Story of Stuff partner FLOW has announced model legislation to protect Michigan’s public waters from unauthorized privatization. Earlier this year, we released A Tale of Two Cities, a short documentary telling the story of Michigan’s battle for the public control of water. We explored the threat of privatization through the eyes of local activists in…
The effort to eliminate plastic straws has recently become a darling among ocean plastic advocates, even permeating pop culture and the broader public consciousness. Everywhere in social media, images of plastic straws in the environment or corrupting wildlife are dominating Facebook and Instagram feeds, reaching far beyond the silos of the traditional stakeholder groups concerned…
Strawberry Creek, Wildlife Remain at Risk from Commercial Exploitation SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Federal officials and conservation groups reached an agreement today that will finally end Nestlé Corp.’s ability to rely on a permit that expired 30 years ago to siphon water from the San Bernardino National Forest for its massive bottled-water operation. The company’s…
Last month, Nestlé Waters walked away from a bottling plant proposal in Centre County, Pennsylvania. The world’s largest water bottler was looking at constructing a new plant and well that would have taken 150 million gallons a year from groundwater sources in the Spring Creek watershed. Nestlé would have more than doubled the amount of…
On the four-year anniversary of the fateful day when city officials switched Flint, Michigan’s water source to the toxic Flint River, Representatives Keith Ellison and Ro Khanna introduced a crucial piece of water justice legislation: The Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity and Reliability (WATER) Act.1 At a time when the White House has formally suspended a…
Last year, Cascade Locks, a small town in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge, passed a county-wide ballot measure that stopped Nestlé from building a new water bottling plant and trucking the town’s precious resource away for profit. This tremendous victory against the multinational corporation galvanized the region and inspired other towns to stand up for their…
The The Story of Stuff Project Community, together with our partners at Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, successfully pushed toymaker Mattel to cancel the planned release of its “digital nanny” device, Aristotle. The internet-connected device, which included a microphone and camera, was designed to live in a child’s bedroom from birth and be a constant…
At the end of November, I immediately–and frantically–started making to-do lists of presents to buy, searching blogs for holiday meal and craft ideas, looking for cheap flights, and trying to remember where I put my glue gun. The overwhelming feeling of holiday craziness began to wash over me, and I’m not the only one freaking…
This is pretty big deal. Yesterday, Berkeley, California became the first city in the United States to pass a soda tax when voters overwhelmingly voted to approve Measure D. With skyrocketing rates of diabetes and obesity, the passage of Measure D turns the tide for better health by putting in place a penny-per-ounce tax of…
