Green Daily

Well, it's trying. Between its new store that will be heated and cooled with green technology, and a new program to create and sell garden mulch out of old tires, Wal-Mart seems to be greening its image. The store plans to recycle more than 2.5 million tires to make the mulch, as well as garden edging and "tree rings," whatever those are (check out the link for the official press release).

Look, I'm all for recycled products. And a new green store is certainly interesting. But does Wal-Mart really expect that consumers will truly see them as a "green" retailer, as they keep referring to themselves as? A few recycled products and some well-placed marketing campaigns does not a green store make. A truly green retailer is not one that uproots in every available green space, whether the local citizens want it or not. It's not one that has to heat and cool its massive warehouse-like stores, whose products are trucked cross-country and are produced in sweatshops in third world countries (we're looking at you, Kathie Lee). It's not one that is ostensibly conscious in one outlet (the environment) and not in another (proper treatment of its workers, and an egalitarian community).

I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it. The words "Wal-Mart" and "green" feel strange coming out of my mouth in the same sentence. Well, unless I'm saying, "Wal-Mart will never be green," in which case it feels perfectly fine.

Oh, and in case the photo accompanying this post is difficult to see, let me elaborate: it's a tree strewn with blue plastic Wal-Mart bags. Green, indeed.