Put That Bottle Down Before Someone Gets Hurt! By Bronwen Raff

Put That Bottled Water Down Before Someone Gets Hurt!

Have you had a bottle of Fiji Water in the past week? If so, you are one of the millions of customers contributing to their multi-million-dollar corrupt company. Fiji claims to be eco-friendly and culturally helpful, but upon further investigation, I have discovered that their claims hold little value.

Fiji Water declares that they are eco-friendly, but the only conservation efforts that they are involved in are giving money to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). They give money away in return for a showy certificate of ‘eco credentials’. Does the company’s green claim actually hold any credibility? Is this all a huge PR scam that targets the (often) moldable minds of the average American? And even if Fiji appears green in America, the bottling process is destroying other valuable resources abroad. The deforestation of Fijian rainforests is actually partly caused by the Fiji Water Company. Fiji water is drained from a small artesian spring right on the edge of an already small and unprotected rainforest. Fiji’s website claims that the remote location of their water is what makes it superior. They claim that they take water from a ‘virgin aquifer’ that is ‘untouched by man’. So why are they ruining this pristine aquifer? Shouldn’t we be preserving this source of fresh water that can benefit the native people and not tap into it just to make a profit?

In addition to depleting Fiji’s clean water source, approximately 1.5 million pounds of plastic are used every year to make and provide bottled water for American consumers. About 80% of this plastic ends up directly in landfills. Transporting the expensive water from Fiji to America and into consumer’s hands is another problem in itself. So much carbon and fuel is used in order to transport this costly ‘artesian’ water directly to you…the consumer. Water from Fiji comes 6,000 plus miles in order to end up in your hands and eventually a landfill. Should we really be supporting the exploitation of Fijians and their precious water? On a more global scale, should we support a company that is significantly polluting our Earth with carbon-emitting transportation and plastics that won’t break down?

The drinking water in United States taps and wells is perfectly filtered, clean, and 100 percent safe. Nevertheless, Americans continue to buy water bottled directly from Fiji through a company that is superficial in its humanitarian and environmental concerns. Let’s not enter an age where we talk about human rights and global warming as we take sips from our Fiji water bottles. Become an educated, active, and intelligent consumer: don’t support the bottled water industry or Fiji Water.

- Bronwen Raff, Cutthroat Correspondent