tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21280038.post7656395048974992954..comments2023-10-08T09:56:05.560-06:00Comments on The Straight Dope: Social Injustice and WalmartSteve Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17639176315514772554noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21280038.post-92130938569578214302008-04-07T20:28:00.000-06:002008-04-07T20:28:00.000-06:00hi, i came across your blog today. very good stuff...hi, i came across your blog today. very good stuff! thanks for posting. i put together a video about social injustices, if you're interested. check it out. thanks!<BR/> http://www.youtube.com/v/_skzW823XIM&hl=enAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21280038.post-67613372723034150002007-08-20T23:55:00.000-06:002007-08-20T23:55:00.000-06:00Though I've visited your blog to get your hit on e...Though I've visited your blog to get your hit on endurance sports, nutrition, and the like, this stuff is just as fun. <BR/><BR/>Despite giving voice to my own anger at the way category killers can close the doors of locally-owned businesses, I have to say that I hold out hope for the Mall-Warts of the world.<BR/><BR/>Though I took the Wal-Mart pledge, and avoid the place like the plague, I'm still curious (and attempt to be open-minded) about its espoused commitment to sustainable business practice and CSR. <BR/><BR/>Aside from the destructive reinforcing loop they've set in motion throughout their domain (low-wage workers purchasing low-priced goods manufactured overseas, thus putting themselves out of work), the company seems to be earnest in its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint (carbon bike frames notwithstanding), along with encouraging – and demanding – a modicum of sustainable business practice from its suppliers.<BR/><BR/>Wal-Mart's interesting (and, at the same time, loathsome) to me precisely because of the stranglehold it exerts on its suppliers. No single retailing entity can match its buying power. Yep, there’s a dark side to Wal-Mart’s not-so-invisible hand, which you’ve already pointed out…but where there’s dark, there’s also light: Wal-Mart gets what it wants – and if it wants garden hoes with certified wood shafts, then big daddy gets. If it wants to sell polo shirts made from organic cotton, well – if you don’t want to be our supplier, then pound sand. <BR/><BR/>For all the lip-service about participatory work systems and learning organizations, most corporations are steered from the top down. The CEO really is the supreme leader. Top leadership has to set the company on the sustainability path, and then reinforce it with words and deeds. Kinda like the Chinese government – which years ago I predicted could turn around their pollution problem pretty quickly by executing the CEOs of the 10 top polluting companies each year.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, when Wal-Mart demands even a smidge more accountability from its staggering supply chain, the cumulative downstream effect can be significant.<BR/><BR/>Up until a few years ago, it took courageous and visionary leadership to launch transformative organizational change. The strategic competitive advantages of sustainable business development weren’t lost on leaders like Ray Anderson of Interface (publicly held) and Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia (privately held), but these guys were already convinced - from the inside out - that green was good.<BR/><BR/>These days, CEO’s don’t need unusual vision and courage to jump on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) bandwagon, because greening is coming from the outside-in. <BR/><BR/>David Brower put it quite well when he wrote, “there’s no business to be done on a dead planet.” The multinationals are starting to pay heed to the stark truth of those words.<BR/><BR/>"Sustainability" will be Time Magazine's Person of the Year. Hah! <BR/><BR/>The VC community is doling out money to new sustainable energy entrants hand over fist. Doesn’t really matter, though. Now that the sustainability game is officially underway, the firms that command the most investment and intellectual capital can and will start changing the way the game is played. <BR/><BR/>The game? Cutting costs through greater operating efficiencies using the lens of the carbon footprint and resource conservation, and winning/preserving revenues through green products and honest efforts to address the demands of increasingly discriminating consumers – that would be us – ‘cuz we’ll start voting with our wallets.<BR/><BR/>If we’ve got any money left to spend, that is. Or should I say, if we’re still around to spend it.<BR/><BR/>Having said all that, everything falls apart. Despite its efforts, Wal-Mart will, too.<BR/><BR/>P.S. Is the John Ehrenfeld who responded to your post the M.I.T. lecturer and industrial ecologist?Brad Rasslerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14692287813005167494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21280038.post-91436228390385454482007-08-20T10:43:00.000-06:002007-08-20T10:43:00.000-06:00Bravo, great post. The San Francisco Bay Area Guar...Bravo, great post. The San Francisco Bay Area Guardian also reminds us . . . <BR/><BR/>"With more than $312.4 billion in annual sales, Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world, selling its array of products at cheap prices by undercutting competitors, employing sweatshops, wielding its market power to cripple both competitors and suppliers, and flouting national and international health, safety, labor, and environmental standards." <BR/><BR/>And now for the "Can You Believe It" section . . . <BR/><BR/>Having been exposed as the greedy corporate abuser of working people and the environment that they are . . . Wal-Mart is now turning to "BUYING OFF" progressive activists (Yes SOME of us obviously do have their morality for sale). <BR/><BR/>Meet ex-Sierra Club President ADAM WERBACH, (Act Now Productions, the progressive DVD club Ironweed and the Apollo Clean Energy Alliance Board.) <BR/><BR/>He now works for Wal-Mart as their environmental propogands minister.<BR/><BR/>"It's sad. It's really sad," said Robert Greenwald, director of Wal-Mart, "The High Cost of Low Price", a documentary critical of the corporation's business practices. When asked if someone like Werbach could really change the way Wal-Mart does business, Greenwald said . . . <BR/><BR/>"No. They've bought a bunch of people instead of taking care of their employees. And they bought environmental people because they knew that was the weak link."<BR/><BR/>I guess we are not collectively mad enough yet to really do something about all of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21280038.post-31985001481464650102007-08-20T09:20:00.000-06:002007-08-20T09:20:00.000-06:00Here's a link to the original article on bottled w...Here's a link to the original article on bottled water.<BR/><BR/>http://www.beachbody.com/jump.jsp?itemID=532&itemType=NEWSLETTER_ISSUESSteve Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17639176315514772554noreply@blogger.com