[eclecticEel]

Not really certain if they still do this, but back in the day Walmart made a point of highlighting the “Made in America” products it sold in its stores. Of course, that didn’t change the fact that most of what they sold was being made in places like China or Mexico. It was however, a reasonable enough PR move: the company was coming under criticism for selling too much imported junk and such moves helped to shut up the critics chorus - and if shoppers cared they could go out of their way to buy American, since the company was making money in any event it was no skin off their nose.

Our reliance on cheaply made Chinese junk has only gone up ever since, Walmart’s PR campaign did nothing to stop it. Their latest “green campaign” will have similar effects - namely none at all.

[nathanbedford]

Unfortunately it is not clear from the article exactly what it is that Wal-Mart plans to do. The author At Harvard Business Publishing says only, "an environmental labelling program disclosing to consumers the environmental costs of making products sold at Wal-Mart". We are told that this has "just changed the game with respect to environmental issues" but we are not told how or why except that "environmental skeptics... are soon to be put out of the picture. And it did not take legislation to neutralize them. It took a principled action by a self interested company."

Does this mean that we no longer need to Cap and Trade? Has Wal-Mart done it all?

Evidently so because the author concludes his ecstatic remarks with the following:

The beauty of the Wal-Mart innovation is that it doesn't ask anyone to change anything except the information that is provided and received. If polluters want to keep polluting, they are free to do so as long as they provide that data on their Wal-Mart labels. And if consumers choose to buy from polluters whose labels they can read, they are free to do so. In theory.

In practice, of course, we know that suppliers will change their practices to avoid embarrassing disclosures, and consumers will think twice about the choices they make. Consumer activists have been clamoring for information.

So, the author thinks we have the perfect marriage of environmentalism and capitalism:

We should applaud Wal-Mart for joining the vanguard and leading a new parade. First for the green program and all that might follow from it. Second for showing that a new model of principled, not just greedy, American capitalism can take shape.

Even the left now sees the triumph capitalism and the superfluity of Cap and Trade.

[Cheap_Hessian]

“Say au revoir, adios, auf Weidersehen, zai jain, and rest-in-peace to environmental skeptics and laggards; they are soon to be out of the picture. And it did not take legislation to neutralize them. It took a principled action by a self-interested company. That is values-based capitalism at its best.”

What a bunch of bull. Goldman Sachs, GE, and Wal-Mart are all going to make billions of dollars in their partnership with the government with this green stuff. This has never been about the environment and has everything to do with control by keeping down small business and limiting new competition. The idea that people are classifying this as value-based capitalism over government/business corruption makes me sick.

[blueplum]

does walmart really expect the Chinese to comply? ha!

[gusopol3]

Is this the same author who wrote that the Segway was surely going to change the way we live?

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[KTM rider]

The Soviets already tried this experiment, it was called the GUM or "state store"....

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

NOt just Walmart. McDonald’s also.

A McDonald’s opened (reopened - they tore the old one down and built this new green one in its place) in my area which provides hookups for all the electric car drivers to plug in to and get some more “juice” for their electric cars!

Isn’t that special?

The madness has almost taken full hold of corporate America and yet the Eco-Nazi’s are STILL going to destroy this nation with Cap and Trade - despite the attempts of many in big business to try to be “green” friendly.

[Venturer]

You go to the store for what you need or want. The price is right , you buy it.

No one gives a red rat’s patoot about a tag on it that syas it isnt “green” enough.

Nice try Walmart——Lame.

[Loyal Buckeye]

I trust that Wal-Mart is creative enough to make money off the idiocy emanating from our Federal government.

[LibLieSlayer]

My money has not been... and will never again go to walmartistan.

LLS

[Red Boots]

By rolling out an environmental labelling program disclosing to consumers the environmental costs of making products sold at Wal-Mart, the $401 billion retail behemoth has transformed green standards from nice-to-have to must-have.

WalMart is smart. They know that this is going to go the way of nutritional labels: nobody cares ! They buy what they want anyway.

When they point out that, despite labeling, green products do not sell ( much like salads at MacDonalds, they'll have made their case in a way that the green people must see: no body cares !

Of course, then the green idiots will try to force people to.They'll be shown to be the totalitarians they are. It's not about green; it's about CONTROL.

[youthphil]

Watch for rising prices.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

vomit

have they stopped cows from having flatulance yet?

[mewzilla]

Anyone know if Target's doing something similar?

If not, guess where we'll be shopping....

[Excellence]

Dear Wal-Mart,
You just lost a customer.
Sincerely.

[monday]

“In practice, of course, we know that suppliers will change their practices to avoid embarrassing disclosures, and consumers will think twice about the choices they make.”

really? we know that? I expect suppliers will see what consumers choose before making any changes at all, and I expect most wall mart shoppers to continue to buy the cheapest products regardless of labeling. In effect, business as usual. People are all for protecting the environment as long as they personally don’t have to pay for it.

[CottShop]

[[Wal-Mart’s unilateral decision to put its purchasing and communication power behind going green also shows that a single company using its unique clout can accelerate public action to reduce greenhouse gases and reverse climate change.]]

BS- climate change is a NATURAL CYCLICAL EVENT which we can do absolutely nothign about- but let’s not let the FACTS get in the way of corporate greed and Walmart cashing in on people’s misguided- ignorant sense of self-loathing, their sense that they must ‘do something’ to ‘correct hte sins of we evil human beings’!

What a crock of Crap!

[discostu]

Greenies are so gullible. All WM is doing is making their suppliers put some silly lies on their labels. Nobody really knows what the environmental impact of their product is, there are too many variables, mostly in their employees and transportation. Just look at the argument over whether a Prius causes more damage than a Hummer, everybody has a pet stat on that, nobody really knows. Companies will use the most favorable assumptions, ignore everything they can get away with, and these new sections on their labels will be a bigger fiction than a Dan Brown novel. But the greenies will be happy and WM is getting good press. It’s a smart move, but not for any of the reasons in this article.