When the Walt Disney Co. announced earlier this month that it would finally be Abandon the petrol engines that spit the SMOG in its beloved autopy Attraction in Anaheim, the company has left some key details to the imagination.
Would new driving vehicles be purely electric? Or would they be hybrids that have still burned fuel based on climate percourage oil? And how long would the creative heirs and engineers from Walt Disney take to do the switch long awaited?
After writing a story break the news About the company's plans, a coalition of electric vehicle activists has launched a campaign to put Disney to get involved in electric vehicles – not hybrids – and to eliminate petrol in the two years.
Thursday, these activists won.
In a written statement, Disneyland spokesperson Jessica Good confirmed at the time that electrification “means entirely electric – this does not mean hybrid or any other version of a petrol combustion engine”. She added that the theme park “will no longer use current engines in the next 30 months.”
This means that in the fall of 2026, Disneyland guests will no longer have to worry about breathing the pulmonary damaging exhaust by queuing for the autopy – and the park employees will not have spent time changes by inhaling these smoke while they work.
It is not yet clear when the newly electrified autopy will reopen.
“The reinvention of an attraction takes time, so we have no reopening date at the moment,” said Good.
Zan Dubin, the lawyer for electric vehicles leading the pressure campaign, was delighted when she heard the news on Thursday. She called it a “huge victory” and a powerful reminder that climate activism works.
“It is enough to allow bad things to continue to continue, it is that the right people do nothing,” she said, paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln. “And we refuse to stay in place and do nothing.”
Dubin had planned to run a rally Outside Walt Disney Studios in Burbank on Sunday to urge the business to do better on the autopy. She told me that she was going ahead with the event, even if she said it would now be more a celebration.
“We are delighted,” she said.
The stories that Disney tells in its theme parks – and on its streaming services, cruise ships and other platforms – are much more than entertainment. They play a powerful role in training the way we understand our world and ourselves. This is why the company's decision to close Splash Mountain Disneyland Ride – which was Based on a racist film – and its growing embrace of LGBTQ + characters In his films, have become political flash points. Opponents of progress know that these choices count.
If you care about climate progress, you should worry about the autopie.
Disneyland visitors are waiting to leave the Autopia attraction in March.
(All J. Schaben / Los Angeles)
When the journey opened in 1955 as a centerpiece of Walt Disney Tomorrowland, it helped to cement American conscience the idea that gourmet gas cars – and sprawling highways – were the promise of the future. In one year, President Eisenhower had signed the bill that would create the interstate road system as we know it today.
Almost 70 years later, cars, trucks and other modes of transport are the largest source of cutting off the country – emissions that have fueled record global temperatures for 10 consecutive monthsresulting in more deadly heat waves, fires and storms. The combustion of fossil fuels fuels also produces regular ancient air pollution that researchers say they kill millions of people Each year.
Pass petrol engines to electric cars Only all of our environmental and public health problems will not solve.
Operating operations to provide lithium for electric lithium-ion car batteries can be environmental destructive In some places. Historically, highways were built through low -income colors communities, Tearing the vibrant neighborhoods. The more we can rebuild our cities around public transport, electric bikes and green spaces – and less around cars – the more happy and healthier we will be.
Beyond the autopie, Disney has the opportunity to promote this kind of future in Tomorrowland.
Like I Written earlier this monthDisneyland fans agree that the former-pasturistic land has not been particularly avant-garde for a long time. In my opinion, clean energy and durability would make the perfect theme for a new and improved Tomorrowland. There is already a large element of public transport in the monorail. Add gas -free induction stoves to the main restaurant, solar panels, environmental films at the cinema currently empty – it could be quite great.
But even unless it is all of this, we will need a lot of electric vehicles, quickly, to control the climate crisis. And so that Disney is starting to tell the story of these electric vehicles in Autopia is a big problem. The company deserves the merit of having done things well.
“I'm glad they have intensified and made the right shot,” said Joel Levin, executive director of Plug in America, a national group for the defense of electric vehicles that sponsor the rally of this Sunday. “It is a great way for the public to experience electrification, to transform it into a learning moment, rather than the experience of standing next to a gas lawn mower, which is now.”
Autopie Original sponsor was Richfield Oil, which later merged with another company to create ARCO. From 2000 to 2012, the oil giant Chevron Corp. took a turn As a fundaler of emblematic attraction. The current driving sponsor is Honda.
It is not clear if Honda will play a role in the reimagination of Autopia. The automaker did not respond to a request for comments and Disney refused to comment. Motortrend Magazine, however, Reported in 2016 This Honda sponsorship agreement would take place for 10 years, which means that this could expire in 2026 – in accordance with the newly promised Disney calendar to eliminate gas engines.
Whether Honda or another company, it should not be painful of impatient sponsors – for an electric autopy, and for other sustainable and user -friendly innovations on the climate that Disney might want to display in Tomorrowland. The future is brilliant.
