Jaws Ride goes eco-friendly

For the Jaws Ride at Universal Studios Japan it's a case of show me the way to eco home, as it is the first in the Osaka-based park to run on sustainable energy.

That means the shark ride, based on the Steven Spielberg 1975 box office smash, now runs on some "pretty good stuff"....for the environment.

The iconic ride now runs on renewable energy, or to be more specific biodiesel made from waste cooking oil like potato frying oil, from the park’s restaurants, which is mixed with 5% diesel. Those proportions are correct, according to USJ 1.

Not that these updates have meant any changes to the ride, it still has as much bite as it ever did, wowing audiences still hungry for JAWS.

Plus, anything that helps address environmental concerns can only be a good thing, not only for those people using the park, but also our oceans and the sharks that swim within them.

Those concerns include climate change, which is a very big problem for sea life, with ocean acidification, rising sea temperatures, and extreme weather events all damaging the places where many marine species, including sharks, live.

And despite author Peter Benchley saying that JAWS (the book, the film and ride) helped create the shark as monster and give the species - specifically the great white - a bad name, for many it has helped spur a passion for these magnificent fish.

A passion that allows them to enjoy the film and book as a work of fiction, but also used it as a springboard into discovering more about sharks, conservation and even setting them on the road to become real life Matt Hoopers.

In its own small way, this important update to the Jaws Ride in Japan, continues to help carry that baton. Thrilling audiences, whilst at the same time inspiring change for the environment.

Benchley, speaking to the Animal Attack Files in 2000, said of sharks: “No one appreciates how vulnerable they are to destruction.

"For all their power they are amazingly fragile. Sharks are no longer the villains, they are the victims."

Here's hoping that the Jaws Ride at Universal Studios Japan continues to be the apex predator of attractions for the park and this eco update means audiences are gonna need a bigger jump long after 50 years of JAWS.

Words by Dean Newman

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