(no subject)

[symbioidlj]

Capitalist efficiency and the environment...

Wal-Mart's methods to cut costs on food via CNN/Money

You all know I'm not a fan of Wal-Mart (far from it, in fact).

That said, this is interesting:

General Mills' (GIS, Fortune 500) Hamburger Helper is now made with denser pasta shapes, allowing the same amount of food to fit into a 20% smaller box at the same price. The change has saved 890,000 pounds of paper fiber and eliminated 500 trucks from the road, giving General Mills a cushion to absorb some of the rising costs.
...
In April the chain began buying directly from a cooperative of Brazilian coffee farmers for its Sam's Choice brand, cutting three or four steps out of the supply chain.
...
By sourcing more produce locally - it now sells Wisconsin-grown yellow corn in 56 stores in or near Wisconsin - it is able to cut shipping costs. "We are looking at how to reduce the number of miles our suppliers' trucks travel,"

This is why I'm a fan of rising prices, it's going to force people to come up with innovative ways to reduce cost instead of coasting along. Higher gas prices lead to people thinking more about their driving habits, for example. And now this.

Don't get me wrong, it'll be a long while before I'm singing the praises of Wal-Mart.

I am, however, surprised that they're actually sourcing their coffee from a co-op. Very unexpected. Now, how much of this is corporate greenwashing?

Comments

[sophy.livejournal.com]

Of course they're only doing it to save or make money. If it would be cheaper for them to ritually sacrifice children - that's what they'd do. It just so happens a few of these actually ethical techniques will save them money. ;P

Of course I'm happy for companies to do these things no matter what their reasons are, but I think it's important to remember what Wal-Mart's bottom line is - the bottom line.

[symbioid.livejournal.com]

Well, that's basically my point. ;)

[sammhain.livejournal.com]

Of course this does dick to help people who can't afford food in less developed nations, I'm pretty sure they won't be considering pay raises to help their employees defray the rising costs of living due to food and gas among other things.

Moreover walmart has a history of dealing with smaller places and then forcing them into contracts that fuck them over. So I'm very fucking doubtful this is any where near the kind of good news cnn would have us believe.

I'd also like to know more about the co-op in question consdering how wide spread slave labor is in brazillian farming.

Wal mart also told us manufacturers to compete with china's prices or forget doing business with them. So in short fuck wal mart.

[symbioid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not trying to sing the praises of Wal-Mart (I'm a bit suspicious that this "news" article is actually a Wal-Mart press release, in fact). Like I said, I think this is a bit of Green-Washing.

All I know is our whole consumer society is fucked up and shit's hitting the fan. We're in for a wild ride the rest of our lives.

I longed for 5 dollar gas back in 98 when I started thinking about this stuff, and a decade later it's happening. I mocked the pissy whiny bastards who thought 1.50 was too much.

I'm not quite one of the doomsday urban-survivalist people, but if I had to put my money down, that's the side I'd lay it on.

[sammhain.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping this is a joke. If not I'll respond accordingly.

[sammhain.livejournal.com]

First off I'd love a citation on these figures because they don't match mine at all. I find it borderline intellectually dishonest that you're citing per capita and ignoring the fact that China has recently surpassed the united states as the number one industrial source of carbon emissions, decades before they were predicted to and also reject all proposed emissions caps.

Clearly the US is not blameless but the picture you're painting is not supported by facts. Comparing emissions to Kenya is absolutely ludicrous for reasons I shouldn't have to go into.

I find your claims to the over all cleanliness and safety of those factories spurious at best, and certainly reeking of insider spin. Countless documentaries and news stories have been done of factories inside China, including ones used by companies like wal-mart and mcdonalds that contradict your claims. I think it's also worth pointing out that companies regularly clean up when eyes are on them, but it is a facade, this has been seen time and time again in the united states with companies like walmart, and big chemical companies. The EPA has plenty of data to back this up.

"People in dormitories on campus, often 16 to a room, so there's no oil wasted on travel."

Yes and often with poor ventilation, in cramped spaces, and brutal work schedules. I can't even believe you're making this case. Poor working conditions in China are a known fact reported on by every major world media outlet and labor organizations and watchdog groups. The issue isn't the percentage of exported goods the us represents to China's industry but the ways in which out sourcing manufacturing jobs (and to places besides china as well) have decimated manufacturing jobs in the US and indeed in other countries (China has been critiqued by several world markets in this area, not just the US). Moreover it becomes a greater interest to US citizens when these companies are US based. Though it is of course wise to point out that they fuck over the workers they deal with in other countries as well.

"They are building factories in Malaysia, Thailand, Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Indonesia because the cost of labor is cheaper than China"

You'll have to explain to me how exporting developing nations is a good thing. I'm sure it will be rich. Your claims that it is bringing prosperity to Africa is a joke, and contradicted like so many of your claims by widely reported facts. I'm sure as one example Kenya's textile workers would disagree with your assesment of China as vanguards of African prosperity.

"The best thing that can happen to the world is bridging of the divide between rich and the poor, which comes for the most part from capital investment."

Are you high? Under global capitalism the gap between rich and poor has been steadily growing not shrinking. I'm not with the US press corp I'm not going to smile and nod when you pull out grotesquely inaccurate statements like that.

" minimum wage worker in America is making 24x the median world salary. Think how many more people could be adequately fed even with the salary of the world's poorest? "

Completely misleading as it does not factor in inflation or cost of living differences. I'm not going to argue that the US and it's corporations aren't to blame for a large piece of this mess but your claim that putting another face on "free market" capitalism is somehow going to change things is ludicrous and not supported by historical fact.

Capitalism by it's nature is not egalitarian and in point of fact relies on worker exploitation and unsustainable expansion. The best thing egalitarian and green to do is completely dismantle capitalism (including state capitalism in countries professing socialism or communism).

[sammhain.livejournal.com]

I'll be dissecting this later, either you're the new Jonathan Swift of the biggest ass I've run into in quite a while.

[sammhain.livejournal.com]

Do you work for wal mart, just curious?