Quote Of The Day: Confused Greenies Edition

“The environment is begging for the Wal-Mart business model.”
-- H. Lee Scott, Jr., CEO, Wal-Mart

What is a socialistic, cause-loving, corporation-hating greenie to do?

Wal-Mart -- Wal-Mart!! -- is proposing to do more to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gases than Ed Begley, Jr. could do in a zillion years of pedalling his power-generating bike.

The company has decided to get behind energy-saving squiggly bulbs, better known as compact florescent lamps. It intends to bring annual sales of the bulbs to 100 million units by 2008 -- which the NYT tells us will increase current sales by 50% and save Americans $3 billion in electricity costs, letting us avoid the need to build additional power plants for the equivalent of 450,000 new homes. That's because:

A compact fluorescent has clear advantages over the widely used incandescent light — it uses 75 percent less electricity, lasts 10 times longer, produces 450 pounds fewer greenhouse gases from power plants and saves consumers $30 over the life of each bulb.

Despite all that, their cost, odd shape, slow start-up and harsh light have caused the bulbs to languish on store shelves. Wal-Mart has committed to change that, and is applying everything its business model's got to see that the mission is accomplished.

Can you hear the Greenies' mental gears grinding as they consider the fact that the arch-nemisis of the Lefties, Wal-Mart, is suddenly more green than they are?

Oh! The torment! You will see them before too long, getting out of their Priuses, standing frozen in their Birkenstocks at the doors of Wal-Marts across the country; their green side telling them to go in and support a company that's actually doing something about their pet fear, global warming; their red side yelling "SCAB!" in their ears ...

Thank you, Wal-Mart for this delicious irony!

Related Tags: Wal-Mart, Environment, Environmentalism, Conservation, Global warming