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So Wal Mart has been tooting it’s own green horn for a while now, spending millions to remake their image and introduce greener products. You may have seen the signs telling you to buy fluorescent lightbulbs and canvas grocery bags (I won’t even start with the fluorescent light bulbs, that is another post.) But I was talking to two of my co-workers the other day, and we were discussing what we personally do that is eco-friendly. I was amazed at the effort one of my co-workers puts into it, far outdoing me in many categories. I can only hope to catch up to her soon. But she mentioned that when she gets married in September, she is banning her new husband from bringing plastic bags into their house. I thought this was interesting. I hate plastic bags, they are such a waste. And the fact that there is an aggregate of trash the size of Texas floating around the Pacific that comes from American waste makes me sick. But beyond that, China has managed to ban plastic bags entirely in their country. Did everyone perish from their inability to get their groceries home? No. Why can’t we do that too? It seems like such a simple step, and in China, the only people who suffered from this were the plastic bag manufacturers. Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. As much as Wal Mart claims to be green, it’s simple things like banning plastic sacks altogether that would make a real impression. Until actual effort that creates change in consumer behavior is in place, I am going to judge the Wal Mart greening efforts as nothing more than a marketing ruse. I wish I could be optimistic like the great environmentalist Paul Hawkens, when he said, “If corporations say they are green long enough, eventually they will start to believe their own lies, and then maybe we will see real change.” However, I believe that money talks, and until it is unprofitable for corporations to be wasteful, we will not see any changes. And how do you enforce environmental penalties for wasteful companies when you are already in trouble with the lagging economy? Most environmental changes will require some capital up front to get them moving, but at the same time, we can’t afford not to care anymore.

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Wal Mart