It seems allowing Meijer Inc.‘s gas station project on Lake Lansing Road to be called “environmentally friendly” is a label that doesn’t really get to any point. Will the Meijer officials be promoting bike riding or carpooling? Will the green roof absorb enough water otherwise washed away by the thousands of square feet turned into impervious concrete? Will its food items mirror what one might consider environmentally friendly products, rather than promoting the social inequity created by conventional coffees, chocolates and petroleum? Will the packaging of items sold be made of recycled materials free of noxious chemicals? Indeed, the answer probably is no to all.

If Meijer wants the esteemed title of environmental steward, officials need to learn what terms like sustainability actually may imply in a structure, and how it affects the greater community. Parking, for example, creates a sea of cement that actually fills occupancy maybe one day a year, while the majority of days sees the wasted space take its toll on local hydrology. Cement is an impervious surface and creates a “super-highway” of water not seen in natural ecology, where water is allowed to infiltrate the soil for plants to take it up. This is why our rivers flood so easily.