Abigail Goldman has covered the retail beat for the Times' Business section even though she loathes shopping. They are moving her to a newly created beat "focused on the crossroads of corporate America and the environmental movement." The memo from Business Editor Davan Maharaj:

Abigail Goldman, who for the last eight years has called herself the only retail reporter in the country who hates shopping, will shift her attention from consumers' greenbacks to corporate green. She'll help the Business section launch a new beat focused on the crossroads of corporate America and the environmental movement.

She'll examine corporations that hold themselves out as good stewards of the environment, businesses that claim to make "green" products and the companies that purport to help individuals and communities be more environmentally responsible. As part of this new assignment, Abbe will work with colleagues covering energy, politics and other topics.

Abbe is a homegrown product of the Los Angeles Times, having started at the paper in 1993 as a summer intern in what was then called View. She later worked in the San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley and several points in between.

Continued after the jump:

In 1998, she moved to business, where she shared a Polk Award and a Pulitzer Prize for the 2003 series, "The Wal-Mart Effect." Her examination of toy maker Mattel Inc.'s attempts to be an ethical manufacturer overseas was a finalist for the 2004 Livingston Award for excellence by professionals under the age of 35.

She earned her bachelor's degree in history and political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her master's at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She hails from suburban Chicago, which means that she sees an upside to working for owners who aren't likely to make fun of the way she says "box" or "da Bears."

Abbe has promised to continue to help out on our coverage of both Wal-Mart and the toy industry, mostly because she isn't quite ready to abandon either Barbie or Every Day Low Prices.

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