Tapped (2009)

• By 2030, 2/3^rd of the world will lack access to clean water.
• Cost of bottled water greater than gasoline
  • Water is the next empire
• Maine
  • Farmers, small business owners was the norm
  • Nestlé arrived
    • Water mining
      • 6 billion in sales 2008
    • 75% of Earth’s surface is covered in water
      • 1% is drinkable
    • Absolute dominion
      • Nestlé gets permit in Maine before the people knew.
        • Sneaky, discreet
      • 1% a gallon tax proposed
        • Nestlé declined, “couldn’t survive that financial impact”
      • Arkansas, Colorado, Florida all started experiencing the same as Maine, with water mining companies getting permits without anyone’s knowledge.
    • It’s all about control
      • Prior, much money was spent on cleaning the water in Maine
    • February 24^th, people in the village had no water
      • Nestlé still pumping.
        • California > Michigan > Maine
      • Serious political instability
    • Bottled water 1900x the cost of tap
    • World Bank value
      • 800 billion
    • in 2008, there were droughts in 35 states
    • North Carolina
      • Pepsi continued bottling at the height of drought, 400,000 gallons a day
        • Selling back to the community
        • Temporary halt was put -> Pepsi resisted
      • Atlanta -> water restriction
      • Coca Cola mined 118 million gallons in one year
      • A lot of water pollution includes plastic bottles
      • Bottled water
        • Very good ad material
          • Perrier in the 70s; “replacement for alcoholic drinks”
            • Came in a pretty green glass bottled, appealing to consumers within the middle/upper class.
          • PET plastic bottles, 1989 -> light
            • Coke, Pepsi began using PET plastic bottles; major companies proclaimed “the biggest enemy is tap water”- Pepsi
            • Models, celebrities endorse water
            • Health benefits in ads; “bottled water is perceived different/better/more pure/safer than tap water”
            • 40% of bottled water is filtered tap water
              • Aquafina, Dasani, “purified water”
            • PET/PETE
              • Paraxyline -> crude oil
              • 80% of PET -> Coke, Nestlé beverage containers
              • Cancer
                • Communities are built on top of an oil waste field, living with the emissions that come from the plastic production companies
              • Birth defects in Corpus Cristi, 80% higher than rest of state.
            • Most bottled water is produced in state, and sold in state
              • This makes it out of reach from FDA regulations
              • Public water quality reports
                • Bottled water companies don’t have to publish their findings
              • Testing brands,
                • right out of the bottled there have been findings of toluene
                • left in car for 1 week; findings of styrene – cancer causing
              • Gallon bottles
                • Biphenyl
                • FDA relies on studies from manufacturers
                  • FDA is in the packing industries pocket
                • Walmart has taken a stance against use of PET
                • In the world, the percentage of recycling bottled beverages is 50%
                  • The US only recycles 20%
                    • 30% of US bottles end up in landfills.
                  • Container deposit legislation, “Bottle Bills”
                    • 11 states
                      • fee at purchase, which is returned if you bring it back and deposit
                    • Only 6 states cover water in bottle bills
                  • Industry would prefer curbside pickup

The True Cost

• Lucy Siegle
  • Consumed with the environmental and social impact of the fashion industry
• Orsola De Castro
  • “Our personal communication”, fundamentally how we choose to communicate qualities of ourselves to everyone else
• 95% of our clothes still produced in US in 1960’s, now only 3% of our clothes is made at home
• “Fast Fashion”
  • So companies can shift and move more product
  • Words like “affordable” and “economically conscious” are used.
  • When factories can’t accommodate the brands in terms of pricing, brands move their business elsewhere, instead of changing their prices.
    • Factories abroad are struggling, and agree to cut corners in order to maintain business.
    • Bangladesh building falls, Rana Plaza
      • 931 fatalities
      • Three of the four worst tragedies in fashion, happened within one year
    • Sweatshops are presented as being financially beneficial for developing countries
      • Low standards are excused because many people are looking for work
    • Saffia Minney
      • People Tree
        • Fashion with integrity, still possible to create economic growth
      • 40 million garment factory workers in the world, 4 million in Bangladesh, over 85% are women. These garment workers in Bangladesh are the lowest paid garment workers in the world.
      • 1/6 people alive today live in the global fashion industry
      • Larhea Pepper
        • Cotton farmer in texas
        • GMO (genetically modified cotton)