Wal-Mart Offers New Energy Plan
Wal-Mart’s new energy saving plan proves our public education campaign is having an impact, but more can be done.
Sierra Club Executive Director and Wal-Mart Watch Board member Carl Pope issued the following statement:
Wal-Mart’s new commitments to increase efficiency and reduce pollution and waste are important first steps for a company that has such a profound impact on our environment. More companies should take these positive steps towards safer and healthier communities. While this announcement shows that Wal-Mart can be a leader, it also demonstrates that they should be able to take equal steps to protect workers. Wal-Mart should also include in their plans an effort to more-responsibly site their stores, obey our nation’s clean water laws, which have been violated in the past, and address community concerns at all of their locations.
Click here to learn more about ”Higher Expectations Week.”
Posted by Media Team on Tuesday, October 25 | 14 comments | Permalink
What In Sam’s Name Is Going On Here?
From the Huffington Post:
Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott announced today that his company, long a target of activists of pretty much every stripe, was going to be paying a lot closer attention to the environmental and labor standards of its overseas supply chain. In a speech on Thursday at a conference on retail trends held by the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton College of Business, Scott said,
The factories in China are going to end up having to be held up to the same standards as the factories in the U.S. There will be a day of reckoning for retailers. If somebody wakes up and finds out that children that are down the river from that factory where you save three cents a foot in the cost of garden hose are developing cancers at significant rates—so that the American public can save three cents a foot—those things won’t be tolerated, and they shouldn’t be tolerated.
What in Sam’s name is going on here?
For several years, a broad, diverse, and growing movement has been targeting Wal-Mart, which has become something of a tabula rasa for interest groups. Pick a social issue and you’ll find some group that’s painted a target on the retail giant: Environmentalists, labor groups, women’s groups, minority groups—that’s just for starters. There are also small business groups (who complain that Wal-Mart puts them out of business), first amendment groups (who object to Wal-Mart’s censorship of music lyrics and magazine and book covers and content), community activists (for contributing to sprawl), and so on. In recent weeks, the heat has been turned up, as activists have prepared for release on November 13, of ”Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.”
So, Lee Scott’s recent pronouncement is both significant and timely. But is it real? That’s the $285.2 billion question.
Click here to learn more about “Higher Expectations Week.”
Posted by Brian Kline on Friday, October 21 | 12 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart’s New Package
Today the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wal-Mart is switching from petroleum-based to corn-based plastic packaging.
“‘This is a way to make a change positive for the environment and for business,’ said Matt Kistler, who is vice president for product development and packaging for the company’s Sam’s Club division.”
“Kistler said the packaging initiative is part of a broad effort started a year ago by chief executive officer Lee Scott to incorporate environmental concerns into business decisions at Wal-Mart.”
While these stories are still fresh in our minds:
“In August 2005, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $1.5 million in penalties in Connecticut for storm water violations. In 2004, Wal-Mart was hit with a $3.1 million penalty for Clean Water Act violations. That same year, Wal-Mart paid $400,000 to settle violations of the Clean Air Act.” [Forbes, 8/15/05]
“‘Wal-Mart’s constant expansion and conversion of discount stores to Supercenters leaves vacant buildings behind - in 2004 an estimated 13 million square feet. Wal-Mart admitted the compnay perfers to let the buildings sit empty. There are times when it’s in our interest to get the property moving faster, but we’re certainly not going to give a competitor an advantage’ -Wal-Mart spokesman, Bob McAdam said.” [Wall Street Journal, 9/15/04]
We recognize our efforts to change the Wal-Mart business model is having an impact. And we’ll keep applying the pressure because we have higher expectations from Wal-Mart.
Posted by Media Team on Wednesday, October 19 | 8 comments | Permalink
Whale-Mart? Japanese Subsidiary Serves Up Banned Whale and Dolphin Meat
As Wal-Mart continues to grow its stake in Japanese supermarket chain Seiyu, troubling questions still linger about the company’s violation of international law prohibiting the hunting and sale of protected marine animals. A 2004 report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) documents the widespread availability of whale, dolphin and porpoise meat on store shelves.
Wal-Mart recently announced that it would increase its share in Seiyu from 42% to a majority stake for a cost of nearly $600 million dollars. According to an article by the Associated Press, the move will make Seiyu a Wal-Mart subsidiary and expand Wal-Mart’s influence in the world’s second biggest retail market.
Considering the troubling allegations documented in the EIA report, we hope that Wal-Mart would halt the sale of whale, dolphin and porpoise meat at its stores.
As one of the leading supermarket chains in Japan, Seiyu helps to sustain the whale hunting industry in Japan in spite of the international moratorium on commercial whaling since 1986. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) surveyed 202 Seiyu Group supermarkets in Japan by telephone and found that the majority (123 stores) sold whale meat and other cetacean products. An on-site follow-up survey in 2003 of 55 stores across the country confirmed the sale of whale, dolphin or porpoise products in all but one store on the day of the visit.
We urge you to read more about this troubling issue. Click here to read the EIA’s report, “WHALE-MART.”
