Al Gore To Visit Bentonville
From the Wall Street Journal:
Former Vice President and environmental activist Al Gore is planning to address Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executives next week at the retailer’s quarterly conference on sustainability, part of the company’s recent efforts to become an environmental leader, a Wal-Mart spokesman confirmed.
Gore will speak on global warming, the subject of his recently released documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” The conference is an outgrowth of Wal-Mart’s mission, outlined by Chief Executive Lee Scott last November, to minimize its negative impact on the environment. At the time, Wal-Mart committed to, among other things, reduce energy use in its stores, improve the fuel efficiency of its truck fleet and substantially cut down on solid waste produced by its stores.
Wal-Mart has seized on the issue of sustainability in an effort to bolster positive public relations at a time when its various business practices have been heavily criticized, from its worker pay and health benefits to its effect on smaller retailers.
Posted by Media Team on Thursday, July 06 | 3 comments | Permalink
PVC Consumer Campaign
Wal-Mart’s proclaimed commitment to sustainability is laudable. In recent months the world’s largest retailer has introduced a range of organic foods and considered switching to ethanol-based fuel. Last fall Wal-Mart even pledged to phase out its use of PVC packaging. But as other companies discontinue the poisonous plastic altogether, PVC Consumer Campaign encourages Wal-Mart to step up its efforts.
PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is a cheap plastic often used by toy manufacturers and in products such as shower curtains. PVC Consumer Campaign warns that PVC releases poisonous chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects, putting Wal-Mart consumers at risk.
From PVC Consumer Campaign’s Web site:
Phthalates, often used in soft PVC plastic children’s toys, have been linked to reproductive birth defects, early onset of puberty, asthma, and reduced testosterone in boys… Crabtree and Evelyn has announced it is accelerating its plans to stop using PVC packaging products by March 2009, and Johnson & Johnson says it will reduce use of PVC packaging by 70 percent by year end 2007.
- To get involved or to learn more, visit PVC Consumer Campaign on the Web.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, June 26 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Watch Statement On New Wal-Mart Environmental Initiative
From Wal-Mart Watch’s statement on new Wal-Mart environmental initiative:
Washington, D.C., Thursday, June 22, 2006 – Wal-Mart Watch Executive Director Andrew Grossman issues the following statement in response to a New York Times report that Wal-Mart plans to launch a new health and environmental initiative in its U.S. stores:
“We’re very encouraged that Wal-Mart is hiring smart experts to evaluate their environmental practices and help build new programs to improve the health and wellness of its employees.
It is important to note that our environmental allies like Adam Werbach who are working with Wal-Mart are assuming an enormous amount of responsibility to ensure Wal-Mart actually implements the plans it’s announcing. Hiring isn’t change – change is change.
True ‘sustainability’ is more than just environmental change. If Wal-Mart is serious about taking on its moral responsibilities and taking the leadership role Americans expect of its biggest and most important corporation, it will move to address workplace issues both domestically and along its international supply chain.”
- Click here to read about Wal-Mart’s new effort on health and environment.
- Click here to learn more about Wal-Mart and the environment.
Posted by Russ Fagaly on Thursday, June 22 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Launches New Environmental Initiative
From today’s New York Times:
Trying to become a leader on two issues that have bedeviled it for decades, Wal-Mart Stores is developing an extensive program to teach its 1.3 million employees in the United States how to take better care of themselves and the environment, people briefed on the plans said yesterday.
The program, still in the planning stages, is an effort to turn Wal-Mart’s work force — the nation’s largest — into a model for its customers on issues like energy consumption and nutrition, these people said.
It is also a strategic shift for Wal-Mart. Until now, the company has focused its environmental efforts on creating eco-friendly products and stores and its health care initiatives on devising more generous insurance plans.
The plan, tentatively called the Environmental Health and Wellness Program, will emphasize practical advice, like replacing traditional 60-watt light bulbs with energy-efficient bulbs that use 13 watts; Wal-Mart stores already carry those bulbs. Another suggestion under consideration is to eat more fish for the health benefits…
To help develop the environmental part of the program, Wal-Mart has asked a former president of the Sierra Club, Adam Werbach, to be a consultant. Those negotiations are continuing, several of the people briefed said.
Reached by phone yesterday, Mr. Werbach declined to comment.
If he agreed to help Wal-Mart, Mr. Werbach would join an expanding list of environmental advocates who have advised the company on how to improve its record on issues like greenhouse-gas emissions and fuel efficiency.
The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Rocky Mountain Institute are both working with the company. But Mr. Werbach’s choice is unusual because he has publicly chastised the company. In “Act Now, Apologize Later,” Mr. Werbach’s 1997 book about activism, he compared Wal-Mart’s growth to a “virus, infecting and destroying American culture."…
Posted by Media Team on Thursday, June 22 | 1 comments | Permalink
The Bottom Line
An editorial by Mark Morford in the San Francisco Chronicle outlines Wal-Mart’s real reason for “going green”:
Like any giant company suddenly “embracing” the green initiative (hi, GM and Ford), Wal-Mart’s rationale for all of this, of course, has absolutely zero to do with any sort of deep concern for the planet (though it does make for good PR), nothing at all to do with humanitarian beliefs or honest emotion or spiritual reverence, and has absolutely everything to do with the corporation’s rabid manifesto: cost cutting and profit.
