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SATURDAY: Activists Rally at Sprouts Farmers Market Stores Nationwide Calling for End to Sale Nestlé Arrowhead Springs Bottled Water
Nearly 100,000 People Urge $3.59 Billion Sprouts Company to Live Up to Values of Sustainability, and Stop Selling Illegally Bottled Water from Drought-Stricken San Bernardino National Forest
On Saturday, July 16th members of Courage Campaign Institute and Story of Stuff Project from across the country will deliver petitions to local Sprouts Farmers Market stores calling on the national grocery story chain to stop selling Nestlé’s Arrowhead Springs bottled water, as the water is illegally pumped from California’s drought-stricken San Bernardino National Forest using a permit that expired over 25 years ago.
- In Oakland, California — members of The Story of Stuff Project and the Courage Campaign will deliver the petitions to Sprouts Farmers Markets location at 30th and Broadway at 11:00am local time.
- In Tucson, Arizona — members of Courage Campaign and The Story of Stuff Project will deliver the petitions to Sprouts Farmers Market location at 4282 N.1st Ave at 8:00am local time.
- In Austin, Texas — members of Courage Campaign and The Story of Stuff Project will deliver the petition signatures to Sprouts Farmers Market store location at 6920 Manchaca Road at 11:00am local time.
THERE ARE 18 EVENTS TAKING PLACE THIS WEEK. FIND AN ACTION HERE: http://act.couragecampaign.org/event/SproutsNestleDayofAction/search/
Nearly 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for an end to the sale of Nestlé’s Arrowhead Springs bottled water citing Sprouts Farmers Market’s sustainable retailing pledge.
VIEW THE PETITION HERE: http://act.couragecampaign.org/sign/SproutsDropNestle/
According to Sprouts Farmers Market’s sustainable retailing pledge, they “partner with suppliers that align with our culture of valuing environmental systems…. We encourage our suppliers to advance responsible sourcing practices and hold them to high standards.” Courage Campaign Institute and Story of Stuff Project’s petition targets Sprouts Farmers Markets CEO Amin Maredia and Sustainability Director Susan Welsh — asking them to live up to that pledge.
“There’s nothing sustainable about helping Nestlé profit off of illegally and irresponsibly sourced public water in drought-stricken California,” explained Eddie Kurtz, executive director of the California-based Courage Campaign Institute. “Sprouts Farmers Markets must live up to its values of sustainable retailing and stop selling Nestlé Arrowhead Springs bottled water.”
VIEW SPROUTS FARMERS MARKET’S SUSTAINABILITY POLICY HERE: https://www.sprouts.com/responsible-retailing
About Nestlé’s Arrowhead Springs bottled water:
- In 2014 alone, an estimated 28 million gallons were piped away from the forest to be bottled and sold under Nestlé’s Arrowhead brand of bottled water.
- Nestlé’s bottling permit expired in 1988 but the piping system remains in active use, siphoning about 68,000 gallons of water a day out of the forest last year.
- Reports from the end of 2015 indicated that water levels at Strawberry Creek were at record lows.
- In exchange for allowing Nestlé to continue siphoning water from the Creek, the Forest Service receives just $524 a year, less than the average Californian’s water bill.
Last year, the California-based Courage Campaign Institute, Story of Stuff Project, and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit challenging Nestlé’s four-mile pipeline that siphons water from San Bernardino National Forest’s Strawberry Creek in U.S. District Court. Earlier this year, more than 280,000 members of the coalition submitted comments to the US Forest Service urging them not to grant Nestlé a new permit for water bottling operations in the national forest.
In July, activists from across the US will participate in a national day of action at local Sprouts Farmers Market stores demanding the company honor their sustainable retailing pledge and stop selling Nestlé bottled water.
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CourageCampaign.org fights for a more progressive California and country. We are an online community powered by more than 1.3 million members.
The Story of Stuff Project (www.storyofstuff.org) is a Community of over a million changemakers worldwide, working to build a more healthy and just planet.