Force of Nature by Edward Humes

This book is subtitled: The Unlikely Story of Wal-Mart's Green Revolution. I picked it up at the library because several years ago I read "The Wal-Mart Effect" by Charles Fishman. "The Wal-Mart Effect" condemned Wal-Mart's business practices as all-around damaging. Fishman said that Wal-Mart hurt: other local businesses, suppliers, the environment, general merchandise quality, its own employees, etc etc. Our book club read it together and some members decided not to shop at Wal-Mart after reading the book. This book, however, seemed to indicate on its cover that it was a more positive look at a Wal-Mart that has made some changes since 2006, which was when Charles Fishman wrote his book. I was interested in reading something positive about Wal-Mart, one of the only stores that I think makes the consumer its top priority as far as price goes, if only to get a bit of balance in my head about what others think of Wal-Mart

So. I actually had NO idea that Wal-Mart has put (and is still putting) so much effort into sustainability! It is definitely a massive organization that has many world-wide effects, some positive, some negative. But, according to this book, Wal-Mart has voluntarily decided to use its great market power to change some aspects of the world market for good--it has gone "green".

The book is fairly interesting. So many "information" books (like this one) are about one idea that could actually be summarized in a long essay. This book is no different. It's a long magazine article padded into becoming a book. I got tired of reading about halfway through and really tired about 2/3 of the way through, but I soldiered on.

This book is politically liberal. It's taking all the environmental ideas and conclusions that have been made by activists as literally true. (I'm not saying they're not true.) Sometimes I find myself, as I read for "information", thinking that I'm reading a balanced account. This is never true. All authors write their individual biases right into whatever piece of fiction or non-fiction they are writing. This author takes a few hits at the "other" political party and embraces all environmentalist claims as real. The author also advocates the government making laws to enforce sustainability for all businesses in and out of the U.S. that supply U.S. markets.

It was a book worth reading. I'm happy to know that Wal-Mart is making so many positive changes. I was glad to read about the products that have not achieved full sustainability (like fish) in Wal-Mart and other stores. I believe that sustainability choices must be just that--CHOICES--and not laws. I liked reading about the whole process of the outside consulting company representative coming to the CEO of Wal-Mart and convincing him of the necessity of pursuing sustainability because, in my opinion, this is just the process that will be the most successful if U.S. businesses are to become more "environmentally friendly". The government can certainly (and does certainly) pass laws to force businesses to be sustainable, but how much better would it be if these businesses saw for themselves how financially wise these methods are and launched into them voluntarily. Convincing, not forcing, is the key and this process is beautifully illustrated by Edward Humes' account of Wal-Mart's huge changes. I will watch the progress of Wal-Mart's sustainability commitments with interest.