Kudos To Wal-Mart — World’s Largest Environmentalist!
Good things are happening all around the world, we just don’t always
notice them. In 2005 Wal-Mart made the decision to go green, and
today the world’s $400 billion-a-year gorilla has made a huge
difference to the environment.
Within a year of its 2005 announcement, the company’s 2 million
associates at 8,400 stores used nearly 5 billion fewer plastic bags,
and delivered 77 million more cases while driving 100 million fewer
miles. Additionally, they’re now the largest buyer of organic cotton
and milk in the world. (Economists estimate that $1 of every $3
worldwide is associated with a company that does business with
Wal-Mart.)
It all started by working on a sustainability index, which involved
sending a 15-part questionnaire to all vendors asking how they
planned to help Wal-Mart meet its environmental goals. Now farmers
and manufacturers, plus everyone in between, are rushing to change
the way they do business. Harvard Business Review calls
sustainability the next mega-trend ... a sweeping and permanent
change in the way we all do business.
