Killer Coke--The World is Not a Giant Supermarket

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Killer Coke--The World is Not a Giant Supermarket

 

>From The Wedge Co-op Newsletter (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Posted 9/3/04

 

The World is not a Giant Supermarket

By Sarah Wilson, Deli Cook, Seward Co-op

 

Do you ever feel like you have been stripped of your humanity and

reduced tonothing more than a mere consumer of material goods?

 

If not, you must live in the wilderness, far from the ubiquitous

advertisements selling the latest

pharmaceutical drug that will make you happier, the SUV that will

make you safer, or the super-sized caffeinated beverage that will

make you more wide awake.

 

In April I had the opportunity to listen to Indian physicist,

ecologist, activist, editor and author Vandana Shiva speak

on " Corporate Globalization to Earth Democracy " as Macalester

College¹s Environmental Studies distinguished Speaker for 2004.

 

It was there that I heard Ms. Shiva say: " The whole world is being

reduced to a giant supermarket. "

 

I could not agree more.

 

Consumerism is not inherently bad- people need goods and services,

and businesses provide them. In fact, business in its truest form is

about using innovation, creativity, and skill to serve the

community.

 

Through the onset of globalization, however, we have lost this vital

sense of community.

 

As companies and their customer base grow, their ability to truly

serve the community they know and care for shrinks.

 

Vandana Shiva spoke of a situationin her native country of India

that aptly reflects this disastrous effect of globalization.

 

The introduction of the cola companies in India, in Shiva¹s

words, has caused India to become " a victim of the environmental and

health costs of the soft drinks industry. "

 

Since the inception of the Coca-cola bottling plants in India, for

example, water shortages have become a big problem.

 

Coke uses over a million liters of water per day in the production

of its carbonated brew. Water tanks in rural India are drying up and

in the region of Palaghat, the water table has dropped from ten to

100 feet.

 

Theonce fertile ecosystem of Kerala is now only a shadow of its

former self, asits agricultural yields have dropped to be one-tenth

of what it was before

the Cola companies arrived.

 

In addition to robbing the poor of their fundamental right to have

readily available, clean drinking water, the Cola companies have

also caused

numerous health problems.

 

First, Coke does a " favor " for farmers surrounding

their plants by letting them have free waste from their bottling

plants.

 

This waste that the farmers then use as fertilizer for their crops

has been tested and found to be toxic, containing dangerously high

levels of cadmium

and lead, which have been found to cause cancer and other health-

related problems.

 

According to Shiva, " Middle class urban India is also a victim

because

what Coke puts into the bottle is as toxic as what it leaves

behind. "

 

Euromonitor.com reports that in 2003, Indian residents consumed 3.6

billion liters of soft drinks.

 

Sadly, Coke and Pepsi have replaced traditional Indian drinks such

as lassi, panna, and suttu, which are high in both cultural and

nutritional value.

 

As Shiva says, " (The Cola companies)

have monopolized the market for thirst, buying up indigenous

companies like Parle, and displacing indigenous cold drinks made at

home or in the cottageindustry.

 

But what Coke and Pepsi sell is a toxic brew of coloring agents

and chemicals with anti-nutritive values. "

 

The way that the Cola companies are making record profits while

destroying human health, the environment,

and indigenous cultures worldwide illustrates the way that corporate

globalization has perverted the ideals of business.

 

So Just how do we tame this beast of the global company and shift

toward theearth democracy that Vandana Shiva advocates?

 

The answer is much easier andcloser than you may think-shop at your

neighborhood co-op. It may seem odd that I say stop consumerism by

consuming, but there is consuming at the corporate giants with

headquarters thousands of miles away and there is consuming at a

store that is owned and operated by the community that it serves.

 

So next time you are shopping at the co-op, know that you are doing

much more than stocking up on your weekly supply of groceries- you

are amongst a growing number of people who are voting with their

dollars to positively shape the future of business in the U.S. and

around the world.

 

 

Keep in mind the words of Seward Co-op¹s Front End Manager Leo

Sanders:

" Buying local produce at the co-op you own is a small but powerful

step in a continuous cultural and economic revolution.

 

Power to the people! "

 

By shopping at your co-op, you are making the statement that the

world is NOT agiant supermarket.

 

Check out Vandana Shiva¹s two most recent publications: Biopiracy:

The

Plunder of Nature and Knowledge, and Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking

of theGlobal Food Supply.

 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/killercoke090304.cfm

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjoguest

DietaryTipsForHBP

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest