Wal-Martonomics

Wal-Mart became rich by paying less for everything. Now it wants to get richer by wasting less. In a policy that makes sense on a long-term planning, Wal-Mart decided to:

1. be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy.
2. create zero waste.
3. sell products that sustain our resources and environment.
   

TreeHugger - It's Getting Harder to Hate Wal-Mart

On a long-enough time scale, industries will face the cost of borrowed growth. The single most important property of an economic system is to be sustainable. Any economic system that is not sustainable will eventually collapse and is therefore temporary. Any company that exists in a system must surely not see economic shocks in the future as a result of current practices as good long-term planning.

Such a policy is only rational and economically sane if the owners wish the company to remain in business on a long time scale. It has been established that very costly impact will result from the heavy pollution we created. Looking beyond such a possibly grim future, it makes sense that anyone capable of improving sustainability will have strong economic incentives to do so. For most individuals, stocks and other financial assets are retirement funds. While it is exciting to watch them rise fast, it is the overall result that counts. It seems Wal-Mart has decided to stay in business for a long time.