Step by Step

Increasingly often, it seems, I find out about another group of committed people working to save the planet, and all of the species (including us) who depend on it. Today, I was privileged to visit Act Now. The company is devoted to helping humanity achieve sustainability by taking small steps every day.

So far, their biggest and most amazing success involves the greening of Wal-Mart. Act Now's CEO, Adam Werbach, and his staff have convinced the huge retailer to launch a program called PSP for its massive workforce.

PSP stands for Personal Sustainability Practices, which can be as simple as walking to work, losing weight, eating organic food, etc. Act Now has created buttons for the Wal-Mart workers to communicate their goals to colleagues, and these have proved to be very popular.

Wal-Mart reports that those employees who participate in PSP are happier at work and more likley to stay with the company. So what's good for the company is good for the environment, and vice versa.

Wal-Mart, perhaps surprisingly, is taking other steps, including converting all of its stores to solar energy by 2020, and pressuring its product suppliers to provide more green, organic, sustainable products in the future.

When a company of this size uses its market leverage to push for positive change, we should all sit up and take notice. Yet, sadly, many environmentalists have been critical of Werbach for sleeping with the corporate enemy.

Much like in my post yesterday, when I advocated love instead of hate as a strategy for working with Islamic radicals; I believe, in this case, working with a Fortune 500 company to lesson its negative impacts and maximize its positive impacts on our common planet is the right path forward.

Confrontation has its moment. As an old investigative reporter who often exposed dirty corporate secrets, I remain committed to holding the powerful accountable. But I also recognize that we are all in this together, and if the people running the Wal-Marts work to save humanity, they are hardly our enemies, but our friends in struggle.

***



More on boys helping boys. My 13-year-old, Aidan, a natural athlete, loves his little brother, Dylan, an 11-year-old who reads 100 pages of thick adult books in less than an hour, but has very little confidence in his physical abilities.

Nevertheless, Dylan has tried out for the JV basketball team, and he is finding it a trying experience. Last night, he broke down and said he didn't think he could ever learn the nuances of the game and its many strategies.



Aidan immediately downloaded a basketball court image and they created a paper and pencil version of those dry erase boards coaches use to explain plays to their team members. The two boys huddled over this makeshift board for half an hour, as Aidan drew out and explained how a zone defense works, and how point guards call out offensive sequences.

Tears dried, Dylan finally said, "I think I get it now."

My task now is to get an actual dry erase board like coaches use so the education of brother on brother may continue.

-30-