Dog Friendly

My fabulous weekend at the Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina proved that I really can find a "dog friendly" town. Three of my dearest friends and I spent four days charmed by this smokey mountain city. As one might suspect, friends of mine are usually animal lovers, and we were all particularly excited to see the number of dog lovers milling about everywhere we looked. Even on the Biltmore Estate grounds people were walking all variety of dogs through the gardens to enjoy the festival of flowers.

Apparently, one living in the area can purchase an annual pass for only slightly more than the day pass most visitors buy. Any and every pass holder is free to walk their dogs about on a leash, although I doubt they are allowed in the estate house itself. For the really adventurous annual pass holders, one can even bring their horse in to ride the trails. I live too many hours away to take advantage of this, but I would certainly be a regular dog walker there if I could.

The Biltmore isn't the only dog friendly establishment in town. Dogs were abundant everywhere, and many of the area hotels, even the nicer ones, advertised allowing pets. In the downtown area, people were out walking dogs all around the city. Dogs were in the stores shopping or hanging out with their companion shop keepers. They were in the cafe outdoor areas enjoying tea and crumpets. One was even sunning himself in a local shop window display. Nowhere did I see a muzzle, nor did I find people cringing when a Rottweiler or a German Shepherd walked by. There was none of the seeming reticence about certain breeds, and one's best friend seems free to accompany them out most everywhere for an afternoon on the town. It was everything I expected from my visit to Paris, but didn't get.

I have said for many years, particularly in times when politics in this country were not going my way (like the dark days we have recently, and finally, moved beyond), that some day I was going to move to Paris. Last May, not having been to that city, I decided it was time to be prepared for the worst the following November. Plus, I wanted to be sure Paris lived up to my romantic ideal. Well, let me tell you, it's a lovely city, and contrary to their undeserved reputation in our country, the people were also lovely. At first, I was sure it was the city for me. The art, the architecture, the night life, the culture, all things were fabulous, and I was so ready to pack my bags until...I saw a man walking a very timid Rottweiler with a muzzle. The dog was panting and seemed uncomfortable in the humidity, and I couldn't understand why this sweet thing needed to be subjected to a caged mouth. My friend Leon explained in his very French accent, not knowing the can of worms he was about to open, that "Rottweilers are dangerous, and it is law that they must be muzzled if they are taken out in the public." I'm sure his ears rang for several hours after. He knows me well, and still speaks to me regardless of my response that day.

Rottweilers, yes, have the potential to be dangerous. So too does every single dog breed of every single size and shape. And, if one wants to talk about the danger factor, I will take a dog of any size over a cat any day of the week. I've said it before, folks, and I'll say it again, animals of every kind have individuality, for which I have coined the term "animality". Just like humans, each individual has the potential to be dangerous. Often, in the case of animals, it is the humans and their abuse or neglect that create the danger.

My first Rottweiler, Isabeau, was heavily abused by a drunk man for the first six weeks of her life. This was before I rescued her. She was horribly afraid of strange men, particularly if they were in their cups. A professional dog trainer and friend taught me to work with her so she would not snap, snarl, or growl at every man she met. Through positive reinforcement training, she became able to socialize in public, although being a smart dog owner, I was always mindful to keep her under control and away from parties and drinking. She was not, however, a fear biter as one would suspect, and she never needed to be muzzled, not even with her male vet during painful procedures due to cancer.

My current Rottweiler, Mercy, will help you carry out the television if only you offer her a cookie. Good thing I don't publish my address here, I guess. Be warned, however, that my dingo dog (below), a little thirty pound mutt, will be glad to chew off your right leg and your face and feed them to you, should you care to try it. My mother's Shih Tzu will be there to help clean off your bones, as well. He does a mean imitation of a dobie.

If I had to choose which dog to muzzle in public, it certainly would not be my sweet Mercy. Yet, when people see us out, they make a beeline for the cute little dogs and cringe away from the loving bigger one. For me, this isn't any different than any other form of prejudice. You cannot, and should never judge others, be it by race or species, simply by their outer appearances. In the case of animals, I suggest you might want to take another look here at my previous blog, The Danger Disconnect. A chimp looks mighty cute and cuddly, particularly when it grins at you, but you are a foolish person to approach one, especially if it's smiling.

