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"An essential book for everyone who seeks to reclaim the commons and build a just and equitable society."—John Nichols, The Nation
An exploration of bottled water's impact on social justice and sustainability, and how diverse movements are fighting back.
In just four decades, bottled water has transformed from a luxury niche item into a ubiquitous consumer product, representing a $300 billion market dominated by global corporations. It sits at the convergence of a mounting ecological crisis of single-use plastic waste and climate change, a social crisis of affordable access to safe drinking water, and a struggle over the fate of public water systems. Unbottled examines the vibrant movements that have emerged to question the need for bottled water and challenge its growth in North America and worldwide.
Drawing on extensive interviews with activists, residents, public officials, and other participants in controversies ranging from bottled water's role in unsafe tap water crises to groundwater extraction for bottling in rural communities, Daniel Jaffee asks what this commodity's meteoric growth means for social inequality, sustainability, and the human right to water. Unbottled profiles campaigns to reclaim the tap and addresses the challenges of ending dependence on packaged water in places where safe water is not widely accessible. Clear and compelling, it assesses the prospects for the movements fighting plastic water and working to ensure water justice for all.
An exploration of bottled water's impact on social justice and sustainability, and how diverse movements are fighting back.
In just four decades, bottled water has transformed from a luxury niche item into a ubiquitous consumer product, representing a $300 billion market dominated by global corporations. It sits at the convergence of a mounting ecological crisis of single-use plastic waste and climate change, a social crisis of affordable access to safe drinking water, and a struggle over the fate of public water systems. Unbottled examines the vibrant movements that have emerged to question the need for bottled water and challenge its growth in North America and worldwide.
Drawing on extensive interviews with activists, residents, public officials, and other participants in controversies ranging from bottled water's role in unsafe tap water crises to groundwater extraction for bottling in rural communities, Daniel Jaffee asks what this commodity's meteoric growth means for social inequality, sustainability, and the human right to water. Unbottled profiles campaigns to reclaim the tap and addresses the challenges of ending dependence on packaged water in places where safe water is not widely accessible. Clear and compelling, it assesses the prospects for the movements fighting plastic water and working to ensure water justice for all.
Price: $13.95
Pages: 384
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
19 September 2023
ISBN: 9780520973718
Format: eBook
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Introduction
1. A More Perfect Commodity
2. Making a Market, Fearing the Tap, Building a Backlash
3. Flint: Corroding Pipes, Eroding Trust
4. Reclaiming the Tap
5. Cascade Locks: A Decade-Long Struggle
6. Guelph and Elora: Watching Water, Broadening the Movement
7. Empty Bottles: Water Justice and the Right to Drink
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Index
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Introduction
1. A More Perfect Commodity
2. Making a Market, Fearing the Tap, Building a Backlash
3. Flint: Corroding Pipes, Eroding Trust
4. Reclaiming the Tap
5. Cascade Locks: A Decade-Long Struggle
6. Guelph and Elora: Watching Water, Broadening the Movement
7. Empty Bottles: Water Justice and the Right to Drink
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Index