MayDay Parade 2007
Section 4 Leaders:
Kevin Long
Duane Tougas
Go to the drinking fountain for a long cool drink of water.
WHAT?
You can't find a working fountain? Try a neighborhood restaurant and ask for a glass of water.
WHAT?
Only bottled water? Why do we usually buy water in a plastic bottle? It's cleaner? It's convenient? It was offered to me?
How much did it cost?
- The cost of the 12-16 ounces of water in a typical plastic bottle equals the cost of the amount of water in 1800 bottles of tap water. Per gallon, that's more than gasoline.
What happens to the bottle when it's empty?
- It mostly goes into landfills, or to recycling. Then you get thirsty and buy another bottle.
But isn't bottled water healthier than tap water?
- This depends on the particular tap water and the particular bottled water. Minneapolis' tap water is ranked among the highest quality in the nation.
So why did you buy the bottle of water?
- Because the advertising is so convincing!
MayDay Parade 2007
Somos Agua - Sunday May 6, 2007
Masanari Kawahara
Parade
Section 4:
Are You Thirsty? - ¿Tienes Sed?
Bottled water is now a $400-billion–a-year industry. The main ingredient of popular brands Aquafina and Dasani, created and sold by PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, respectively, is free public tap water. -Corporate Accountability
“Scarcity is a human creation… it is not a condition of nature. Scarcity happens when water is wasted, polluted, diverted, or when climate changes faster than people and other forms of life can adapt. It’s when water is ‘enclosed’ -- owned by some while others are excluded -- that scarcity results.”-Vandana Shiva, Turning Scarcity Into Abundance
Water promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th: the precious commodity that determines the wealth of nations.” -Fortune Magazine
THE FIRST HALF OF THIS PARADE SECTION depicts an ad campaign for a fictional water bottle company called H2NO -- complete with cheerleaders, marching band, and a plastic water bottle goddess -- to promote the "need" for water sold in plastic bottles.
The second half imagines water kept in a locked-up tower and defended against thirsty people by a giant monster and armed guards.
Overall, however, the public-versus-private debate diverts attention from the goal of getting potable water to the poor. Currently about 700 million people in 43 countries do not have adequate water. In 20 years, this number grows to 3 billion people.
-(Human Development Report 2006)
In the USA, and especially here in Minneapolis, do we really "need" to buy so much bottled water, when clean healthy tap water is so available?
H2NO
The ubiquitous plastic water bottle is our primary parade image as well as our primary building material (all bottles will be recycled). A friend cleverly suggested "H2 NO" as our parade section's logo.
We discovered it was not only clever but also relevant: a few years ago, Coca-Cola developed a strategy to maximize profits for both its customer Olive Garden restaurant chain and its own Dasani brand: to train restaurant employees to encourage customers to buy a bottled beverage rather than request free tap water. What did they call this plan? "H2NO".
-NY Times article "Just Say No to H2O (Unless it's Coke's Own Brew)," Sept 2, 2001
Photos on this page by Liz Welch