Having the good fortune to have worked as a veterinary technician back in my younger days, before one had to be certified to do so, my co-workers and I quickly learned which animals were most likely to bite when handled. The worst of all were not even dogs or cats, but our clients feathered friends, particularly the parrots. I've seen them flay the skin open to the bone. This particular gentleman carried his macaw around an Asheville music festival all day, where perfect strangers were perfectly willing to hand it food. If you ask me, they are lucky they walked away with their fingers. If I were one to judge simply on a breed, I might be willing to suggest a muzzle for all Macaws.

But, let's keep it among the dogs for a moment. My fellow vet techs were known to come near blows over whose turn it was to handle to next Chihuahua that came into our clinic. We were perfectly happy to help restrain the larger breeds of dogs. After more than twenty years of zoo, vet medicine, pet sitting, and animal rescue work, I have only ever been bitten by numerous species of birds, several nasty little Chihuahuas, and a half drugged out Cocker Spaniel, who woke up during surgery. So, where does one get off saying that a certain breed is more dangerous and needs to be muzzled?

Enough has been said about a certain sports jerk who got caught dog fighting. Since any press is supposed to be good press, I will not even use that _____'s name(insert really nasty word of your choice here). Yet, most of his confiscated Pit Bulls have been rehabilitated, even after all of the horrible abuse they lived through at the dog fights. We watched the documentaries on television and saw them being trained to get over their fears. Most have been placed in loving homes, some even with children and other pets. Unfortunately, many of those families will certainly now have trouble renting a new home or finding insurance to cover them simply because they chose to do a good deed and give a home to an abused dog.

It is not now, nor will it ever be, simply a matter of the breed or the size of the animal that makes it dangerous. Every animal has this potential. A mouse can deliver death in one bite because of its ability to transmit disease. Perhaps we should make a law that all mice must be muzzled in the city, and if one chooses to keep these dangerous creatures as pets, one should certainly NOT be allowed to rent a home nor purchase insurance!
I hope this never happens again, but, if I ever find myself disgusted with my country in the future, I will not be moving to Paris, nor, I am sad to say, anywhere in France for that matter, unless they rethink some animal laws. Instead, I'll be looking for a place more like Asheville, where I can take Mercy and Cinco for a stroll on the town without muzzles, where we can enjoy a latte at the corner and shop together to our heart's desires. No city will be perfect, but this should be close enough for us.

All pictures provided by Amanda C. Sandos.

Thumb Cat Likes Soup

Ike the Thumb Cat is back and busy eating some soup.

Lynchburg Pet Store Thinks Green

Diana Hobson is setting a green example for area business owners and customers alike. The owner of Pet Craze at Western Ways has chosen to think green in her new business endeavor on a number of levels including her buying practices, not only in the sale of environmentally friendly products, but also in the promotion of purchasing American and locally made products. She is also thinking green in her daily conservation practices like recycling, and through her advocacy of animal rescue over the sale of animals. Hobson is also the owner of the well-known Western Ways, which has been in business for thirty-five years, and remains the only specialized horse and tack store in the area.

When Western Ways began to bulge at the framing, and since Hobson didn’t own the building in order to enlarge it, she was forced to relocate it to a bigger red barn built around the corner. Rather than abandoning the original location, which in this economy might have left the empty building to sit for an unknown period of time, she opted to follow her interest in the proper care and nutrition of dogs. So, she created Pet Craze at Western Ways, a new specialty pet store and do-it-yourself dog wash in the old Western Ways barn. One might think all of this does not sound very green, but just wait until you dig beneath the surface.

With the help of a couple of long-time friends, Kathy Malloy and Lisa Boedaphur, the store underwent a few very small renovations, some even built with the help of friends and family. These included the addition of three stainless steel washing stations with easy access doors and ramps and three grooming stations with easy access steps. Pet Craze at Western Ways was open for business after only a few short months.

