Co-optation of the environment-green agenda

Photo: David Guralnick / The Detroit News. The Fairlane Green shopping center, set to open in the fall, will focus on the environment with features that include green spaces, bio-swales and energy-reducing building features.

In "Allen Park project adopts green approach: Shopping center will be built on a landfill and include environmentally friendly features, parks," today's Detroit News reports about how Ford Motor Land Development Corporation is building a "green" environmentally-friendly strip shopping center. Two weeks ago, Wal*Mart announced its "sustainable" store in McKinney, Texas, complete with a windmill to generate electricity. There is going to be a webcast seminar by the journal Consulting-Specifying Engineer about the new" sustainable" Wal*Mart.

And today, "Whole Foods Market Inc., Austin, Texas, and BP Solar International LLC, Frederick, Md., celebrated the opening of a Princeton, N.J. Whole Foods store featuring a 126.7-kilowatt solar roof on Tuesday. The roof, powered by a BP solar array, produces approximately 15 percent of the store's energy, saving Whole Foods more than $515,000 through a rebate with the New Jersey Clean Energy Program. The system was installed by Advanced Solar Products. BP Solar has plans to work with more companies to safely install solar products for customers. BP Solar also has plans to sell solar power systems directly to consumers through a partnership with The Home Depot." Actually this isn't so bad. It makes sense to me that we use the roofs of buildings to generate electricity...

But as long as everybody drives everywhere, these efforts are worth little, and aren't much more than window dressing...

Today's editorial cartoon by KAL of the Baltimore Sun.