Feature: Cities ponder restrictions in wake of London [Ontario] bottle ban

Posted August 19, 2008 in [Water]

Carly Weeks, August 19, 2008, The Globe and Mail - The water fountain is about to make a comeback. Plastic water bottles are the focus of a growing national backlash that's turning them from a fashion accessory into the latest environmental taboo.

Feature: Nestlé cancels contract with Northern California community of McCloud

Posted August 7, 2008 in [Water]

Protect our Water Coalition press release, McCloud, CA – The Protect Our Waters Coalition (composed of the McCloud Watershed Council, California Trout, and Trout Unlimited) is pleased to learn that Nestlé Waters North America has agreed to cancel its contract with the McCloud Community Services District (District) to build a water bottling facility in the town of McCloud.

Feature: Talking Back to Coke!

Posted July 18, 2008 in [Corporations]

Dear water activists,

In a recent interview with the BBC, Coca-Cola Chairman Neville Isdell defended the role the corporation is playing in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as a sponsor, even though there have been extensive protests over China’s role in Tibet and Darfur, as well as domestic human rights abuses and suppression of press freedom: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7494149.stm

Who’s Behind the Bottled Water Backlash in Britain? Don’t be Fooled by Strange Bedfellows

Posted July 18, 2008 in [Water]

Richard Girard, Polaris Institute - The United Kingdom has been a central battleground in the bottled water backlash over the past twelve months. We regularly hear news stories in the British press of new anti-bottled water campaigns popping up with catch phrases like Turn on To Tap Water, Tap Into Water and London on Tap.

Civil society organizations sign letter protesting GATS negotiation rules

Posted July 16, 2008 in [Trade]

More than 80 civil society organizations have signed a letter protesting new draft negotiating rules for the GATS. English Spanish

Water Stewardship: Ensuring a Secure Future for California Agriculture

Posted July 11, 2008 in [Water]

California's looming water crisis spurs action. The Polaris Institute along with a number of California based agriculture support groups release a report calling for agricultural water stewardship to protect State’s food production

Mayors Vote to End Taxpayer Spending on Bottled Water

Posted June 24, 2008 in [Water]

Corporate Accountability International press release, June 23, 2008 - The U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution today encouraging mayors to phase out city spending on bottled water and to promote the importance of municipal water.

New York City: City Council Shuns Bottles in Favor of Water From Tap

Posted June 17, 2008 in [Water]

JENNIFER LEE, New York Times, June 17, 2008 - The City Council has become the latest government agency to take a stand against bottled water.

Documentary claims Nestle spied on anti-globalisation group

Posted June 16, 2008 in [Corporations]

June 13, 2008, Agence France Presse - A documentary aired by francophone Swiss television station TSR has accused global food giant Nestle of having sent a spy to infiltrate an anti-globalisation group for one year.

WTO members launch push for industry deal

Posted June 11, 2008 in [Trade]

By Jonathan Lynn
GENEVA, June 9 (Reuters) - A dozen rich and poor countries launched
talks on Monday to reach agreement on trade in industrial goods,
diplomats said. The talks, hosted by the United States, include the
European Union and Japan with advanced developing countries like India,
China and Brazil, and are due to run for one or two weeks.

Canada: water 'source of fear' for native communities, report says

Posted May 26, 2008 in [Water]

Mike De Souza, The National Post - Water quality in aboriginal communities and reserves across the country has reached a "boiling point," warns a new report released Thursday by the Polaris Institute, the Assembly of First Nations and the Canadian Labour Congress.

Coke’s Annual Meeting of Contradictions

Posted May 26, 2008 in [Corporations]

Richard Girard, Polaris Institute, May 26, 2008 – As I sat in the plush confines of the Hotel Dupont’s ballroom at the Coca Cola Company’s annual meeting of shareowners on April 16, I listened as the CEO elect Muhtar Kent laid bare the company’s duplicity.

Boiling Point!

Posted May 22, 2008 in [Water]

May 22, 2008 - Today Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the AFN, Tony Clarke, the Executive Director of Polaris Institute and the Canadian Labour Congress released a publication on the water crisis facing First Nation communities in Canada.

How to Manufacture a Global Food Crisis: How "free trade" is destroying Third World agriculture and who's fighting back

Posted May 16, 2008 in [Trade]

Walden Bello, The Nation, June 2008 edition - When tens of thousands of people staged demonstrations in Mexico last year to protest a 60 percent increase in the price of tortillas, many analysts pointed to biofuel as the culprit.

The Polaris Institute Along with 26 Other Groups Fight Attempt to Repeal Crucial Climate Provision from 2007 U.S. Energy Bill

Posted May 12, 2008 in [Energy]

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2008, NRDC Press Release – Today, the Natural Resources Defense Council and 26 other U.S.