**Programming details after the jump.

Disney is famously apolitical. In fact, it probably prides itself as an anti-political organization. For years its calling card has been producing family oriented fare that would be welcome in any American household. Indeed it famously declined to distribute Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which Moore managed to turn into a David v. Goliath story about censorship and corporate greed. This allowed the millionaire filmmaker to find another large corporation to distribute the documentary… whilst getting huge publicity railing against large corporations. Disney managed to survive this potential blow to their non-political reputation and saved their brand.

But tomorrow, it appears, Disney will be suspending those principles and will engage in political programming. To mark Earth Day the channel is carrying a raft of programs which push the Green/Environmental agenda.

Why would the company that stood up to Michael Moore be willing to make such a bait and switch? My best guess is that these shows will not appear to be political programming. But this is a fallacy. One of the great victories for environmentalists in recent memory is that they have been able to portray environmentalism as apolitical. And this will be on full display tomorrow on Disney Channel.

Banning fossil fuels or pushing recycling or opposing dams or mining projects are deeply, deeply political actions. They damage communities, they chase jobs out of the country and they tell people where and when they can work and even if they can keep their jobs. When the likes of James Cameron flies to an impoverished region to stop a dam, he may feel good about himself but this means many people will suffer without clean water or cheap electricity.

Environmentalism is politics at its most basic.

Disney and America need to understand this

****

FROM THE EDITORS: Here are some more details into what is actually going on. From the fan site Disney Dreaming:

Playhouse Disney will encore green-themed episodes of “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,” “Handy Manny,” “Special Agent Oso,” “Imagination Movers” and “Jungle Junction” (8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., ET/PT).

Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato star in two new Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green spots stressing the importance of protecting the planet’s oceans and waterways (6:25 p.m. and 6:55 p.m., ET/PT). Throughout the evening, Disney Channel will encore Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green anthem, “Make A Wave,” performed by Jonas and Lovato, which will also be featured in the upcoming Disneynature film “OCEANS,” opening in theaters Earth Day 2010.

Disney Channel continues its Earth Day celebration with encore presentations of environmentally-themed episodes of hit series “Phineas and Ferb,” Hannah Montana,” “The Suite Life On Deck” and “Wizards of Waverly Place,” followed by an encore presentation of Disney Channel Original Movie “Minutemen” (6:00-10:00 p.m., ET/PT).

Of course, we haven’t seen any of the shows yet and there is certainly a chance Disney will have managed the politicize our kids’ television programming in a tasteful and educational way, but just in case they let us down, here are where we anticipate landmines:

–Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, 7:30am: Goofy is accidentally cloned.

–Special Agent Oso, 8am: Oso helps Joshua recycle.

–Imagination Movers, 9:30 am: The Movers teach our preschoolers how to save energy.

–Handy Manny, 9am: The Earth Day Challenge; Manny’s truck engine is replaced.

–Jungle Junction, 10 am: When Taxicrab’s cactus begins to wilt, he takes it back to the desert; Carla helps Crocker create a compost heap.

If these programs are political, as we suspect they will be, Disney Channel will be not only be targeting our kids, but our kids too young to attend school. Only kids kindergarten-age or younger (as well as out elementary schoolers taking a “Mental Health Day”) will be home from school at 10am when Carla teaches The Crocker the importance of composting.

Make sure to keep an eye out for environmentalism in Disney Channel’s prime-time line up as well, as some of the shows that target older audiences might also have some green messaging. As we learned two years ago, there isn’t anything cooler than “change.”

As always, we trust our readers to help us cover the Disney Channel, so let us know what you saw.