Happy Earth Day to you.

Earth Day is a time to celebrate gains we have made and create new visions to accelerate environmental progress. Earth Day is a time to unite around new actions. Earth Day and every day is a time to act to protect our planet. - Quoted from EarthDay.gov

I would also submit that Earth Day and all it's fanfair are about raising awareness to some of the issues that are out there and to focus on options and solutions. On Apr-19-07 I talked about the new reuseable bags that A~ and I had gotten. We went shopping the next day to Wal-Mart and asked them if they provided a discount for users of Reusable bags. I found that a couple of the other stores did provide a .05 cent discount for using a reusable bag. Wal-Mart did not. I actually wasn't surprised, although in their defense, they did say that they would honor that and would indeed give us the discount. That wasn't the reason behind us getting the bags, so no biggie, I can spare the $.05 cents. It did make me curious though, so I went to the web site for Wal-mart and found that they indeed have a Wal-Mart Stores Environment section. I had noticed at the local store, which I might add is only a couple of months old, that every so many minutes the lights go off completely section by section. This doesn't really make a difference in the store lighting because when the store was built they included skylights every thirty feet or so. I though that this was a great idea, the fifteen some odd minutes that the lights are off now and then throughout the day will really add up to a lot storewide. I was surprised to find at their web site a really quite comprehensive plan geared toward saving energy, lowering impact, and increasing sustainability. I think we all know about the amount of power that Wal-Mart weilds in the retail community. I was heartened to see that they are making strides to be leaders in this area.
The next thought to my mind was, "You know? There are a lot of people out there that just hate Wal-Mart for being Wal-Mart. No level of greening will make them seem any better than they do now. But In the sprit of Earth Day, I ask this. Regardless of what level of activity that we see from a company, isn't it a positive thing when we do see companies, that really don't need too, taking a proactive approach to this? Isn't it a mark in the win column when we are able to see that "awareness" has been raised? By the way, A~ and I did fill our reusable bags at the store and came away with a little "green buzz". It's nice to know your leaving a little smaller mark. I encourage you to look at your actions and see where a little change could make a difference, I bet you really wouldn't even notice it. Til next time. Happy Earth Day!