2022 Grants

Unbottle and Protect Chaffee County Water:Colorado Longtime ally in Story of Stuff’s Troubled Waters coalition that is campaigning to reclaim public water sources from corporate water bottlers, and a previous Grassroots Grantee. Unbottle and Protect is currently engaged in active campaigning around a Chaffee County water site, and the grant is to offset some of…

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A Win for Public Water!

This was no ordinary campaign: waged over the course of eight years and led by a remarkable coalition of local, regional and national groups and individuals, it transcended the fairly mundane facts of the case to become something bigger – a metaphorical fight about who controls our water. 

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Story of Stuff Community Update: October 2022

Over the last quarter, we’ve notched some big wins, shared incredible stories and ensured our grassroots partners have the support they need to thrive. Storytelling: Honoring Native Voices on Indigenous Peoples’ Day Story of Stuff celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day with two big storytelling content drops: a new animated video in The World We Need series…

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Press Release: Transfer of Water to Private Equity Firms Stirs Opposition in U.S. and Canada

Nestlé Waters Betrays Communities, Ducks Environmental Commitments in Sale of Portfolio of Bottled Water Brands Contact: Michael O’Heaney, Executive Director(510) 684-6417, [email protected] Berkeley, CA — Nestlé Waters’ $4 billion sale of the country’s largest portfolio of bottled water brands to two private equity firms spells trouble for communities and ecosystems already feeling the strain of that…

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Water Documentaries

This Land is Our Land In the midst of California’s historic drought, Nestle Waters—the largest bottler of water in the world—is drawing millions of gallons of water a year from the San Bernardino National Forest. Nestle’s permit to remove this precious resource expired in 1988, at which point the Forest Service should have turned off…

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This Land is Our Land

About the Film In the midst of California’s historic drought, Nestlé Waters—the largest bottler of water in the world—is drawing millions of gallons of water a year from the San Bernardino National Forest. Nestle’s permit to remove this precious resource expired in 1988, at which point the Forest Service should have turned off the spigot.…

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Our Water, Our Future

About the Film Cascade Locks, Oregon is heaven on earth—a small town nestled in the awe-inspiring Columbia River Gorge. But when Nestlé came to town with a proposal to bottle their water, citizens launched an all-out effort to protect their most precious resource. Our Water, Our Future tells the story of these unlikely activists and their advice…

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Unbottle The Great Lakes

Why This Fight Matters The citizens from two very different Michigan communities— small town Evart and industrial Flint— have found their futures inextricably linked by a threat to the one thing that all life requires: water. In Flint, thousands were exposed to lead-polluted water following cost-cutting measures by the city. But just 128 miles away,…

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Unbottle Cascade Locks

How Cascade Locks beat Nestlé In 2016, dedicated community members in the small town of Cascade Locks championed a successful ballot measure to ban commercial water bottling in their county. We partnered with Local Water Alliance to tell the David and Goliath story of small town organizing that took on a multinational corporation and won.…

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