Letters from Our Readers: Spring 2008

Corporate Greenwash

Joel Makower's sanguinity about  corporate environmentalism ("Selling Points," Winter 2008) is baffling, given what he seems to admit in his anecdote about Levi Strauss: a giant corporation improves a tiny percentage of its product line while its bread-and-butter business remains unchanged. Corporate greening is so often a case of capitalizing on the halo effect -- offering a pittance of green products, or less odious versions of products that were offensive to begin with, thus bathing the whole corporation in a virtuous glow. Better isn't necessarily good if worse was truly terrible.

Alex Jensen
Salt Lake City,Utah

Forgotten Wetlands

I was surprised that in Kim Larsen's discussion of draining wetlands to stem the spread of malaria she did not address the environmental harm that such an approach might cause.

Walter Sheppe
Akron, Ohio

Wal-Mart Is________

Lisa Selin Davis's interview with Joel Makower ("Selling Points," Winter 2008) was a perfect follow-up to a discussion I had with my neighbors here on the south shore of Lake Superior regarding Paul Hawken's recent book, Blessed Unrest. Someone suggested we all have the power to vote with our pocketbooks, which led us to discuss (with a touch of disgust) our local Super Wal-Mart and its environmental actions, which many see as greenwashing. The wiser among us made the point that if Wal-Mart pushed its suppliers to become more sustainable, the impact would be felt nationwide. And then there it was in Davis's interview: Makower's statement that Wal-Mart is now going to grade its 60,000 suppliers on eco-friendliness! My optimism grows. Perhaps we'll invite him to present at our annual Pie & Politics at the Big Top Chautauqua, an evening of political speech and free pie.

Jo Bailey
Bayfield, Wisconsin

Casualties

I read C. Michael Ray's "Cowboys and Indians" piece in the Winter 2008 issue and was puzzled by the caption on the photograph of rancher Marv Kammerer, which states that dozens of military aircraft have crashed on Kammerer's land. I find it difficult to believe that more than 24 planes have crashed on his 2,200 acres (roughly 3.5 square miles). If this is true, Ray has stumbled upon the Mother of Bermuda Triangles.

Andrew Beasley
Monmouth, Oregon

The editors respond: Mr. Beasley may have a point. According to the U.S. Air Force, since 1942 there have been at least 37 plane crashes and 97 fatalities in the vicinity of Ellsworth Air Force Base, which borders Marv Kammerer's property. Kammerer, whose family has owned the land since the 1880s, maintains that there have been dozens of fatalities associated with crashes of Air Force planes on his land, a figure that the Air Force will neither confirm nor deny. The caption on page 39 should have stated the number of fatalities he says have occurred on the property, not the number of plane crashes.

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