Green Marches On

Walmart is showing that it intends to be ecologically responsible, even in the bad economy. Let that serve as a beacon to all who might regard “green” as too expensive or too much trouble in these times of cost concerns.

Walmart has always insisted that it’s not a “green” retailer – that the energy-efficiencies it has been introducing in its stores are to save the company money, not to save the world.

Perhaps this is a big-guy posture in the unsentimental John Wayne/Clint Eastwood vein. But more and more, we can see the Alan Alda sentimentality emerge. In its own way, the company has led the charge with compact fluorescent lighting products and innovative architectural advances.

And now, Walmart Canada has thrown back the curtain and revealed the true personality behind it. The retailer’s new Canadian prototype is unapologetically green, with all the right buzzwords: geothermal technology, daylight harvesting, reduced carbon emissions, renewable power sources, etc., etc., etc.

“We’re determined to build the greenest stores on the block,” the retailer’s Canadian ceo said. “We remain committed to being green, not only for the good of the environment, but for the long-term sustainability of our business.”

There! They said it. And what good news at exactly the right time, too. I’ve watched the green movement advance in this industry, often against the mistrust of bean-counters who feel it’s too expensive and too difficult. And just when it was gaining widespread support, the bottom fell out of the economy. Would the green movement be a casualty of all that belt-tightening? Walmart affirms just the opposite.

What are you seeing in your daily life?