[lbo-talk] WMT goes orgo

[ravi]

At around 25/8/06 12:21 pm, Doug Henwood wrote:
> 
> Mean or Green?
> by LIZA FEATHERSTONE
> 
> <...>
> 
> Food bearing the government's organic label can be, for low- and
> middle-income shoppers, prohibitively expensive. That's why, to many
> observers, an "organic Wal-Mart" represents the democratization of
> healthier--and better-tasting--food. Bob Scowcroft of the Organic
> Farming Research Foundation argues, too, that environmentalists should
> cheer Wal-Mart's move, which will "turn hundreds of thousands of acres"
> now being farmed conventionally to organic. "Think of the tonnage of
> toxins and carcinogens which will disappear from the earth," he says.
> Scowcroft also points to research by the Swiss government showing that
> organic farming can reduce global warming--actually drawing nitrogen and
> carbon from the atmosphere. Like the retailer's push for fuel-efficient
> trucking, Wal-Mart's entry into the organic sector could turn out to be
> another example of how one decision by this company--however
> market-driven--might do tremendous good, simply because of its scale.
> 
> <...>
> 
> Many organic farmers are social activists and idealists who care about
> the environment, animal rights and economic justice. But many are also
> entrepreneurial--and that's how they will survive the new era of big-box
> organic. The challenge Wal-Mart poses, says Bob Scowcroft, is "to get
> consumers who discover organics at the Wal-Mart to get out of their car
> and to the farmers' market."
> 

My own personal fear is that this move of WalMart will end up (even if
not intended) Green AND Mean:

http://platosbeard.org/archives/106

	--ravi

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