Friday, July 14, 2006

Wal-Mart Proves Something Can Be Done


Gristmill: "There's a huge focus on supply chain: Wal-Mart's leaders have acknowledged that "90 percent of the impact Wal-Mart can have is on the supply chain." They have recognized that while Wal-Mart is responsible for roughly 20 million metric tons of CO2 a year, there are 200 million tons of annual greenhouse-gas emissions in their supply chain -- a level of transparency that no company I've covered to date has offered."

One of the things I like about Al Gore's movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," is its lack of hopelessness. At a dinner party recently I spoke about how I try to ride my bike, use renewable energy sources, reduce consumerism and generally reduce my carbon footprint. One of the other guests kept insisting it was pointless: "You're just a tiny drop in the bucket. You don't even count."

That's the kind of study in futility that will seal the planet's fate, and it's widely shared, unfortunately.

Not only does Gore show in his film how each individual can take steps (a flyer on "10 Things You Can Do" is distributed at the theater), he himself and his "feature length slide show" prove the impact of one person.

Take Wal-Mart. I've been skeptical and critical of its sustainability initiatives (at a time when it is evacuating stores for toxic fumes), but the chain does seem sincere in making changes. I care little whether its sincerity stems from reducing costs or global warming (and maybe they're the same thing!). Whatever it takes to git 'er done!

And I'm not cynical when it comes to assessing Gore's praise for Wal-Mart's epiphany. Unlike Jeff at Sustainablog, I don't give a whit whether Gore is running for President. He could be angling for King of the World and I'd support him if it meant progress against climate disruption. Because the point is he "gets it," and as the film amply documents, has dedicated much of his life to this issue. Just one guy, putting the lie to the drop-in-the-bucket canard.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

posted by Paul Andrews @ 6:27 AM   1 comments

1 Comments:

At 12:34 AM, Blogger Benjamin said...

I with ya all the way Paul. Nice post.

You hear time and time again that one person does not make a difference in global change. Bull crap.

What that person is saying is that they are lazy and since the majority of people are being wasteful, I can be also and not feel guilty about it.

Well - I wait and look forward to the day when most people will be on the sustainable side of the fence and that guy will look like he is lazy and selfish and then by golly, he will be on the sustainable side of the fence.

The tide is turning - that is for sure.

I invite your readers to watch the Future of Food to act on a major issue as well - GM Foods are killing the wild strains globally. Soon we will face a major issue in the food chain - not to mention that we are one large lab rat as Monsanto has NOT safely tested their GM seeds.

Anyhow - I love your post and persistence. It will pay off and it is already...good on ya.

And good on all ya's who do care about our planet's health and act sustainably. It is actually very easy to be sustainable...so act on it.

Buy in bulk. Buy from local farmers at stands. Move closer to work. Buy a fuel efficient rig. Recycle all you can. Print double sided. Dont print if you dont need to. Use solar in your home. Use bamboo for wood flooring and not oak or maple. There are loads of ways...

Best
Ben

 

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