The Essential Details
Stop. Take a deep breath. Clear your mind. Bask in a moment of mental quiet. Now pay attention.
To really participate in a boycott, you have to know what's going on. Through the internet we have so much information that it can give us shell-shock. With massive amounts to sort through and some of the more striking information hard to verify (dying news media for the win, right?), it can be hard to fully understand any issue. I want to bring this understanding to you by making information easy for you to access. What I'm bringing up will not be the other side of the argument. Why? Because Coca-Cola spends massive amounts of money on that- they're a big kid who doesn't need me to defend them. It's what they're not saying that matters to me.
That being said, you also have to find your own truth among the facts. No one will stay with a boycott unless they feel connected to the issue. No matter your motivation, it's important that you find the "something" that hits you close to home. You need to feel good about what you do, and a key to that is understanding your reasons.
Coca-Cola Mexico:
"Coke is also widely produced in Mexico, an arrangement that is threatening the country’s water supplies and undercutting indigenous control of natural resources. It takes three cups of water to make one cup of Coke. Since 2000, Coca-Cola has negotiated 27 water concessions from the Mexican government. Nineteen of the concessions are for the extraction of water from aquifers and from 15 different rivers, some of which belong to indigenous peoples. Eight concessions are for the right of Coke to dump its industrial waste into public waters. To aid the extractive and dumping processes, Fox—with help from the World Bank—has successfully pursued water privatization, as well as a massive land privatization program, that allowed companies free access to all the resources on the land, including water." (full article: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2840/ )
For those of you unaware of the situation of many indigenous groups in Mexico, it's full of often dire poverty and subjugation to racism. In Mexico, they are the populations most threatened by the lack of water.
A photo essay, "Mexico's Cola Wars Continue"
Coca-Cola India:
See Full Article, from indiaresource.org
"Kala Dera, India: The Coca-Cola company has continued to operate its bottling plant in Kala Dera in Jaipur, India even as the area has been declared a drought area last summer and the groundwater levels are falling sharply – leaving the largely agrarian community with severely restricted access to water.
Data obtained this week by the India Resource Center from the Central Groundwater Board, a government agency, confirm that groundwater levels in Kala Dera fell precipitously again – a drop of 4.29 meters (14 feet) in just one year between August 2008 and August 2009, from 30.83 meters below ground level to 35.12 meters respectively."
From "Coke in Green Clothing"
"The following letter was submitted to the Globe and Mail in response to an article about Coke's plans, but never published: Coca Cola's "plant bottle" is nothing more than an attempt to greenwash the corporation's poor environmental record at the 2010 Olympics. The "plant bottles" are still primarily plastic requiring large amounts of water - the production of a one litre plastic bottle of water requires three to five litres of water- and fossil fuels to manufacture.More importantly, plant bottles will not erase Coca Cola's record of environmental abuse. According to the Indian NGO India Resource Centre, there is a pattern of water shortages in Indian communities where there are Coca-Cola bottling plants. The organization has documented unprecedented declines in groundwater in the area Kara Dala after a Coca-Cola bottling plant began tapping into the aquifers. Groundwater levels dropped by a dramatic 19 feet over the course of a single year. Yet Coca-Cola draws water in this drought-prone region during the summer months when water shortages are most pronounced.Coca-Cola opera¬tions have also contributed to the contamination of drinking water sources around the world. In Paw Paw, Michigan, the beverage company sprayed waste water into the soil for 23 years. As a result, the groundwater in the area remains con¬taminated with heavy metals and carcinogenic chemicals including arsenic and lead."
Coca-Cola also faces accusations of intimidation, torture and murder of union leaders in Columbia.
To really participate in a boycott, you have to know what's going on. Through the internet we have so much information that it can give us shell-shock. With massive amounts to sort through and some of the more striking information hard to verify (dying news media for the win, right?), it can be hard to fully understand any issue. I want to bring this understanding to you by making information easy for you to access. What I'm bringing up will not be the other side of the argument. Why? Because Coca-Cola spends massive amounts of money on that- they're a big kid who doesn't need me to defend them. It's what they're not saying that matters to me.