But, what is really great is all the ways Hobson has been thinking green in this new endeavor. For instance, she opted to install a tankless water heater with temperature regulators to conserve water and energy use in the tubs. She also installed lower energy blow driers for the dogs. Plus, the store provides micro-fiber super absorbent towels to cut blow drier time and natural shampoos that are environmentally safe. And, if you’re worried about all that laundry, not only do the micro-fiber towels cut the overall volume of laundry, but the store uses a load-sensitive, energy efficient washer and drier, as well.


Owners who take their pets to the groomers or even those who wash them at home in a traditional tub can now do so affordably with much less stress on the back. Plus, they can do so knowing they are not just saving money but helping to conserve water and energy in the process. Hobson will also be the first to tell her customers that dogs don’t need to be bathed too often. For a healthy coat and skin, they need their body oils and over washing only serves to dry their skin and waste time and valuable resources. Washing the dog once every few months is usually more than sufficient.

In addition to her new green dog wash, Hobson is taking proper dog and cat nutrition very seriously. In preparation for opening the new store, she attended conferences and took animal nutrition classes in order to make informed choices on what lines of high quality foods she should promote in her store. After careful deliberation, she has chosen some well-known and highly recommended brands like Wellness, Canidae, and Innova, along with some newer brands like the holistic line called Halo and the brand my own dog is raving about called Into the Wild. She offers some grain-free varieties for food allergy animals along with other organic foods and snacks for dogs and cats, as well. She even plans to keep one or two lines of fresh food in the store as soon as she has chosen the best products and the energy efficient freezer she’ll need to store them in. When it comes to nutrition, Hobson is making sure her store is stocked with the best brands America has to offer and employing a staff, including people like myself with over twenty years of animal care experience, that is knowledgeable and ready to assist the customers.

One of the things which impressed me the most about Hobson, and the biggest reason I accepted her offer to help out with this new project, is her insistence on promoting the best animal care practices. Rather than making a killing (often in more ways than one) selling animals like so many other pet stores, she will instead be promoting local animal rescue organizations. She has designated a blackboard area in the store for these organizations to advertise the animals they are currently trying to place, and Hobson plans to allow them to schedule weekend fundraisers and rescue fairs at the store. A donation box for the Humane Society was already in place for last Friday’s soft opening. Every person who asks about purchasing animals will be encouraged to consider rescuing a pet instead.

Even better for this former zookeeper, Hobson is not fond of the idea of promoting caged animals, and although she wouldn’t dream of begrudging others their own pet choices, she has made the personal choice to specialize only in the sale of items for dogs and cats, along with and a few things for the wild backyard variety of bird and affordable animal related gifts for the humans in the household.

Another thing that impressed me is her reluctance to purchase too many needless items for the store. Rather than making sure every shelf is bulging with all kinds of low quality junk from unknown locations around the world, Hobson has tried to buy mostly useful items made in the United States. Not only is she buying as many American Made products as she can, she will also be providing products made by several local artists and small businesses. In addition, she has no problems leaving a few shelves empty for the time being until she is sure she has purchased quality items that her customers will really use.

Indeed, there will be some items of the frivolous nature for the pampered pet and their owners, but I am confident Hobson will refrain from overindulging in this kind of thing. Since my first day working with her when she spent hours looking for and finally choosing the best, most affordable, and environmentally safe shampoo products she could find, I quickly realized that wasteful living and buying practices just don’t seem to be in her make-up.

Having grown up on a farm, Hobson is a lover of nature and no stranger to green living practices. She claims her long-time staff at Western Ways has grown weary of her nagging when it comes to things like recycling and reducing the amount of paper they use. Because Lynchburg does not yet offer recycling pick-up services, she can often be seen loading her own van with cardboard, paper, and plastic items to take to the nearest recycling center. Everyone in her employ is expected to help keep paper use to a minimum and to look for ways they too can help reduce, reuse, and recycle. It is not uncommon to find items made from recycled materials in the store, and she has even made sure to purchase and promote the use of pooper scoopers and biodegradable bags for disposing of the unwanted doggy trash.

