Bottled Water Sucks.
the part that gets me is this. It's like gentrification, in a sense: stop advocating and giving a shit for the safety of tap water in communities, and that water's safety will go down the drain (ha). Individuals who can't then PAY to have water - which, given scientific and infrastructure resources should be a right at this point in humanity - get stuck with the environmentally dangerous stuff. That's going to be historically marginalized, less powerful groups - like people of color or working class communities - that bear the burden of a water system that the folks with money and power don't give a shit about. It's like public vs. private education, or any other resource...it comes down to how much we care about access for ALL and act on that, or pull interest because the wealthy folks with little concern about environmental (etc) impact are enabled to by their privilege.
I wouldn't advocate chastising people for not understanding how privilege and bottled water connect, but I would certainly advocate for education and action when possible. "Lifestyle activism is not enough" in my mind - advocate for clean water in your town! Heck, build a well if you have the resources! I think technically this could be termed a kind of "environmental racism" if you check out the definitions used in that movement's work.
Anybody seen Total Recall? It's going to be like that with air, eventually, if folks don't spread understanding of how systems disenfranchise folks. (in Total Recall, on Mars, clean air was at a shortage because of a similar dynamic of rich folks not giving a shit about sustainability, but being able to buy their survival during broken systems. They made everyone pay for air (which, scientifically, could have been given to all as a right in that world), and districts that couldn't pay got their air pulled. Then Arnold's eyes popped out. :-)
A hilarious Penn & Teller BULLSHIT on bottled water
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc
Bottled Water Taxes...
http://sustainablog.org/2008/01/08/groundbreaking-bottled-water-tax-raises-dustup-in-chicago/
I wouldn't advocate chastising people for not understanding how privilege and bottled water connect, but I would certainly advocate for education and action when possible. "Lifestyle activism is not enough" in my mind - advocate for clean water in your town! Heck, build a well if you have the resources! I think technically this could be termed a kind of "environmental racism" if you check out the definitions used in that movement's work.
Anybody seen Total Recall? It's going to be like that with air, eventually, if folks don't spread understanding of how systems disenfranchise folks. (in Total Recall, on Mars, clean air was at a shortage because of a similar dynamic of rich folks not giving a shit about sustainability, but being able to buy their survival during broken systems. They made everyone pay for air (which, scientifically, could have been given to all as a right in that world), and districts that couldn't pay got their air pulled. Then Arnold's eyes popped out. :-)
A hilarious Penn & Teller BULLSHIT on bottled water
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc
Bottled Water Taxes...
http://sustainablog.org/2008/01/08/groundbreaking-bottled-water-tax-raises-dustup-in-chicago/
Labels: environment, social justice
posted by Mike Dolan Fliss at
3/08/2008 11:57:00 AM
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