Are Whole Foods and Wild Oats a Sham?

I learned some time ago that Whole Foods considers the "bottom line" is more important than the environment:
As noted in my August 11 posting, a local Whole Foods marketing director could not authorize a Seafood Watch display because it would be bad for some of their big sellers. She said she’d pass the idea up the chain of command, but so far I’ve heard nothing. A month or so ago I learned that Russell Levan of the Recycled Products Cooperative (check it out at recycledproducts.org) had talked to high level management long ago about what Whole Foods was selling and the Seafood Watch cards, all with no result.
So why post this now? I thought about it when the Los Angeles Times came out with their excellent series on the oceans (7/30/06—8/03/06), but I didn’t act until today’s New York Times article, "Study Sees `Global Collapse’ of Fish Species". It discusses a recent article from the first-rate journal Science in which this collapse is predicted to occur by 2048 unless action is taking.
Are Whole Foods and Wild Oats (which I also approached to no effect) shams? It means nothing to be environmentally friendly when it helps the bottom line. The test is when they conflict. If these companies want to sell endangered seafood because of the money, they can at least inform the public by providing Seafood Watch cards. The cards and displays can be gotten free of charge from Seafood Watch.

Fair Trade observations

I recently got back from a relative's wedding in Germany. I didn't notice much more Fair Trade or organic products in the markets. On the other hand, there was an ad from LIDL, which sells personal care products, home goods, foods, etc. It was a 28-page ad like we get as newspaper inserts. The roughly seven pages of food ads had four pages devoted to Fair Trade products and an explanation of Fair Trade because of Fair Week 18-30 Sept. 2006. (Yes, I know 13 days is not a week, but that's what the ad called it.) Admittedly, that was lucky timing, but I've never seen anything like that in San Diego. The best is an occasional Fair Trade product in a Henry's ad with no explanation.

The Financial Times on 9/2/06 noted that Marks and Spencer (a high-end U.K. chain store) plans to stock only Fair Trade tea and coffee. We may be seeing more Fair Trade products here according to press releases by Starbucks and Wal-Mart. This may be a mixed blessing since supply may not keep up with demand. On 9/9/06 the Financial Times had an article indicating that there are problems with verification of coffee growers by Fair Trade certifiers: Some workers are not paid fairly; some growers planted trees in protected national forests. While the problem may be limited now, it will get worse as demand pressure grows unless better oversight procedures are put in place.

Different Reactions

The differing reactions of organizations sometimes surprises me.

Seafood Watch wallet card dispenser displays

1. The marketing director for Jimbo's (a local 3-store natural foods market) thought it was great and presented it to the management who agreed and ordered displays forthwith.

2. The marketing director of my neighborhood Whole Foods (a national natural foods market chain) was dismayed that consumers were advised to avoid some of their big sellers. She said she'd forward the idea to regional headquarters and mention Jimbo's. I emailed Whole Foods today. I'll let you know whether the consumer or the apparent bottom line wins on this one.

3. Birch Aquarium (associated with Scripps Institute of Oceanography) will give you a card if you ask (a Catch-22: if you know enough to ask, it's likely you have one). Why? Well, they have some disagreement with Seafood Watch on the rating of some fish and hope to resolve it so they can come out of the closet with the cards.

Scouts taking action

I presented the idea that scouting organizations might be interested in discussing and acting on Fair Trade, Seafood Watch, etc.

1. When I discussed the idea on the phone with Girl Scout regional headquarters in San Diego, I was told that it was "not within our program goals". I guess I did a bad job of presenting my thoughts since I can't believe the Girl Scouts are that out of touch. If I find a local leader to talk to, things may be different.

2. When I presented ideas and information to a few den masters at a local Boy Scouts round table, they were interested. Much better than the phone since I could show, talk, listen and see instead of just talk and listen.

Two Successes

First, Jimbo's has Seafood Watch dispenser displays in its stores. I think having a display to show them (rather than just pictures) helped a lot. Time to move on to other places.

Second, as a result of my prompting, two UCSD departments are using 30% post-consumer waste paper for their printers. The brand of recycled paper carried previously by UCSD performed poorly, but this seems okay. Time to get the two department MSOs to network with others, suggesting that the paper be used. Then on to the people that maintain the copy machines. That department supplies paper for the copiers. Getting it to switch could convert all of UCSD to 30% PCW paper. Not the best, but 100% PCW is expensive and budgets are tight, so that would be a very hard sell.

The Wizard Training Camp helped me make important changes. The combination of it and Enlightened Warrior Training Camp, which I had last summer, is good. I've been in warrior mode too long and it's been tiring, so I'm working on switching to wizard.

Action

Since I want to get others involved, two important pages of my web site deal with actions people can take and with educational materials. Both need more material, so help here would be especially appreciated. Classroom material is a particular problem because school teachers are often burdened with work. Hence I want to get that page well-organized for quick, easy use. It’s got a ways to go.

There’s a place in town where I often consult in the summer, but not this year. People from around the country come for the summer. I left the Seafood Watch display there for a couple of days with wallet cards for various regions and emailed people to let them know it was there. I took it back today, somewhat lighter thanks to people wanting cards.

Well, I’m up to date. Tomorrow I’m off to Peak Potentials’ Wizard Training Camp.

Paper Tigers

When buying a paper product, it’s good to know

• how much is post-consumer waste—the important part of "recycled"?
• where does the rest of the wood pulp come from?
• is the whitening process environmentally friendly?

Some products have answers on them; some don’t. Only FSC certification guarantees that the pulp is "good". When I found that NRDC rated supermarket paper goods, I was relieved.

Copier paper is another story. The higher price of recycled paper causes many businesses to opt for "bad" paper, so "good" paper is rare.

Xerox is the poster boy for bad paper: Environmentalists are upset that it uses pulp harvested in a way that threatens Canadian hardwood boreal forests and the Woodland Caribou.

But there’s a big provider of good paper: "The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) made the decision to purchase and sell only [at least 30%] post-consumer recycled-content copier paper to federal agencies." (Minn. OEA web page, 2002). Unfortunately the GSA does not sell to the public.

If only the University of California in San Diego, where I work, bought its paper from the GSA! They have Xerox brand, but they also carry Boise Aspen 30% post consumer waste. I am working on getting them to carry Boise Aspen 100%.

Ironically, the California legislature has mandated a "sustainability initiative" for the UC system. To me it looks like a cleverly packaged scheme to save money on utility bills: The main provisions are:

• Conserve energy and water.
• New buildings must be efficient.

There’s praise when a campus or department does more, but the system-wide administration doesn’t seem to care—they can’t even be bothered to keep up with the GSA on copier paper. California often led the environmental movement, but not now at UC.

Seafood

Seafood has been the most satisfying area so far thanks largely to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. Other sites have information, but Seafood Watch provides free wallet cards that I’ve passed out to many people. The cards guide consumers by grouping seafood into three categories—good and safe, caution, and avoid due to overfishing or pollution. They also provide free counter top displays to dispense cards in markets. (My site www.Shop4WorldRenewal.org has information on all this.) Since I thought showing a display in a market would be more like to "sell" it than just showing a picture, I persuaded them to send me a display. All it takes is a little counter space to provide this useful consumer information—all at no cost to the market. Unfortunately, managers are not allowed to decide for themselves on such earth-shaking matters. Thus I’ll be approaching fish markets and local supermarket chains. So far, I’ve approached one (Jimbo’s), a 3-store supermarket chain which has ordered the display and a single market, which apparently has decided against it. More news on seafood when it happens.