Living with the Land Stan

If you’re out and about on a dog walk, consider picking up some trash! All our waterways are connected, and trash that ends up in a pond will eventually make its way to the ocean, where marine animals will mistake it for food, leading to malnourishment. I’m sure some of what I picked up was intentional litter, but I also think much of it was unintentional. Plastic trash can easily fly out of garbage bins on a windy day when they’re not properly disposed of. Aside from minimizing your use of plastic disposables, here’s some ways to ensure your plastic trash doesn’t end up in a sea turtle’s throat: -do not put plastic bags, wraps, and films in your recycling bin; most municipalities will not recycle these curbside; find a store drop off location -ensure non-recyclable plastic is secure in a sealed trash bag; do not put items loose in your curbside garbage bin Also, don’t let your dog bite the trash, especially if it came out of a pond infested with dirty snails and all sorts of microorganisms. Sandy is doing fine despite that quick bite of the plastic bag. She’ll be on a shorter leash next time! [Video description in pinned comment] #LivingWithTheLand #CleanUpCrew #Litter

It’s the most wonderful part of the most wonderful time of the year: Glimmering Greenhouses! Will you be seeing it in-person this holiday season? Check it out until December 30. For those of you still blocked out like me, enjoy this footage of it from last year. [Video description: A montage of the Living with the Land greenhouses during the Behind the Seeds Tour in daytime and from the boat at nighttime. #LivingWithTheLand #GlimmeringGreenhouses #HolidaysAtDisney #EPCOT #FestivalOfTheHolidays #WDW #DisneyWorld

Follow cast member instructions, even if an entire area of the park is named after you! 🤭 [Video description: Donald walks through the queue of his meet ‘n greet in Dinoland, unhooking the chains while the cast member yells at him not to. Text reads: Donald Duck is on Santa’s Naughty List] #Dinoland #DonaldsDinoBash #AnimalKingdom #DAK #WDW #DisneyWorld #HolidaysAtDisney

It’s been a minute since I’ve posted anything to my feed 😅 Just been living in Stories lately. Work has been busy since coming back from Japan, and I haven’t felt like working on content lately. Not sure why, but I guess it’s okay to take a break. Also, I can’t believe there’s less than 2.5 months left in the year! 😱 What do y’all have coming up to bookend the year with that you’re excited about? [Video description: A small dark brown frog sits on a yellow croc shoe on Jamie’s foot]

Be like Walker the African pied crow and recycle your plastics. Better yet, avoid using disposable single-use plastics when you can. This #PlasticFreeJuly what is one plastic free swap you can try out in your daily life? In the U.S., we don’t have a great track record with recycling plastics: only 5-6% of plastics get recycled each year. Potentially, Disney properties have a higher rate of recycling. However, recycling plastic isn’t necessarily a great solution to plastic waste anyway. Many types of plastic will have defects and contaminants introduced into the material when they’re recycled multiple times. As for producing virgin plastic, it requires thousands of chemicals and fossil fuel, adding to greenhouse gases and our climate crisis. In 2025, Disney plans to disclose their plastic use as part of an agreement with @greencenturyfunds (read the press release: tinyurl.com/gc-plastic). It’s impossible to have a good time at Disney without having to use single-use plastic 😭😭 😭 So I’m looking forward to seeing how aligned the company is with their sustainability goals. We can do our part as individuals to be more sustainable, but it really is the responsible of corporations, who do most of the environmental harm, to take action. Learn more about the problem with plastic from MIT @technologyreview: tinyurl.com/mit-plastics [Video description: On the Feathered Friends in Flight stage, a black crow with white on the back of its neck hops onto a green recycling bin with a empty plastic water bottle in its beak. It drops the bottle into the recycling bin’s slot.] #Sustainability #DisneyParks #LivingWithTheLand #DisneyAnimalKingdom #PlasticFree #ZeroWaste

