First off, I have to apologize for being quiet for so long. It has been a wonderfully busy several months with work, and lets face it, I just got out of the habit of writing. Much has happened at Walmart since my last blog. Our CEO, Lee Scott retired, and was replaced by Mike Duke, a man whose integrity I greatly admire. He and I spent several days learning about the effect of climate change on glaciers two years ago, and I was, and am very excited to have him leading our company. He is a great business leader, and he is also a great advocate of sustainability. In fact, at our most recent corporate sustainability meeting the last week in January he said of our sustainability goals: “We’ll learn from the past, and then accelerate and broaden our efforts for the future.”
Since then, we have been driving sustainability even faster than before. We have been working on several of the goals that we set that had end dates of this year, and we were pleased to be able to announce that several came to pass including the goal to increase the fuel efficiency of our fleets by 25%. Additionally, we’ve been preparing for more communication with our customers…you. As of right now, we are beginning a program we call Earth Month in our stores and in our ads. In honor of Earth Day, April 22, we decided to declare the entire month of April Earth Month, and take the opportunity to share with our customers some of the things we have learned.
Wal-Mart stores from Brazil to China to Canada will be telling the stories of products that are better alternatives for the planet and for your family. Products like Cold Water Tide that can save our customers up to $150/year in water heating costs, Bissell Vacuums that are made using the plastic that we recycled from Walmart’s own waste stream, and SC Johnson’s new Nature’s Source cleaners using amazing chemistry for the environment and effectiveness help tell the story of small changes that add up to a big difference. We hope all of our customers will discover that the purchases they make are important, and that they can choose wisely for the environment and their wallets.
In the US, we are also doing some things to make this effort a little more engaging than you can get thru normal marketing. One of the more interesting things we decided to try out is called the “Earth Day, Every Day” School Challenge. It involves arguably some of the most creative and committed among us – our kids! This year, we want to give school administrators, teachers or parents the opportunity to tell us about what they are doing for the planet at your school. You might be interested, and if so, please enter the challenge here. Your school could win a $500 Walmart gift card and the chance to compete for a $20,000 grant, to be used toward activities and projects that will help make your school a little more sustainable.
If you aren’t interested in the school challenge, I’d still love to hear about what you are doing for Earth Month. Or better yet, visit our YouTube channel and tell the whole world!
Rand