November 21st campus day of action update and results

The November 21st day of action was jointly coordinated by the Polaris Institutes' ‘Inside the Bottle’ project and the Sierra Youth Coalition. The idea for a day of action emerged from a student forum (July, 2007) on the bottled water industry and beverage exclusivity contracts coordinated by the Inside the Bottle student campaign that representatives from nine Ontario universities attended.

Campus groups came together on November 21st and organized bottled water taste tests and built 'towers of consumption’. The taste test pits tap water against bottled water and challenges participants to question their well cultivated preconceptions (thanks to the effective marketing of the bottled water industry) in the bottle vs. tap debate. The tower of consumption (built using empty water bottles), which ranged from a fort enclosing the bottled water taste test table to a step-structure, was used to visually convey how much waste is involved in the bottled water trend. Both actions were designed to give campus organizers an opportunity to open up dialogue with fellow students on the environmental-health, social-economic issues related to the bottled water trend and the questionable nature of beverage exclusivity contracts. The day of action provided an opportunity to get new volunteers involved in the campaign and help increase coalition building amongst campus organizers across Canada with the goal of transforming individual campus actions into a growing student movement challenging the presence of bottled water on campus and aiming for the non-renewal of beverage exclusivity contracts.

Participating campus groups included: ; Guelph Students for Environmental Change, Working Students' Centre of the Ryerson students' Union, OPIRG-Brock, University of Toronto Students' Union, Lakehead Campus Sustainability Committee, MUN Oxfam group of Memorial University, UBC-Okanagan Sustainable Campus Club, OPIRG-Ottawa and Oxfam-UO of Ottawa University and Waterloo Public Interest Research Group (WPIRG).

Find below some of the ‘report back’s’ from campus organizers – more pictures and comments will be added when they are received!

The day of action was featured in the following newspapers and radio shows:
- Moore, Wayne. "Dangers of bottled water." Kelowna News.
- Kaminski, Courtney. "Testing the Waters of the Bottled Water Industry." The Brock Press.
- Konieczna, Magda. "U of G Students Join water Fight." The Guelph Mercury.
- Green, Sarah. "Before you take Another sip, Read these Facts." The Toronto Sun.
- Rush, Curtis. "Bottled water Wasteful, Overpriced: Students." The Toronto Star.
- Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal. Picture of student organizer conducting bottled water taste test featured on front page, November 22nd.
- The Ryersonian. Ryerson university student newspaper featured a picture of the 'tower of consumption.'
- CBC television, St John's Newfoundland. Story on MUN Oxfam group’s bottled water taste test featured on November 21st.
- CBC radio, St John's Newfoundland. Story on MUN Oxfam group’s bottled water taste test featured on November 21st.
- 101.5 Silk FM, Kelowna British Colombia.

Campus organizers comments and reflections of the day of action:

The day of action at memorial was very successful. We received media contact from the CBC television and radio. Students learned through the taste test that drinking tap water is the smarter choice, financially, socially and environmentally.
Adrian VanFraassen, MUN Oxfam group of Memorial University

As part of our Buy Nothing Day Festivities, the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group (WPIRG) held a bottled water taste-test table to mark the Polaris Institute's Day of Action on Bottled Water and Exclusivity Contracts. The table was a hit. Many students stopped by to ask questions and pick up information. Most took "Bottled Water Free Zone" stickers as well. Previously, WPIRG's Students Against Sweatshops action group has taken on coke's exclusive contract on campus and now the need for our campus to be free of exclusivity contracts is even clearer.
Evan, WPIRG, Waterloo University

On November 21st OPIRG-Brock participated in the National Day of Action to challenge the bottled water industry. We organized a bottled water taste test which drew over 50 students out to challenge the myths regarding bottled from health benefits to price gouging. We set up our table at 11am in a busy corridor on our campus, hung a giant banner asking people to ‘take the test’ and had many people stopping by to inquire what we were doing. Overall the results were somewhat even, some people could identify which was bottled water, but many could not; all were surprised to hear that Aquafina (bottled by PepsiCo) actually sources their water from Brampton. On the whole we feel this was a great opportunity to educate the Brock community on bottled water and exclusivity issues on our campus and provides us with an outlet to discuss the myriad of problems associated with these topics.

