Nestle at it again – Drawing water from a Drought Stricken Area…

 

 

"As residents of California are urged to conserve water and the state considers placing a mandatory restriction on outdoor water usage, Nestlé is trucking away undisclosed amounts of the precious resource in the form of bottled water.

The Desert Sun has an in-depth report of controversy brewing around the company’s bottling plant, which draws water from a drought-stricken area for its Arrowhead and Pure Life brand water. Because the plant is located on the Morongo Band of Mission Indians’ reservation, it’s exempt from oversight by local water agencies and is able to keep confidential information — such as the amount of groundwater it’s pumping and water levels in its wells — that other plants would be required to disclose. As a result, critics contend, it’s impossible to know just how much of the limited resource the plant is extracting to send elsewhere.

Here’s more from the Desert Sun:

“They’re entitled to use the groundwater basin, too. Everyone is. But it’s just a shame that this water is not being used locally. It’s being exported,” said David Luker, general manager of the Desert Water Agency. He said DWA’s position has been that the Morongo tribe should have to report its water use just like other entities."

– See more at SALON: http://www.salon.com/2014/07/14/nestle_is_bottling_water_straight_from_the_heart_of_californias_drought/

This is pure idiocy. How you can you justify drawing large amount of water from a draught stricken area? Here you have a company making millions in profit from selling bottled water while residents literally next door are forced to restrict water usage. The residents rely on wells that get their water from underground.

Now, picture a row of bathtubs – The first tub gets filled and the overflows into the next tub and so forth. The first tub is where Nestlé draws their water from and the other tubs are where the people get their water from. Unfortunately since the first tub doesn’t get a chance to fill up properly it affects all the other tubs. This is one of the problems the people are facing – Nestlé’s factory is using most of the available water and then they friggen export the water from the region.

And since The factory does not need to comply to the same regulations as the rest of the region they can simply continue drawing large amounts of water. The company had this to say about the situation:

"We proudly conduct our business in an environmentally responsible manner that focuses on water and energy conservation," the company said. Our sustainable operations are specifically designed and managed to prevent adverse impacts to local area groundwater resources, particularly in light of California's drought conditions over the past three years."

This statement is completely contradictory and the opposite to “water and energy conservation”, since making bottled water uses large amount of water to just make the packaging. I do not understand how this can be allowed and accepted. It’s all the in the name of profits – where there is money to be made there is a way, regardless on the impact it has on the environment or the wellbeing of people.

Nestle – the company that believes water should not be a human right. Just don’t buy anything Nestle anymore.

Will there be an Ark to save us?

 

I watched the movie “Noah” the other day. The main story line is basically based on Noah in the bible where the creator tells Noah to build a giant ark in order to save the animal kingdom from a worldwide flood that will kill every human expect Noah and his family.

The reason for this flood is to wipe out all the “wickedness” and “evil” that is humanity in order to cleanse the earth. In the movie it portrays humans and human nature as having a complete disregard for the earth. The earth got to a state where most of the land was barren and finding sustenance was very difficult due to how humans have exploited the earth. Sound familiar?

What I did find interesting in this movie is that Noah realized that humanity is the problem. That before humans roamed the earth nature was in balance – no exploitation, no over fishing, no deforesting, etc. And ever since humans came along that is when things started to go wrong with the earth. He also saw that this “evil” is in all humans – in himself and his family included is the potential for greed, murder, exploitation etc., so he came to the conclusion that in order to save the planet humans must cease to exist.

Now, if we look at the world today and the state it’s in – if we do nothing to change our nature then the outcome is pretty clear: We are going destroy this planet. Unfortunately there will be no ark for the animals this time, no flood to kill us all and save the animals. The way things are going we will kill every living being on this planet (maybe not the cockroaches). There is no all mighty creator that will help us through this.

Another point the movie shows is that every human has the potential for “goodness”, kindness, compassion and to be caring. Sure we have the potential to change our ways and actually be considerate human beings, but that means actually changing our nature as who we are and accepted ourselves to be.

So what will we choose?

Why Not a Living Income?

 

But now that the budget office has predicted (and exaggerated) the possibility that an increase in the minimum wage might result in a loss of jobs, Republicans think it’s gospel.

“This report confirms what we’ve long known,” said a spokesman for the House speaker, John Boehner. “While helping some, mandating higher wages has real costs, including fewer people working.”

“More than 16 million low-wage workers, now making as little as $7.25 an hour, would directly benefit from the increase, the report said. Another eight million workers making slightly more than the minimum would probably also get raises, because of the upward “ripple effect” of an increase. That would add $31 billion to the paychecks of families ranging from poverty level to the middle class, significantly increasing their spending power and raising the nation’s economic output and overall income.” See more at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/opinion/the-clear-benefits-of-a-higher-wage.html?_r=0

That’s one thing about this world I do not understand. When proposing viable solutions that will end suffering like poverty it’s always something you have to really push to get implemented. When you propose increasing the minimum wage people ask why – the reasons why should be clear. People cannot live off a minimum wage therefor it must be increased.

You hear countless stories of massive companies like McDonalds where the bosses on top make millions in profits, but the employees can’t make enough to live. It simply doesn’t make sense. The people in charge make sure that any solutions to increase the wage gets stopped. In the above article you can see that fear of “job losses” is used to scare people off from increasing the minimum wage. All just so that those few can make millions.

Although increasing the minimum wage will definitely help improve the life’s of workers where they can actually afford to live, it does not present a solution for those who cannot find work. The fact is that there are simply not enough jobs available – so when you have no job you have no money and when you have no money you cannot LIVE. Money is life in this world.

So why propose a Living Income guaranteed? It’s a Human right. To end poverty. To make sure that every person can actually exercise their human right to live. For those who cannot find jobs to have enough money to feed their families and roof over their head, to not just have a the bare essentials, but enough to actually live.

Why you should NEVER Believe In Yourself...

 

 

Today I am going to write about the following principle:

Living the principle of self trust – as I commit myself to remain constant in my living of self honesty, self responsibility and self awareness, I stand as an unbending trust that I always in all ways know who I am no matter what I face and that in this I know, as proven in the constancy of my living that I will always honor and stand by what is best for all and so best for me.

Specifically Starting with: What is self-trust?

Has anyone ever told you to Believe in yourself? It is something I heard many times in my life. Through school they use this as self-motivating or to inspire people. “ Just Believe in yourself and you can achieve anything!!”. Today I am telling you stop listening to these people – I am telling you to NEVER believe in yourself. Here is why:

Let’s look at the definition of the word believe:

1.

accept that (something) is true, especially without proof.

The key words here: “especially without proof”. So to believe in yourself or to believe that you are able to something is a limited and ineffective method, because you do not actually know of you are able to do this particular task since there is no proof.

Let’s look at the definition of self-trust:

1.

Reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of (yourself).

Even simply reading that you see for yourself which is the most effective statement. So this is why you should never believe in yourself – instead you should trust yourself.

Self-trust is something that you build within yourself. Like when facing a new task that you have never done before you may be faced with doubt whether or not you are able to. The only way to find out is to actually do the task to the best of your ability. Once you have done the task you can now say that you are in fact able to this task and thus you have built on your self-trust. So next time you face this task you know for a fact you can do it, because you already did it. Another step further is that you can trust yourself when facing something new that you will give it your best.

So next time when someone tells you to just believe in yourself tell them: NO – I trust myself.