Grist | Topics | 118 Results

RESULTS		Results 76 – 100 of 118
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Blend Game Wal-Mart looks into selling ethanol		01 Jun 2006	Daily Grist
Blend Game Wal-Mart looks into selling ethanol As part of its newfound determination to jump on the eco-bandwagon, Wal-Mart is considering selling E85, an ethanol/gasoline blend, at the gas stations it owns and operates. The mega-chain held an alternative-fuels summit for auto-industry reps, oil companies, government officials, and biofuel producers in Washington, D.C., this week. Still, Wal-Mart spokesflack Kev ...
Topics: business, news, renewable energy, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Beyond organic: A new label	David Roberts	15 May 2006	Gristmill
If you haven't been following the discussion under this post about Wal-Mart selling organic food, I recommend you catch up. It's quite insightful, with a range of views well-expressed. One note of consensus seems to be this: "Organic," at least as denoted by the USDA label, falls well short of genuinely sustainable agriculture. Tom is better qualified than I to give a comprehensive description of the latter, but one important element is locality. Food that ...
Topics: agriculture, food, local food, organic food, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

How to make Wal-Mart's organic push not matter An innovative Alabama CSA shows the way forward.	Tom Philpott	15 May 2006	Gristmill
When Wal-Mart announced plans to become the world's biggest purveyor of organically grown food last week, the polite applause from the enviro gallery grated on my ears. (Here's a spirited recent debate on Gristmill.) Even the New York Times editorial page could see through this move. While some greens cooed at at Wal-Mart's magnamity, the Grey Lady unleashed an appropriately cynical analysis: There is no chance that Wal-Mart will be buying from small, local organic fa ...
Topics: agriculture, food, industrial ag, organic food, sustainable ag, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Wal-mart's organic bomb	Kif Scheuer	12 May 2006	Gristmill
Melanie Warner at the NYT reports today that Wal-Mart is about to dramatically increase its organic food offerings. In very understated fashion, she says, 'Wal-Mart's interest is expected to change organic food production in substantial ways.' Um, yeah, it sure will. Wal-Mart's plan is to sell organics ~10% over the price of non-organics -- a much closer premium than you can get elsewhere. It's also getting brands like Pepsi, Rice Krispies, and Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese in th ...
Topics: business, food, organic food, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

The spread of Wal-Mart	David Roberts	08 May 2006	Gristmill
Yeesh. Here's a short video of Wal-Mart's spread in the U.S. It accompanies a paper called 'The Diffusion of Wal-Mart and Economies of Density' (PDF) by the University of Minnesota's Thomas Holmes. (via Kottke)
Topics: business, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Green roof of doom	David Roberts	19 Apr 2006	Gristmill
Wal-Mart is building a store inside Chicago city limits with a 67,000 square foot green roof. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart's plants do not absorb rainwater or prevent runoff. They only emit eeeevil. You've been warned. (via TH)
Topics: Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Don't Discount Him An interview with Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott	Amanda Griscom Little	12 Apr 2006	Main Dish
Last week, Wal-Mart joined leading energy executives in their startling call for mandatory caps on greenhouse-gas emissions. The heart of this monolithic retail Grinch grew three sizes that day -- or so it seemed to many environmental Who's. Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott. For many enviros, the name "Wal-Mart" has always triggered a shudder. The world's biggest retailer has been charged with exa ...
Topics: business, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, greening biz operations, interview, renewable energy, Wal-Mart, waste (all these topics)

