Disney has decided to help stop the destruction of the rainforest and its indigenous people by enacting a policy that would halt the company and its subsidiaries use of all paper that is associated with the rainforests.  This is the result of over two years of dialog between Disney directors and the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). The policy institutes Disney's leadership among many household product manufactures including Staples, Mattel, Scholastic, Tiffany and Kroger that have moved to source paper more conscientiously to help slow the rate at which the world's most valuable forests are being pulped.

There are nine top U.S. publishers which have worked with RAN to announce rainforest promises; they are Scholastic, Hachette, Pearson/Penguin, Candlewick Press, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan, Random House, Simon & Schuster, and now Disney. Disney is the largest publisher of children books and assorted magazines. This new policy will include all of Disney's global market. Including Disney's media networks, theme parks, resorts, cruise ships, and all its product packaging, copy paper and book publishing as well as the 3,700 licensees that use Disney characters. It will also influence the operations of 25,000 factories in more than 100 countries that produce Disney products, including 10,000 in China.

Disney's policy will create and encourage buying recycled paper products and reduce the use of new paper. They will not be obtaining paper products from controversial paper giants Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings (APRIL). APP is reportedly the third largest paper company in the world. Disney's declaration will have a particularly important impact in Indonesia, the principal place where tropical rainforests are still being cut down for paper. The pulp and paper industry is one of the key drivers of the estimated 2.5 million acres of rainforest cut down per year in Indonesia.

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, because of the pulp and paper giants like Asia Pulp and Paper and APRIL. Disney's commitment will reduce the demand for paper made at the expense of rainforests. Disney's policy will create a huge impact on the ability of the rainforest to grow back and to be sustainable for the benefit of the planet and for the people who share the earth. In other words Disney is going green.
Indonesia has some of the most biologically and culturally diverse forests in the world, home to species like the Sumatran tiger, of which only 400 animals remain it is imperative that we save the forests for these rare and beautiful creatures. Indonesia is a highly polluted area, ranked third in greenhouse gas emissions just behind China and the United States, due to this rampant deforestation.

It is refreshing to see a huge global giant such as Disney stepping up and taking steps to stop the annihilation of our planet. If Disney can make these much needed and important changes with the vast expanse of all their different businesses, then each and every one of us can take small but just as important steps to help save our planet from ruin. It is not often that I salute a corporation, but today I give Disney the proper acknowledgement and praise along with the respect that they deserve.
Thank you Disney.