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Walmart store aisle green label
Featured Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Nov 22, 2011

Walmart’s promised green product rankings fall off the radar

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/walmarts-promised-green-product-rankings-fall-off-the-radar/

In 2009, Walmart unveiled grand plans to create a Sustainability Index that would, within five years, result in green labels for all the products it sells. Two and a half years later, the project has fallen far short and seems unlikely to ever deliver a green rating system. Nor is there much evidence that greener products are edging out more damaging ones on Walmart’s shelves. Continue reading

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Featured Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Nov 18, 2011

Think Walmart uses 100% clean energy? Try 2%

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/think-walmart-uses-100-clean-energy-try-2/

In 2005, Walmart announced that it was setting a goal of being “supplied by 100 percent renewable energy” — and has since received a steady stream of positive press for its commitment. But six years later, the giant retailer still derives less than 2 percent of its electricity from its solar projects and wind-power purchases. At its current pace of converting to renewables, it would take Walmart about 300 years to get to 100 percent clean power. Continue reading

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Featured Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Nov 11, 2011

Is your stuff falling apart? Thank Walmart

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/is-your-stuff-falling-apart-thank-walmart/

Chairs don’t hold together like they used to. Neither do toys, toasters, vacuum cleaners, or Levi’s. Walmart, with its relentless demands that manufacturers cut costs, has been a major force in making our products shoddier — and that has us heading back to the store more often to buy still more stuff. Continue reading

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Featured Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Nov 7, 2011

Walmart’s greenwash: Why the retail giant is still unsustainable

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/walmarts-greenwash-why-the-retail-giant-is-still-unsustainable/

The world’s biggest retailer has gotten lots of great press since it launched its sustainability campaign six years ago, but in many key areas it hasn’t actually gotten greener. It’s pumping out more CO2, paving over more land, and selling more flimsy products than ever before. In this Grist special series, ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell takes a hard look at Walmart’s real environmental impact. Continue reading

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Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | 5 Comments | Updated on Jul 22, 2011

Why is Michelle Obama’s food initiative promoting Walmart?

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/why-michelle-obama-s-food-initiative-promoting-walmart/

I winced yesterday when James Gavin, chair of the Partnership for a Healthier America, said he’d like to see Walmart double its U.S. store count. He was speaking at Michelle Obama’s event announcing that several retailers will open stores in “food deserts.” It was a sort of half-jokey remark, but, still, in a conversation about food in America, the suggestion that Walmart should have an even bigger role in our food system is pretty disturbing. This is a company that already captures 25 percent of grocery sales nationally and more than 50 percent in some metro areas. Continue reading

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Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on May 6, 2010

Miles Driven for Shopping Continues to Climb, But Pace Slows

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/miles-driven-shopping-continues-climb-pace-slows/

While the number of miles logged going to work, social events, and other activities declined over the last decade, the number of miles families drive for shopping each year continued climb. Continue reading

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Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | 2 Comments | Updated on Mar 5, 2010

Putting Wal-Mart’s Green Moves in Context

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/putting-walmarts-green-moves-context/

What journalists and even environmentalists so often fail to do in reporting on Walmart’s sustainability announcements is to provide context. Continue reading

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Article filed under Independent Business | Written by admin | No Comments | Updated on Mar 28, 2007

Keep Your Eyes on the Size: The impossibility of a green Wal-Mart

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/keep-your-eyes-size-impossibility-green-walmart/

Walmart’s sustainability campaign cannot be dismissed as greenwashing. It’s actually far more dangerous than that. Wal-Mart’s initiatives have just enough meat to have distracted much of the environmental movement, along with most journalists and many ordinary people, from the fundamental fact that, as a system of distributing goods to people, big-box retailing is as intrinsically unsustainable as clear-cut logging is as a method of harvesting trees. Continue reading

Article, ILSR Press Room filed under Independent Business | Written by admin | No Comments | Updated on Jul 21, 2005

Media Release: Response to Wal-Mart’s New “Green” Store in McKinney, Texas

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/media-release-response-walmarts-new-green-store-mckinney-texas/

MINNEAPOLIS (July 20, 2005)—While the features incorporated into Wal-Mart’s new "green" store in McKinney, Texas, create very modest improvements in energy consumption and stormwater runoff, they do not change Wal-Mart’s basic business model, which is extremely polluting. Continue reading