People are often quick to jump on the big corporations and businesses out there and label them as the bad guy when it comes to environmental concerns and sustainability. And for most of the time, these complaints are probably fair and have some backing of truth behind them (and are also much needed because they ensure that we are always thinking creatively and critically to develop the best plans). But we rarely take the time to congratulate these same companies for some of the efforts they are making in favor of sustainability.

One of the recent companies is none other than Walmart.

Tomorrow, Walmart will be announcing the creation of the Sustainability Index, which will attempt to analyze and make note of each product's entire life cycle on the packaging of the product. Much like a nutrition label works nowadays, the Sustainability Index would take into account the energy, materials, and natural resources that went into creating a product along with the social implications involved along the way. The Index would then compare various products and rank one another based on a predefined system.

Check the following article for more information on the Sustainability Index.

One of the neat things I find about big companies such as Walmart is that they are able to use their size to influence their suppliers and other similar vendors to move towards a sustainable future. For example, Walmart is planning to create a Sustainability Consortium in which leading universities along with other businesses such as Costco, Target (both of which are competitors of Walmart), General Mills, and Tyson (both of which are suppliers to Walmart) will come together to discuss the Sustainability Index and it's greater use with products and in stores.

Walmart has a history of starting similar ventures in the past. A few years ago, Walmart decided that they were going to help launch CFLs (compact flourescent lights) in the US through their stores. To do so, they made it a priority to place CFLs on the shelves directly as customers walked into the store and at eye level. They were able to sell CFLs in such large quanitity that they're overall price eventually dropped and made it affordable for the consumer. Nowadays, incandescents are rarely used over CFLs and our country was able to make a switch to a more sustainable product.

The key for sustainability in business is to recognize the niche a company serves - then to use that niche to make the biggest impact for sustainable change.

Walmart recognized that their niche was selling stuff. So they decided to promote the selling of a sustainable product (CFLs) in their store to directly influence the behavior of their consumers.

It's easy for critics to dream of an ideal, sustainable society and then criticize big businesses for not fitting into that picture. But the reality of the situation is that we don't live in an ideal world, and that there are times when we have to work alongside the non-ideal to strive for the ideal.

For Walmart, having started from trying to implement a new form of light bulb into the public, they have really stepped up their plan with the creation of a Sustainability Index - which goes to show that big business is capable of striving towards a more sustainable future.

Another big business I have been reading about who has made significant changes in their company to impact the public is that of McDonalds - however the Swedish branch, not the American. Working with The Natural Step (a consulting group that started up the Master's program I will be starting in August), McDonalds systematically redirected their environmental efforts for the organization. Once an easy target for environmental activists of Sweden, Swedish McDonalds is now a wall-respected ethical company working towards a sustainable future. The CEO has gone as far as to ask "Do we need hamburgers at all in the sustainable society?" This lead to the introduction of veggie-burgers and more radical purchasing for the company's meat a few years ago.

When a company is able to question the main item that defines it's company through a sustainability lens (hamburgers for McDonalds) - then that is the point at which meaningful and actual change can truly happen.

I'm a big believer that if properly guided, human beings have the ability and desire to make this world a better place. A big problem with sustainability is that the breadth of disciplines and wealth of knowledge makes it overwhelming and difficult for us to make informed decisions. I'm hoping that my master's degree in Sweden will better prepare me to guide others towards sustainability and show that such changes are not only possible, but already happening all around the world.