Environmental Impact of WalMart

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Environmental Impact of Wal-Mart

• A Pittsburgh Mills Case Study

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The Mills Corporation

• We are committed to sustainable growth

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Why we are sooo great

• Average rental rate 32.68/ft2
• Total gross of leasable area for 2004 46,700,000
  ft2
• Total property assets 6,103,200,000
• Net Income for 2004 232,000,000
• AND

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We built the Pittsburgh Mills!

• Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, which is the 1.1
  million sq ft indoor component of the complex, is
  divided into five themed "neighborhoods"
  corresponding various Pittsburgh landmarks and
  cultural icons plus over 200 shops
• The second component is an adjacent shopping
  center called the Village at Pittsburgh Mills. It
  includes several big-box stores such as a
  Wal-Mart Supercenter, Sams Club as well as
  restaurants and hotels. This portion composes of
  925,000 square feet.

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What was once there

• 360 acres of valuable hardwood
• Several streams that helped irrigate the 120 acre
  farm down hill and add clean water to the
  Allegheny River
• Native Animal habitats
• Two beautiful mountain tops

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One of the altered streams
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Whats There Now

• About 1,254
• parking spots
• (just for Wal-Mart)

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12.5 Miles is the average commute (25 miles there
and back)
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This amounts to about 1,000 gallons of gas
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The fossil fuels are sustainable right?

• 4.14 kilograms of carbon are needed to make
  enough oil to produce one gallon of gasoline,
  thats 4,140 kilograms of carbon for people to
  shop at Wally World
• Each gallon of gas requires 98 tons of
  prehistoric plant materialthats 98,000 tons of
  plants!

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Several Culverts
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To Replace
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Four Streams
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Resulting in a loss of fresh water
and biodiversity
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More Pavement
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Results in Erosion and Runoff
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The Runoff

• Consists of dirt, debris, litter,
  oil/antifreeze/other leakage, heavy metals from
  brake dust, salt/sand
• Sodium chloride kills plants (by diminishing
  permeability, increasing alkalinity, and reducing
  aeration), causes vehicle corrosion and
  disintegration of concrete, and can even reach
  unsafe levels in ground water
• Runoff from heated pavement can cause a rapid
  increase in stream temp which produces thermal
  shock and death in many fish
• Oil can contain PAHs, which lead to reproductive
  problems, cancer, etc.

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Valuable Hardwoods
The contractors tried to lumber all of the
hardwoods they could
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Two Mountains
Now one flat piece of land!
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Before After