"Soon, they said, suppliers will have to be certified by a third party to ensure they're complying with local environmental and labor laws,"

While here on James Island, SC, Wal-mart is attempting to expand their current site over a local protected wetland and wildlife preserve.  The same adjacent wetland that Wal-mart contractually agreed to protect when they built the current store.

Said Wal-mart, "Oh, that?  That was, like, seven years ago.  Who remembers that?"

Wal-mart cares for profits, not communities.  Let's not buy into their green-washing of themselves.

The most eco-friendly thing Wal-Mart could do is stop building, period, and begin to locate its stores in downtowns, where the infrastructure already exists and, not coincidentally, most of the poor people who actually need cheap goods actually live.

Sadly, Wal-Mart has not yet embraced the notion of sustainability. If it continues on like this, our notion of success through consumption will force humans from this planet. Until it replaces the ethic of consumption with sustainability, anything Wal-Mart does should be greeted not only with skepticism but with well-deserved opposition. I will continue to boycott its stores and encourage everyone I know to do the same.