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'Mickey and Minnie Mouse' Arrested Outside of Disney HQ
Photo by Rainforest Action Network via Flickr
Activists from the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) dressed as iconic characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse were arrested this morning during a protest and banner-hanging outside the Walt Disney Company's Headquarters in Burbank. The group unfurled a 35-foot banner reading “Disney: Destroying Indonesia’s Rainforests," and blocked the company's main entrance early this morning, as part of an ongoing campaign.
RAN Forest Campaigner Robin Averbeck said via news release that “Disney is printing children’s books with paper that is driving the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests." Evidence of use of the paper derived from the Indonesian rainforests came from lab results from tests ordered by RAN in March 2010 and conducted by independent lab Integrated Paper Services (IPS).
RAN's The Understory site notes that in late March of this year, Disney issued a paper policy in response to pressure from RAN, but that the fine print of the policy actually spelled a failure to rule out the use of paper sourced from places like the Indonesian rainforests.
Disney is the largest publisher of children’s books in the world, explains RAN, producing over 50 million books and 30 million magazines a year.
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