A new book called Unbottled: The Fight Against Plastic Water and For Water Justice by Associate Professor Daniel Jaffee of Portland State University is now available!
Dan joined our Save Our Water crew for the first time in the summer of 2015 just after Save Our Water was formed. He wanted to know our stories and experiences and compare them with those in other communities. He returned twice more to follow our efforts and progress. He kept in touch throughout each stage of the fight against Nestle and then Blue Triton. His book features interviews with a number of local people as well as folks from Water Watchers in Guelph. The section on Guelph and Centre Wellington is 50 pages long and includes pictures too!
Maude Barlow calls his book ‘a superbly researched argument that our dependence on bottled water is not only creating major environmental crises but also undermining the human right to water.’ This is an up to date examination of the struggles of many communities against international water theft and single-use plastic waste.
See the attached ordering information and discount or go to your local book store like Magic Pebble in Elora or the Bookshelf in Guelph to order a copy of this excellent documentation of the people and communities that are fighting back against water mining. Cascade Locks in Oregon also had a long struggle to protect the local water against Nestle and now Blue Triton. Learn how these David and Goliath stories play out and what lessons are learned from each one.
Dan explains how this one community of Centre Wellington saying NO! to Nestle/Blue Triton substantially reshaped provincial water policy in Ontario. In 2016, the provincial government declared a moratorium on new permits for water bottling that was extended for over 4 years and then they changed provincial regulations that came into effect in April of 2021.
This is a fascinating read about a number of struggles to protect water including our local water situation in Wellington County. Water from this county travels across Canada from Labrador to Vancouver Island in single use plastic bottles. But not a drop of it comes from the Middlebrook well in Elora!
For more information on the book and to access a discount code, please see the book flyer here.