The online environmental magazine Grist gave soft applause to Wal-Mart last week in its introduction to a Q. and A. session with H. Lee Scott Jr., the chief executive. When the company this month signed on to a call by a group of energy executives for caps on greenhouse-gas emissions, “the heart of this monolithic retail Grinch grew three sizes that day,” writes Amanda Griscom Little, a Grist reporter, on grist.org.
Wal-Mart Flirts With Being Green
THE sheer magnitude of Wal-Mart’s plans to become more environmentally friendly has been enough to give pause to all but the most vehement of the company’s critics.
To be sure, it is a little startling to hear Wal-Mart’s chief executive bandying about phrases like “democratizing sustainability,” but given that Wal-Mart plans to spend $500 million a year to, among other initiatives, reduce its greenhouse gases, build more energy-efficient stores and reduce packaging waste, even longtime naysayers have to take notice.
Ms. Little points out that Wal-Mart’s size — the very thing that makes it so vulnerable to attack — is precisely what “could make it a powerful force for good for the planet.”
“The company controls so much of the retail market, and has such sway over manufacturers, that any green initiatives on its part have huge ripple effects,” she writes.
But even more, Mr. Scott says, Wal-Mart’s size “enables us to help create markets for clean technologies that exist today, but don’t yet have fully established markets.”
“If Wal-Mart started using or selling those items all of a sudden, there would be enough scale that those would be viable alternatives,” he added.
One commenter on Grist’s blog wondered if Ms. Little’s “glowing” article was “a cruel joke.” The interview drew a lot of commentary in the blogosphere. Many bloggers seemed unsure how to react. Raven Brooks of buyblue.org, which “supports businesses that share our progressive values and ideals,” wrote that he found the interview “shocking.” He wondered about Wal-Mart’s sincerity, but concluded that “this is progress.”
Posted by: Paul on April 22, 2006 at 12:32:16