The Essential Basics
You're busy. You're tired. Your attention span just isn't at its best today. Whatever the reason, this site contains a lot of text and you're not in the mood to read it. Here, in more bullet-style presentation, are the things you ought to want to know before you go out and buy another bottle soda owned by the Coca-Cola company. (Accompanied by a two-minute video at the bottom of the home page.)
The Offenses:
The Offenses:
- Drinks contaminated with large amounts of pesticides (including DDT) distributed in India, so much so that Coca-Cola must now put a pesticide content label on their drinks. Additionally, factory waste and raw sewage were sold as fertilizer to farmers in India up until the state government intervened.
- Violations of worker rights in China.
- Can you imagine the water in your area having plummeting over 20 feet in the past decade? Imagine it, and imagine the crops. Go for a few more of those sorry incidences. A lot of them. There. Now you're almost, kind of getting it.
- Invading poor communities that have little choice but to go for the cheapest food, which has resulted in obesity and related illnesses. Not a problem we're unfamiliar with here in America, is it?
- Coca-Cola in Pakistan.
- Worker exploitation across the board takes place at the bottling plants, especially in South America, and has led to the attempted organization of unions. Except, oh wait, union leaders have been murdered, as they often are in Colombia. Despite the commonality of backlash to union involvement in Colombia, all of Coca-Cola's investigations denied the assertions.
- Despite the issue of clean water across the globe, Coca-Cola (along with Pepsi, Nestle and other bottled water companies) continues bottling water taken from poor communities and selling it back at prices none there can afford.
This boycott is to get not only Coca-Cola's attention and pressure the company to compensate and reform, but to let the world know that such crimes and injustices are intolerable, from wherever they may rise. It's also to empower you, me, and everyone like us who may be unaware of global consumerism's global implications. We have the ability to change things. Though every dollar spent on mindlessly and habitually is an agreement to be silent, every choice-conscious dollar is an objection. It's time to get loud.