Corporations Bottle Up Their Water Conference [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
The "Corporate Water Footprinting [3]" conference in San Francisco December 2 and 3 had a small public component: "a presentation by Nestle [4] on assessing water-related risks in communities, Coca-Cola [5]'s aggressive environmental water-neutrality goal, and MillerCoors' plan to use less water to make more beer," reports Amanda Witherell. "But what these giant corporations, which are seeking to control more of the world's water, really discussed the public will never know. Only four media representatives were permitted to attend -- all from obscure trade journals." Witherell's San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Chronicle "were denied media passes." While corporate executives met in secret, social justice activists held a free, public "Anti-Corporate Water Conference." Witherell asked the organizer of the Corporate Water Footprinting conference why the water activists weren't welcome at his event. "Why didn't we invite them?" he responded. "I don't know."