Saving Planet Earth -- One Store at a Time

March 26, 2007 — -- Imagine if companies like Wal-Mart, DuPont and Honda started acting to save the environment with the kind of vigor corporate America reserves for hawking hamburgers, razor blades and erectile dysfunction remedies.

While Washington debates how to tackle climate change, these companies are among a small but growing cadre that is taking action on its own. They're saying that the planet can't wait for the government to step up to the plate.

Their size alone could lead to significant change in an area where Congress and the president, to date, have mostly balked.

These corporations already have great brand recognition. Now if they use their scope and power to go "green," the hope is that there will be a significant reduction in global warming.

To be sure, there have been no huge outlays thus far to promote green to the public and enlist other companies, and there is a public relations component to these "greening" efforts.

But companies say they are in it for more than a good image. They want positive environmental change and positive effects to their bottom lines.

Josh Dorner, spokesman on energy and global warming for the Sierra Club, said two groups of companies were pushing for change: Those who are genuine and those who are doing so for more calculated reasons.

"Companies like Whole Foods are doing actually environmentally progressive things, like powering all of its operations with green power," Dorner said. "While we might have other issues with Wal-Mart, certainly they are doing a lot of positive things on the environment."

However, he noted, "lately you've seen these trade associations sort of tripping over themselves to come out" saying they're for green policies. Their motives, he said, are less than pure.

"I think there is certainly some calculation -- by some -- that if they can cut a deal now, they can get a lot better deal then they would get later," he said.

Dorner said that when big companies decided to take environmentally friendly actions, there were ripple effects across the nation.