So if you are a lover of dogs and cats, particularly if you are interested in green living, when your out running your errands come on by the new store in the little red barn on Route 221 in Lynchburg across from the Graves Mill Shopping Center. Feel free to bring your dog on a leash ( house rules) to check out the store and the baths in the new Pet Craze at Western Ways. Feel free to offer suggestions to the friendly staff about any items you would like to see on the shelves, particularly if they are of a green nature.

No dogs or squirrels were harmed in the making of these photos.

Happy Mother's Day

Believe me, I know how lucky I am. My mother and I are best friends. We always have been. I gave her a card this year that says "We are the best mother daughter duo in the world," and I think this really may be true. She always believes in me, even when I don't believe in myself. She is always there for me, too. Even though we live together again, we still enjoy each others company. We look forward to doing things together and rarely feel the need to avoid each other. For this, I am grateful every day. For all of you this mother's day, I wish for you a mother as fabulous as mine. May you also remember that you are lucky to have her. If you've lost her already,may the memories of all you shared be with you today and always and may they bring a smile and peace to your lives.



Today I took my mother to her favorite place, the Peaks of Otter Lodge for Mother's Day brunch. This is the view from our table.



She is always at work in her gardens. The same gardens that have been tended by generations of women in my family. For her and her love of flowers, I am posting some more pictures I have taken over the years in her garden. I hope you enjoy them.











Have a beautiful Mothers Day.

Earth Art by Amanda

Although I have shared photos, I have been remiss in sharing my paintings with you here at the old blog. Apart from the painting at the top of the page, I don't think I have posted any, so I'm going to sprinkle them into this post while I tell you about my latest adventures. The past few weeks have been crazy, now that I have actual paid writing assignments with the expected and dreaded deadlines, plus I continue to run a small pet sitting service, plus I took on a new part-time job helping someone else open a specialty pet shop in town (more on that once we are open for business). On top of all this, I am finally in the process of completing my application to graduate school.


The Zinnia Patch, 2008

College was wasted on me when I was young. I could not wait to get out into the real world, so I gave up a free ride to finish my BS at the age of twenty and took a zoo job in Dallas as quickly as I could. Now after years in the real world, I find I might want to stay in school for the remainder of my adult life. But seriously, I always regretted the decision to quit after only getting my associates, and so several years ago I made the difficult decision to leave my long-term zoo career and return to school. I completed my B.A. in 2008 in the midst of a huge controversy because the woman's college I chose to attend opted to go co-ed and did so with little grace and horrible communications with their student body, faculty, and staff. I ended up smack in the middle of sit-ins and demonstrations and everything college in the sixties seemed to be. Needless to say, I needed a break once I got the heck out of there, so I took a year off. But,the goal has always been to go all the way. I always wanted to be a doctor of something, although never one of the medical variety.


Emerald Boa, 2007

The biggest problem I ran across during my years as an undergraduate was this notion that we should choose one thing to specialize in, choose a major that would become our area of expertise. I've always been an eclectic sort with passions in a number of areas which generally all relate back either to the environment or to the arts or both. But, choosing one of these things over the others seemed impossible as each one compliments the other in the fragrant soup dish that is my life. I got around the notion of choosing a major by doubling up my work load and majoring both in English creative writing and studio art. My final senior project with both departments combined my love of writing, painting, photography, and the environment. My professors passed me, but I'm not sure they really believed I would continue to pursue all of these passions into my professional life. They often encouraged me to pay closer attention to one interest and decide how to pursue this one interest in my graduate work. The very idea made me crabby.


Crabbing, 2007

As usual, I rebelled against the voices of authority. In today's global and rapidly changing world, it seems people are not as interested in things that conform to strict guidelines of genre. Most consumers today are used to multi-tasking in multi-media, and they seem more interested in rapidly changing things that stimulate all their senses, hence the popularity of the computer, where blogging, gaming, and social media continue to grow. Already, with very little experience as a writer or an artist, I have been selling articles to magazines along with my own photography, and even one of the literary journals that will soon publish my poetry will also publish one of my photos to go along with one of the poems. Editors seem increasingly excited by someone who can produce both written and visual work. So, it seems to me that my graduate work should still incorporate both the visual arts and the written word. I want to continue to search out new combined ways to show the concept of deep ecology, the interconnectedness and equal importance of all things on our planet, through my work.


