Disney, as Disney is fond of reminding us, is not just a movie company or an entertainment conglomerate: it's a kingdom, a lifestyle, almost a religion. And if that's true, its position on the major issues of the day are more than just fodder for the back pages of their annual stockholder report: they're front page news, or even the subject of scholarly tomes.
Such, as the New York Times reports, is the case with Disney's environmental record. Throughout its history, Disney has played both sides of the ecological fence: it recently announced the formation of a new film unit exclusively dedicated to creating nature documentaries, while its theme parks are denounced by environmentalists as resource-draining, pollution-spewing nightmares; its previous science films have sparked the interest of children in wildlife and conservation, while attracting charges of exaggeration or outright fakery; and its beloved animated children's classics have cemented a protective attitude towards nature in the minds of entire generations, while both hunters and animal rights activists claim that they present a distorted and dangerous view of animal life.
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