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‘When the
community unites, even giants can be held
accountable.’
That’s the
takeaway from our long awaited,
hard fought victory to end
Nestlé and
BlueTriton’s theft of water from
California’s San Bernardino National
Forest.
Last week’s
unanimous California Water Board
vote to stop the unlawful removal of water from
Strawberry Creek means tens
of millions of gallons of water annually will
remain on public lands rather than going in
plastic bottles.
This was no
ordinary campaign: waged over the course of
nearly a decade and led by a remarkable
coalition of local, regional and national groups
and individuals, it transcended the fairly
mundane facts of the case to become something
bigger – a metaphorical fight
about who controls our water.
To read more about
campaigns like ours, pick up the new book
Unbottled:
The Fight against Plastic Water and for Water
Justice,
from Portland State University’s Dan Jaffee. Dan
explores what bottled water’s meteoric growth
means for social inequality, sustainability, and
the human right to water. Use code UCPSAVE30 at
checkout to save
30%
Now, having
sent a clear message that water doesn’t belong
in plastic bottles, our next
campaign will tackle the bottle
itself.
Plastic
bottles are emblematic of today’s plastic crisis
– they’re fueling the so-called ‘petrochemical
build out,’ are one of the largest sources of
plastic pollution, and have a clear alternative:
the reusable bottle.
Our
Bring Back
Refill campaign will launch
in early October with a 30-page report that
makes the indisputable case for the refillable
bottle to policymakers.
And we’re not
letting the top global source of plastic
pollution off the hook: to illustrate why refill
matters, we’ll be turning our attention from one
beverage company giant to another. Stay tuned
for a searing exposé-style
short documentary highlighting one
company’s role in popularizing and then
undermining reusable bottles. Then we’ll ask you
to help push for an industry leading refillables
pledge.
Just like our
Unbottle
Water
campaign, Bring Back Refill
will take
time, and run into opposition with deep pockets
– but we’ve got an ambitious goal that we think
is worth the effort: state laws that mandate
beverage producers to implement reuse and
refill.
Keep your eyes peeled for the launch
of Bring Back Refill
on October
4th.
And thank you
for all the ways you’ve flexed your citizen
muscles with us and for us this
year.
Sincerely,
Michael
O’Heaney
Executive
Director 
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