Green Grocers: an environmentalist’s reaction
Not everyone believes the supermarkets claims of going green, with their recent actions against climate change. Environmental campaigner and journalist, George Monbiot, has a more cynical take here. For the record, we are not convinced that limiting consumer choices by moving stores back into town centres would move us very far towards the goal of reduced carbon emissions.
“You batter your head against the door until you begin to wonder whether it is a door at all. Suddenly it opens, and you find yourself flying through space. The superstores’ green conversion is astonishing, wonderful, disorientating. If Tesco and Wal-Mart have become friends of the earth, are there any enemies left?
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Leahy [Tesco CEO] announced that he would respond to one of the biggest complaints of the green groups by cutting the distance Tesco’s products travel, especially by air. He would also switch some of the chain’s road freight (he did not say how much) to rail. But he said nothing about reducing the journeys made by his customers. Shopping accounts for 20% of car journeys in the UK, and 12% of the distance covered. By closing their out-of-town stores and replacing them with warehouses and deliveries, the supermarket chains could reduce the energy costs of their buildings and (according to government figures) cut the transport emissions caused by shopping by 70%.”