After having missed some quality posting time due to a quick adventure to Peterborough, I am about to miss a bunch more. Tomorrow will see me head to Ottawa in the evening as the start of my holiday. I'm looking forward to the chance to see friends and family and to see some new places/people/things with good company. I trust I'll have plenty to blog about on my return (and definitely plenty of photos). I may even post something in the midst of it all. Stranger things.
In the meantime, is Wal-Mart's effort to "Green" itself likely to change the average consumer's approach to "being Green"? Discuss.
FOLLOW-UP: The Duffelupagus wins the un-prize for sharing the first thoughts on the matter. I just have to make mention of the concept of bias in the media for a moment. Everybody is biased. That is all. No, not really. It's to be expected that everybody will write with a bias (I know I certainly do). That being said, some media-consumers (don't kid yourself, you are a consumer of the media) don't recognize that bias applies to our sources of information and "news". Whether it is another take on the reasons behind the current terrible conflict in Lebanon and Israel or just the general daily decisions about what to say and what to leave out in the news, we must be savvy consumers. It seems that sometimes these memebers of the media try to paint themselves as being beyond reproach. Well, I would venture that the author of the Wal-Mart article I linked to chose to wear his allegiances on his sleeve. My feeling is that if you feel it important to use the term "left-wing elites" in an article, then you do not consider yourself a part of that group. Interesting way to share your beliefs. Staying with Wal-Mart, Chicago has joined Santa Fe and Albuquerque in New Mexico; San Francisco, California; and Washington in demanding that "big-box stores" pay their employees a living wage. Sounds interesting to me. Not such a bad idea, though as seems to have been done in the past, Wal-Mart appears ready to set-up shop right outside of city limits. So, this adds more to your discussion topic: Are self-directed corporate efforts more effective than government policy-making?
1 comment:
Considering some of my coworkers still won't bother to reach an extra 2 feet for the recycling bin, I think WM would have to go pretty far in the cheap & convenient direction with green stuff to change its customers.
WM's charitable & green efforts have always sounded like window dressing to me. I'd be very happy to be proven different with this new initiative, of course.
Somewhat relatedly: Controversy in Vancouver lately over city blocking, then unblocking, WM's app to open a "green" store here. So is it the city's place to decide zoning based on a company's rep, rather than just zoning issues? Or should they let us consumers decide whether to patronize the store? I've been edging towards the latter.
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