Morford admits, too, that Wal-Mart?s actions may well inspire other companies to adopt similar practices:
It’s the bizarre and surprising case of the greening of Wal-Mart, and it’s far from perfect. But there can be no denying it’s a start, and a shockingly significant one. Because here’s the kicker: As goes Wal-Mart, so goes an enormous chunk of the retail and manufacturing sectors. Like a whale through a krill swarm, its sheer mass paves the way.
There’s nothing wrong with Wal-Mart taking actions to benefit both the environment and the bottom line. But we hope that Wal-Mart sets another example for retail by shifting some of its cost savings - not to pad executive salaries and expand in already-saturated markets - but to improve the poverty-level wages and shameful health care plans of many of its employees.
- Click here to read about the Handshake With Sam.
Posted by Laura Jack on Wednesday, May 24 | 28 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Growth
Thomas Holmes, a professor of economics at the University of Minnesota, has assembled this presentation, which shows Wal-Mart store openings in the United States from 1962 to 2004. The images accompany a working paper titled “The Diffusion of Wal-Mart and Economies of Density” (PDF).
We’ve included an animated version of the movie below. Special thanks to The Box Tank and Thomas Holmes.
Posted by Russ Fagaly on Tuesday, May 09 | 15 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Impresses Critics
From today’s Dow Jones Market Talk:
MARKET TALK: Wal-Mart’s Trucks Impress Its Critics
2:05 (Dow Jones) It’s not true that there’s no pleasing Wal-Mart’s (WMT) critics. For example, Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope says he’s pleased to read this newswire’s report that WMT is ahead of schedule on its efforts to make its trucking fleet more efficient. “It is an example of the positive changes they can make when they set their minds to it,” Pope says. Still, he can’t resist adding that WMT “should take similar steps to protect workers’ rights, obey our nation’s environmental laws and address community concerns at all of their locations.”
Other goals outlined by Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott in October 2005:
- “…we are committed to the following:…Reducing greenhouse gases at our existing store, club and DC base around the world by 20 percent over the next 7 years.”
- “…Designing and opening a viable prototype that is 25-30 percent more efficient and will produce up to 30 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions within the next 4 years.”
- “We are committed to: … Reducing our solid waste from U.S. stores and clubs by 25 percent in the next 3 years.”
- “We will adopt a siting and construction policy in the next 12 months that addresses environmental, social and historical considerations.”
Click here to read today’s Dow Jones story about fuel efficiency for Wal-Mart’s trucking fleet.
Click here to read Sierra Club executive director and Wal-Mart Watch board member Carl Pope’s statement on Wal-Mart’s goals of improved fuel efficiency.
Posted by Russ Fagaly on Friday, April 21 | 10 comments | Permalink
Organic Offensive
From today’s Business Week Online:
Richard DeWilde has a long history with organic farming. His grandfather, Nick Hoogshagen, adopted the organic approach five decades ago on his farm in South Dakota, well before it became popular with consumers and fueled the popularity of retailers like Whole Foods Market.
So you might think that DeWilde would be overjoyed at the news that Wal-Mart has finally come around to his grandfather’s philosophy.
But DeWilde isn’t thrilled. Instead, he’s dismayed at the prospect of Wal-Mart becoming a player in the organic market. He fears that the company will use its market strength to drive down prices and hurt U.S. farmers. “Wal-Mart has the reputation of beating up on its suppliers,” says DeWilde. “I certainly don’t see ‘selling at a lower price’ as an opportunity.”
The farmers’ concerns go beyond simply pushing down prices. DeWilde and others fear that companies like Wal-Mart could try to lower the standards for what is classified as organic food and begin to import more supplies from China and other overseas markets. “Wal-Mart already sources a majority of its products from China, because it’s so cheap to produce anything there. Why not foods?” asks Ronnie Cummins, director of the Organic Consumers Assn., a nonprofit organization that promotes natural and organic food.
The worries that the corporatization of organics could lead to more imports aren’t unfounded. Cummins estimates that already 10% of organic foods like meat and citrus are imported into the U.S.
Wal-Mart is making its aggressive move into organics at the same time it’s trying to improve its environmental image.
[Wal-Mart CEO Lee] Scott is also determined to get affluent customers to spend more when they come in to buy basics like detergent at Wal-Mart. And what better way to lure them than with a range of organic produce. After all, organic foods purveyor Whole Foods typically attracts shoppers who have incomes over $50,000, while Wal-Mart’s customers typically earn around $35,000.
Posted by Brian Kline on Wednesday, March 29 | 26 comments | Permalink
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