Greenwashers celebrate Earth Day

Script by Mark Hertsgaard
Marketplace, Apr 22, 2005

Happy Earth Day! Thirty-five years the green movement created the holiday, environmentalists cite huge victories like passage of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. And corporations aren't shy about how much they've done to help. But have they really? Commentator Mark Hertsgaard chimes in.

(Mark Hertsgaard) Like daffodils announcing that spring is here, America's newspapers sprout full-page ads every Earth Day extolling how wonderfully corporations are taking care of the environment.

This year, General Motors is bragging about hydrogen cars. Exxon-Mobil, about energy conservation.

Never mind that in the real world, GM and Exxon-Mobil have been two of the biggest obstacles to tackling global warming.

Critics call such advertising "greenwashing." By spending tiny sums to publicize misleading claims, polluters can avoid changing the way they do business.

This year, there's a new greenwasher: Wal-Mart. America's biggest company has long faced criticism for paying workers next to nothing, driving local mom-and-pops out of business, and encouraging urban sprawl.

Last week, in full-page ads and even a bona fide news story in the New York Times, Wal-Mart announced it would spend $35 million over ten years to buy 138,000 acres of environmentally valuable habitat. That's as much land, Wal-Mart officials proudly declared, as the company's stores, parking lots and supply centers will occupy ten years from now.

But green halos don't come so cheaply. The environmental threat Wal-Mart poses goes far beyond the land its own facilities occupy, to the larger blight of suburban sprawl.

A Wal-Mart superstore is a magnet for gas stations, fast food and other commercial outlets to pave over still more land nearby. That increases traffic and produces more smog and global warming.

What's more, Wal-Mart's famously low prices rely largely on Third World production. Shipping those goods the extra distance means even more energy use and more pollution.

Companies that are sincere about environmental reform don't have to greenwash. Pressure from forest activists has led Office Depot and Staples to sell and market much more recycled paper.

Those are the kind of companies that deserve kudos on Earth Day—not greenwashers who are happy to talk the talk but not walk the walk.