13 April 2006

Climate Change: View from Vacationland - Wal-Mart Wants to Roll-Back Climate Change & More

So, I'm on vacation this week, fighting the urge to post, when low and behold Grist, the radical environmental news and commentary magazine publishes an interview with Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott in which he says, "Global warming is real, now, and it must be addressed." Yes, the CEO of Wal-Mart, shoppers; you better believe it.

Then today, CNN Money runs a feature from Business 2.0's "Future Boy" about how there may be money to be made with global warming. I just had to share these two stories with my readers. I mean, it really does seem like we're reaching a tipping point.

Even here, on sunny Florida's Treasure Coast, when the talk is not centered on the (non-)Sensenbrenner immigration bill, it's all about climate change, the coming hurricane season, and the continuing drought. I'm beginning to think we may be able to muster what it will take to tackle this thing or at least, if it ain't too late, to start taking appropriate action to ameliorate the harshest effects.

Read this: Wal-Mart to Roll-Back Climate Change

and this: Why global warming is good for business

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lee Scott said that? Oh dear, apparently now that climate change is in everybody's mouth, companies are doing their best to *look* green. And I'm sure Wal Mart, beside workers' issues, will keep moving their goods by using all the polluting transport means.

The Green Skeptic said...

So, here is part of what he said, "We will be investing approximately $500 million annually in technologies and innovation to do the following: Reducing greenhouse gases at our existing store base around the world by 20 percent over the next seven years. Designing and opening a viable store prototype that is 30 percent more efficient and will produce up to 30 percent fewer greenhouse-gas emissions within the next four years. Reducing solid waste from U.S. stores by 25 percent in the next three years. Increasing our truck fleet efficiency by 25 percent over the next three years, and doubling it within 10 years. If implemented across our entire fleet by 2015, this would amount to savings of more than $310 million a year."

Even if they implement half of the stuff Scott proposes, I gotta think it will have tremendous impact.