Tiny town v. water giants
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
One of the biggest drinks corporations in the world, is bottling up a tiny communities only water source.
The residents of Stanley are determined to protect their water -- but they’ve just been dumped with massive legal fees and are running out of time and money.
Can you please donate CA$91 to help Stanley’s residents keep up their fight?
Donate CA$91 nowA,
The tiny Australian community of Stanley, population 370, has been locked in a David and Goliath battle to stop one of the world’s largest drinks companies taking its water.
Global drinks giant Asahi, which makes and sells Schweppes drinks, has been bottling up Stanley’s only source of water, selling it off, and making millions at the expense of the people who depend on it.
This small town has been fighting back -- but after two years and huge expense the community has been stumped with $90,000 in legal costs and so it’s facing a terrible choice: give up or face bankruptcy.
That is, unless, you can help.
The residents of Stanley have asked SumOfUs for help: if you donate today it’ll help ensure this little farming community can keep fighting to protect its water from Schweppes’ greed.
Can you please donate CA$91 to take on Schweppe's?
For daring to take the water miners to court, Stanley’s water defenders have been ordered to pay more than $90,000 in legal costs.
This could either bankrupt the town community association, which operates the local post office and community centre, or force residents to empty their savings to pay the bill.
The water miners are hoping this will make the community back down, as applications for more and more pumps start popping up across their region.
But what they didn’t count on, is thousands of SumOfUs members like you.
With your donation we can support Stanley residents to cover the legal costs and keep up their fight to protect the most precious resource they have: their water. But we need to act right now.
Will you chip in CA$91 to Stanley's legal fighting fund?
Powerful companies rely on high legal costs to deter communities from defending their rights.
They know that, in court, it’s very often the side with deeper pockets that can stick it out until the end.
But SumOfUs members have proven corporations wrong before.
Thousands of members like you helped the township of Osceola in the United States avoid bankruptcy by raising over $50,000 to fight off a lawsuit from Nestlé for trying to protect their water. That’s truly incredible.
The bottled water industry like their odds when it’s just their lawyers versus a small community. But we know that when we take on this cashed up industry together, we become powerful enough to win.
Right now the people of Stanley need your support to do it.
Please donate CA$91 now and help Stanley fight off Schweppes and the water miners for good.
Thanks for all that you do,
Nick, Tricia, and the team at SumOfUs
More information:
The village that fought and lost a war against the new water merchants The Age, 15 February 2018
Victorian town ordered to pay $90,000 after losing bottled water battle with farmer Guardian Australia, 30 April 2018
What happens to small towns whose water becomes big business for bottled brands? ABC, 17 May 2018
SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.
This email was sent to s6. |r0
