The Story of Stuff Project

By Margot Roosevelt:

“Annie Leonard used to spout jargon. She reveled in the sort of geek-speak that glazes your eyeballs.

Externalized costs, paradigm shifts, the precautionary principle, extended producer responsibility.

That was before she discovered cartoons.

Today the 45-year-old Berkeley activist is America’s pitchperson for a new style of environmental message. Out with boring PowerPoints and turgid reports; in with witty videos that explain complex issues in digestible terms…”

Click here to read the full story!

Excerpt from the New York Times:

CONCORD, Mass. — Henry David Thoreau was jailed here 164 years ago for refusing to pay taxes while living at Walden Pond. Now the town has Jean Hill to contend with.

Mrs. Hill, an octogenarian previously best known for her blueberry jam, proposed banning the sale of bottled water here at a town meeting this spring. Voters approved, with the intent of making Concord the first town in the nation to strip Aquafina, Poland Spring and the like from its stores.

In orchestrating an outright ban, Mrs. Hill, 82, has achieved something that powerful environmental groups have not even tried. The bottled water industry is not pleased; it has threatened to sue if the ban takes effect as planned on Jan. 1. Officials here have hinted that they might not strictly enforce it, but Mrs. Hill, who described herself as obsessed, said that would only deepen her resolve.

“I’m going to work until I drop on this,” she said. “If you believe in something, you have to persist and you have to have a thick skin.”

Read the full article HERE.

A HUGE thank you from Annie and the entire Story of Stuff Team to all of you that have watched and shared The Story of Bottled Water! We are incredibly grateful for your help and support.

Keep spreading the word and the link, storyofbottledwater.org.  Let’s see how long we can stay on the charts!

Four Northeastern states have set aside or spent between $228,874 and $527,107 a year for bottled water, according to a new report released today by Corporate Accountability International. Getting States Off the Bottle surveys bottled water spending in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Pennsylvania – all known for their high quality tap water.

The findings come as public water systems face a $24 billion annual shortfall and during financial times in which states can ill afford to spend public dollars on a non-essential product like bottled water.

Watch The Story of Bottled Water and then visit our partner Corporate Accountability International’s site to tell your Governor: no more bottled water on my dime.

“…Lifesaving bottled water cannot be available in times of pressing need without a viable, functioning industry to produce it,” the association wrote.

But the United Nations, in a report released on Tuesday, emphasized that bottled water was not sustainable.

The report that found producing bottled water for the United States market consumed 17 million barrels of oil annually.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Ms. Leonard’s video had been viewed more than 120,000 times. The I.B.W.A.’s had received about 250 visitors…”

From the Huffington Post:

“In honor of World Water Day, this Wednesday, March 24th at 8pm EST, HuffPost Blogger Kerry Trueman will be holding a live Vokle chat with Story Of Stuff creator Annie Leonard and Elizabeth Royte, author of Bottlemania: How Water Went On Sale and Why We Bought It.

They will be talking all about the bottled water craze, the importance of water and how our most precious resource is being threatened — and they will be taking YOUR questions.

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Annie Leonard’s blog post and newest video, The Story Of Bottled Water.”

Check back HERE to watch the live webcast at 8PM EST on Wednesday, March 24th