Applied Critical Thinking
Instructor: Suzy Bausch
Summary Paragraph
Final Draft 6/5/2013
Summary According to the Los Angeles Times article, “Wal-Mart’s Motive is No Secret: Going Green Saves it Money” (Hsu, 2011), Wal-Mart claims its motivation of going green is for the bottom line. There is several ways to cut its costs by going green. Wal-Mart is decreasing its costs by reducing energy use. For example, using the natural light such as skylights replaces electric light, it offers 70% of War-Mart’s lighting. Also, Wal-Mart prints the roof white to cool the stores naturally for reducing the energy for air condition. Wal-Mart not only cuts energy use, but also produces energy. For instance, Wal-Mart installs the solar panels to make energy for the store. As a result, Wal-Mart saves $1 million in electricity bill. Furthermore, the company is also cutting costs by reducing the waste. As an example, reducing its product packaging saves millions of dollars. Also, the company is decreasing 80% of the waste which divert to landfills. What’s more, Wal-Mart recycles those 80% of waste into production. Selling sustainable products is another way to improve Wal-Mart’s bottom line. For example, it sells products such as dog beds which made of recycled resources, and it offers products such as easily biodegradable diapers that are environmentally friendly. However, there is criticism of Wal-Mart’s being green. They