I am still deciding whether to accuse McDonald’s of blatantly pandering to the green consumer or applaud them for one of their most recent initiatives to open what it bills as the “first green restaurant” in Cary, North Carolina on July 14th. It has the potential to be industry changing, or also just another joke aimed at fat people.
Gizmodo reports McDonald’s says the facility will not only be built using all green construction materials, but will be complete with free-to-use charging stations for your electric vehicle. That’s right, while you wash down those tasty, salty chunks of charred animal flesh and yummy, deadly fried potatoes with your favorite sugary beverage, you can help the environment by charging up your eco-friendly car simply by pulling up, plugging in, and pigging out.
On one hand, one has to consider the enormous amount of waste produced by a large corporation such as Mickey D’s in the form of packaging, napkins, and other miscellaneous objects and bad practices that has contributed to wrecking the planet over the years. With “billions and billions” served, that probably also means billions and billions of paper bags, sandwich wrappers, plastic straws, and other trashy things associated with eating fast food.
Recently, Ronald and friends appear to be serious about their green practices. Besides changing much of their packaging, they have gone so far as attempting to reduce the amount of pesticides in the potatoes they purchase for their fries, which could be huge, considering they are the largest buyer of potatoes in the United States.
On the other hand, one should also consider that, while the company may be serious about going green, what of their menu? Will consumers that like to chow down regularly on their high sodium, mega-calorie foods be exactly the environmentally conscious type that drives the latest and greatest horseless carriage designed to help out Mama Earth?
I also have to wonder about the strategy of opening this store in North Carolina, one of the fattest states in the union. North Carolina ranks twelfth among adults in obesity rates, and fourteenth among children. It would seem to me that it would be easier to kill two birds with one stone and skip the electric vehicle altogether if you are planning on eating there and simply make use of the bike racks that they have. Hey, biking uses no fuel and you could probably stand to burn off the calories anyway.
What? You didn’t know they have bike racks?
But that’s just the cynic in me. Is it possible that, if this goes well, this is just the kind of infrastructure change we will need to finally make the switch to safer, more eco-friendly ways of fueling our vehicles? McDonald’s is vast, large, and just about everywhere. If this is successful and rolls out to the rest of the country, it might just be what we need to get the ball rolling in the private sector to provide charging stations. One of the biggest obstacles to electric vehicles is the availability and the difficulty in finding charging stations outside of your own home. Perhaps if this catches on, more businesses will follow suit.
Now I have to go pick up some McNuggets. And yes, I will not be walking or biking.
-by Brian Roberts
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This article appears in Jul 7-14, 2009.
