Saying "no" to Walmart does not remove the wants and needs they exist to serve. If you want a more locally-oriented community, you need a more local-friendly system, says Scott Doyon.
“'I don’t shop at Walmart.' Talk about a loaded phrase. Five simple words, but issue them collectively and you effectively open a Pandora’s Box of suggestion: Where you stand economically. Where you stand politically. How you feel about the environment. Or localism. Or capitalism."
Scott Doyon applies systems thinking to the hard realities that created Walmart, and how we might get more resilient communities via changes in land use regulations, transportation patterns, tax incentives, and other system obstacles.
"The system that fosters Walmart is not part of the natural order. It’s not an eternal and unchanging truth we must contend with. We created it, and we can recreate it if we so choose. For now, we’re in a position to take these matters on by choice. But in a world of depleting energy resources, crazy climate, and polarized politics, that may not always be the case. We may simply wake up one day and find that the system has failed and Walmart’s fleet of rolling inventory will no longer be dropping by."
FULL STORY: Walmart and the Quest for a Better Mousetrap
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Opposition to Walmart is now holding at just 50 percent, when people are asked how they would feel if a Walmart was proposed "in your community." Support for Walmart is up 16 percentage points since 2006.
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Walmart Takes On Amazon By Testing Out Grocery Pickup Store Concept
The nation's largest brick and mortar retailer gearing up to fight rival Amazon's brick and mortar grocery concept.
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
EV Infrastructure Booming in Suburbs, Cities Lag Behind
A lack of access to charging infrastructure is holding back EV adoption in many US cities.
Seattle Road Safety Advocates Say Transportation Levy Perpetuates Car-Centric Status Quo
Critics of a proposed $1.3 billion transportation levy say the package isn’t enough to keep up with inflation and rising costs and fails to support a shift away from car-oriented infrastructure.
Appeals Court: California Emissions Standards Upheld
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board, the nation's two most powerful environmental regulatory agencies, won an important round in federal court last week. But the emissions standards battle may not be over.
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