Move over, Mulan, there's a new Disney princess here to save the day — or at least to ruffle some feathers.
Abigail Disney, an heiress to the astronomical franchise fortune, is making headlines for her recent arrest in New York.
What happened?
Disney's arrest occurred outside the East Hampton Airport while she was attending a protest against the use of private jets and their enormous environmental impact.
The protest included activists from several environmental groups, like Planet Over Profit, Sunrise Movement, and New York Communities for Change. Members of these groups, alongside Disney, formed a blockade at the airport, stopping the flow of traffic.
The East Hampton Airport was likely chosen as the location for the protest because it only serves private jets and charter planes, according to Fox News.
Another protester who was arrested alongside Disney was Teddy Ogborn, a Planet Over Profit organizer.
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"These same rich people farting into the Hamptons on private jets are often the ones who make their money in industries that hugely accelerate the climate crisis," Ogborn said at the protest, according to Fox News. "As long as the 1% continues to needlessly poison our air and heat our Earth, we will continue to escalate our actions against them."
Dr. Margaret Klein Salamon, a psychologist and climate activist, took to Twitter with images taken from the scene.
"Abigail Disney drilled out and arrested," she wrote in one post.
Abigail Disney drilled out and arrested pic.twitter.com/cdpxb8roI9
— Margaret Klein Salamon, PhD (@ClimatePsych) July 14, 2023
Why does Abigail Disney care?
Disney has long spoken out against the use of private jets by the world's ultrawealthy, calling them a "cancer."
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"Of course I don't fly in a private jet," she tweeted this year. "Are you mad?"
In a statement made before her arrest, Disney explained: "As a person who has been privileged enough to use private jets, I know it's hard to give up a luxury that is special. But I also know that the time has passed for spewing greenhouse gases like this merely for our personal comfort."
She cited the recent deadly heat wave scorching the southern U.S., the flooding in Vermont, and the sizzling Florida ocean temperatures as proof that we need "real change."
Disney concluded by citing the fact that the world's wealthiest 1% creates twice as much planet-heating pollution as the poorest 50%.
"It is time for real change, and this is the most obvious place to start," she added.
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