Each year, there’s a LOHAS conference, where all types of green (and maybe some wannabe green) businesses come together to talk about sustainable trends and what’s happening in the marketplace, and to connect with each other. Sustainable Table went because we’re interested in seeing where sustainability and green is going in business and to see if there might be any opportunities for us with a for-profit sustainably-minded business.

First, I can say green/sustainable is going to be everywhere, if it isn’t already. In just a few short years, we’ve gone from 20 percent of the population knowing about green products and 80 percent not knowing anything to a complete flip, with today 80 percent knowing about green and 20 percent not aware of what’s happening. What that means is big business is now getting involved in the green and/or sustainable movement (I consider them two things – which might be another post in itself…), partly because consumers are demanding it, partly because companies can make more money from it, and partly because there are employees at companies who do care about our environment, health and the future of the planet.

In my opinion, the highlight of the conference was the discussion between Whole Foods and Walmart, led by Simran Sethi (who joined us last year for a few days on the Eat Well Guided Tour of America). I have to admit up front that I’m biased. Even though some people in my food world put Whole Foods down and criticize their practices, I think they mean well, and I think they’re trying to be sustainable.

For example, Krista Durlas, who we met in St. Louis, Missouri, as we drove to LOHAS, works in the St. Louis Whole Foods. She champions the Buy Local movement and currently has 25 local farmers in the Missouri area supplying their one store with products. She’ll speak with any local farmer who’s interested in selling to the store, and she helps them with insurance and business matters they need to deal with when selling to a company of that size. Same for Michael Besancon, the President of Whole Foods for the Southwest region, who represented the company during the discussion. During the Q&A session, a farmer stood up saying he’d had trouble selling to one of the Whole Foods’, and Michael arranged to speak with him after.

He was also the first to say that Whole Foods has a long way to go to be sustainable, and that they have to realistically look at it as a business so they can stay in business. Whole Foods looks to see if they can be profitable while pleasing customers, sustaining employees, and while finding ways to work with communities and sustain the environment. Michael commented that sustainability is a continuum, not an end goal.

So, it’s rather obvious that I’m on Whole Foods’ side. They’re a Fortune 500 company so they’re a big corporation, and they admit that they still have problems. For example, I think they sell way too much conventional produce, and most consumers think it’s at least sustainable. I also get irritated that the salad bars and prepared food are almost all from conventional produce – most of my friends assume the food is all organic because of how Whole Foods markets itself. (I know in Austin they have some organic ingredients in their salad bar, but I don’t ever think I’ve seen any at the stores I’ve been to in New York City.)

But, even with that, I’m a supporter of Whole Foods. Having food sensitivities, it’s nice to know I can go to most parts of the country now and find gluten-free products in a store (though I always look for a local health food store first!) I also think they’ve realized that they were becoming mainly hype and marketing and are making strides, like with Krista working with local farmers, to become even more sustainable. So, again, I think they have problems they have to deal with, and they should be as transparent as possible, but I think they’re trying to do a good job.

Then we have Walmart. I have to admit here that I’m also biased – I’m not a supporter of Walmart. I don’t like their philosophy of the cheapest cost and greatest quantity. I don’t like how they treat their employees. I don’t like how they strong armed their way into many communities and are responsible for destroying many small independently-owned businesses around the country. Some small towns have basically shut down because everything’s moved to the suburbs where the Walmart is located.

These are obviously my opinions (that happen to be shared by quite a few others), but they are opinions that do make me a biased. So I went into the panel, armed with my biases, and sat down wanting to be convinced, wooed and debated into believing that Walmart does actually care now about being sustainable and that some huge shift happened to make them re-think all the things they’ve done. So, though biased, I went in with some hope.

I walked out unconvinced, but the discussion led me to start thinking about some realities we all have to face, especially those of us in the nonprofit world. First, these companies – the Walmarts, Whole Foods, and other huge chain stores – are not going away. And Walmart, with its 375 BILLION DOLLARS in buying power can really affect what happens in the market. That’s simply a fact. As scary as that might sound, Walmart does affect us all, whether or not we shop there. Did you know they’re already the largest seller of organic produce in the world? And industrial organic or not, that’s millions and millions of acres of soil not being injected with chemical fertilizers and tons of produce not being sprayed with persistent chemical pesticides. And that’s a good thing.

The other thing I realized is that this is no longer a black and white issue. Not so long ago it seemed that you knew big companies were the bad guys and small independent operations were the good guys, but things are blurring now. For example, if Walmart gets people to buy compact fluorescent light bulbs, that’s going to help us save energy. If they reduce packaging, that’ll be that much less waste in a landfill.

