The economists can fry my over this one, but the stats are too upsetting not to mention it. Apparently, the amount of money needed per year beyond current spending to provide clean drinking water to everyone on earth is $1.7 billion. The amount spent around the world on bottled water every year is...$46 billion.
Here's a simple idea. Every time I drink a bottle of water (which I do, because it stops me eating junk food—pathetic, yes, but effective), I'm going to put the same amount of money into a box for a water-based charity (e.g. WaterAid. Otherwise, that Mountain Franklin is going to have a bitter ethical aftertaste.
Source: New York Times
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Thursday, 4 August 2005
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5 comments:
My maths could be wrong, but assuming Australians averaged at 1 bottle of water per week at around $2, then (also Assuming you're talking about AU$) if the entire Australian population followed your "pipe" dream then we'd achieve that in a year wouldn't we?
The idea is agreeable enough that I'm sure one of the bottled-water companies could take it on as a marketing strategy. I mean, if Coke we're donating a certain amount per bottle, it would have to add up. Add this to the individual consumer's effort....
But then again, that just might breed consumer complacency. (Why is it that the word "consumer" seems to imply to me a certain lack of thought/ability to choose?)
Thanks for the comments. I think this 'give back when you take out' approach to ethics has something going for it as a path of retrieving the good from a bad situation. As Andrew observed, there is great value in doing the good act yourself rather than having it done by a large corporation. But I think we need both. Who's going to contact Coke with the idea?
Does anybody have software/a template for a website which can collect signatures?
We could construct a petition to send to Coke. Enough signatures should be able to at least present the move as favourable for the brand. We'd even be providing them with marketing ideas for free. A basic website with the idea, and then a viral email campaign to sign up?
Just want to say congrats on the ARPA!
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