Among the greatest challenges corporations are facing in the 21st Century marketplace is how to relate their core values and products to environmental principles. Below are some of the more impactful actions being taken by major companies today as profiled in the pages of Fast Company magazine:

• Wal-Mart, which operates the second-largest hauling fleet in North America, is providing funding to the biggest truck manufacturers to develop the first heavy-duty diesel-hybrid 18-wheeler. Wal-Mart will be testing the prototypes next year.
• Timberland awards its employees who buy hybrids not only with a prime parking spot at their corporate offices but also with $3,000 toward the car’s purchase.
• Staples has re-engineered over 3,000 of its private-label products to include at least 30% post-consumer waste. Whether it’s sticky notes or shipping boxes, nearly all of the new offerings have no non-recycled alternative in the product line.
• General Mills recently redesigned the packaging of their classic Hamburger Helper to shave off 20% of the paperboard box. This amazingly has resulted in 500 fewer distribution trucks on the road each year.

What’s interesting is that each company is taking a different path towards environmental sustainability: efficient transportation, employee incentives, product design or packaging but all with the common goal of reducing their carbon footprint.
Even companies not normally known as environmental (or social) stewards are preparing to green their acts up; McDonalds is starting to build LEED-certified restaurants, Coca Cola mentions the need to tackle climate change on their website and Nike scores 82/100 for overall environmental responsibility on the green consumer watchdog website ClimateCounts.org.

The lesson? Corporations, driven by profitability are looking to environmental sustainability as a key business practice. That means now more than ever it’s important we as consumers ask tough questions of companies before engaging their services or purchasing their goods. Our choices to make informed buying decisions and only support manufacturers and retailers that are prepared to be environmentally responsible will drive all industries to change for the better. How green is that item you want to buy? How open is that store in telling you? Keep asking, I can’t wait until the day I get to bite into a locally raised, organic Big Mac!

- Jaipaul Massey-Singh

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