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defrogPreviously on Senseless Acts Of Bloggery:
An additional thing I learned is that environmentalists are very annoyed with Dita Von Teese for fronting Perrier – not because it’s sexist (though they’re not pleased about that either) but because bottled water is bad for the environment.
Also, it’s an evil corporate conspiracy to privatize drinking water.
Apparently.
All of which is news to me (and, I presume, news to Dita). But we’re all about fairness here at Team Def, so I looked into the claims about the dangers of bottled water, a good summary of which you can read here.
My conclusion: it all seems overblown to me.
At least the part about privatizing water (which, oddly, is opposed by The United Church of Christ, United Church of Canada, National Council of Churches, National Coalition of American Nuns and Presbyterians for Restoring Creation). I seriously doubt the fact that Perrier, Evian and Crystal Geyser make billions selling drinkable water to people is going to lead to them taking over the local water dept. People do use water for other things besides drinking it (showers, flushing toilets, washing cars, lawn sprinklers, water slides), none of which I imagine you can accomplish with a case of Aquafina.
If we're talking about something where private companies are contracted to run the water utility, that seems like a separate issue to me, since where privatization of water facilities has happened, no bottled water/beverage company has been involved (as far as I know), and I really don't see how having bottled water available leads to a shortage of municipal water or lack of infrastructure buildout in developing markets where running water isn't available in many places. (If any of you have connected the dots in that regard, please let me know.)
Given that most water privatization plans haven't been especially profitable [PDF], I'm not sure where the corporate incentive is to get into that kind of business (although of course some do anyway). Also, it should be pointed out that while multinational companies may not be great at running water utilities, in many of the countries where it's happening, the alternative is corrupt govts who are even worse at it.
Also, I can assure you that – at least outside the US – drinking from the tap isn’t always an option. It’s certainly not one in HK without a heavy-duty filter, or without boiling it first. Consequently, we drink a lot of bottled water here.
Furthermore, tap water doesn’t come in “sparkling” flavor.
As for the environmental impact, well, sure, lots of plastic bottles are a bad thing, but how that makes the bottled water companies any more evil than any other beverage company, I’m not sure. Also, in the relevant case here, Perrier uses glass bottles, not plastic ones (as far as I know), as well as aluminum cans. And it’s possible to mitigate that impact with recycling programs (which we also have here in HK).
FULL DISCLOSURE: I don’t drink much Perrier (mainly because it’s above my usual price range). I do drink a lot of bottled water, though (see above). And I am a big fan of Dita Von Teese.
So as far as I’m concerned, she can pour all the Perrier she wants on herself.
Hose me down,
This is dF
2. Dita Von Teese on a Perrier can
Business Class was also where I discovered that Dita Von Teese is now appearing on cans and bottles of Perrier. Turns out that’s been going on for awhile now. Either way, I’m amazed that a burlesque revivalist and fetish model has become the spokesperson for a major corporate brand (albeit a French one).
Business Class was also where I discovered that Dita Von Teese is now appearing on cans and bottles of Perrier. Turns out that’s been going on for awhile now. Either way, I’m amazed that a burlesque revivalist and fetish model has become the spokesperson for a major corporate brand (albeit a French one).
An additional thing I learned is that environmentalists are very annoyed with Dita Von Teese for fronting Perrier – not because it’s sexist (though they’re not pleased about that either) but because bottled water is bad for the environment.
Also, it’s an evil corporate conspiracy to privatize drinking water.
Apparently.
All of which is news to me (and, I presume, news to Dita). But we’re all about fairness here at Team Def, so I looked into the claims about the dangers of bottled water, a good summary of which you can read here.
My conclusion: it all seems overblown to me.
At least the part about privatizing water (which, oddly, is opposed by The United Church of Christ, United Church of Canada, National Council of Churches, National Coalition of American Nuns and Presbyterians for Restoring Creation). I seriously doubt the fact that Perrier, Evian and Crystal Geyser make billions selling drinkable water to people is going to lead to them taking over the local water dept. People do use water for other things besides drinking it (showers, flushing toilets, washing cars, lawn sprinklers, water slides), none of which I imagine you can accomplish with a case of Aquafina.
If we're talking about something where private companies are contracted to run the water utility, that seems like a separate issue to me, since where privatization of water facilities has happened, no bottled water/beverage company has been involved (as far as I know), and I really don't see how having bottled water available leads to a shortage of municipal water or lack of infrastructure buildout in developing markets where running water isn't available in many places. (If any of you have connected the dots in that regard, please let me know.)
Given that most water privatization plans haven't been especially profitable [PDF], I'm not sure where the corporate incentive is to get into that kind of business (although of course some do anyway). Also, it should be pointed out that while multinational companies may not be great at running water utilities, in many of the countries where it's happening, the alternative is corrupt govts who are even worse at it.
Also, I can assure you that – at least outside the US – drinking from the tap isn’t always an option. It’s certainly not one in HK without a heavy-duty filter, or without boiling it first. Consequently, we drink a lot of bottled water here.
Furthermore, tap water doesn’t come in “sparkling” flavor.
As for the environmental impact, well, sure, lots of plastic bottles are a bad thing, but how that makes the bottled water companies any more evil than any other beverage company, I’m not sure. Also, in the relevant case here, Perrier uses glass bottles, not plastic ones (as far as I know), as well as aluminum cans. And it’s possible to mitigate that impact with recycling programs (which we also have here in HK).
FULL DISCLOSURE: I don’t drink much Perrier (mainly because it’s above my usual price range). I do drink a lot of bottled water, though (see above). And I am a big fan of Dita Von Teese.
So as far as I’m concerned, she can pour all the Perrier she wants on herself.
Hose me down,
This is dF
