'Green' for the sake of being 'green'?

So my local McDonalds closed 'for renovations' a few months back and they leveled the place down to bare earth on the entire lot.

Fast forward they started building and put up a sign advertising that a new 'green McDonalds' was going to be built at the site. That it was going to be built with sustainable materials, environmentally-conscious designs/materials, etc. It seemed that the main point of the sign was that it was going to be as 'Green' as possible.

The thing that got me, there was a perfectly good operating store on that site, and they leveled it and hauled the whole thing off to a landfill somewhere. And now they are touting how environmentally friendly the new place was going to be? Didn't they just contribute to the overall 'problem' to play a marketing card of being green?

 

Your town just got Gored.

 

The average Mickey D's customer won't figure that out, or care.

 

No crap!

If Mickey Ds wanted to really go green they would go Vegan!

edit: BTW - I just shared some of my Vegan Cooking with three colleagues at work. They were all impress.

 

Your implying that the current fare is some how really made from animal parts? Seems to be made of solid/semisolid chemicals made to be tasty.

 

The leveled and rebuilt one around the corner from my house, too.

Frickin' waste.

Micky D's Vegan? Does synthetic food count as vegan?

 

They leveled and rebuilt a vintage styled one here. Have not been inside but rather nice looking. The arches curve into the building.

 

Maybe I assumed too much!

 

I almost forgot, Al Gore is a dick!

 

I am curious. I am 53. I never ate at McDonalds till my early/middle 20's. How about you?

 

So tearing something down that is old and inefficient to replace it with something better is a waste? How long should they wait to replace a inefficient store?

McDonalds is more like a manufacturing facility than food service (and tastes like it) and there are plenty of good reasons why they rebuild rather than renovate. They didn't get where they are by being dumb, or having good food.

 

It certainly wasn't old or inefficient as far as I know. The building they tore down was only 8 years old or so. Pretty much the new one was on the same foot print.

Yeah, that's a waste.

 

And no offense, but I'll take McDonald's opinion over yours that the building needed to be replaced. They don't rebuild stores because they're bored and looking to spend money.

 

I'm curious...but aren't most items in buildings recyclable, or least partially recyclable? Brick, copper, wood etc...?

Is it possible that the new building, with all of the new technology attains a much higher efficiency thereby superseding the net loss from tearing the old building down?

Isn't demolishing the old building and building a new one good for the economy?

 

Why not remodel? It was a brick building.

I would have been fine if they had torn it down and left parking lot. Micky D's is pure evil.

 

Are you serious? When I was a kid (same age as you), stopping at McDonalds was a treat. We rarely ever ate out so it was a big deal. There were no dining rooms and they peeled and cut the fries in the store.

 

Pure evil? Ahh, just crappy food. Coffee is ok.

 

I ate McDonalds on our first night in the US. It was a whole bunch us staying with some distant relatives in the Keys. Cheeseburgers sounded pretty good. They were brought to us.

I was 10.

The next morning we were headed from the Keys to Miami and stopped for breakfast at an actual (physical location) McDonalds. I quickly learned that American Coffee is nothing like Cuban Coffee!

 

I remember BK had the burger walk. You ordered your burger, you saw it go into the grill and walk its way to the end of the line right to you.

 

Ok...but what about the net loss to the local economy from the lost jobs, and local taxes? Does crime go up because the kids working at McDonald's can't find gainful employment somewhere else? What about the loss to the state economy and all of the suppliers etc...

Man this is a tough crowd.