Eager movie/nature lovers have already bought over 500,000 tickets to see the new Disney nature movie in its opening week and subsequently have a tree planted in their honor. Disneynature’s commitment to plant a tree for everyone who sees the motion picture between April 22-28 means that already 500,000 trees will be planted, and that number appears to be increasing steadily with advance ticket sales rising and the April 22 opening just a few days away.

“With half a million new trees committed so far, Disneynature’s first film is already making an impact on the world—and ‘EARTH’ hasn’t even opened yet,” said Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group. “We’re so pleased that moviegoers have embraced this film and our tree-planting initiative to this degree and we expect the numbers to keep climbing.”

Disney’s goal, is to plant trees in areas that are critical areas of biodiversity. The company will supervise the planting of the trees in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, which is considered one of the most endangered rain forests in the world. Today, only seven percent of the Atlantic Forest remains.

It’s no secret that Disney has been jumping on the Green bandwagon lately. And now, they’re really living up to their promise by announcing they will plant a tree for every person who attends the premiere of their first film EARTH on opening weekend.

Disney claims they will plant the trees in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, which is considered the most endangered rain forest in the world and also ensure care for the trees is ongoing.

“EARTH is a spectacular film from the world’s most acclaimed nature filmmakers, and we couldn’t think of a better way to launch the new Disneynature banner, and to celebrate the spirit of the film and Earth Day at the same time,” said Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. “The film gives moviegoers an entertaining and unprecedented view of our planet, with some of the most astonishing imagery and exciting natural drama ever presented on the big screen.”

EARTH opens on Earth Day, April 22nd. You can get your pre-sale tickets to the EARTH premiere here.

Disney is going green! The empire that produces serious amounts of waste is now saying that it plans to cut carbon emissions by half by 2012, and ultimately achieve net zero direct greenhouse gas emissions and landfill waste. This is a tall order for Disney, who have theme parks, cruise lines and retail stores.

Beth Stevens, senior vice president of environmental affairs, said Disney has “not put a definite time horizon” on taking emissions to zero.

“We set those [goals] because they were very aspirational,” Stevens said. “We thought it was important – to communicate a sense of commitment.”

The goal is that by 2013, Disney will cut solid waste to landfills by half of what it produced in 2006, which Ecorazzi reports, was a staggering 300,000 tons of garbage.

Do you think they can do it? These are lofty plans but we’re hoping Disney will turn a new environmental leaf.