butterflies and bees.

These achievements are made possible by strong collaborations and dedicated people, who continue to inspire us and provide hope for our planet. We’re grateful to the members of the Disney Conservation Team Wildlife staff, who lead best-in-class scientific programs to conserve wildlife in Disney’s backyard and beyond, connect people to build a network for nature, and care for the planet through everyday actions. We’re also grateful to the hundreds of Disney employees and cast members who review funding proposals, raise and monitor funds, share stories that inspire people to make a difference, and expertly care for animals and our planet each day.

You can read more about Disney Conservation projects in our new FREE digital book: “The Disney Conservation Fund: Carrying Forward a Conservation Legacy”. Inside you will find some incredible stories highlighting organizations like the International Crane Foundation and its partners in East Asia, who have increased habitat protection for critically endangered Siberian cranes by 19,000 square miles. Or Associação Mico-Leão Dourado, Save the Golden Lion Tamarin, and Proyecto Tití, who have collectively planted more than 900,000 trees to create forest habitat for tiny golden lion and cotton-top tamarin monkeys in Brazil and Colombia, while benefitting more than 165 families through forest-friendly income-generating programs.

In honor of Earth Month, we are also offering a Disney Conservation Fund 25^th anniversary-themed wallpaper, featuring some of the most beloved Disney animal characters. You can download the desktop version the wallpaper below, or find the mobile version exclusively on Instagram, shared by @DisneyConservation.

We invite you to learn more about the amazing work some of our Disney Conservation Fund grantees and 180 Disney Conservation Heroes are doing. Their devotion to furthering conservation in their communities and making the world a better place is truly admirable and inspires us every day.

For more stories and updates from Disney’s Animal Kingdom, follow Dr. Mark @DrMarkAtDisneyon Instagram. You can also learn more about your favorite animals through Disney Magic Moments and NatGeo@Home.

Thank you for your continued commitment to do what you can do to save resources, recycle and support nature organizations with time or donations. There is no better way to help us honor the 25^th anniversary of the Disney Conservation Fund!

Keep up with the work we’re doing all year round by following Disney Conservation on social media. We can’t wait to see what we accomplish together in the next 25 years!