Mother Jones Unveils the Greenwashed Truth about Fiji Water

On their website, Fiji Water brags, “Our rainfall is purified by equatorial winds after traveling thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean.  Winds that carry acid rain and pollutants to other parts of the planet just don’t come our way.”

What they don’t mention are the environmental impacts Fiji Water creates by shipping their pricey product all the way around the world – or the fact that Fiji citizens still don’t have easy access to the clean, fresh water that is bottled and sold around the world. In fact, if Fijians want to drink to drink clean water, they have to buy bottled Fiji Water in stores for almost the same price that Americans pay.

Fiji has branded itself as “green bottled water”, and that irony seems to be lost on the kind of people who should be fighting such greenwashing. Fiji Water’s co-owner, Lynda Resnick, is a liberal donor who proudly touts her friendship with people like Laurie David and Arianna Huffington. Tens of thousands of bottles were handed out at the 2008 Democratic Convention, and Al Gore himself drank it during a discussion about climate change in 2006.

It’s true that Fiji Water is remarkably transparent about their carbon footprint – it’s right there on their website, and you won’t get that from any other bottler. But efforts to cut back on the amount of plastic used in bottles and donations to environmental causes don’t cancel out the fact that this company is shipping water across the globe in plastic bottles.

From Mother Jones:

The offsetting effort has been the centerpiece of Fiji Water’s $5 million “Fiji Green” marketing blitz, which brazenly urges consumers to drink imported water to fight climate change.

Selling long-distance water to green consumers may be a contradiction in terms. But that hasn’t stopped Fiji from positioning its product not just as an indulgence, but as an outright necessity for an elite that can appreciate its purity. As former Fiji Water CEO Doug Carlson once put it, “If you like Velveeta cheese, processed water is okay for you.”

And the sad thing is, people buy that message – to the tune of millions and millions of dollars a year.

Read Mother Jones’ full account of Fiji Water’s environmental and social impacts, and check out this June 2008 New York Times article as well.

Link [Mother Jones] + [New York Times]

Do You Really Need Fiji Water More Than Fijians Do?

Fiji water seems to have replaced Evian in the status-symbol category, becoming an accessory seen in the arms of the same type of people who constantly carry tiny dogs. You know, the Paris Hilton set. It’s marketed as a super-fresh, great-tasting bottled water that’s far superior to what comes out of your tap.  But, wake-up call: at least you have clean water coming out of your tap.  That’s more than Fijians have.

Yes, that’s right: as a money-hungry corporation (big surprise) drills into the artesian aquifer in this remote South Pacific island, bottles it up (with plastic bottles imported from China) and sends it across the world to areas where people already have clean water to drink, native Fijians have to make do with dirty, polluted water.

From willisays:

In looking for examples of good clean water programs, I came accross the Humanitarian Services division of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Over the last 5 years, they’ve done clean water projects in 34 countries. More about that later.

Here’s where the two stories converge. One of those projects is in Fiji. The village Navunimono gets it’s water from a river polluted by cattle grazing, runoff and other stuff. Humanitarian Services helped the village construct 3 water tanks and now they have clean water.

I’m happy they have clean water now but the story points out problems around the world. What did the military dictator of Fiji do about the water problem? What about the American company taking clean water from another part of the island chain?

This is a great example of how entitled and self-absorbed much of the Western world has become – especially America.  We’re more than happy to consume away at the expense of other people.  Most of us are born into privilege compared to the citizens of third world countries, yet it’s never enough.  We have to tear basic human rights like clean water out of the hands of the less fortunate so that we can enjoy ridiculous excesses like imported water in plastic bottles.

Link [willisays]