This is such a cool fact! Here’s how it works: Nitrogen is an important component in chlorophyll, which gives a plant its green color. Nitrogen in the air, though, is in a form (a molecule of two bonded nitrogen atoms) that’s unusable by plants. When lightning strikes, the high energy burst splits the nitrogen molecule. The nitrogen atom bonds with oxygen atoms to form nitric acid. It then dissolves in rain droplets, falling onto the soil as nitrate, which is usable for the plants. An approaching storm may seem violent and destructive to us 😉 but to the plants, it’s important for their health! [Video description: Title reads: Lightning makes plants green. Find out how. From the view of the Living with the Land boat, a scene of projected thunder flashing across a dark and stormy sky. Fake foliage billows from wind.] #LivingWithTheLand #Gardening #Plants

I think I recognize what song this water fountain is playing. What do you think it is? This is a shishi-odoshi, a traditional Japanese water fountain used to scare off animals to keep them from grazing in a garden. You can enjoy this one and a few others in the Japan Pavilion during EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival until May 27. [Video description: A water fountain display in a garden of green plants. A xylophone with wooden hammers sticking out of a box sits on a bamboo table. The box is attached by a rod to a water wheel. The water wheel rotates from water flowing out of a bamboo pipe, spinning the rod and activating the hammers to hit the xylophone keys.] #EPCOT #FlowerAndGardenFestival #JapanPavilion

Be part of the Feathered Friends in Flight show at Animal Kingdom! Before the show starts, have a dollar bill handy. During the show, the presenters will ask for an adult volunteer with a dollar bill. If you’re chosen, Texas the African pied crow will flyer over to take it out of your outstretched hand. This show is a great way to appreciate the intelligence of birds. Have you gotten to experience this encounter with Texas? [Video description: An African pied crow flies from the stage with a stone building facade and slow motion shows the crow grabbing a dollar bill from an audience member’s outstretched hand. The crow flies back to the stage and onto the presenter’s hand. The crow has a white body and black head, wings, and tail feathers. Next shot, the crow flies back and perches onto the audience member’s arm. The audience member retrieves the dollar.] #DisneyAnimalKingdom #WaltDisneyWorld #AnimalEncounters #FeatheredFriendsInFlight

Can you name the movie that’s represented by the decor in Living with the Land’s tropical greenhouse? For Flower and Garden Festival, the greenhouses have been decorated in honor of a few Disney movies. It’s fun to catch all of the details! [Video description: A montage of details from the Living with the Land tropical greenhouse. Next to a pond bordered by rocks is a treasure chest of yellow and orange flowers with strings of pearls and a yellow crown hanging off the open lid. A crab sits on the rocks. A sea star-shaped arrangement of succulents in the sand. A shelf of gadgets and gizmos, including a candelabra with a knife, fork, and spoon. A succulent topiary of a mermaid fin dives into the pond. Dangling succulent topiaries shaped like jellyfish have tentacles lit up with stringed lights.] #LivingWithTheLand #EPCOT #FlowerAndGardenFestival #FlowerAndGarden

While I was blocked out at Disney, I headed over to @seaworldorlando for the first time and enjoyed their Seven Seas Festival. Running until May 19, the festival offers over 200 special food and beverage items as well as live entertainment (Ludacris on April 28, anyone?). I enjoyed many of the food items, and an added bonus is that the ingredients are sustainably sourced. Since 2008, SeaWorld has committed to sourcing seafood from responsibly managed fisheries for both its animals and guests. They also source produce locally when possible and partnered with @rainforestalliance to ensure their coffee and chocolate are responsibly sourced. In 2016, they added a commitment to purchasing pork cuts from farms with humane practices as well as cage-free eggs. To save $$$ on these sustainable eats, purchase a Food & Beverage Sampling Lanyard. For food items, you get the same portion size as purchasing without the lanyard. For alcohol, you’ll get a smaller size. A 10-item lanyard is $70. A 15-item lanyard is $85 (I split this lanyard with three other people). Food items average $10-12. So this is a good deal! [Video description: A montage of food items, decorative displays, and animals at SeaWorld during the Seven Seas Festival. Food items include chicken tikka masala on rice, escargot on toast, fried pickle spears, cajun rice balls, bratwurst with beer cheese, and lime mango fruit tart garnished with lavender. Signage on decorative displays read: sustainable food, delectable flavors and thank you for supporting our local growers. Four dolphins jump up and nose-dive back into the water. An orca splashes onto its back into the water. #EarthMonth #SeaWorld #SeaWorldOrlando #ThingsToDo #SevenSeasFestival #AmusementPark