The July 14th/21st issue of Business Week had a small article in the News You Need to Know section on Wal-mart and it's 2 million labor law violations titled "Whacking Wal-Mart". Ouch! On one hand, Wal-mart is making great strides in its environmental sustainability commitments (albeit as a bit of the benevolent dictator). On the other hand it's sorely lacking in it's social and personal sustainability commitments. The Personal Sustainability Program was great for PR, but 2 million labor law violations are not the results of a thriving PSP program.

Sticking environmental sustainability in one bucket and social sustainability in another is just not smart. They are not mutually exclusive. This corporate siloing (is that a word?) strategy is not reflective of people's relationship with sustainability - of which eco or 'green' components make up just a piece. And Wal-mart doing just that is the reason why, despite the major money they have spent 'marketing green' only 18.49% of the North American population feel Wal-mart is a socially responsible brand, according to the latest intall of our SHIFT Report. Drilling into the US population it dwindles even further to 16%.