That being said, you also have to find your own truth among the facts. No one will stay with a boycott unless they feel connected to the issue. No matter your motivation, it's important that you find the "something" that hits you close to home. You need to feel good about what you do, and a key to that is understanding your reasons.
Coca-Cola Mexico:
"Coke is also widely produced in Mexico, an arrangement that is threatening the country’s water supplies and undercutting indigenous control of natural resources. It takes three cups of water to make one cup of Coke. Since 2000, Coca-Cola has negotiated 27 water concessions from the Mexican government. Nineteen of the concessions are for the extraction of water from aquifers and from 15 different rivers, some of which belong to indigenous peoples. Eight concessions are for the right of Coke to dump its industrial waste into public waters. To aid the extractive and dumping processes, Fox—with help from the World Bank—has successfully pursued water privatization, as well as a massive land privatization program, that allowed companies free access to all the resources on the land, including water." (full article: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2840/ )
For those of you unaware of the situation of many indigenous groups in Mexico, it's full of often dire poverty and subjugation to racism. In Mexico, they are the populations most threatened by the lack of water.
A photo essay, "Mexico's Cola Wars Continue"
Coca-Cola India:
See Full Article, from indiaresource.org
"Kala Dera, India: The Coca-Cola company has continued to operate its bottling plant in Kala Dera in Jaipur, India even as the area has been declared a drought area last summer and the groundwater levels are falling sharply – leaving the largely agrarian community with severely restricted access to water.
Data obtained this week by the India Resource Center from the Central Groundwater Board, a government agency, confirm that groundwater levels in Kala Dera fell precipitously again – a drop of 4.29 meters (14 feet) in just one year between August 2008 and August 2009, from 30.83 meters below ground level to 35.12 meters respectively."
From "Coke in Green Clothing"
"The following letter was submitted to the Globe and Mail in response to an article about Coke's plans, but never published: Coca Cola's "plant bottle" is nothing more than an attempt to greenwash the corporation's poor environmental record at the 2010 Olympics. The "plant bottles" are still primarily plastic requiring large amounts of water - the production of a one litre plastic bottle of water requires three to five litres of water- and fossil fuels to manufacture.More importantly, plant bottles will not erase Coca Cola's record of environmental abuse. According to the Indian NGO India Resource Centre, there is a pattern of water shortages in Indian communities where there are Coca-Cola bottling plants. The organization has documented unprecedented declines in groundwater in the area Kara Dala after a Coca-Cola bottling plant began tapping into the aquifers. Groundwater levels dropped by a dramatic 19 feet over the course of a single year. Yet Coca-Cola draws water in this drought-prone region during the summer months when water shortages are most pronounced.Coca-Cola opera¬tions have also contributed to the contamination of drinking water sources around the world. In Paw Paw, Michigan, the beverage company sprayed waste water into the soil for 23 years. As a result, the groundwater in the area remains con¬taminated with heavy metals and carcinogenic chemicals including arsenic and lead."
Coca-Cola also faces accusations of intimidation, torture and murder of union leaders in Columbia.
What It All Means.
To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice. -Confucius
However you take it, it's not good news. Coca-Cola has control over itself and the power to select and influence its subsidiaries, and these abuses are the result of gross irresponsibility. This reality devastates integrity of the company leadership and hurts the integrity of those who allow it to continue. Despite all the bad reputations going around on this end, it's the far worst for the casualties of this neglect. According to the India Resource Center, ever since Coca-Cola began operating in Kala Dera, India, nine years ago water levels have plummeted by over 22 feet. Though there appear to be no such numbers for Mexico, this is likely because the troubles of the indigenous people are widely overlooked.
For freedoms we must oblige responsibility. I'm committed because I would want someone able to protect my rights if they were in need of it. The basic necessity of water is being threatened in the communities near such plants as water is extracted and polluted simultaneously. What it all means is that something must be done. It's time to force Coke to make responsible choices about where and how it goes about getting its water and disposing of its waste, or prepare to lose it's customers.
All companies be warned: we're going after Coca-Cola.