THIS MAGAZINE: BECAUSE EVERTHING IS POLITICAL

Search for:

• FEATURES
• THIS & THAT
• ARTS & IDEAS
• FICTION & POETRY
• LETTERS
• BLOG THIS
•  
• SUBSCRIBE
• BACK ISSUES
• SUPPORT THIS
•  
• ABOUT THIS
• CONTRIBUTORS
• CONTACT THIS
• ADVERTISE
• SITE MAP

Home » Blog This

March 20, 2007

Bottling profit, not altruism

Posted by Ariel Troster at 10:04 AM ET

This Thursday is World Water Day, and you may have read the gushing announcement from Starbucks about how the company is planning to donate 5 cents from every bottle of their new Ethos bottled water to "benefit India and Kenya." Starbucks says its goal is to donate $10 million by 2010 to organizations that "are helping to alleviate the world's water crisis."

Now, the irony of selling bottled water in an effort to "save the world's water" is so ridiculous I don't even know what to do with this ... Okay, for starters, the bottling of water has contributed directly to the crisis that the Starbucks CEOs seem so concerned about.

In India, underground aquifiers have been sucked dry, and locals are forced to buy water back in bottles for their drinking and cooking needs. In the southern state of Kerala, Coke and Pepsi use satellite imagery to locate reservoirs of groundwater and in Plachimada, bottling companies extract up to 1.5 million litres of water every day. All 260-bore wells installed by public authorities have gone dry. As well, the soil, water and air around the plant have become contaminated from a sludge by-product, made up of cadmium and other trace metals.

This same story is being told in community after community, all over the world. For more information on the devastation caused by water bottling companies, check out the Polaris Institute's Inside the Bottle project.

Now, this is not to mention Starbucks' less-than-rosy record when it comes to interactions with communities in the Global South. Oxfam recently launched a campaign targeting Starbucks for denying the rights of Ethiopian farmers by attempting to patent the names of indigenous coffee beans: Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe. According to Oxfam, "Starbucks has continually rejected Ethiopia's requests to resolve the issue, and has refused to sign a royalty-free licensing agreement that would recognize Ethiopia's right to control how its own coffee names are used."

There are lots of World Water Day events going on in Canada and around the world on March 22nd, so no need to attend the ones being promoted by Starbucks (where no doubt they will encourage you to buy their branded water to help save the world's water. Ack.) Here's where you can find a list of community events all over Canada. And check out the Canadian Union of Public Employees' World Water Day online action centre here.

More entries on: Planet Earth

Previous: Web 3.14159 -- somewhat rambly thoughts
Next: It's spring! ... and I love Europe

---

Reader comments:

Thanks Ariel -- very important information.

Bottled water has a purpose, but solving the world's clean water crisis is not it. It should really only be used to shampoo the pets of the super-rich.

Seriously though -- if, like most Canadians, you live in a city with a perfectly drinkable water supply, made possible through focused and expensive infrastructure you pay for with your taxes, why would you give more money away to drink the same product from packaging?

Posted by: john_d at March 20, 2007 11:18 AM

•

Thanks John. Something that a lot of people don't know is that bottled water is often less safe than tap water. Plastic bottles leach chemicals, and the water in bottles isn't regulated nearly as stringently as tap water is. In the case of Dasani water (the Coca-Cola brand), the company literally takes tap water, ships it in tankers or trucks, removes the city-sponsored minerals from it, and adds a special package of Coke-sponsored minerals to it -- therefore turning water into "water." It's INSANE.

Posted by: ariel at March 20, 2007 11:43 AM

•

When I was growing up in the UK, one of the things we said to convince ourselves that we were better than the French was that our water supply was drinkable from the tap, whereas they had to drink from bottles.

We thought drinking from bottles was primitive. Now it's the other way round. Weird.

Posted by: tom s. at March 21, 2007 01:47 PM

•

I noticed Second Cup is doing something similar. They donate 10 cents (I believe) from each bottle to programs for clean water for children in developing countries. Arg.

Posted by: Kim at March 21, 2007 10:24 PM

•

Yeah, because if you are going to buy bottle water, it seems hard to quibble with at least buying the brand that is donating *something* to a good cause ... it's really easy to get sucked in and buy the water, instead of, ah, turning on the tap ...

It's the whole idea of saving the world by shopping "correctly" that is flawed. In this interview, Samantha King, author of Pink Ribbons, Inc., talks about how this kind of mentality is flawed when it comes to the branding of products that are supposed to "help cure breast cancer."

Posted by: Ariel at March 22, 2007 10:47 AM

•

On the other hand, one could argue that turning on the tap actually is shopping correctly, since we certainly do pay for our water infrastructure. And, ironically, you pay for the tap water whether you choose to consume it or not.

Posted by: john_d at March 22, 2007 11:04 AM

•

---

Post your own comment:

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)

---

 Subscribe to the feed

---

Blog This Must-Reads

---

---

---

Blog This Archives

May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
March 2000

---