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Meet Your New Neighborhood Food Market
The $400-billion-a-year retail behemoth, with two million employees laboring in 8,500 stores spread around the globe, is putting on a "local" mask.
Dec 08, 2010
The signature phrase of America's booming good food movement has been expanded from "organic" to "local and sustainable."
Good! The phrase suggests great quality, strong environmental stewardship, and a commitment to keeping our food dollars in the local economy. If you support the local-economies movement, as I do, no doubt you'll be thrilled to hear that a new, local food store is coming soon to your neighborhood. In fact, it's even named Neighborhood Market.
Only, it's not. It's a Walmart. Yes, the $400-billion-a-year retail behemoth, with two million employees laboring in 8,500 stores spread around the globe, now is putting on a "local" mask. The giant is promising to buy nine percent of the produce it'll sell from local farmers. Big whoopie. This means that 91 percent of the foodstuffs offered in its "Neighborhood" chain will come from Wayawayland.
But even the nine percent number is a deceit, for Walmart says that it defines "local" as grown in the same state. Excuse me, but in California, Florida, Texas, and other such sizable states, that can be a mighty long truck haul away. Not exactly what us locals would call "local."
As for being sustainable, Walmart is bragging about a billion-dollar investment it'll make to shrink its environmental footprint a bit. That's a nice gesture. But come on, this outfit has humongous feet that bestride the whole world. Even a billion bucks won't shrink that footprint. Walmart neither made a commitment to organic production, nor did it rule out peddling genetically engineered Frankenfoods as part of its "sustainability" gimmick.
Who does Walmart think it's fooling? It's not coming to our neighborhoods to be local and sustainable, but to drive out our home-grown enterprises and extract profits from our own communities.
An Unconstitutional Rampage
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
The signature phrase of America's booming good food movement has been expanded from "organic" to "local and sustainable."
Good! The phrase suggests great quality, strong environmental stewardship, and a commitment to keeping our food dollars in the local economy. If you support the local-economies movement, as I do, no doubt you'll be thrilled to hear that a new, local food store is coming soon to your neighborhood. In fact, it's even named Neighborhood Market.
Only, it's not. It's a Walmart. Yes, the $400-billion-a-year retail behemoth, with two million employees laboring in 8,500 stores spread around the globe, now is putting on a "local" mask. The giant is promising to buy nine percent of the produce it'll sell from local farmers. Big whoopie. This means that 91 percent of the foodstuffs offered in its "Neighborhood" chain will come from Wayawayland.
But even the nine percent number is a deceit, for Walmart says that it defines "local" as grown in the same state. Excuse me, but in California, Florida, Texas, and other such sizable states, that can be a mighty long truck haul away. Not exactly what us locals would call "local."
As for being sustainable, Walmart is bragging about a billion-dollar investment it'll make to shrink its environmental footprint a bit. That's a nice gesture. But come on, this outfit has humongous feet that bestride the whole world. Even a billion bucks won't shrink that footprint. Walmart neither made a commitment to organic production, nor did it rule out peddling genetically engineered Frankenfoods as part of its "sustainability" gimmick.
Who does Walmart think it's fooling? It's not coming to our neighborhoods to be local and sustainable, but to drive out our home-grown enterprises and extract profits from our own communities.
The signature phrase of America's booming good food movement has been expanded from "organic" to "local and sustainable."
Good! The phrase suggests great quality, strong environmental stewardship, and a commitment to keeping our food dollars in the local economy. If you support the local-economies movement, as I do, no doubt you'll be thrilled to hear that a new, local food store is coming soon to your neighborhood. In fact, it's even named Neighborhood Market.
Only, it's not. It's a Walmart. Yes, the $400-billion-a-year retail behemoth, with two million employees laboring in 8,500 stores spread around the globe, now is putting on a "local" mask. The giant is promising to buy nine percent of the produce it'll sell from local farmers. Big whoopie. This means that 91 percent of the foodstuffs offered in its "Neighborhood" chain will come from Wayawayland.
But even the nine percent number is a deceit, for Walmart says that it defines "local" as grown in the same state. Excuse me, but in California, Florida, Texas, and other such sizable states, that can be a mighty long truck haul away. Not exactly what us locals would call "local."
As for being sustainable, Walmart is bragging about a billion-dollar investment it'll make to shrink its environmental footprint a bit. That's a nice gesture. But come on, this outfit has humongous feet that bestride the whole world. Even a billion bucks won't shrink that footprint. Walmart neither made a commitment to organic production, nor did it rule out peddling genetically engineered Frankenfoods as part of its "sustainability" gimmick.
Who does Walmart think it's fooling? It's not coming to our neighborhoods to be local and sustainable, but to drive out our home-grown enterprises and extract profits from our own communities.
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