there is a term for that: greenwashing.

is wal-mart doing it? probably a little.

but: who cares what the motive is, if wal-mart can, as the last paragraph states, "democratize the whole sustainability idea" then this world is a better place.

frankly, the reason WHY many lower- and middle-class americans outwardly resist environmentalism is because their information about it is coming from sources they distrust. urbanites, liberals, academics, movie stars. and it all sounds preachy and abstract without any grounding in the civic theology of the american "heartland."

what do you mean "saving the earth is the right thing to do?" fundamentalist christian theology states that god gave us this earth to master and exploit as we please.

but when wal-mart tells me (the royal "me", i shop at target) that i can save money AND reduce energy usage...aha, that gets my interest. as well, wal-mart has SO much power over WHAT is produced for sale and HOW it is produced that a simple requirement for, say, "right-sized" packaging will save millions of trees and barrels of oil in a year. i don't care if it's for PR or for karma or for a little lift up jacob's ladder. if wal-mart is going green...i'm for it.

now...if they would take a look at their HR practices...i might shop there.

I've seen the LPA presentation about the 'green' walmarts. LPA did a great job designing a higher perfomance big box store...

Unfortunately the corporatation behind the efforts, sees these stores as experimental and a temporary installation. After three years, they may tear them down and go back to building like they used to, OR they may clone the best features into every walmart in the land!!!

Walmarts biggest greenwashing fault is that they are not reducing the carbon footprint of their logistics pipeline- stop shipping millions of containers around the world, exploiting the cheapest factories that conversely are the most polluting, et cetera... The stores are just a small fraction of the walmart effect on global warming.

and there you go, there is something that's not changing, or at least it's not clear if it's changing.

is wal-mart going to remodel their stores rather than build new ones? are they going to call for more ecological SITE PLANNING (not just store construction per se)? their "green" wal-mart in plano TX still looks like it has a sea of concrete in front of it with lots of big big SUVs.

now, wal-mart DOES (if they want to) single-handedly have the power to stop their "cheapest" factories from polluting so much, but only if they want to.

but then again, companies have failed us before. ford said they were going to make 250,000 hybrids...then backed away from the number. bill ford doesn't have the clout within his own company (with HIS last name on it!) to make it happen.

and once again...if wal-mart could pay everyone in its company a living wage and provide some decent health insurance things might be better. i'd rather buy from a company that dumps dead seals in the ocean but pays everyone a decent wage than a company that touts its environmentalism but skimps on the benefits.

of course social awareness and environmental awareness DO seem to go hand-in-hand.

What Walmart is doing to beginning to force there suppliers and distrobutors to take on new green standards not necessarily themselves. This is a typical Walmart practice of alleviating their cost by forcing those around them to change by saying they will find others to push instead of them if they do not compley.

in the news.

ochona, I dig what you're saying. Although it's going to take a lot more for me to shop at walmart besides it's environmental standards and it's treatment of its employees. How about its destructive nature on towns and community's commercial structure? Low prices are great, but at the cost of vaccanting your main streets and eliminating your friendly, knowledgable, and personal shop keep. I'll pay an extra 20% in merch costs for that service and knowledge, knowing that I'm supporting the community directly.

i think that, in general, this like anything else from wal-mart has to be viewed through a lens of cynicism, but it is a start. personally i just don't like wal-mart, so my words too have to be taken with a grain of salt.

i hate the way their stores look, inside and out.

i hate the fonts they use on their price tags.

i hate the glaring overhead lighting and the sick smell of cheap fake leather shoes and offgassing synthetic-fabric clothes.

i hate, frankly, being around people who clearly aren't thinking about what they are putting in their carts, their bodies, or their gas tanks.

i hate the flimsy veneer of patriotism and "family values" that masks utter disregard for their employees' well-being and general happiness.

so yeah, i ain't too big on wal-mart, but if they could start making the barbie packages a little smaller, we might save some oil.

also, i hate the fact that wal-mart is killing the good old-fashioned american supermarket...except that they don't seem to be a threat to my neighborhood H-E-B

lets sic the USGBC on them!!!!

The bottom line is that they are in business to make money. Sometimes making money comes easy, and sometimes it is hard – and with many communities fighting hard to keep the franchise out, the company has to go the extra mile to get their communities to buy into the idea that they need a Wal-Mart in their community.

Unfortunately, this direction to focus on the "green" aspect, in my eyes, is a reactive (rather than proactive) feeble attempt on Wal-Mart's behalf to get into a marketplace (e.g. community) where they are not wanted. They are only looking for another avenue to get "buy-in" from communities that would otherwise turn down their offer. The bottom line is that they will do what is best (in their eyes) to satisfy their bottom line.

I agree with treekiller that they are not doing their part in "…reducing the carbon footprint of their logistics pipeline- stop shipping millions of containers around the world, exploiting the cheapest factories that conversely are the most polluting". I agree with Ochona: "…are they remodeling their stores rather than build new ones?" I do not think so. In addition, I agree with SuperBeatledud regarding to their "…destructive nature on our towns and community's commercial structure".

Do not get me wrong – I am all for green and I commend Wal-Mart for their contributions (if this is their real objective), but I can't get over the fact that I see wolves in sheep's clothing.

If you can prove me wrong, please comment.

This is a stunt to fatten the ROI while getting a good PR bounce at the same time. Not buying it. In my eyes CEO Lee Scott is no different from Ken Lay of Enron or Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom. They will do anything for a personal profit, even if that's at the expense of their own employees. They don't give a rip about saving energy, but they do care about how much they spend on it. Don't get me wrong, it's good for them to save, but I'm not ignorant of why they are doing it.

Not about to leave Target for a Wal-Mart store anytime soon. Would have to drive out into the ex-urbs to find a Wal-Mart anyway. Ever heard of urban stores Lee Scott? Don't like high property values and building things like muliple levels, parking ramps, elevators, etc.? Or is it that you know your white trash clientele live in the trailer parks in the outer loops of the metro?

There is a pedestrian friendly Target right downtown Minneapolis. I don't have to drive to get there from work. Can take public transit to/from. Now that's what I call responsible...green.

I loved going to that downtown Target (except taxes are higher in downtown). I hear there's one going up in downtown St. Paul now...what's the progess on that?

The downtown St. Paul Target store it's still in the works. It's part of a major mixed use development plan, which Target is a relatively small part of. Providing the developer doesn't hit a snag along the way there'll be a couple new office/residential towers in St. Paul with a Target store at street level. Not positive on the location but I recall it being neaby the Xcel Center and walking distance to W. 7th street. Hopefully this project brings some more life to the area after 5pm. Love that Mpls has pedestrians on the streets all hours of the day. Too bad St. Paul turns into a ghost town after hours.

Target does have several newer urban stores than the Mpls one though. Particularly out east and in CA they are doing many multi-level stores and urban in-fill projects. For a big box I think far and above they are doing the most exciting stuff right now. Being in the Mpls arch community I get to see a lot of what they are doing.

Unfortunately I also get to see what Best Buy is doing. Sadly they are no better than Wal-Mart when it comes to architectural design, including the Klingon Mothership of a corporate office they landed in Richfield. Puke.

i used to have to drive by the Best Buy corp office very day...those slanted walls...argh!

Here is a small (but interesting) article about Wal-mart's failure of global expansion. Sounds like they failed in South Korea because the country protects its homegrown retailers – and now Germany is following suit…