Post by L Roebuck on May 30, 2006 9:03:36 GMT -5
Retailers attempt to spruce up eco-image
By NATHAN CRABBE
Sun staff writer
Big-box stores aren't usually associated with anything green, except the color of money.
But retailers, including Home Depot and Wal-Mart, are trying to improve their environmental images by supporting land conservation. The companies could play roles in protecting the headwaters of Hogtown Creek in Gainesville and wildlife corridors in Clay County near Camp Blanding.
Some critics dismiss the efforts as "green washing," or using good conservation deeds to divert attention from practices that pave open space and encourage sprawl. But local land conservation officials say dealing with such companies is just part of their work.
"They're the ones with the land," said Robert "Hutch" Hutchinson, project manager for the Alachua Conservation Trust. "It's very seldom we're out there dealing with little old ladies."
Home Depot has proposed a store at NW 53rd Avenue and U.S. 441, part of the same site Gainesville commissioners rejected for a Wal-Mart Supercenter in 2004. The trust is helping the city get state money to buy 76 of the 92 acres for a nature park, covering the headwaters of Hogtown Creek.
Wal-Mart has taken such efforts a step further by establishing its own land-conservation program. Started last year, the Acres for America program aims to protect one acre of land for each acre of land the retailer has and will develop.
The company initially pledged using $35 million in 10 years to protect 138,000 acres, but has already surpassed the goal of acres protected by 2.5 times. The Micanopy-based Conservation Trust for Florida this year is seeking $500,000 from the program.
The money would buy property helping to connect Camp Blanding and the Osceola National Forest, part of the trust's efforts to protect the wildlife corridor. Busy Shires Byerly, executive director for the trust, said she doesn't like having to ask a company associated with urban sprawl for money.
"I get a bad taste in my mouth," she said. "But I do think a big company like Wal-Mart should be better stewards of the land."
Critics say big-box retailers are building increasingly bigger stores and parking lots that cause runoff and consequently water pollution. The stores also encourage sprawl, said Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher with the New Rules Project.
Mitchell, whose group supports local regulation of national chains, said sprawl has increased the miles traveled for shopping by 40 percent in the past decade. She said the land-conservation efforts don't compensate for the companies' effect on the environment.
"Why don't you come up with a business model that actually conserves land?" she said.
Wal-Mart officials say they've started to design stores to better suit the environment and community where they're located. They say the land-conservation program, which has protected 1,200 acres along the Grand Canyon and seven other large tracts of land, is also making up for their use of land.
"We realize we have an impact on the environment, and we're working to protect these pristine lands," said Kevin Thornton, a spokesman for the company
Local critics of a Wal-Mart planned in Alachua say such efforts don't do much to alleviate their concerns. The company is seeking to build a 207,900-square-foot supercenter, a 76,000-square-foot shopping center, two fast-food restaurants and a gas station on U.S. 441 near Interstate 75.
The site includes a sinkhole that cave divers say eventually connects to Hornsby Springs, which feeds the Santa Fe River. An engineer working for Wal-Mart has said the site's topography and a planned stormwater basin will prevent polluted runoff from draining into the sinkhole.
Cave-diving guide Cindy Butler said that Wal-Mart has rejected requests to make the area surrounding the sink into a park.
"Saving property somewhere else is a wonderful idea, but it needs to be put in place on a more local basis," she said.
The Acres for America program is run through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which works with other corporate partners such as Exxon Mobil Corp.
Peter Stangel, the foundation's southern regional office director, said the company only deals with large-scale conservation efforts, not urban parks.
He said Wal-Mart should be lauded for its commitment to protect those places.
"Wal-Mart has stepped forward in a bigger way than any other company we're aware of," he said.
Hutchinson said the Alachua trust has requested money from the program but was turned down.
He said he'd work with just about any company, finding they're easier with which to negotiate than individual landowners.
"They simply want to make a deal that works for both parties," he said.
Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 352-338-3176 or crabben@gvillesun.com
Gainsville Sun
See Also: Wal-Mart - NSS Owned Cave Links
By NATHAN CRABBE
Sun staff writer
Big-box stores aren't usually associated with anything green, except the color of money.
But retailers, including Home Depot and Wal-Mart, are trying to improve their environmental images by supporting land conservation. The companies could play roles in protecting the headwaters of Hogtown Creek in Gainesville and wildlife corridors in Clay County near Camp Blanding.
Some critics dismiss the efforts as "green washing," or using good conservation deeds to divert attention from practices that pave open space and encourage sprawl. But local land conservation officials say dealing with such companies is just part of their work.
"They're the ones with the land," said Robert "Hutch" Hutchinson, project manager for the Alachua Conservation Trust. "It's very seldom we're out there dealing with little old ladies."
Home Depot has proposed a store at NW 53rd Avenue and U.S. 441, part of the same site Gainesville commissioners rejected for a Wal-Mart Supercenter in 2004. The trust is helping the city get state money to buy 76 of the 92 acres for a nature park, covering the headwaters of Hogtown Creek.
Wal-Mart has taken such efforts a step further by establishing its own land-conservation program. Started last year, the Acres for America program aims to protect one acre of land for each acre of land the retailer has and will develop.
The company initially pledged using $35 million in 10 years to protect 138,000 acres, but has already surpassed the goal of acres protected by 2.5 times. The Micanopy-based Conservation Trust for Florida this year is seeking $500,000 from the program.
The money would buy property helping to connect Camp Blanding and the Osceola National Forest, part of the trust's efforts to protect the wildlife corridor. Busy Shires Byerly, executive director for the trust, said she doesn't like having to ask a company associated with urban sprawl for money.
"I get a bad taste in my mouth," she said. "But I do think a big company like Wal-Mart should be better stewards of the land."
Critics say big-box retailers are building increasingly bigger stores and parking lots that cause runoff and consequently water pollution. The stores also encourage sprawl, said Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher with the New Rules Project.
Mitchell, whose group supports local regulation of national chains, said sprawl has increased the miles traveled for shopping by 40 percent in the past decade. She said the land-conservation efforts don't compensate for the companies' effect on the environment.
"Why don't you come up with a business model that actually conserves land?" she said.
Wal-Mart officials say they've started to design stores to better suit the environment and community where they're located. They say the land-conservation program, which has protected 1,200 acres along the Grand Canyon and seven other large tracts of land, is also making up for their use of land.
"We realize we have an impact on the environment, and we're working to protect these pristine lands," said Kevin Thornton, a spokesman for the company
Local critics of a Wal-Mart planned in Alachua say such efforts don't do much to alleviate their concerns. The company is seeking to build a 207,900-square-foot supercenter, a 76,000-square-foot shopping center, two fast-food restaurants and a gas station on U.S. 441 near Interstate 75.
The site includes a sinkhole that cave divers say eventually connects to Hornsby Springs, which feeds the Santa Fe River. An engineer working for Wal-Mart has said the site's topography and a planned stormwater basin will prevent polluted runoff from draining into the sinkhole.
Cave-diving guide Cindy Butler said that Wal-Mart has rejected requests to make the area surrounding the sink into a park.
"Saving property somewhere else is a wonderful idea, but it needs to be put in place on a more local basis," she said.
The Acres for America program is run through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which works with other corporate partners such as Exxon Mobil Corp.
Peter Stangel, the foundation's southern regional office director, said the company only deals with large-scale conservation efforts, not urban parks.
He said Wal-Mart should be lauded for its commitment to protect those places.
"Wal-Mart has stepped forward in a bigger way than any other company we're aware of," he said.
Hutchinson said the Alachua trust has requested money from the program but was turned down.
He said he'd work with just about any company, finding they're easier with which to negotiate than individual landowners.
"They simply want to make a deal that works for both parties," he said.
Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 352-338-3176 or crabben@gvillesun.com
Gainsville Sun
See Also: Wal-Mart - NSS Owned Cave Links