But is that enough? Or is that good enough? I don’t know how to answer that – on a personal level, I would say no, it’s not enough. If you say you’re sustainable, that encompasses more than just getting people to buy a certain light bulb or minimizing packaging. You might be helping people become more energy efficient and helping to reduce waste, but that doesn’t mean you’re actually sustainable because there are more things to consider. How do you treat your workers? What kind of health benefits do you offer them? Do they have a stake in the company? Do you pay them fairly? And if everything you do (or have done) has simply been to cut costs, how can you change to also take sustainability into account? Sustainability is about more than profit. Yes, you have to make money, but you also have to think about the long-term effects of what you do.

Rand Waddoups, the Walmart representative, stated that the founder of Walmart hated all kinds of waste, including social waste. What exactly is that? Their employees? The communities that were adversely affected? Or is that all the independent shop owners around the country who went out of business because a Walmart came to town? Were those people all considered to be nothing more than social waste?

Rand also stated that everyone has a responsibility to enhance the transparency of the supply chain. He gave Walmart’s commitment to do their best to make known what their suppliers do, but said consumers should also. But what about the transparency of Walmart itself? There was no mention of that. I want to know how the company treats its employees, about how products are produced overseas, why more aren’t made here in the US, what their marketing plans are for the future, etc.

So, as you can see, I’m biased against Walmart, but there are certain facts we can’t ignore. First, Walmart had this change of heart only two years ago – Hurricane Katrina was apparently what made the company want to go green – and they will have a huge impact on business, not only by how it will help with things like waste reduction, but also by how other companies will see the lead Walmart is taking and follow suit. And by reducing packaging, saving energy, and selling organic food, Walmart will have a positive impact on the environment and our future generations. So we should applaud the positive steps the company is taking – but we also need to hold them accountable and watch what they do as they’re doing it. And continue to urge them to do more and more – until they actually become sustainable.

A positive outcome of Walmart going sustainable is that Whole Foods has had to take notice and look at how they’re going to keep competitive and raise the bar on the food they offer, so Whole Foods is now looking to make all organic farming sustainable. (If you’re not aware, not all organic food is necessarily sustainable, but that’s another post in itself….) We also hope they will continue their trend to buy more and more local food in all the areas in which they have stores.

The general feeling in my part of the room at LOHAS was that Walmart doesn’t care. They’re so big and powerful, they don’t need to care about other businesses or even about exactly how what they’re doing will affect others. Their attitude could be that becoming sustainable will help them make more money in the long run (by cutting down on packaging, saving energy, etc), so maybe they’re going green, or maybe they’re greenwashing.

The upside for us is that any effort they make to be more green will help, but efforts like cutting back on packaging isn’t enough to make a business sustainable. To be sustainable, a company not only has to look at reducing waste, they have to look at their entire operation – from their employees to the local communities to how they do business and what they sell. And Walmart has a long, long way to go. The downside is that the company could use the one or two efforts they’re undertaking as a way to try to smokescreen us from some unsustainable practices they still have (e.g., their treatment of workers).

We all need to understand that no matter how big or powerful a company might become, we consumers still have ultimate control. Simran Sethi, our host for the discussion, summed it all up at the end when she said that consumer demand will create corporate change – it’s a simple case of supply and demand. If we buy truly sustainable products, companies will provide them. If we hold companies accountable for their practices, they’ll think twice about doing something that might cause harm.

So it’s up to us. We need to watch and make sure these companies are held accountable for their actions; we need to make sure they’re transparent about how they do business; and we need to demand sustainable products at a fair price for all. Let’s applaud the positive steps both companies have taken, but let’s continue to heartily encourage them to become truly sustainable. Your dollar really does make a difference – so does your voice. Speak up!

If you’d like to read about our whole trip, visit the Sustainable Table Journal, where we chronicle where we go and what we do.

About Diane Hatz

As founder and director of Sustainable Table, Diane Hatz develops and manages creative projects to raise awareness and educate consumers about issues surrounding the sustainable food and agriculture movement, while promoting solutions to the problems caused by factory farms.
Diane is Executive Producer of the award-winning, critically acclaimed, animated films The Meatrix, The Meatrix II: Revolting, and The Meatrix II ½ as well as Project and Marketing Director for the Meatrix campaign, both online and off. She is a founder of the Eat Well Guide, an online consumer directory of sustainably-raised food in the United States and Canada.