Mercy, 2007

After researching programs all over the country, I was starting to think there was no hope for these eclectic dreams. I thought I might have to conform to the academic world's old school methods, and I was not happy about it. Then, a friend pointed out Goddard College. This low residency graduate program offers an MFA in interdisciplinary arts and/or an MA with an independant study which can include a concentration in environmental studies. It's like they came up with this whole school just for me. So, I am once again wading in the waters of the paperwork swamp, while I also gear up to swim the crashing waves of financial aide tsunamis. Cross your fingers that I make it out alive. When and if my acceptance letter arrives, I'll surely be crowing about it.


As the Crow Cries, 2008

One more quick thing before I go. For those who were interested in the results of Disney's tree planting initiative which coincided with the opening of the movie Earth, go here to read the press release.

My Humble Earth Review

After all the hype and all of you putting up with me talking incessantly about this movie, I finally found the time to go see the Disneynature film Earth yesterday. My Earth Day had been previously booked with drumming performances and tickets to see John Waters speak at Sweetbriar College (Hence the photo from a truly fabulous night that I would not trade for anything). Initially, I told myself it would be better to wait until the crowds died down at the movie theater anyway. Then, I was handed the amazing opportunity to interview the movie's two directors, as anyone who has ever met me now knows (the interview reprise is in the last post). Plus, I was glued to the television for the entire series Planet Earth when it played on the Discovery Channel, and I loved every moment of it. Since the series ended, I have watched or read every scrap I could find on the making of it. Needless to say, I hated waiting so long to see this film, and I was really excited about finally getting to the theater last night. Did it live up to the hype? I am happy to report that it did.

Although some of the footage was seen in the television series, much of it was not. Some of the most famous footage of the series, like the Great White Shark attack, is shown again but also supplamented with new angles and additional footage. Even so, seeing it on television cannot compare to a big screen. Fothergill was not exaggerating when he said nature documentaries have needed the benefit of a theater setting. I found the big screen coming really close to the feeling I get when seeing natural phenomena live. I really felt some of the thrill of standing in the face of nature's awesome power. After many adventures into the wild to view things like the the monarch sanctuaries, where the world is literally blanketed in butterflies, or a volcano spewing it's lava into the ocean, or some of the worlds most spectacular waterfalls, having hiked out to see these spectacles live, I was really stoked to find myself getting that same heart pounding, thunder-struck experience from watching filmed footage on a movie screen.

Even better, some of the spectacles shown in Earth are filmed in places many of us will never be able to travel, nor would we even if we could, so I feel like the makers of this film have offered a great gift. In addition, they offer the idea that even though the planet is in great peril, there are still plenty of wonders out there to protect and save. All is not lost. Some might call it conservation light, but I have to agree with Fothergill when he said there have been enough fear driven, negative documentaries. The positive spin of Earth is refreshing. It makes it's point about earth's troubles, sure, but it also leaves the viewer feeling hopeful. Upon leaving the theater, I felt refreshed and ready to continue fighting to save what's left of our planet rather than feeling frustrated and angry and ready to chuck it in.

My only complaint is the sometimes anthropomorphic dialogue given by the narrator. For the most part it is okay, but in places the sap begins to rise. What do I expect? After all, this is Disney. Perhaps they could have laid off some of that cheesy stuff, but the kids probably love it. James Earl Jones delivers the narration beautifully, and the cheese factor is kept to a minimum, so it was not enough to turn me off entirely. I hate nothing more than a so-called "documentary" with a bunch of lovey dovey cooing and cawing. It's almost as bad as what Fothergill calls "crocodile strangling films," all teeth and blood and guts. For the most part, Earth stays between these two extremes, only slipping to the sappy side in a few places and never once straying too far towards the blood and guts.

