My grocery store is often Kowalski’s. I shop there because they carry Peace Coffee which is always Fair Trade coffee – meaning workers receive a living wage. They also carry local produce that isn’t shipped great distances and supports local farmers.
But tonight while shopping there I was near the deli and noticed a big display of Fiji Water above the Olive Bar display. Really ???? Fiji Water??? Yikes! Do we really need to ship water from the other side of the world??
I took time to convey my shock and dismay to the manager. I explained why I shop at Kowalski’s in the first place (fair trade, local, organic) and why products like this bottled water make me want to RUN and SHOP SOMEWHERE ELSE.
You can do the same. You can make a difference. Take time to talk to the produce manager or store manager. They know, as I do, that just one person making a comment means at least twenty other customers thought the same but didn’t take the time to tell them. If two or more people have negative comments on a product that product is HISTORY! You can make a difference.
Bottled water is bad enough. It gives the impression that it’s OK to pay a high price for water – something every human person needs by virtue of being human. Just like we need clean air, we need clean water to survive.
Although there are rare times when bottled water may be necessary — there is never a time when it is necessary to import bottled water from the other side of the globe! What a waste of oil, plastic (more oil) and money!
Further, too many people living in Fiji do NOT have access to clean water. The American owners of Fiji water have taken over local water sources there (as if you can own the water supply of others’?) and now export what water they have out of the country. Read more here.
(Update 3-3-11 – Learn more about the problems of bottled water in general.
Watch the “Story of Bottled Water.”)
What’s next – making us pay for breathing clean air?
You may also like Life of Water; Water of Life.
DH here: Here is some interesting info: The distance between Eagan, Minnesota, United States and Nandi, Fiji, as the crow flies is 7042 miles (11333 km, 6119 nautical miles). The estimated total emissions of carbon dioxide caused by traveling 7042 miles by plane is: 2,042.18 kg (4,502.2lbs) of CO2. Folks, ponder this price to pay for such bottled water.
There is a lot of myth on the web about Fiji water: “Models use it to wash their skin because it has colloidal silicone”, “the taste is cleaner”, the company claims the water is cleaned by the Trade Winds, and in the next sentence we are told the water supply is sealed within the volcanic rock since antiquity, other assorted blah blah – people really can be silly about this…
Thank you for the additional information. Helps us to understand how important it is that we be thoughtful about water.
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