Wal-Mart, Environmental Activist?

I am always skeptical about “Big Business” promoting itself about being environmentally friendly in some way. However, I don’t know what the downside is to Wal-Mart and it’s promotion of compact fluorescent light bulbs.

I already knew they were promoting the selling of compact fluorescent light bulbs:

At the Wal-Mart home office, they talk about swirls with a zeal that goes beyond product promotion, as if the bulbs are a pioneering product, a new way of thinking about retailing. Says Andrew Ruben, Wal-Mart's vice president of sustainability: "We realize that we can influence big things. Energy usage. Efficiency. Dependence on foreign oil. And we realized that if we're really going to move things, it's not about our direct footprint--our stores, our offices--it's about our supply chain and our customers. So this is about selling lightbulbs, but it's far bigger. This has huge implications for the world."

However, I didn’t know that they also were pushing for the reduction of the amount of mercury used in the manufacture of these light bulbs:

To reduce the amount of mercury in its CFLs, Wal-Mart worked closely with manufacturers GE, Royal Philips, Osram Sylvania and Lights of America. All four suppliers committed to achieving a greater reduction in mercury content than the 5 mg standard set by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) earlier this year. These suppliers will also adhere to clean production techniques that will minimize mercury pollution from factories manufacturing CFLs.

One last observation; they’re not really bulbs, are they?