For an image-obsessed outfit like the Walt Disney Co., the soiled Mickey Mouse disposable diapers scattered throughout garbage dumps don't exactly proclaim environmental activism. MCA Inc. is making points with a company recycling program and earth-friendly television shows, movies, videos and records. But some critics say the entertainment conglomerate is mismanaging Yosemite National Park, which an MCA subsidiary oversees. Industrial giants from Exxon Corp. to Union Carbide Corp. present fat targets for environmentalists. But the reach of the green movement has grown so much that even Disney and MCA, home of such squeaky clean characters as Snow White and E.T., now must answer to the ecological accountants. Not long ago, the world looked to Hollywood for escapism. In recent years, however, public pressure has led the entertainment industry to reexamine its depiction of alcohol abuse, violence toward women, birth control and bigotry. Now that the environment has become the hot issue, Hollywood once again is trying to set an example. NBC's ``ALF'' is among the most environmentally conscious TV shows. One recent episode had the furry alien battling chlorofluorocarbon polluters. NBC distributed note pads of recycled paper to advertise the show. The episode reflected well on NBC and its parent, General Electric Co. But GE isn't ranked too highly by environmental groups. At GE's annual meeting April 25, for example, shareholder activists have resolutions on the agenda urging the company to devise a plan to stop producing hazardous wastes and cut its own chlorofluorocarbon pollution. These days, the entertainment industry is not content generating ecological programs, such as The Disney Channel's presentation this month of anti-pollution shows. Instead, many Hollywood companies are practicing their own environmentalism. Disney and MCA, for example, say they're motivated by genuine concern. ``We're not out to publicize our efforts,'' said Garrett De Bell, MCA's environmental consultant. Last month Disney appointed a new environmental czar, Kym Murphy, who reports directly to company chieftains Michael Eisner and Frank Wells, and says they realize ``the amazing responsibility we have.'' ``Our ability to influence is remarkable, and the perception people have of us is really hard to live up to,'' Murphy said. Has Disney done so? Not entirely, he acknowledged. ``I think if you ask people, `Does Disney recycle,' they would say, `Gee, they must if anybody does.' '' In fact, Disney does not. Disney is anxious to start a better program, he said. One of Murphy's first chores was contacting the Procter & Gamble Co., which buys licenses rights to print little Disney characters on the adhesive strips that hold Disney Babies disposable diapers to infant bottoms. Disposable diapers are among the fastest-growing components of landfill rubbish. About 16 billion are dumped each year. Environmentalists say they can take decades to decompose. Murphy said Procter & Gamble researchers are ``pulling out all the stops'' to make their products more environmentally safe. His other chief environmental headache has been Disney's quasi-city government that exercises near-total power over 27,000 acres surrounding the company's Florida operations, home of Walt Disney World and other fun parks. For the past two years, Disney has come under heavy criticism from some local community leaders who say it doesn't pay the environmental costs generated by millions of tourists. Disney finally agreed to pay $14 million in additional property taxes, but then angered locals even more by announcing construction of seven more hotels, 29 new attractions, a fourth amusement park and 19,000 more workers. ``They can go out there and pave over anything they want to do without going through any kind of environmental review,'' said Bill Donegan, an Orange County, Fla. commissioner who'ss led an effort to make Disney more accountable. ``We don't know the real impact environmentally. We don't know how many woodpeckers' nests have been destroyed, how many eagles, how many ospreys.'' MCA has been trumpeting its attention to the environment, both on the Universal Studios lot and in film and TV. At MCA offices in Universal City, the company began a company-wide recycling program using containers decorated with a Woody Woodpecker logo. The staff at MCA subsidiary Universal Television met last fall with representatives of the Environmental Media Association, an organization that promotes earth-friendly messages in the entertainment industry. Andy Spahn, EMA director, said producers asked how recycling themes could be incorporated into storylines. ``This is not a problem that can be solved by government action alone,'' he said. ``Through film, television and music, the industry is in a unique position to reach millions of people and show them they can make a difference.'' Others say the real test of a company's commitment to the environment is not whether it makes shows about recycling. More important, they say, is whether a company's decisions do more for the planet than for profits. ``High profile companies cannot change the world single-handedly, but they can set an example,'' said Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic Airways and a long-time environmental activist. ``It's so often people will talk about causes without doing something that actually affects themselves or their business,'' said Branson. Sleeves for Virgin's records (artists include Paula Abdul, Soul II Soul) are recycled paper. Virgin Atlantic says it will plant a tree for every passenger flying between London and Los Angeles in the next 12 months. At the Hard Rock Cafe chain, employees sort waste paper and beverage bottles, said founder Peter Morton. ``We're not suddenly converts to the environmental movement now that it's fashionable,'' he said, noting that the phrase ``Save the Planet'' has been part of the company's logo for 10 years. Despite earning millions of dollars at Yosemite on a concession fee of $600,000, MCA's Yosemite Park and Curry Co. is as committed to the park as it is to shareholders, the company says. Environmental consultant De Bell, who lives in Yosemite, said that when Yosemite switched from polystyrene cups to recyclable paper containers, it cost MCA about $20,000. ``We want to do good business and improve the environment as much as possible,'' De Bell said. Dan Jensen, executive vice president of MCA's Curry unit, said the subsidiary declined an offer worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from a automobile maker wanting to call itself Yosemite's official car. ``We would have been preying on the name Yosemite which is not ours to own,'' Jensen said. Environmental critics say MCA has spent too much marketing the California park and doesn't spend enough money maintaining it. De Bell said the criticisms have been blown out of proportion because ``Yosemite is a shrine of the environmental movement.''
