While flipping through the January/February 2008 issue of Sierra (the magazine of the Sierra Club), I came across a most disturbing article entitled "Big Debate Over The Big Box: Has Wal-Mart warmed to eco-responsibility?" It turns out that Former Sierra Club President Adam Werbach (click on the picture to read the Fast Company article) is now an environmental consultant to Walmart! What?!? Has Luke Skywalker joined the Dark Side? Why would Werbach join forces with a company that he once called "a virus, infecting and destroying American culture"? He would respond that he's trying to save the environment by "helping the companies that have the largest consumer impact." This is a salient point---Wal-Mart has stores in 13 countries and serves 127 million customers a week. If you can't kill the giant, can you convince it to stop indiscriminately crushing villages in its massive footprint?
It seems that Wal-Mart has been doing a decent job itself to reduce its environmental impact. In 2005, CEO Lee Scott announced that he wants the company "to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, to create zero waste, and to sell products that sustain our resources and the environment." Through research by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, Wal-mart improved its fuel efficiency by 25 percent. Also, Wal-Mart sold 100 million compact fluorescent lightbulbs within a year. Walmart is pressuring its suppliers to reduce their environmental impact by promising prime shelf space to those with the best environmental records. Walmart has also pledged to reduce its packaging by 5 percent by 2013.
Worthy measures, no? Well---I still hate Wal-Mart! Let's consider some of the obvious negative effects that Wal-Mart has on our environment. First, the practice of closing existing megastores in favor of building Supercenters leaves empty stores with little hope of being rented out. Consider the size of a Supercenter---186,000 square feet on average. To build such a massive building, trees must be clear cut. A hectare of trees (2.471 Acres or 107,637 square feet) can absorb 6 or more tons of carbon per year, according to the International Carbon Bank & Exchange. Also, according to WakeUpWalmart.com, 70% of Wal-Mart's merchandise being sold in their stores was made in China. Wal-Mart imported 695,000 20-foot equivalent container units in 2005 (#1 in America)---what is the environmental impact of shipping so many imports from China? One also has to consider the fact that between 2003 and 2005, state and federal environmental agencies fined Wal-Mart $5 million for various violations.
I could go on and on about the evils of this mega-corporation, but I'm sure that you yourself already know a lot of the facts. Sierra Club, which funds Wal-Mart Watch, must be digging their fingernails into their palms at the thought of its former leader working for one of its biggest foes. I understand that to affect change, one must sometimes acquire strange bedfellows and sleep with the enemy. I just hope that we all don't come out of this with an STD!
HEY---COMMENT ON THIS POST AND YOU'LL BE PUT IN THE DRAWING TO WIN THIS COOL "WALMART SUCKS The Life Out of Our Towns" BUTTON THAT I PURCHASED FROM THE SYRACUSE CULTURAL WORKERS. I WILL DRAW NAMES OUT OF A HAT ON JANUARY 31ST, 2008. GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY WRITING!
I would like to thank you for using my site as a "visual" for your blog entry. Also, thank you for the comment you made. I am sorry that i had not commented earlier, it is just my site hasn't had any traffic on it in two years, so I decided that I might as well give up on updating it for a while. Now that i know that someone was interested, I might begin updating my site once more.
In response to your article, I agree that Wal-Mart crushes any local business it may come in contact with. For instance, Wal-Mart almost put a store in next to where I live. Seeing how that it will both dramatically depreciate house values and put the other businesses (already struggling with business) out of their misery, the community banned together to protest against it's construction. My community already has over a dozen empty strip malls as it is.
Posted by: Vader07 | March 24, 2008 at 10:50 AM