Without giving too much of the film away, I thought some of the best scenes were the time lapse photography sequences where the changing seasons are shown over entire areas in a matter of minutes. It is truly breath taking. I highly recommend taking the time to see this film on the big screen. You will follow three amazing animal migrations, a polar bear and her cubs as they hike from den to sea, two humpback whales on their swim from the tropics to the South Pole, and an Elephant family as they migrate across a desert in search of water. In between, you will witness many amazing animals and natural wonders from around the globe. Take the whole family, and enjoy nature documentary film-making at it's finest. Make sure you stay through the credits to see some of the filming process and learn about the unexpected fun of working around wild animals. You never know what a hungry polar bear might do next.

Happy Earth Day 2009!

Because Disneynature has offered to plant a tree for every person who sees the movie Earth, which opens today in celebration of Earth Day, I have opted to post my interview (courtesy of Got2BeGreen) with the movie's directors. I apologize to all of you who have already read it and offer you a gentle reminder to make time to see the movie. I also ask that you take a few moments out of your day to reflect on and look for one thing you can do to be kinder to the earth this coming year. It can be something simple and affordable. Every little thing helps. I plan to convert to the use of reusable shopping bags. I'll stock my car trunk with a stack of them, since I am always forgetting them and end up asking for paper bags at the grocery store. Anyway, please enjoy the article from Got2BeGreen, and feel free to search me on their site for green events and news every week.

Taking Planet Earth to the Next Level



This Earth Day, Disney will launch its new film label,Disneynature, with the movie Earth, Disneynature, with the movie Earth, a film shot in conjunction with the ground breaking television series Planet Earth. Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, both winners of multiple awards, graciously chatted with us about making the movie, their hopes for raising conservation awareness, and the environmental impact of filming.

Fans of the BBC and Discovery Channel series Planet Earth will not want to miss this movie. Filmed in remote locations around the world from the Okavango Delta in Botswana to the Svalbard archipelago between Greenland and Norway, viewers can expect to see the wonder of nature as they have never experienced it before. In addition, for every ticket sold in the opening week of the film, Disney will plant a tree in the endangered rainforests of Brazil.

Fothergill says that the big screen is really the best place for natural history documentaries because it can help transport people and truly give them a sense of what it’s like to be in the environments filmed. Both directors are very excited about Disneynature’s promise to produce at least one major nature documentary each year. The directors of Earth have already been contracted for the next two releases. This gives them both an ongoing larger scale forum to produce quality films that raise awareness about the environment. According to Linfield, Earth is intended to be “a celebration of our planet,” one he hopes will empower people to preserve it.

Although Linfield says it was necessary to film the movie and the television series in conjunction “because of the logistics of what we were trying to achieve,” the film does offer new, never before seen footage. Fothergill says they kept both projects in mind during the filming and slated “key scenes” to be “unique to the movie.” In addition, the big screen and surround sound and “eighty-five uninterrupted minutes make a great deal of difference.”

“There is a real desire for Disney to keep these films absolutely true to nature to the extent that it’s actually [written] in our contracts,” Fothergill says. Therefore, they made a conscious effort not to break what he calls “the first rule” of documentary filming, never to interfere. Although they may edit scenes, they always strive to depict the stories in nature strictly as they were observed.

Fothergill admits there seems to be a desire for “high-octane, biting, snapping, teeth type movies, [where] every animal in nature is dangerous, and you have to make sharks horrible. You have to make snakes poisonous.” He calls these “crocodile strangling movies.” But, this does not depict the true sense of things, so he’s not interested in making this kind of film.

“There are some very tough sequences in the movie, you know, and we don’t shy away from that at all. But, we have chosen not to show blood and gore because, frankly, these are family movies…once the wolf has run down and grabbed the caribou, you don’t need to dwell on it.” He takes what he calls his “privileged position” of coming into people’s homes very seriously. Regardless of the pressures in today’s market to produce exciting fear monger drama, he chooses to show the true stories of nature without the use of this kind of sensationalism.

