They should be highlighting the fact that the economy and the environment are not necessarily at odds. Conserving resources is the same thing as conserving money.99Soulz wrote:If it can kill 2 birds (I guess that's not really environmentally conscious is it??) then go for it.
Big business has managed to trick the public into thinking being "green" means lowering your quality of life, when in fact just the opposite is true.
For years, Detroit said improving mileage would break them financially. Today they're still squabbling about a measly 35mpg standard. In the meantime, I've got a boring sedan in my driveway that gets twice the mileage of a Mini Cooper.
If corporations spent all the money they paid lobbyists and advertisers to warp the public's perception on actual R&D, we could have solved a lot of problems a long time ago.
The buses shouldn't be there in the first place. The plan was always to connect everything via clean transportation methods. (In Walt's original model of EPCOT, cars and trucks would not even be allowed at ground level and would be hidden at all times to provide a pleasant and safe experience for all guests and residents.)theBIGyowski wrote:If someone were willing to pony up the billions of dollars it would take to get rid of the buses and provide clean ways to transport everyone around Disney property...they would gladly do it.
There's no reason the parks have to be so far apart, but even laid out as they are, monorails could connect them. And if you've ever visited Universal Orlando, there's something to be said for having all the resorts, parks, and commercial areas within walking distance. Six minutes from your hotel room to your favorite attraction is pretty cool.
Anyway, as has been stated, the entire notion of WDW is completely wasteful. The swamp has been filled in so millions of people can burn through resources for non-essential reasons...watching wasteful fireworks shows, riding power-sucking rides, etc.
But originally WDW was planned to at least be useful as an example of what a utopian society could look like. In some ways, it was a success. Many people consider the monorail to be an attraction in itself. They turned the drudgery of public transportation into a "ride" and at the same time showed off a model of convenience and environmental responsibility.
The Magic Kingdom was built with a state-of-the-art garbage collection system which succeeded in providing an improved experience for the guests without drawing attention to itself. The tech could be demonstrated to communities who were planning similar projects.
America seems to have lost its optimism and its will to create great things, so I suppose it's no surprise that the same thing has happened at WDW. It's just sad that they've become a part of lowering our expectations.
(One notable exception...in the Georgia Aquarium, the urinals are designed to be entirely flushless, and there's a little sign explaining how much water is saved with this simple design change. Not something to shout about from the mountaintops, obviously, but it's a nice detail that shows that you don't need to decrease the quality of an experience to be efficient. You just need to think about things a little bit.)
They should be building smart ideas directly into WDW, whether or not the public actually notices them. Whether it's solar panels on the Universe of Energy or actually serving the food grown in The Land, there's a way to do things right that is cost-effective, efficient, educational, and, y'know, cool. With an emphasis on the last part.
Build the ideas right into the park and let them speak for themselves. Beats the hell out of being lectured to by a cartoon character. Walk the walk and all that.
It was this kind of thinking that made WDW seem like an amazing world of endless possibilities when I was a kid, whereas these days it seems to pack all the wonder of a strip mall.
Although I think we may be the only ones left reading this thread.
