5 Greener Big-box Retailers
In 2005, Daniel Agst argued at Grist.org that shopping at chain stores might actually be
better for the environment. Agst's argument, in a nutshell: the one-stop shopping big-box stores afford means fewer car trips; bulk stores like Costco and Sam's Club minimize packaging; and their status as public companies means that it's easier to monitor their chain-wide environmental practices. Moreover, the environmental costs of moving goods over large distances (see: China-U.S.) could be offset by the eventual environmental gains of making communities across the world richer, thereby hastening their later efforts to improve their wrecked environment. Although I'm not totally convinced by this -- why not, instead of making these types of justifications, just reduce how much we consume? -- I wondered which chain stores had made the chain-wide environmental changes that Agst referred to. Behold: the five greener big-box stores, and why.
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_thumbnail.jpg "Green superheroes")
