Happy Friday everyone!! Let's celebrate by talking about the final Disney Green Tip! It's been a good run while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end some day. And that day is today...
Anyway, this one will be a lesson not so much in what Disney World is doing right for the environment, but what we as consumers should be doing more of to help Disney World do the right thing. One of the things that I noticed while I was there was that many of the rides and attractions had open seats in them. But the thing is that most of those rides and attractions went on anyway even with those open seats. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but I started thinking about it and I realized that we were causing Disney to be less environmentally friendly by our actions.
Let me explain. These Disney rides will be running all day (during park hours) whether we are riding on them or not. And during that time that those cars are traveling along through a world filled with robotic ghosts or while the boats are floating passed little animatronic highly stereotyped dancing people, the same amount of energy is being used when we're on the ride as when we're not (probably a little more energy when we're on it because the motors have to work harder to pull our weight.) So the overall energy used by each ride is roughly the same from day to day. The number of riders, however, changes during the busy season and during the weekday versus the weekend. So the average energy used per visitor is lower during the busy seasons and higher during the off season.
What does this all mean for you? Well Green Tip #96 is this: Go to Disney World. We need to make sure that there are no empty cars on any of these rides, otherwise Disney World is wasting all that electricity just to push empty cars around. So fill those seats and make sure to have an amazing time saving the environment!!
Showing posts with label Disney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disney. Show all posts
Friday, May 28, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Green Tip #94: Disney World, Part 2!
Hello again! Happy Friday! Nope, the post-Disney enthusiasm is still hanging around! But that means I get to share with you another Disney-themed Green Tip! Without further ado!!! (shoot, even my ellipses are turning from three periods to three exclamation points)
One of the things that you'll notice about Disney World is that they maintain everything extremely meticulously. From the landscaping which seems so well groomed that you have to imagine someone getting there at 2 AM every morning just to cut each blade of grass with a nail clipper to the signs and attractions which are bright and shining every day. I've even heard that the brass on the carousel at the Magic Kingdom is hand polished every night after the park closes! That's dedication!
And Disney parks also have a surprising small amount of litter on the ground as well. Surprisingly little as in none at all. This is naturally very good for the environment that this garbage isn't being put into waterways for manatees to choke on, but how do they do it? Sure you do see a few janitorial cast members walking around, but not as many as you'd think would be necessary to keep parks that size clean. I've got a few theories.
Trained Birds
I have heard of studies being conducted to train crows to pick up trash and when they drop it off in a special garbage can, they are rewarded with some crow food. And this does sound like something that Disney would do...
Robot Birds
Think trained birds except replace 'trained' with 'programmed.'
Subliminal Messaging
It's entirely possible that Disney emits frequencies that are too high for the human ear to hear yet make the person be unable to throw trash on to the ground without suffering horrible, horrible guilt that can only be assuaged from buying souvenirs from one of the gift stores.
Time Manipulation
While this may be mere speculation, what if Disney cast members are able to stop time temporarily and during that time they walk around the park and clean up all of the trash? That way they'd only need to have one or two people to clean the entire place. The few people you see walking around with brooms and dustpans would be for show, of course. They don't want people catching on to their time manipulation technology.
Anyway, those are just my theories. The world may never know how they keep their parks so clean. Don't forget to check in tomorrow to see the results from the next tournament match up!!
One of the things that you'll notice about Disney World is that they maintain everything extremely meticulously. From the landscaping which seems so well groomed that you have to imagine someone getting there at 2 AM every morning just to cut each blade of grass with a nail clipper to the signs and attractions which are bright and shining every day. I've even heard that the brass on the carousel at the Magic Kingdom is hand polished every night after the park closes! That's dedication!
And Disney parks also have a surprising small amount of litter on the ground as well. Surprisingly little as in none at all. This is naturally very good for the environment that this garbage isn't being put into waterways for manatees to choke on, but how do they do it? Sure you do see a few janitorial cast members walking around, but not as many as you'd think would be necessary to keep parks that size clean. I've got a few theories.
Trained Birds
I have heard of studies being conducted to train crows to pick up trash and when they drop it off in a special garbage can, they are rewarded with some crow food. And this does sound like something that Disney would do...
Robot Birds
Think trained birds except replace 'trained' with 'programmed.'
Subliminal Messaging
It's entirely possible that Disney emits frequencies that are too high for the human ear to hear yet make the person be unable to throw trash on to the ground without suffering horrible, horrible guilt that can only be assuaged from buying souvenirs from one of the gift stores.
