Editorial

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson recently told The Bee that, "We need to light a fire under the city's efforts to save water." Most Sacramentans did not interpret this as meaning we should save water for Nestlé to truck away in disposable plastic bottles.

Nestlé wants to start taking a reported 30 million gallons of local municipal water a year in early 2010, despite objections that there was no public input or environmental review for their proposed water-bottling plant.

McCloud, Calif. -

Dear Editor,

In Nestle’s science meeting on June 2, Nestle’s natural resource director Brendan O’Rourke said, “I think we have different ideas about what adaptive management means.”

This is concerning.

The preliminary scientific studies being conducted are important for establishing thresholds of impact, but adaptive management is a long term iterative process that addresses the uncertainty inherent in complex ecosystems.
New data and new understanding often requires a change in behavior in regards to the use of a resource — water in McCloud’s case.

McCloud, Calif. -

Dear Editor,

At the Feb. 18 McCloud Public Forum, Joan Smith Nestle cheerleader and member of the Siskiyou County Economic Development Council defended Nestle’s corporate reputation by stating that it had just been listed as the 10th most trusted brands according the financial magazine Barron’s.

She said we could look that up on the web. I did and it is obvious Joan did not read the article.