Sustainability: Going Green

During class 20, guest speaker James Tansey had the class do a survey to gauge their own carbon footprint.  I was surprised by the huge amount of carbon footprints some of my classmates had.  This survey made it clear how the trivial activities we do such as commuting and eating meat greatly contributes to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions.  This survey raises a question, “If I alone can cause this much greenhouse gas to the environment, then are big companies doing anything to reduce their non-undoubtedly massive carbon footprint?”  In Cathy’s blog about Walmart’s initiatives on going green, she mentions that Walmart’s “real motives…deciding to go green is questionable.”  We cannot be sure if Walmart’s approach to become an environmental leader in the business was to increase profitability by reducing costs, or to purely help the environment.  However, I consider each company to be a profit maximizing firm and at the moment, “Green sells,” and it is probably in Walmart’s best intention to reduce its costs while still marketing their company to be “green” to the public.  Nonetheless, Walmart must still be praised for aiming to become more sustainable and setting an example for other companies to follow.

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