Job protection tariff is the only remedy to reverse job downsizing and outsourcing	Steve Miller	19 Mar 2006	Gristmill
Being competitive with exploited Chinese slaves is the trade policy advocated by both Republicans and Democrats. 'Protectionism' is a dirty word to them. They advocate 'globalization, free trade, and fair trade.' That must sound noble to most voters because voters keep reelecting Republicans and Democrats. Being downsized and outsourced doesn't sound noble to me.
Topics: Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Always Low Vices ... Well, Sometimes Wal-Mart to double organic food selection		09 Mar 2006	Daily Grist
Always Low Vices ... Well, Sometimes Wal-Mart to double organic food selection In the next few weeks, Wal-Mart plans to double its offering of organic foods, expanding its produce and dairy selections and offering dry goods as well. Organic food is one of the fastest-growing segments in the grocery biz, and Wal-Mart is one of many large retailers hoping to capitalize on the trend. ...
Topics: commercial and industry organizations, food, news, organic food, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Why the nation's largest community garden must become a Wal-Mart warehouse	Tom Philpott	07 Mar 2006	Gristmill
The fate of LA's South Central Community Garden, the largest of its kind in the United States, looks fairly straightforward: It sits on private property, and its owner wants to sell it for development. The 300 or so families who garden there, most of whom by all accounts live under the poverty line, will have to find a new source of food. If the owner/developer, one Ralph Horowitz, has decided to erect a massive Wal-Mart warehouse there, well, that's just the way it goe ...
Topics: agriculture, food, gardening, Los Angeles, placemaking, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

South Central urban farm faces eviction 350 families have tended the 14-acre plot for 13 years	David Roberts	06 Mar 2006	Gristmill
Several readers have independently sent in word about this: "L.A. South Central Farm Receives 3-Day Eviction Notice." Over 13 years, 350 families have been growing organic produce in a 14-acre garden plot in South Central Los Angeles. But now: Two days ago the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department unceremoniously posted an eviction notice on the farm's gate calling for the farm to be vacated by March 6th (next Monday). That would leave current crops ...
Topics: Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Always low toxics? Well, sometimes, at least	Clark Williams-Derry	23 Feb 2006	Gristmill
A while back I wrote about all the "fake news" -- really, just corporate P.R. -- that comes into my email inbox as a result of our work on flame retardants in people's bodies. Most of the news stories are really just press releases from companies touting the fact that they'd removed PBDEs and other hazardous substances from their products. Any single press release, by itself, is hardly worthy of notice. But viewed as a whole, the steady drumbeat of com ...
Topics: Wal-Mart (all these topics)

The prince and the CEO Wal-Mart boss gets some tips from the Prince of Wales	Sarah K. Burkhalter	26 Jan 2006	Gristmill
Here is a story about Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott seeking greenie advice from the Prince of Wales. Any attempt on my part to summarize the tale wouldn't be nearly as good as the article itself, so I offer you the best tidbits of blunt British reporting. I love me some British. The Times on Wal-Mart: Mr Scott is desperate to transform the image of the monolithic retail organisation, which has a history of building huge superstores on the edge of towns on greenfield s ...
Topics: business, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Down on the farm Why the global food system isn't kind to local farmers	Tom Philpott	25 Jan 2006	Gristmill
Recently, I've come across two articles that pungently demonstrate the place of small-scale farmers in a global economy geared toward long-distance trade. The first, a Salon-published excerpt from Charles Fishman's recent book The Wal-Mart Effect, explores what the U.S. love affair with $5/pound salmon means for Chile. (Prepare to click through a few ads to get to the story.) The other, a NY Times piece, depicts high-level hand-wringing in China over rural 'land grabs ...
Topics: aquaculture, Chile, fishing, food, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of ... KA-DUUUM!	David Roberts	11 Dec 2005	Gristmill
So Friday night, I finally got around to seeing Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices, with a group of folks at my wife's church. Perhaps I went in with distorted expectations. The movie's been showered with hype, promotion, and gushing reviews since before it came out, so I anticipated something a little more ... polished. But it struck me as rather amateurish. I mean, if you want to make a point, is throwing spinning text at the screen with a big loud KA-DUU ...
Topics: Wal-Mart (all these topics)

The Revolution Will Not Be Discounted New Wal-Mart documentary may be a sign of upheavals to come	Ken Eisen	22 Nov 2005	Arts and Minds
Last week's release of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price -- not, for the most part, in movie theaters, but rather in "churches, family businesses, schools, living rooms, community centers, and parking lots," as the film's website puts it -- marks a high-water moment in leftist media-based organizing. Image: walmartmovie.com. Director/producer Robert Greenwald ad ...
Topics: commercial and industry organizations, green living, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

