Last week, Wal-Mart started putting labels on products indicating its product’s eco-friendliness.

Be honest. Buying green items can be down the priority list when we feel unwilling to pay more for environmentally friendly goods.

For you…is the green you care about, the green in your pocket right now?

Do you believe this could speed the creation of sustainable products and help the retail industry create a global standard for assessing “green”?

Angry Alerts!! They’re going off all the time when I ask people, “So, what do you think of Wal-Mart’s new green campaign?”…… Oh my, you would have thought I asked if the Pope was gay? Wow….lots of feathers get ruffled and I think it’s not based on much logic. At least I don’t hear much when I ask them why they feel such venom for Wal-Mart.

But Wal-Mart has worked to burnish its image. It has vowed to cut energy usage, reduce waste, and offer lower-priced health care to employees.

It is now upgrading its fleet of 3,500 U.S. stores, giving them a brighter look with wider aisles and lower shelves.

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Retailers that win green shoppers may also find they have established a loyal customer base with research from Deloitte showing green shoppers buy more and shop more often than the typical shopper.

Bottom line, Wal-Mart will have a sustainability number on their products, or symbol on it to give a “true picture” of the environmental impact of your purchase.

Many of us shop there with shame, but that may be about to change. Wal-Mart came to power by paving over historical sites, paying only part-time wages and benefits to its workers, probable discrimination, and using per-capita more Chinese imports than a novelty shop in the airport. But, it does seem that Wal-Mart is now waking up from its long corporate nightmare.

The first inklings of visible change came last year when reusable shopping bags showed up for $1 at registers.

Slowly, organic products began to show up in the aisles. Now, it seems that the retailer is getting serious about its green image.

What you may not know is that Wal-Mart is the largest buyer of locally-grown produce in the country. They plan to expand their program of local produce to $400 million nationwide this coming year. Of course, there may be downsides to Wal-Mart gobbling up locally-grown produce such as local restaurants having to pay higher prices due to increased demand and large cities remaining underserved by Wal-Mart. But, in theory, local produce growers will increase production and possibly resuscitate the family farm. That’s a compelling scenario.

Even more compelling are the changes which have already happened due to Wal-Mart’s example. Last year, Wal-Mart ceased selling baby bottles and other baby products containing bisphenol-A, which the FDA still approves, but is generally considered to be dangerous by child advocates. Companies either stopped making the bottles with the chemical, shifted production to other products, or shut down completely. When Wal-Mart said that they would only sell concentrated laundry detergent, production of non-concentrated detergent bottomed out.

Now it seems Wal-Mart is going to directly demand more of their suppliers. The Arkansas Business News reports that a new questionnaire will ask suppliers questions about their total annual solid waste production, reduction goals, water use, third-party green certifications, and their role as corporate citizens in their communities. No specific standards have been set by Wal-Mart as benchmarks or cut-offs for ousting unacceptable suppliers. But, it stands to reason that if a business was handed this questionnaire when applying to be a Wal-Mart supplier, they would be likely to try to make their practices fall into line with what they thought might please the largest retail distributor in the world.

All of this is part of a “Sustainability Index” being developed by Wal-Mart. It is unclear whether the retailer will use the index to privately manipulate their supply chain, or if it will develop into a full-blown informational tool displayed on shelves or packaging to alert consumers to the sustainability of products.

Wal-Mart’s CEO recognized at the latest “Wal-Mart Sustainability Summit” that simply reducing the Wal-Mart corporation’s carbon emissions and solid waste were only 8% of the actual environmental impact of the business. The supply chain itself must be completely transparent and overhauled to make a truly deep environmental impact. With that in mind, it seems plausible that within the next few years, each product you buy at Wal-Mart will have a sustainability number or symbol on it to give a “true picture” of the environmental impact of your purchase.

Of course, as soon as these indicators show up, detractors will point out the flaws in the system. Uncovering greenwashing is an Olympic sport amongst environmental activists. I’m all for that. I think that abuse of the systems which are already in place give consumers a false sense of environmental awareness. But, we do have to consider that ANY system of sustainability information is better than what we have now, which is nothing.

It will be extremely important for activists to keep a close eye on Wal-Mart’s green efforts. The scales may well tip to the point that Wal-Mart has too much power to determine which products are considered sustainable for their own ends. But, by the same token, I believe we must remember that it wouldn’t matter if Wal-Mart did nothing. People would still shop there because they are suffering financially.

Wal-Mart does not have to care about the environment. The plain truth is that Wal-Mart is growing while virtually every aspect of the business world is losing money. The worse the economy is, the more people will flock for $1 cans of spaghetti sauce. Maybe it’s time to cautiously consider Wal-Mart a partner and less of an enemy? Isn’t this (in part) what critics of Wal-Mart have been asking for all along? Can Wal-Mart be rehabilitated?

Hey and what is Target and Best Buy up to? I’m pretty sure that if Target or Best Buy set a goal of reducing energy use by 25% or something in all new and existing stores we’d see a headline here saying something to the effect of “Target saves the world !!! Aren’t you glad they aren’t the evil soul-killers that Wal-Mart are?!?!?”

They are green in a practical-good-for-the-little-guy store…..with their innovations ($4 prescriptions) Wal-Mart is taking the lead.  If others follow, it’s probably going to be because they can’t afford to give up the competitive advantage saving 20% on energy would give to WM.

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