This just came across my desk. It is in a month old Costco magazine, but I think it needs some highlighting. PepsiCo's CEO wants to leave a lasting legacy. A legacy of what? Obese diabetic Americans? The maker of high fructose-spiked waters and cereals, not to mention over-salted and spiced chips thinks she lived "wisely, agreeably and well." The CEO of the world's fourth largest food and beverage company is quoted as saying, hopefully without blushing or blinking:" We try to leave as minimal an impact on the environment as we can." You got to be kidding right ?
Did I mention that PepsiCo won the 2007 US Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star Partner of the Year award? That's a mouthful isn't it? Almost as wasteful with words as with energy I might add. The award was for outstanding energy management and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Wow !
Look people, it is quite simple really. Selling water in bottles is not environmentally sound. It isn't healthy either, especially when that water is spiked with high fructose corn syrup or any other sugar. This type of water is an addictive substance much like cigarettes. And probably just as bad for your health and well-being.
Shipping water in any shape or form, whether in glass bottles, eco-containers or plain plastic is not good for you and it is not good for the environment either. Water is heavy and it takes a lot of energy to ship. That is an absurd thing to do when everyone has access to clean water in their homes. No matter how many experts praise the company or how many awards get bestowed on this enterprise, it is not an environmentally clean business. It is based on a fundamentally flawed concept and should be abandoned right away. Shipping water in little containers is immensely wasteful and irresponsible.
The only green in PepsiCo and its competitors is in the money they make polluting you and the environment around you. Their lasting legacy are the "green"house gases that will affect our climate for centuries to come; the plastic bottles and bags that will clutter our landfills for an equally long time, and the overweight and obese children and adults driving around wasting more energy in the process. All that maybe agreeable, or well, but it is certainly not wise.
Watch some of President Bush's mspeeches and listen to the way he talks about "freedom," "justice," and "tyranny," completely oblivious to the fact that he has done more than any other U.S. president in history to destroy the first two and advance the third.
ReplyDeleteIf I were responsible for the crimes he's committed, I couldn't get up in the morning, couldn't look at myself in the mirror, let alone face the entire country and world.
And yet he doesn't blink at it. Not only is he not haunted by what he's done, but he's far enough into his fantasy to still somehow believe that he's right.
The same basic principle applies with these CEOs. Even when they know full and well what they're doing, they're somehow able to justify it.
They're only human, after all. And to acknowledge, even to themselves, the extent of their malfeasance would make their lives unliveable. No one wants to be a monster.