More Wal-Mart Greening
I found yet another example of somthing that makes me a bit uneasy with Wal-Mart. They are now pushing to increase sales of compact fluorescent lightbulbs to 100 million a year which is more than twice what they sell now. CFL’s are more expensive, but use 1/4 or less energy than a traditional lightbulb and don’t waste all that extra energy as heat. The bulbs last for years. The savings from the bulb is enough to prevent the otherwise necessary building of several new electric plants in the near future if Americans switched to them. The article I linked is a good discussion of the bulbs and many of the issues at play. What it doesn’t talk about are some of the social issues around bringing that wal-mart muscle to an otherwise good cause. Does it offset the good paying jobs lost in this country to slave wage level manufacturers in Asia? Does it offset the horrible pay, benefits, and conditions that Wal-Mart lays on its workers? I pondered these same questions when I read a long story last year stating that Wal-Mart was going to start pushing organics foods in its stores. I’m still not sure I have the answer. Don’t get me wrong, I have no illusion that Wal-Mart is doing this for any reasons other than its own bottom line. This is good PR and it helps to bring in consumers like me who otherwise have qualms about shopping at Wal-Mart.
I’ll admit that, since moving to California, I’ve made one trip to Wal-Mart for the express purpose of buying compact fluorescent lightbulbs. They’re about 30% cheaper there than at the local Safeway.
