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Paul Scott's avatar

I look forward to the story describing the new opening of the electric Autopia ride and how much better it is than the old, smelly, polluting one. If Disney wanted to properly celebrate this achievement, they could invite Sammy, Zan Dubin, and a few of the other activists to be among the first to experience the new, cleaner version of Autopia. They should all be first in line.

Sammy Roth's avatar

I wouldn't say no to an opening-day invite!

Zan Dubin's avatar

As I shared on Facebook and will elsewhere, "as these things sometimes go, we can't be sure it was our activism--or the prodding of climate columnist extraordinaire Sammy Roth--that did the trick. But the fix is in and, well, I got the last word in Sammy's latest. I sincerely hope you read it all and subscribe to Sammy's Substack. He's doing the kind of invaluable democracy-fortifying journalism that can make giant corporations change." If you're reading this, I believe you already subscribe. So let's urge friends to.

Sammy Roth's avatar

Thank you very very kindly, Zan!

Zan Dubin's avatar

Just statin' the facts!

Rosana Francescato's avatar

Clearly, activism, journalism, and regulation are all critical. Thanks for all you're doing!

Sammy Roth's avatar

Thank you so much, Rosana!

Zan Dubin's avatar

It's so true. Like many things, there's no silver bullet or single answer or approach. OK...I looked it up: Even Tinker Bell, if you believe the interwebs, is something of a polymath: Besides flying, and being a good friend, she can invent, craft and mend objects. And create and distribute pixie dust, of course.

Eric Warren's avatar

(Sammy, just finally bought a paid sub to your great newsletter. Keep fighting the good fight!)

I mean, its Disney. The most valuable and influential media company in the world. Like many large companies, they inspire love (for their characters and brands) and hate (for the fact they often act in the interest of shareholders, which they are legally required to do as a publicly traded company).

I often find myself conflicted. For example, I am an Amazon Seller, so I depend upon the company for income (and also love the convenience of shopping there online) but, I am very concerned with what Amazon and all of the other major tech companies are doing with LLM/AI. In Karen Hao's excellent Empire of AI, it is clear that the current AI tech is acting like the British Empire of the 19th and early 20th century.

So, there is good, and there is bad. As a former journalist I admire what you and others are doing to try to get big business to stop destroying the planet. As a former corporate exec (and current small business owner) I understand that companies have to balance a lot of different requirements.

As one of your other commentators said below, its a win. Let's do air high fives.

Now if only the Dodgers would PLEASE stop taking Big Oil money. I mean...