Wal-Mart Warms to Al Gore

[cal04]

Former Vice President and environmental activist Al Gore is planning to address Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executives next week at the retailer’s quarterly conference on sustainability, part of the company’s recent efforts to become an environmental leader, a Wal-Mart spokesman confirmed.

Gore will speak on global warming, the subject of his recently released documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” The conference is an outgrowth of Wal-Mart’s mission, outlined by Chief Executive Lee Scott last November, to minimize its negative impact on the environment. At the time, Wal-Mart committed to, among other things, reduce energy use in its stores, improve the fuel efficiency of its truck fleet and substantially cut down on solid waste produced by its stores.

Wal-Mart has seized on the issue of sustainability in an effort to bolster positive public relations at a time when its various business practices have been heavily criticized, from its worker pay and health benefits to its effect on smaller retailers. Still, the company has attempted to make changes. For example, it outfitted its trucks with an alternative power unit that uses 90% less fuel than its engines do while idling. The company created 14 internal networks to explore and implement more environmentally sound business practices. The 14 groups, made up of both Wal-Mart executives and outside experts, focus on different business areas, including operations and logistics, food and agriculture, textiles, global greenhouse gas and jewelry and mining.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/07/06/wal-mart-warms-to-gore/

[iamjoy]

1. And Their Corn Based Polymers

Wal-Mart is packing some vegetables in plastics made from corn, not petroleum.

They're really fighting the PR battle, aren't they?

[OhioBlue]

4. fighting the PR battle indeed....

Wal Mart as an "environmentally friendly company"...

OMG

:rofl:


Their entire business plan revolves around selling cheap crap to be landfilled and replaced.... their monstrosities of "Super Centers" create enough toxic runoff and flooding conditions that could require their own waste water treatment plants... their importation from cheap labor and no environmental regulation plants....

just OMG....

[bbinacan]

2. Interesting

"At the time, Wal-Mart committed to, among other things, reduce energy use in its stores..."

Several days ago, there was a post here on DU where people were bitching about Wal-Mart stores being unusually warm.:shrug:

[Broken_Hero]

3. my wife

is trying to get in on that conference...I hope she gets in. In 04, she had the pleasure, or displeasure of listening to Dick Cheney do his stomping, at walmart in may of 04...he was a joke. My wife laughed at loud, when Cheney said "We know what its like to live from paycheck to paycheck"...it was hysterical. His wife was with him as well...and he did this speech in front of a ton of warehouse workers...

[neoblues]

5. Whatever their motives, efforts by such a major...

corporation to reduce the harm they do by virtue of just existing is a good thing; no doubt some useful 'tricks' will be discovered that can be employed by other corporations (and since they probably won't do anything that actually costs them much of anything, any such techniques probably will be acceptable to other companies in their own efforts). Then again, I could be full of beans (and thereby adding immeasurably to the Carbon burden of the atmosphere).

[mucifer]

6. Environmentalism can save money so the greed at walmart might

be a little bit helpful to tone down some of the crap they are doing to the environment so I don't think it's a bad move for Gore to go there. Now if he does a commercial for them or something I'd puke and lose respect for him.

[Vidar]

7. I'll accept them as "allies", but contiue to hate them.