Posted by Media Team on Tuesday, October 11 | 6 comments | Permalink
Arrogant Wal-Mart Ignoring Historical Preservation Rules
Wal-Mart wants to build a supercenter near the Franklin Pierce Homestead and refuses to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires an impact study for new construction near local historical sites. One Wal-Mart spokesperson said the impact “doesn’t make a lot of sense from a business standpoint” and a Wal-Mart atty told state historic preservation officials “Let’s all agree to disagree” on the mandatory study.
This isn’t the first time Wal-Mart has clashed with historic preservationists.
* VERMONT: National Trust for Historic Preservation Specifically Cited Wal-Mart Expansion in Listing Vermont among Most Endangered Places. In 2004 the National Trust for Historic Preservation said, “The State of Vermont appeared on our 1993 list because it faced an onslaught of big-box retail development. Today the threat is worse than ever, with Wal-Mart planning to saturate the state with 7 new super-stores that are likely to spur additional development, sprawl, disinvestment in downtowns, the loss of locally-owned businesses, and the erosion of the state’s unique sense of place.” [National Trust for Historic Preservation Press Release, 5/24/04]
* MEXICO: Wal-Mart Built Store on Traditional Mayan Grounds. “A Wal-Mart store rising near the 2,000-year-old pyramids of the Teotihuacan Empire has ignited the wrath of Mexican conservationists and nationalists, who say the U.S. retailer is destroying their culture at the foot of one of Mexico’s greatest treasures… Last week, 63 prestigious artists and intellectuals, in a letter published in Mexican newspapers, asked President Vicente Fox to stop the structure. They see it as a battle pitting Mexico’s heritage against encroaching U.S. influence. Wal-Mart is already Mexico’s largest retailer, with 664 stores in 66 cities, with sales of $12 billion.” [Knight Ridder, 10/25/04]
* CALIFORNIA: Wal-Mart Built Atop Indian Burial Grounds. In 1993 in Southern California, Wal-Mart, faced with threats of a nationwide boycott if it proceeded with a development project that have destroyed Indian burial grounds, which Indians consider to be as holy as a church or synagogue. Wal-Mart was forced to compromise with the Indian activists by building a monument on store property to honor the grounds. [Los Angeles Times, 10/16/93]
* TENNESSEE: Wal-Mart Built Again On Indian Burial Grounds In 1997. In Nashville, Tenn., J. Donald Nichols Realty “sparked demonstrations and calls for a retail boycott in 1997 when it graded a site for Wal-Mart and Lowe’s that included an Indian burial ground and Civil War fortifications, according to the Alliance for Native American Indian Rights in Tennessee.” [Fulton County Daily Report, 11/30/00]
Posted by Brian Kline on Friday, September 09 | 28 comments | Permalink
Grassroots Activists Stand Up to Wal-Mart from Coast to Coast
Grassroots activists across America are on the front lines fighting to protect their communities from Wal-Mart’s continuing expansion.
The Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development (PARD), a community group dedicated to promoting more careful planning in the way Pullman, WA grows (pop. 25,000), sent a letter yesterday to H. Lee Scott, Jr., the CEO of Wal-Mart, asking him to honor a pledge made by legendary founder Sam Walton. In his autobiography, Sam Walton said that Wal-Mart would never force itself on a community that did not want it.
In its letter to Scott, PARD said that Wal-Mart’s proposal to build a mall-sized “Supercenter” in Pullman is unwise and unwelcome. The group has collected locally over 7500 signatures of people who feel strongly enough that they have pledged to refuse to shop in or work for the store should it be built in town. This number is not only remarkable for a town the size of Pullman but the number of Pullman residents who signed actually exceeds those who voted in its last city election.
The petition drive has been spearheaded by Van Dyke, Cynthia Hosick, and Janet Damm, all Pullman residents. The signatures were gathered locally by unpaid volunteers from the local community. Petition gatherers have been working on this for three months and each day find more people who want to sign. “We’re just ordinary people,” Cynthia Hosick states.
Over 2,000 miles east of Pullman, Cleveland residents are fighting the revival of the Steelyard Commons project. Visit their new blog No Cleveland Walmart to get more information about their campaign. We will be watching this fight closely.
And if you need any further proof that this is truly a grassroots fueled movement, Florida Today reports on the successful effort of two stay-at-home moms who have stopped the development of a Wal-Mart Supercenter across the street from an elementary school in their community.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Philip de Vellis on Tuesday, May 24 | 5 comments | Permalink
Acres for America: Wal-Mart’s Environmental Bargain
Stacey Mitchell of the New Rules Project takes on Wal-Mart's "Acres for America" program in a column posted today on AlterNet.
Known for squeezing every last dime out of employees and suppliers, Wal-Mart has even managed to get a rock-bottom deal on corporate green-washing. For just $35 million--less than one percent of last year's profits--the world's largest corporation has burnished its environmental image and garnered a cascade of laudatory press coverage...One acre conserved for every acre developed. That's a clever construction, designed to leave the impression that Wal-Mart's donation fully mitigates its environmental impact.
We agree with Stacey that Wal-Mart's latest effort is nothing more than a PR stunt. Last week we responded to the announcement of "Acres for America" by listing several lowlights from Wal-Mart's environmental record in a release to the news media.
Posted by Philip de Vellis on Friday, April 22 | 34 comments | Permalink
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