Foundation
Coca-Cola workers studying the area in order to plan how to preserve the watershed.
Posted by: The Pacifican On February 13, 2014
Lately, Coca-Cola has received criticism for their partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In September of last year, it was announced that Steve Cahillane, president of Coca-Cola Americas, would be working directly with the USDA to restore watersheds – areas where water is funneled into lakes, rivers and streams to stock the area’s water supply.
Initially, this was excellent news to the public, and an opportunity for the Coca-Cola Corporation to give back to the country.
Yet, we have to wonder why. What are the company’s motivations for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on something that would ordinarily be left up to the government?
Earlier this month, The Guardian’s Jennifer Ward reported that according to information from Coca-Cola’s archives, four of the six projects that they are working on with the USDA concern areas that supply water to facilities that produce their soda.
In light of this, it seems that Coca-Cola’s executives are less interested in being generous than they are in looking after their own best interests.
Although, some have pointed out that more and more private corporations are starting to help fund government projects, so it is not just the Coca-Cola brand.
For more information and specifics, go to goa.gov/key_issues and search by agency.
It does not seem like a good idea for the U.S. government to use private corporations to get work done in this country, for it could lead to corporations controlling government projects to suit their own needs and not the publics’. Coca-Cola has already spent $660,000 on these watershed projects for the USDA, according to Ward.
Some people view the company’s involvement with the USDA as a business tactic to sweep Coca-Cola’s own negative environmental history under the rug.
Several years ago, the corporation was sued for contaminating Paw Paw, Mich.’s water supply, according to Chris Killian of MLive Media Group in 2010. Coca-Cola denied the claim, but incidents like these are not uncommon.
The public’s response to this partnership has been mostly positive. There are people who do not care where the money to fix these watershed areas come from – as long as it does not come from taxpayers.
In the end, watershed projects across the country will help supply areas with filtered, clean water once more.