Nestle vs Shasta

I chose this reading writing project because this was what i felt most passionate about. A place I call my second home being exploited and used by a corporation, the story of Camden or Welch doesn't really kick in until you actually face something similar in your life.

Every summer I pack my bags and tag along with my neighbors to beautiful MT. Shasta. Good friends with their family, I get to live in their huge house up north, and enjoy many fun activities that come in store with every trip to Mt. Shasta. Every year I get closer with the community there, the small private restaurants, the beautiful lakes, breathtaking hikes, but as I talked to a few of the natives, they would always display their hatred towards Nestle. What is Nestle? Nestle is a liquid company that has their sights set on using the snow-capped mountains of Mt. Shasta to create a profitable water company for themselves. The freshness of the water that comes from Mt. Shasta is top tier, and Nestle is attempting to build factories on the mountains hoping to get a share of the Shasta water. With the deal Nestle makes with the city officials, Nestle will receive: “right to take 1,250 gallons per minute of spring water, the right to take qualified water on an interim basis from district's springs for bulk delivery to other bottling facilities located in Northern California, the right to construct pipelines and a loading facility, use of an unknown quantity of well water for production purposes, exclusive rights to one of the town's three springs, one hundred years of exclusivity, during which time no other beverage business of any type may exist in McCloud, use of an undisclosed, perhaps unlimited amount of ground water, the right to require the McCloud Community Service District to dispose of process wastewater, and the right to require the McCloud Community Service District to design, construct and install one or more ground water production wells on the bottling facility site for Nestlé's use as a supply for nonspring water purposes.” Sounds like a pretty unfair contract to me. Not only is Nestle forcing small brand companies to bankruptcy, it’s also digging into the communities water reserve in order to sell it for profit. And what does the city get in return? Pretty much nothing. As Nestle slowly destroys the environment at Shasta, the fishing ecosystem, and eventually the townspeople, the only thing they can do is sue. Sue Nestle.

            In Days of Destruction, by Chris Hedges, Hedges describes Camden as a “dead city” Similar to Shasta currently, Hedges explains how Camden use to be a bustling city with its own culture and identity. “Camden was once as full of industrial promise as the nation itself… And then little by little, the city, like the nation, was strangled and slain.”(75)Although Shasta County isn’t exactly similar to the atmosphere Camden sets up, it may as well be on its way there. As more and more small companies fall victim to Nestle, sooner or later the city will find itself at the knees of the Nestle Corporation, making desperate deals to stay alive.