I'm no sworn enemy of Walmart. I do find the company vaguely distasteful. I certainly haven't grown accustomed to viewing the company as progressive. Perhaps that will have to change. Yesterday Walmart's CEO, H. Lee Scott Jr., delivered a rousing address -- more campaign speech than corporate announcement is how the New York Times describes it -- that sets out an ambitious "social manifesto" for the company. Walmart will pursue, among other things, products from its suppliers that are 25 percent more energy efficient within three years.

That's an ambitious goal -- but also very exciting. Think about it: this isn't Whole Foods (God bless them) we're talking about. Walmart has the capacity to re-engineer the appliances and products that everyday, working-class Americans -- people who shop for price, not for social responsibility -- fill their homes and offices with. “When Wal-Mart asks, suppliers jump,” said Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “There are positive ripple effects throughout the supply chain.”

The thing is, Walmart has been not only making such promises -- it has also been delivering on them for the past few years. One example: In the past three years, Wal-Mart has sold 145 million compact fluorescent light bulbs. Scott estimates that these new bulbs saved enough electricity to forestall the need for three coal-fired power plants in the United States.

Walmart will also digitize medical records for all its employees and bring its systematized approach to work with employers who need a better way to pay and manage prescription drug claims -- which is expected to shake up employer-based health care.

And Walmart is thinking even bigger for the future.

Mr. Scott said, for instance, that Wal-Mart is talking to leaders of the automobile industry about selling electric or hybrid cars — and might even install windmills in its parking lots so customers could recharge their cars with renewable electricity.

I'm just waiting for the next installment in the series: "Who resurrected the electric car?" Even if that doesn't work out, CSR proponents have done something right. Walmart is eager not to be counted among the laggards: Says Scott, “We live in a time when people are losing confidence in the ability of government to solve problems. But Wal-Mart does not wait for someone else to solve problems.”