Time Manipulation
While this may be mere speculation, what if Disney cast members are able to stop time temporarily and during that time they walk around the park and clean up all of the trash? That way they'd only need to have one or two people to clean the entire place. The few people you see walking around with brooms and dustpans would be for show, of course. They don't want people catching on to their time manipulation technology.
Anyway, those are just my theories. The world may never know how they keep their parks so clean. Don't forget to check in tomorrow to see the results from the next tournament match up!!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Green Tip #93: Disney World, Part 1!
As those of you who read faithfully will by now have figured out, many of the Green Tips that I write are very directly influenced by things that happen in my life. So it should really come as no surprise that this first entry back in a while should be about Disney World! (Okay, there really was no need for the exclamation point at the end of that last sentence. It just feels like there should always be one at the end of Disney World! like the 2001 hit movie, Moulin Rouge!)
So yeah, I was in Disney World last week with my family and I had a great time! (Dang, that exclamation mark just won't go away! I guess staying a week in the happiest place on earth makes you more enthusiastic about everything!) But you aren't here to read about my personal life, you want to know how Disney World can be an educational tool for environmental sustainability! (If I just ignore it it will go away)
Well, there are actually several things about Disney World that can be used for Green Tips (hence the 'Part 1'). And I'm not just talking about all the recycling exhibits at Epcot or the wildlife conservation messages at Animal Kingdom (although it was fun to drive little model garbage trucks around and play recycling video games). No, I'm talking about the more obscure lessons that only an eco-nerd like myself would pick up on!
My first lesson that I learned from Disney World is that public transportation is cool! No, seriously, I defy you to name one other place on the planet that has as much mass transit! There's the buses that drive between the parks (awesome), the monorail (awesome on one rail), the ferry boats (floating awesome), the trains (too awesome for just one rail), the parking lot shuttles (really long awesome), not to mention the fact that all the rides are basically really impractical public transportation (awesome that always ends up where you started). And they make it all so much fun! Buses in Toledo are somewhat frightening sometimes with homeless people and drunkards, but the buses in Disney World are basically like warm ups for the rides!
So please, Audio-Animatronic replica of Walt Disney that runs Disney World, if you truly love us as much as I believe you do, start expanding your monorail system to encompass the entire continent. Because while a 20 hour car ride was horrible, a 20 hour monorail ride would just be awesome! Share the wealth!
Well, it is good to be back and don't forget that tomorrow!!!! is the start of the May Madness Bracket Tournament of Champions Green Extravaganza 2010: The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny!!!! (I love that song, don't sue me!) Tomorrow's match up will be (1) Recycling vs. (8) Political Activism. Can the underdog pull off the ultimate upset?? Find out tomorrow! And leave your comments about who you think will win!
So yeah, I was in Disney World last week with my family and I had a great time! (Dang, that exclamation mark just won't go away! I guess staying a week in the happiest place on earth makes you more enthusiastic about everything!) But you aren't here to read about my personal life, you want to know how Disney World can be an educational tool for environmental sustainability! (If I just ignore it it will go away)
Well, there are actually several things about Disney World that can be used for Green Tips (hence the 'Part 1'). And I'm not just talking about all the recycling exhibits at Epcot or the wildlife conservation messages at Animal Kingdom (although it was fun to drive little model garbage trucks around and play recycling video games). No, I'm talking about the more obscure lessons that only an eco-nerd like myself would pick up on!
My first lesson that I learned from Disney World is that public transportation is cool! No, seriously, I defy you to name one other place on the planet that has as much mass transit! There's the buses that drive between the parks (awesome), the monorail (awesome on one rail), the ferry boats (floating awesome), the trains (too awesome for just one rail), the parking lot shuttles (really long awesome), not to mention the fact that all the rides are basically really impractical public transportation (awesome that always ends up where you started). And they make it all so much fun! Buses in Toledo are somewhat frightening sometimes with homeless people and drunkards, but the buses in Disney World are basically like warm ups for the rides!
So please, Audio-Animatronic replica of Walt Disney that runs Disney World, if you truly love us as much as I believe you do, start expanding your monorail system to encompass the entire continent. Because while a 20 hour car ride was horrible, a 20 hour monorail ride would just be awesome! Share the wealth!
Well, it is good to be back and don't forget that tomorrow!!!! is the start of the May Madness Bracket Tournament of Champions Green Extravaganza 2010: The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny!!!! (I love that song, don't sue me!) Tomorrow's match up will be (1) Recycling vs. (8) Political Activism. Can the underdog pull off the ultimate upset?? Find out tomorrow! And leave your comments about who you think will win!
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