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According to Nestle, Water isn't a Human Right

Recently, Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck made the astonishing claim (while being interviewed for the documentary We Feed the World), that water IS NOT a human right. He goes on to attack the idea that nature is good, and details what a great achievement it is that humans are now able 'to resist nature's dominance.'  While there are a plethora of arguments against the above summary of his claims, and in fact against the detailed views he describes in the interview, I would like to take time quickly to posit the main issues/ questions I have with his arguments (on both an environmental and social level):

 
1) Are human beings not both a part of nature and dependent on nature (our environment) to live? Have we not moved past the archaic thought process that believes man was put on earth to dominate nature? Do we continue to think that nature is here to be bent to our will or suppressed under our feet?  At what point did our Judeo-Christian paradigm fail to capture the more subtle message of humans as caretakers and stewards of the earth?  (See any of Wendell Berry’s writings on agrarian lifestyles.)


2) Are we really to blind to see that we, as individuals and groups, are truly powerless to control nature, and that in most of our manipulations we only serve to make the environment worse for ourselves? 


3) If we do not believe that human beings have a right to clean, drinkable water, one of the only things we truly need to remain alive, then what sort of rights do we actually believe in? And how can they possibly matter? If we do not believe that people have the basic right to things that will allow them to live, what sort of a farce are all the other tenets we set up to guarantee people other basic freedoms?

4) Will we continue to back the 'right' of corporations to do whatever they like in the noble name of capitalism and wealth accumulation?  Have we really not reached a point where we can weight the rights of human beings over corporations, and our wellbeing over that of a small group of people’s ability to profit?  Nestle is the biggest distributor of bottled water the world over.  Mr. Barbek has stated, correctly, that water is the most valuable resource worldwide.  However, his idea that privatization will make sure it is most fairly distributed is nonsensical.  Since when have markets actually ensured an equitable distribution of any good?

I posit these questions more as a jumping off point for a more nuanced conversation about what our rights and responsibilities are to one another and to our environment.  

To view the trailer for the documentary, We Feed the World, click here.