The Whistle of a Distant Train

I applaud a recent decision by Wal-Mart to require "green" labeling of the products it sells. Given the degree of influence Wal-Mart has in the US consumer market, this could be a fairly big deal if its practice became an de-facto industry standard. While done under the premise of retaining more lucrative higher-income customers, environmentalists will take a win wherever they can get it. Provisioning information is generally the least demanding mechanism that either government or private enterprise can require.

Consumers should be able to have the information to make informed decisions about their consumption patterns. The premise has been firmly established for some time now, particularly in the realm of food safety. Personally, my food consumption is partially directed by product information labels, as I choose to watch my sodium and fat intake. If people are aware of the potential impacts of their consumption, it will affect their behavior. It's even better that this is a market-driven initiative and not an unfunded government mandate. It is my assertion that a truly free market empowers the consumer with choice.

I suppose if conscionable consumers felt the societal cost of a certain lead-based widget exceeded it's relative benefits, it might change their consumption behavior. There's no law that says we have to buy goods that have unacceptable environmental externalities. We currently outsource much of our manufacturing in part because Americans are no longer willing to bear the public burdens of heavy industrial production (disease, air & water pollution, land deformation from raw material extraction). We still seek to consume products, but allow the externalities of production to be felt borne in countries with weak labor and environmental protections. Impact assessment initiatives like this would assist people in understanding the consequences of consumption without regard to "where" it happens. This could also help the beleaguered US manufacturing sector; if consumers demand green goods, it provides less of an impetus to move production to countries with weak environmental laws.