Linfield follows this up by adding, “We made a very conscious effort to not make a finger wagging, heavy handed, environmental movie.” He feels there are enough of these kinds of films already. He says, “This can be a little bit paralyzing, and it reaches a point where you actually feel that people have an excuse just to hold up their hands and give up. It’s the, “Oh, well, it’s too late already” factor. “Let’s not bother. Let’s just get that new SUV.” Instead, he and Fothergill have chosen to go for an “emergent effect of seeing all that wonder, all that fantastic diversity, all those fabulous things so that people will realize what’s at stake.” They want people to see there is still plenty left out there to preserve and protect.

Most who have seen the series Planet Earth would agree with both directors that this approach indeed made quite an effective conservation piece without the need for heavy handed messages. The series focused on showing the planet as a whole, and by doing so, it also showed the issues which have negatively impacted the planet’s health. The movie Earth promises to take this same innovative approach to the next level by showing our planet on the big screen, bringing nature’s stories to the diverse and potentially enormous audiences generated by Disney.

Of course, the filming of these documentaries carried a heavy carbon footprint. Although they did not calculate the exact amount, both Fothergill and Linfield freely admit that they would not have been able to film in these remote locations nor show the incredible aerial photography of the wildlife “crucial to the movie” without the use of helicopters and airplanes.

Fothergill points out, “You can’t normally follow a polar bear out into the open ocean. You obviously can’t walk on the ice because it’s melted, and you can’t get close on a boat really without disturbing them.” In addition, with the use of a new special stabilized camera system mounted to the helicopters, they are able to zoom in incredibly close and then pull back and pull back until you see the polar bear as a tiny white dot in a huge expanse of ocean. These types of scenes really give the viewer a sense of the wonder of our planet as a whole and push them towards a more ecological mind set where every tiny speck of life on the vast expanse of earth has an equal stake in its health for their survival.

In order to offset their heavy carbon footprint and give something back to the planet, the directors of Earth and Disneynature have taken some important steps. First and foremost, Fothergill says that on future projects they will be calculating their carbon footprint. Regardless of the oversight on this project, he says “As a team, we were very conscious of wastage and, wherever possible, tried to minimize those things.” For example, “we travel very, very light [in small crews], and do simple things such as watching paper wastage and being very careful that we leave things exactly as we found them.”

Fothergill adds, “We’re delighted by the fact that Disney has an initiative around the release of this movie that in the first week, for every person who buys a ticket, they’re going to plant a tree in the North Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil,” a highly threatened rainforest area. The initiative also includes looking after those planted trees in the long- term.

In addition, the Disneynature website will be providing links to many of the conservation and science organizations that helped them during filming. Organizations like Elephants Without Borders, who Linfield says “helped us with the filming of the Okavanga Delta elephant story.” Upon browsing the site, you can also find links to suggested teaching tools and classroom activities which will help educators teach their students about the important environmental and scientific concepts shown in the film.

Earth allows viewers to experience the wonder of the changing of the seasons, the magic in a transformation from the dry season to the wet season, and the majesty of wildlife across our planet, from polar bears on ice flows near the North Pole to Birds of Paradise on the rainforest floors of New Guinea. One can admire predator/prey relationships like that of the Cheetah and the gazelle for what it is, a part of the circle of life that is necessary for survival. One can admire the natural world for its beauty and power, from each unique individual to their intrinsic part in the make-up of the whole of this planet.

Be sure to see Earth during its opening week in a theater near you starting April 22nd. By doing so, you can help the planet by helping to plant a tree in the rainforest. For more information, visit Disneynature. Please remember, it takes the viewers and consumers of earth to keep the issues of conservation and the need for preserving our natural world in the forefront of public awareness. Please continue to support organizations that are working to raise awareness, and help to keep those organizations on track to ensure they are truly continuing to work for the good of our planet, for this is a job that belongs to us all.

Special thanks to Meg Roberts of New Media Strategies for making this interview possible.

Production image appear courtesy of Disneynature.