It’s finally happened: Bottled water sales are going down! According to the LA Times,** “sales of bottled water have fallen for the first time in at least five years, assailed by wrathful environmentalists and budget-conscious consumers who have discovered that tap water is practically free.”

Consider the “wrathful environmentalists” still enraged, however. One-use bottled water got put through the wringer in the latest issue of eco-mag Mother Jones, which put together a special reports feature dubbed “Spin the Bottle.” The feature story by Anna Lenzer takes a hard look at FIJI water,** America’s leading imported water brand. Anna writes that FIJI enjoys tax-free status, protection by Fiji’s military regime, and a greenwashed image in the U.S. — despite a much less rosy-green reality:

Nowhere in Fiji Water’s glossy marketing materials will you find reference to the typhoid outbreaks that plague Fijians because of the island’s faulty water supplies; the corporate entities that Fiji Water has—despite the owners’ talk of financial transparency—set up in tax havens like the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg; or the fact that its signature bottle is made from Chinese plastic in a diesel-fueled plant and hauled thousands of miles to its ecoconscious consumers. And, of course, you won’t find mention of the military junta for which Fiji Water is a major source of global recognition and legitimacy.

Mother Jones isn’t the first mag to take on FIJI. Back in 2007, Fast Company featured a detailed piece about FIJI** by Charles Fishman, who pointed out that FIJI water facility’s run by 3 big diesel generators: “More than half the people in Fiji do not have safe, reliable drinking water. Which means it is easier for the typical American in Beverly Hills or Baltimore to get a drink of safe, pure, refreshing Fiji water than it is for most people in Fiji.”

Despite that article, FIJI’s become an oft-favorite drink of even self-described environmentalists — Mother Jones names and shames these eco-celebs** in the same issue — thanks to a “$5 million ‘Fiji Green’ marketing blitz, which brazenly urges consumers to drink imported water to fight climate change” since FIJI’s buying carbon offsets (via “a ‘forward crediting’ model under which it takes credit now for carbon reductions that will actually happen over a few decades”) and changing to bottles with 20% less packaging (”shouldn’t be too difficult, given its bottle’s above-average heft”), Mother Jones reports.

FIJI isn’t the lone water bottle company that’s maligned in Mother Jones. Related articles measure the huge travel miles,** put through an unflattering taste test,** and otherwise name and shame the practices of** popular bottled water companies ranging from Arrowhead to Volvic. Mother Jones calls out Whole Foods too — a green company that’s selling many of these bottled water brands in its stores.

Most environmentalists will tell you that NOT drinking bottled water’s a better way to fight climate change than drinking it. Now they can point to Mother Jones‘ features for the data and details on this eco-fact. Read what other eco-bloggers are saying about FIJI water:

>> Treehugger: Fiji Water: The Earth-Friendly Choice for Military Juntas Everywhere**

>> EarthFirst: Mother Jones Unveils the Greenwashed Truth about Fiji Water**

>> TriplePundit: Does Drinking FIJI Water Prop Up a Dictatorship?**

Photo by Mike Willis**

**You are leaving the FilterForGood Web site. The Brita Products® Company is not responsible for the content or data collection of that independent site.