I chose this movie to review for one of my college classes, "Sustainability and the Future; Seven Revolutions." As a nontraditional student who is retired from the military, I am very cautious of what environmentalists say. As a child of the 70's I remember being taught in school that the next big Ice Age was coming do to global cooling, so skepticism was the rule for me initially when watching this film. The noticeable left leaning tone of the movie initially almost forced me to change my mind on continuing with this project. In the end I chose to at least finish watching the film before making my final decision. That choice was a good one in my opinion now that I have finished watching the film. The film brings into perspective the tie-in of world politics, multinational corporations, local-national economies, and water.
The bottle water industry has always been a mystery to me as to why it took off in inside the United States. Overseas where there is limited or no infrastructure for providing easy access to potable water it is understandable. The convenience of being able to get a chilled bottle of water really isn't worth the cost to me. Personally I drink too much water throughout my day to be able to afford the luxury of buying my water that way! The advertising that makes it appear that bottled water is in some way healthier than the tap is crazy. In some areas the bottled water is just tap water that has been packaged and sold at a much higher price than the regular tap water.
The one area that absolutely leaves me scratching my head is the privatization of water supplies. The World Bank actually forcing a country to privatize its water to get help? How is it possible that this can be seen as a good thing? I have traveled extensively in Africa, Southwest and Southeast Asia; it never dawned on me the extent of how closed the water markets are in some of these areas. Now looking back the film brought up the pricing of water and coke in African nations. That is so true, I did see it and didn't realize at the time what it meant to the locals. I could not fathom living in a country that subsisted in that manner.
In my own country I never would have thought that it was a good idea to sell the water rights to a multinational corporation. Major cities have done just that, and what has it cost the citizen of those cities in rate hikes, sub-par service and other factors. We as citizens of the United States need to wake up and see that we are cutting our own throats in some aspects by allowing Politicians and Business CEOs to make life altering choices with the essential things we need to sustain life as we know it without even a vote on the matter. We also need to hold United States Corporations to higher standard when they operate in other countries around the world as they are part of the problems highlighted in this film. Yes, Coke; I am talking about you!
Overall I will give this film an 8 out of 10. As it is a older film a lot of the information is still relevant and most people are not aware of what we are doing to our country or the world with the everyday actions we take in living our lives. I watched Tapped after this and might even do a review of it later on.
Thank You for reading my review!
The bottle water industry has always been a mystery to me as to why it took off in inside the United States. Overseas where there is limited or no infrastructure for providing easy access to potable water it is understandable. The convenience of being able to get a chilled bottle of water really isn't worth the cost to me. Personally I drink too much water throughout my day to be able to afford the luxury of buying my water that way! The advertising that makes it appear that bottled water is in some way healthier than the tap is crazy. In some areas the bottled water is just tap water that has been packaged and sold at a much higher price than the regular tap water.
The one area that absolutely leaves me scratching my head is the privatization of water supplies. The World Bank actually forcing a country to privatize its water to get help? How is it possible that this can be seen as a good thing? I have traveled extensively in Africa, Southwest and Southeast Asia; it never dawned on me the extent of how closed the water markets are in some of these areas. Now looking back the film brought up the pricing of water and coke in African nations. That is so true, I did see it and didn't realize at the time what it meant to the locals. I could not fathom living in a country that subsisted in that manner.
In my own country I never would have thought that it was a good idea to sell the water rights to a multinational corporation. Major cities have done just that, and what has it cost the citizen of those cities in rate hikes, sub-par service and other factors. We as citizens of the United States need to wake up and see that we are cutting our own throats in some aspects by allowing Politicians and Business CEOs to make life altering choices with the essential things we need to sustain life as we know it without even a vote on the matter. We also need to hold United States Corporations to higher standard when they operate in other countries around the world as they are part of the problems highlighted in this film. Yes, Coke; I am talking about you!
Overall I will give this film an 8 out of 10. As it is a older film a lot of the information is still relevant and most people are not aware of what we are doing to our country or the world with the everyday actions we take in living our lives. I watched Tapped after this and might even do a review of it later on.
Thank You for reading my review!