Just hold on before we go any farther –
I want to take a moment to talk about water.
That liquid that you're holding, that bottle in your hand,
you though it was water you were drinking, not a corporate brand.
You thought it was cleaner and safer, and better for your health,
but were you thinking about who profits from the wealth
of the public water that's been taken for free
and sold back to you for an exorbitant fee?
Listen my friends, listen up folks:
Aquafina is Pepsi. Dansani is Coke.
They're selling filtered tap water and this is not a joke.
These corporate giants buy tap water
at a tax-free-super-discount,
filter it five times, then sell it back to you
for five thousand times the amount
you pay for running water from your tap,
and when I start thinking about that,
my blood starts to boil, my head starts to spin
as I try to understand where to begin.
That H20, the bottle you just tossed,
it represents garbage, safety and cost,
and water table depletion, which is all our of loss.
Let's talk about land-fill:
plastic bottles piled high
slowly decomposing, leaching toxins back into our water supply.
Furthermore, the more water bottles we buy,
the more we send a signal to the powers that be
that we believe the fear that they're selling us about water safety.
We're swallowing the idea that good water isn't free,
that of course one must pay for water of quality.
Meanwhile, beyond the periphery of our rich country
(where, incidentally, tap water is actually tested far more stringently and regularly
than bottled water) women walk farther and farther
to find water for their families,
a desert spreading rapidly,
while we sit sipping on a billion dollar industry.
They say water is the new oil!
Water is the new oil!
And Canada's got it, so this war will come to our soil.
But oil is a luxury; water a necessity.
We're fighting over oil 'cause we like to drive cars,
'cause trucks must deliver, ‘cause we want to fly to mars.
But a body can only live without water for so long.
Water should not belong to anyone.
Water belongs to everyone.
Water must be public,
water must be free,
clean water should not be a commodity
to be bought and sold on the open market,
which pits those who can afford it against those in need.
Water is a human right, not a luxury.
Water is a human right, not a luxury.
You gotta think
about what you drink.
Think! Think about what you drink.
Let's talk about India, let's talk about Africa
let's talk about China,...or right here, in North America.
Let's talk about the watersheds and aquafirs,
let's talk about Walkerton and Native reserves.
This matter is urgent, it requires our attention,
it demands immediate public intervention.
If we're going to be paying, it should be for water from our tap,
ensuring it remains reliable, clean and safe, so that
we can take a container, fill it again and again,
fill our bodies with the water we need and then
leave enough for our neighbours, enough for the farmers
enough for the future, our sons and our daughters.
It's the blood of the earth in that bottle right there,
a resource we have no choice but to share.
Before you buy another bottle and down what's in there
Think
about what you drink.
Think! Think about what you drink.
Maybe I'm preaching to the choir, to the converted masses,
the concerned and the conscious, the educated classes.
But even you out there, who already know everything I’ve said,
how many times does convenience win out instead
of what we know is right, and what we know we should do?
You know ignoring the facts doesn't make them less true.
Think about what you drink.
Think! Think about what you drink
Tell your friend, tell your neighbour, write a letter to your leader
it is never true that there is nothing you can do:
you can think
about what you drink.
Think! Think about what you drink.
Water must be public, water must be free,
clean water is a human right, not a luxury.
Think about what you drink.
Think! Think about what you drink.
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Lyrics submitted by Eliot Thomas Ward.