A Good Switch or a Bad Switch? Wal-Mart's eco-announcements generate a clash among activists	Liza Featherstone	22 Nov 2005	Main Dish
The mother ship. Photo: Wal-Mart. It was easy for Wal-Mart's critics to laugh this past spring when CEO Lee Scott proudly announced that he drove a Lexus hybrid. For Scott to expect praise for his consumer choices given the abysmal record of his massive company -- which has repeatedly violated the Clean Water Act while contributing to sprawl, air pollution, and a host of ...
Topics: business, commercial and industry organizations, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Divide and conquer?	David Roberts	09 Nov 2005	Gristmill
It strikes me that Wal-Mart and Arnold Schwarzenegger are doing something similar: trying to peel eco-activists off from the larger progressive coalition. And while two data points don't exactly make a trend, it's something greens should be pondering. Consider: Wal-Mart recently announced some high-profile and fairly substantial sustainability reforms. Meanwhile, as this collection of Alternet coverage amply demonstrates, they continue to screw workers, bust unions, s ...
Topics: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

The Wrong Target Could chain stores actually be good for the environment?	Daniel Akst	03 Nov 2005	Soapbox
To some environmentalists, the shoppers of the world have nothing to lose but their chains. If only people stopped spending at these awful big-box stores, the thinking goes, the earth might be saved -- and local businesses would flourish. Shop to it! From an environmental perspective, there is in fact much to dislike about the chains. Their low prices, sustained by a rapidly globalizing economy, ...
Topics: business, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

What to do about Wal-Mart	David Roberts	27 Oct 2005	Gristmill
So, it looks like Wal-Mart's green turn has some meat on its bones (to mix metaphors). As we noted in DG, CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. announced some fairly specific programs the other day around energy-efficient stores, greenhouse-gas reductions, truck fleet fuel efficiency, packaging reductions, and pressure on overseas suppliers to follow suit. It remains to be seen whether the company will release specific targets and timetables, regularly report it ...
Topics: Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Cleanup on Aisle Six Wal-Mart unveils specific, ambitious environmental goals		25 Oct 2005	Daily Grist
Cleanup on Aisle Six Wal-Mart unveils specific, ambitious environmental goals After weeks of scattered signs and announcements, today Wal-Mart issued a far-reaching set of concrete environmental goals. CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. announced that the company would invest $500 million in technologies to reduce its stores' greenhouse-gas emissions by 20 percent in seven yea ...
Topics: Amory Lovins, commercial and industry organizations, environmental planning, news, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

A Journey of a Gazillion Miles Begins With a Single Inch Wal-Mart declares it's going green		21 Oct 2005	Daily Grist
A Journey of a Gazillion Miles Begins With a Single Inch Wal-Mart declares it's going green After months of scattered signs -- green-built Supercenters in Texas and Colorado, a program to conserve thousands of acres of land through The Nature Conservancy -- Wal-Mart executives have made it official: Their company is going green. Or, well, greenish. In a speech at a biz school yesterday, CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. said Wal-Mart would be ...
Topics: business, news, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Wal-Mart Makower thinks the retail giant might just be turning over a new leaf	David Roberts	21 Oct 2005	Gristmill
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 strea ...
Topics: Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Big Box Mart Featuring the faces of over 1,000 JibJab fans	Chris Schults	14 Oct 2005	Gristmill
For all you crusaders against Wal-Mart and overconsumption, check out the latest from JibJab.com. Happy Friday.
Topics: Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Always Low Standards Wal-Mart settles with Connecticut over environmental misdeeds		18 Aug 2005	Daily Grist
Always Low Standards Wal-Mart settles with Connecticut over environmental misdeeds Wal-Mart has agreed to pay Connecticut a $1.15 million fine for a host of environmental violations. State regulators first filed suit against the retail giant in 2001, after discovering that the company had improperly stored pesticides, fertilizers, and other hazardous materials outside, where they washed down storm drains to ...
Topics: business, Connecticut, health, news, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

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