Water: Fukushima and Nestle
Water is essential to life on our planet.
The human body is made up of around 70
per cent water. It is something we depend on
daily and most of us have probably never
had problem getting. In fact, Canada has a
vast number of bodies of fresh water
throughout her great land. As such, it is
something we mostly take for granted.
The coming water crisis is an issue that humanity is slowly becoming aware of. It is something of immense importance that must be regarded as crucial to our future wellbeing as global nuclear disarmament and the destruction of banking cartels and corrupt governments.
Humanity has been poisoning water for a long time. It reached a height and remained uninterrupted for some time around the Industrial Age. In short, companies spewed their various wastes into lakes and sometimes oceans. There are even stories of nuclear waste being intentionally released into the ocean, although that takes place later in the '70s. The health effects on people became quite apparent and so these abuses against nature became less accepted.
Fukushima takes a pretty big role in all this.Why this isn't yet reported by the mainstream media as a serious concern, it is the worst nuclear disaster in history. Ever since the accident occurred back in 2011, 300 tons of radioactive water leak into the Pacific Ocean per day. Over the last two and a half years, the radioactivity has crossed the ocean and reached the Americas. Even though any seafood from the Pacific is clearly irradiated and completely hazardous to consume, the Canadian government has expressed no immediate concern. Instead, the U.S. and Canada raise the “acceptance levels” on food imported from Japan or the Pacific coast. In addition to leaking massive amount of radioactive water, 400 tons of additional water is used per day to keep the reactor cores from melting down. Tepco now has over 1,000 massive water tanks that hold highly irradiated water around Fukushima, with leaks becoming a growing issue. Now don't be hopeful that this radiation will stay within the Pacific. This will spread to the world's oceans, and eventually be in our rain.
And so I reach Nestle and water privatization, an incoming crime against humanity and a testimony to the lack of proper priorities within government. Hope, British Columbia, has become a goldmine for Nestle. It gets to take up to 230 million tons of fresh water a year from their aquifer in the Fraser Valley. Due to a lack of regulations, Nestle takes this water free of charge and subsequently sells it back across Canada. The Switzerland-based food company is the largest in the world based in revenues. Peter Brabeck, a chairman and former CEO of the company has not only advocated for GMOs and condemned organic food, but he had the audacity to claim that water is not a human right, and should be privatized.
Disagree? Then boycott Nestle.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
The coming water crisis is an issue that humanity is slowly becoming aware of. It is something of immense importance that must be regarded as crucial to our future wellbeing as global nuclear disarmament and the destruction of banking cartels and corrupt governments.
Humanity has been poisoning water for a long time. It reached a height and remained uninterrupted for some time around the Industrial Age. In short, companies spewed their various wastes into lakes and sometimes oceans. There are even stories of nuclear waste being intentionally released into the ocean, although that takes place later in the '70s. The health effects on people became quite apparent and so these abuses against nature became less accepted.
Fukushima takes a pretty big role in all this.Why this isn't yet reported by the mainstream media as a serious concern, it is the worst nuclear disaster in history. Ever since the accident occurred back in 2011, 300 tons of radioactive water leak into the Pacific Ocean per day. Over the last two and a half years, the radioactivity has crossed the ocean and reached the Americas. Even though any seafood from the Pacific is clearly irradiated and completely hazardous to consume, the Canadian government has expressed no immediate concern. Instead, the U.S. and Canada raise the “acceptance levels” on food imported from Japan or the Pacific coast. In addition to leaking massive amount of radioactive water, 400 tons of additional water is used per day to keep the reactor cores from melting down. Tepco now has over 1,000 massive water tanks that hold highly irradiated water around Fukushima, with leaks becoming a growing issue. Now don't be hopeful that this radiation will stay within the Pacific. This will spread to the world's oceans, and eventually be in our rain.
And so I reach Nestle and water privatization, an incoming crime against humanity and a testimony to the lack of proper priorities within government. Hope, British Columbia, has become a goldmine for Nestle. It gets to take up to 230 million tons of fresh water a year from their aquifer in the Fraser Valley. Due to a lack of regulations, Nestle takes this water free of charge and subsequently sells it back across Canada. The Switzerland-based food company is the largest in the world based in revenues. Peter Brabeck, a chairman and former CEO of the company has not only advocated for GMOs and condemned organic food, but he had the audacity to claim that water is not a human right, and should be privatized.
Disagree? Then boycott Nestle.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