Our campus newspaper, the Brock Press had a full page article about the event and our local newspaper the St. Catharines Standard also came out to take pictures and write about this initiative.

Thank you to the Polaris Institute and the Sierra Youth Coalition for coordination this day!”
Jen Coorsh, OPIRG-Brock.

Here at Ryerson, the Working Students’ Centre (a Community Service Group of the Ryerson Students’ Union) held a very successful Bottled Water Day of Action on November 22.

We set up in a high-traffic lounge, just outside one of the primary cafeterias on campus, from 11 AM until 3 PM. After spending the preceding week collecting water bottles from recycling bins across campus, we were able to construct a fairly impressive tower of consumption, along with handing out a substantial number of reusable bottles to students with the promise that they would fill it with tap water and stop drinking bottled water. The Working Students’ Centre also produced pamphlets (based in part on Polaris Institute resources) to provide quick information on the problems with the bottled water industry.

Taste tests between bottled water and tap water went extremely well; most who tried water either could not tell the difference, or preferred the tap water. The notable (and amusing) exception was when we used Coca-Cola’s ‘Dasani’ product as the bottled sample. Most tasters could identify it as Dasani from the salty taste. There were few, if any, who stated that they preferred Dasani based on the taste test and many participants noted that they actively disliked the taste of Dasani.

Building on the taste tests and free water bottles, during the lunch rush in the cafeteria, we took bags of reusable bottles and went up to people drinking bottled water, handing them a reusable bottle in exchange for their disposable bottle. We also tried to put educational signs up on Dasani vending machines in the cafeteria but they kept disappearing… Thankfully, we were able to replace most of the signs.

Another big success that we will continue to build on is our petition to increase the number of / repair existing water fountains on campus in place of installing bottled water machines. We are continuing to collect signatures from Ryerson community members; we hope to present the petition to University next semester.

The event received coverage in both student and local media. On November 28, the Ryersonian (one of two weekly student papers) ran a photo of Working Students' Centre coordinator Rebecca Rose and the tower of consumption with a small blurb. On November 23, the torontostar.com ran an article and video about the Day of Action. It is available online at http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/279287.
Rob, volunteer coordinator with the Working Students’ Centre, Ryerson Students’ Union.

Thursday, November 22nd was the culmination of the University of Guelph’s Water Awareness Week. The Water Issues Sub-Group of Guelph Students for Environmental Change (GSEC) took this week to raise awareness about water-related issues such as privatization and commodification, scarcity and allocation, and… the ubiquitous water bottle on campus.

Many students took the time to learn, share ideas, and contribute energy to GSEC’s campaign to make all campus departments and events bottled-water free. Many students attended the panel discussion on water governance and the informal debate on “water as a human right”, as well as a screening of the documentary “Thirst” and workshops on global water issues presented by members of Engineers Without Borders. Anyone who wasn’t able to make it to an event was sure to have been drawn over to the GSEC booth in the University Centre by the growing “Bottled Water Tower of Consumption” created by Oxfam.

By Thursday, the day of action, GSEC had collected almost 200 signatures on their petition to make university events free of bottled water. Quite fittingly, Andrea Harden from the Polaris Institute came that day to speak with students about bottled water corporations and their presence on campus. She also attended the campaign brainstorming session to lend the students her insight on how to make changes on campus. Perhaps the most exciting event of the day was a theatrical puppet performance, depicting a student disgusted at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s association with water-taking and bottling. This performance was put on by members of Oxfam’s group “Open for All - Water Justice”. It certainly drew a lot of attention…. not only to the giant puppets but also to the importance of the growing student action against bottled water and its presence on campus.

Zoe Barrett-Wood, Guelph Students for Environmental Change