{"id":1708,"date":"2005-10-28T16:42:00","date_gmt":"2005-10-28T16:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sustainablog.greenoptions.com\/2005\/10\/28\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/"},"modified":"2005-10-28T16:42:00","modified_gmt":"2005-10-28T16:42:00","slug":"sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"SRI Cautiously Applauding Wal-Mart&#8217;s &#8216;Embracing Sustainability&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s been an interesting couple of weeks on the corporate front, and I realize I&#8217;m running the risk of overdoing the coverage on Wal-Mart&#8217;s recent moves. Still, at this point, this is big. CSRWire has published <a href=\"http:\/\/www.csrwire.com\/sfarticle.cgi?id=1844\">an article<\/a> from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.socialfunds.com\/\">SocialFunds.com<\/a> noting that the socially responsible investment community &#8220;welcome[s] the potential changes while maintaining skepticism, noting that the company faces critiques on so many fronts that achieving true social and environmental sustainability would require a radical transformation.&#8221; At this point, I think this is the only really responsible position to take. I find myself very much in agreement with Conrad MacKerron, who directs the corporate responsibility program for the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.asyousow.org\/\">As You Sow Foundation<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Even if Wal-Mart achieved 100 percent of its environmental agenda, it would be hard to see how a company facing serious allegations of unequal pay, low pay, intimidation of union organizing efforts, and no limits on store siting, sprawl and growth could get an SRI gold star,&#8221; Mr. MacKerron told SocialFunds.com. &#8220;It&#8217;s interesting that none of the proposals announced so far would restrain their growth in any way&#8211;in fact, they seem to be suggesting that their huge size and buying power will somehow bring environmental and social justice.&#8221; <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>These kinds of questions have to be addressed before Wal-Mart&#8217;s numerous critics can start to take anything the company has to say with anything more than skepticism. As I noted in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.haloscan.com\/comments\/jmcstras\/113032928159242298\/#107569\">a comment<\/a> earlier this week, I&#8217;d love for Wal-Mart to prove it&#8217;s critics wrong &#8212; I just don&#8217;t see it happening&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Of course, I&#8217;m not the only member of the Sustainable Blogosphere chiming in on this: Dave Roberts at Gristmill has <a href=\"http:\/\/gristmill.grist.org\/story\/2005\/10\/27\/165643\/86\">a thorough post up<\/a> on the subject, which includes consideration of the newly-leaked memo on Wal-Mart&#8217;s health care for employees.<\/p>\n<p>Categories: <a href=\"http:\/\/del.icio.us\/jmcstras\/wal-mart\" rel=\"tag\">wal-mart<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/del.icio.us\/jmcstras\/sri\" rel=\"tag\">sri<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/del.icio.us\/jmcstras\/sustainability\" rel=\"tag\">sustainability<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/del.icio.us\/jmcstras\/energy\" rel=\"tag\">energy<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/del.icio.us\/jmcstras\/efficiency\" rel=\"tag\">efficiency<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/del.icio.us\/jmcstras\/criticism\" rel=\"tag\">criticism<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/del.icio.us\/jmcstras\/skepticism\" rel=\"tag\">skepticism<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s been an interesting couple of weeks on the corporate front, and I realize I&#8217;m running the risk of overdoing the coverage on Wal-Mart&#8217;s recent moves. Still, at this point,&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SRI Cautiously Applauding Wal-Mart&#039;s &#039;Embracing Sustainability&#039; &#8226; Sustainablog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SRI Cautiously Applauding Wal-Mart&#039;s &#039;Embracing Sustainability&#039; &#8226; Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#8217;s been an interesting couple of weeks on the corporate front, and I realize I&#8217;m running the risk of overdoing the coverage on Wal-Mart&#8217;s recent moves. Still, at this point,&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-10-28T16:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30\"},\"headline\":\"SRI Cautiously Applauding Wal-Mart&#8217;s &#8216;Embracing Sustainability&#8217;\",\"datePublished\":\"2005-10-28T16:42:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2005-10-28T16:42:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/\"},\"wordCount\":308,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/\",\"name\":\"SRI Cautiously Applauding Wal-Mart's 'Embracing Sustainability' &#8226; Sustainablog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-10-28T16:42:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2005-10-28T16:42:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SRI Cautiously Applauding Wal-Mart&#8217;s &#8216;Embracing Sustainability&#8217;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"description\":\"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":142,\"caption\":\"Sustainablog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30\",\"name\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\"},\"description\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg is the founder and editor of sustainablog. You can keep up with all of his writing at Facebook, and at Google+\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/jeffmcintirestrasburg\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SRI Cautiously Applauding Wal-Mart's 'Embracing Sustainability' &#8226; Sustainablog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SRI Cautiously Applauding Wal-Mart's 'Embracing Sustainability' &#8226; Sustainablog","og_description":"It&#8217;s been an interesting couple of weeks on the corporate front, and I realize I&#8217;m running the risk of overdoing the coverage on Wal-Mart&#8217;s recent moves. Still, at this point,&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]","og_url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/","og_site_name":"Sustainablog","article_published_time":"2005-10-28T16:42:00+00:00","author":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/"},"author":{"name":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30"},"headline":"SRI Cautiously Applauding Wal-Mart&#8217;s &#8216;Embracing Sustainability&#8217;","datePublished":"2005-10-28T16:42:00+00:00","dateModified":"2005-10-28T16:42:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/"},"wordCount":308,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/","name":"SRI Cautiously Applauding Wal-Mart's 'Embracing Sustainability' &#8226; Sustainablog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2005-10-28T16:42:00+00:00","dateModified":"2005-10-28T16:42:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sri-cautiously-applauding-wal-marts-embracing-sustainability\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SRI Cautiously Applauding Wal-Mart&#8217;s &#8216;Embracing Sustainability&#8217;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","name":"Sustainablog","description":"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization","name":"Sustainablog","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","width":200,"height":142,"caption":"Sustainablog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30","name":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg"},"description":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg is the founder and editor of sustainablog. You can keep up with all of his writing at Facebook, and at Google+","sameAs":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org"],"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/jeffmcintirestrasburg\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}