Articles by David Roberts

What to do about Wal-Mart

So, it looks like Wal-Mart's green turn has some meat on its bones (to mix metaphors). As we noted in DG, CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. announced some fairly specific programs the other day around energy-efficient stores, greenhouse-gas reductions, truck fleet fuel efficiency, packaging reductions, and pressure on overseas suppliers to follow suit.

It remains to be seen whether the company will release specific targets and timetables, regularly report its progress, and generally go about this in a transparent way. But it certainly looks, at least at this early stage, like this is a serious company-wide effort.

On the other hand, Scott also announced a new employee healthcare plan, only to have a fateful memo leak days later -- a memo that revealed the frighteningly cold calculations behind the company's healthcare policies. Clay Risen has an excellent piece on the memo and related matters at TNR, saying "the thrust of the plan, then, is to slash benefits but make superficial changes to mask the impact of those cuts."

Pretty nasty stuff.

Now, my question is: How should environmentalists and environmental groups react to all this?

Oprah and climate change

Apparently, as we speak, Oprah is on with Leonardo DiCaprio and Dr. Michael Oppenheimer discussing climate change.

Reports from our researcher in the field indicate that Leo is spouting facts and figures and Oprah is embarrassing herself with repeated clips of cute polar bears and cries of "I can feel it!"

We can order a transcript for $6, but really I want to see it. Any chance one of you Gristmill readers has a tape or digital file you can send us? This I gotta see.

Leadership gap

Here's U.S. News & World Report's list of America's 25 Best Leaders.

See any environmentalists in there?

Update [2005-10-26 15:36:3 by David Roberts]: Okay, lest I just be sour, let's turn this into a positive exercise. What American environmental leader do you think deserved a place on this list? Leave your candidates in comments.

The built environment discriminates against those who choose not to drive

We're happy to present this guest essay from Joel S. Hirschhorn, author of Sprawl Kills: How Blandburbs Steal Your Time, Health and Money and former Director of Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources at the National Governors Association. He can be reached through SprawlKills.com.

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Analyses of the failure of all levels of government to prevent or effectively manage the Katrina calamity in New Orleans have generally missed a crucial point. Alongside bias against poor people and African-Americans is automobile apartheid, born of fifty years of suburban sprawl. First-class citizens drive motor vehicles, second-class Americans walk, cycle, or ride public transit. Certainly many of the latter are poor, but millions more are middle-class Americans.

When emergency response largely ignores the plight of second-class citizens, no one should be surprised.

Automobile apartheid means anyone who wants mobility through walking, cycling, or public transportation suffers discrimination in a built environment designed for automobiles. In the past 20 years, as automobile addiction has increased, sprawl has run rampant, the number of trips people take by walking has decreased by more than 42 percent, and obesity has skyrocketed.

Personal freedom and independence should mean more than the ability to go wherever one wants, whenever one wants. Americans should also have the freedom to travel how they want. When cars are the only option, freedom is diminished.