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.
No comments:
Post a Comment