We debated whether to write up this story of Wal-Mart's alleged "going green" in Daily Grist, but at a quick glance it seemed trivial and a bit self-serving. But Joel Makower, who knows as much about these matters as anyone, thinks there may be something to it.
I, for one, am skeptical that the great, great Wal-Mart turnaround is nigh. But I'm also not ready to write off Lee Scott or his company as sustainability poseurs. I believe we'll see a steady stream of new initiatives coming out of the company's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters in coming months.
He even quotes an anonymous colleague tantalizingly saying, "This has the potential to be the fastest turnaround ever on sustainability and the most comprehensive." If that were true it could have potentially epochal consequences. As Joel notes, Wal-Mart may account for as much as 1% of China's entire GDP. That's a lotta skrill.
Of course some folks will say that "green Wal-Mart" is an oxymoron. Activists of virtually every stripe have legitimate beefs with the company. But the thing here is to be dispassionate. The 'Mart has more power than many governments. It is, for good or ill, here, and enormously influential. If even a fraction of its power can be turned to stimulating green markets and establishing green practices, it could be a game changer.
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Comments
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Tom Philpott Posted 1:51 am
21 Oct 2005
I think it's fair enough to write about Wal-Mart's efforts to "go green," so long as we keep a cold eye trained on all the egregious and non-green things the company does.
In the grocery space, for example, its low-price/low-wage model lets its squeeze out other retailers. As it gains girth as a buyer in regional markets, it exerts downward pressure on prices paid to farmers. This effect helps put mid-sized farms out of business, transfering power to large-scale industrial farms that are often far away--meaning more travel miles built into the food on the shelf, among other depredations.
And on. Your admirable call for dispassion also means taking care not to be blinded by the company's "green" efforts--which may or may not (we'll see) amount to PR posturing.
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johnilsr Posted 7:04 am
21 Oct 2005
Response to Wal-Mart's New "Green" Store in McKinney, Texas - Institute for Local Self-Reliance
You can find much more on the impacts of big-box developments at our Hometown Advantage web site
John Bailey
http://www.newrules.org/
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jdhlax Posted 11:43 am
21 Oct 2005
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robustgreen Posted 11:44 am
21 Oct 2005
Give them Kudos for making a commitment to move in the right direction and encourage them to make more steps like focusing on organic produce, buying locally grown foods whenever possible and eliminating GMO foods.
Of course the whole wage issue is another front, but we need to separate these two issues and reward the positive..
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peas2you Posted 5:32 am
25 Oct 2005
Walmart appears to serve the masses. What better than to get organically grown products in front of the eyes of the masses? Currently in my town, there are only a couple of organic grocers and they are far from where I live. I myself am more likely to purchase organically grown foods if they are easily found.
Currently, I don't buy groceries at Walmart. They carry zero, zilch products that are organically grown or some combination thereof. I looked there recently. At least at my preferred grocery store (because it's at most 100ft from my house), I can find some organic products that I like, though certainly not all.
ANY movement towards environmentally sound practices and purchases should be ENCOURAGED.
Isn't that what we hope for on an individual basis? It's not "all environmentally sound" or nothing with ourselves, is it?
Remember those ads by the Latter Day Saints? The kid brings home a good report card, and the parent just points out what's wrong with the kid/grades instead of praising the good?
I am curious to see what types of products they carry, and to "praise" Walmart, I'll probably purchase some of them.
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cmdlvmt Posted 7:24 am
25 Oct 2005
Crazy Cat Lady
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jfranke Posted 7:33 am
25 Oct 2005
Will Walmart hire an indipendent watchdog to go see how their goods are being manufactured in China? I would wager that the answer is no. Having spent a good deal of time in China, I can tell you that the country is a social and environmental hellhole, and so incredibly corrupt as to make the U.S., even under the Bush junta, seem like paradise. My suspicion is that that Walmart's new campaign is a cheap ploy to deflect the slowly growing suspicion that Walmart is ultimately bad for local economies, which they'd like to greenwash with their growing reputation as community-wrecking behemoth by slapping on some superficial, toothless greenie rhetoric.
I also find it sad that people fall for this stuff so readily. The lack of critical thinking displayed by people who think of themselves as environmentally conscious is representative of how powerless we've become - we get a little peck on the cheek and think it's a proposal for marriage.
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sukumar Posted 4:17 pm
25 Oct 2005
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jungle lotus Posted 7:01 pm
25 Oct 2005
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jfranke Posted 11:59 am
26 Oct 2005
I'm sorry, but you really can't shine a turd.
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