Cascade Locks is a small town nestled in the awe-inspiring Columbia River Gorge; a veritable heaven-on-earth for those who are lucky enough to live there, but it is currently under threat from a water-stealing bully that has seemingly run amuck in various regions with scant care for the residents or the ecosystems, although the company’s advertising paints it as being “good, down home country corporate citizens†only interested in doing ‘community development.’
If you have guessed that the corporate bully to which we are referring is Nestlé trying to make yet another water grab, you would be 100% correct. In Michigan they drained rivers and lakes; in California they are still taking water from a historically drought-ridden area; and in Pennsylvania they attempt to bribe politicians to change zoning laws and buy communities with ‘community development funds’ – all just so that they can get their own way and make billions off the suffering of others.
In Cascade Locks, which is nestled between giant conifers and crystal clear streams that are fed by melting snow, massive volumes of water have flowed to the sea for aeons, carving a deep gorge that serves as the Washington and Oregon border.
Having already had to endure the death of the extractive timber industry and with the memory of what it did to the community still fresh in their minds, these ordinary citizens are not prepared to sit by and do nothing and just allow this bully to turn their beautiful sustainable outdoor adventure wonderland and recreation-based economy to be turned into an industrial wasteland.
These ordinary folk have resisted the advances of Nestlé for more than a decade, not willing to see its water being trucked away at the astonishing rate of one truck every four minutes. These are the unsung heroes that dare speak the truth to power, regardless of the consequences, which include a city counsellor who dared to oppose Nestlé losing her job.
Nestlé is an out-and-out corporate bully whose former CEO and now Chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe stated that “access to water is not a human right and certainly not a public right.â€
We all need to stand up for these communities that are being bullied and end up having to pay for something that IS a human right and the only way that we can do that is by making sure that there is no demand for bottled water. Instead of drinking bottled water, invest in a water cooler that can provide you with chilled, great-tasting drinking water 24/7/365. Water coolers are economical and one of the best things you can buy as an investment in your health while saving loads of money at the same time.
