Wal-Mart and the Birth of the Organic Twinkie

Robert McClure, Seattle Post-Intelligencer blogger, quoting author Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals), picks up on our theme of Wal-Mart's impact on organics. Far from supporting organic values, Wal-Mart will simply insert "organic" into its unsustainable global formula, diluting standards, eroding quality and making the whole process really suck.

"Wal-Mart . . . will squeeze farmers so hard to get these prices down that only the biggest organic farmers will survive and I worry that organic agriculture will move overseas . . . Food will become like every other commodity, like shoes and CDs and electronics, you know? It will be produced where it can be produced most cheaply and sold wherever it can be sold most dearly. When that happens to food, you have to wonder how organic is it, when you're shipping the food halfway around the world?"

Wal-Mart's organic emphasis ultimately may be good for visibility. But without a transformational change in its business model, Wal-Mart ultimately cannot be organic in good faith.

More on Wal-Mart's move from WorldChanging.org.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

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Should 'Green' Homes Be McMansions?

From the decidedly-mixed-feelings dept: Montana supersized straw bale house. Good that it's green. Not so good that it takes up so much of the earth. I'd like to know more before making up my mind, but somehow Green McMansions strike me as a bit like a Hybrid SUV. Oxymoron, emphasis on the moron part.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

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Laurie David on GM Dropping the Hummer

Laurie David wisely notes the dissemblance of GM's announcement. Hey fat Detroit cats, how about owning up to the wrong car for the wrong time? We just returned from a visit to California, where Hummers still actually roam the freeways. Interestingly, all of the ones we saw were being driven by rich techie teens, like to high school and whatnot. Someone should clue them in that they're selling their future down the river.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

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Think Globally, Eat Locally

The Eat Local Challenge group blog is not only a fascinating Website for its content, it's a group blog that really clicks. Check it out! We've talked before about how food travels an average of 1,500 miles to our plates. Eat Local has more food for thought.

Great post: Julie Cummins talks about actually saving money while eating locally.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

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