Bundanoon goes global with a local effort
A great story has erupted out of Bundanoon, Australia (about 2 minutes into this CBC story). When a local bottling company went asking for a permit to extract 50 million liters out of the local water supply for bottled water distribution, the local BUSINESS people took issue with the notion of the whole town paying all that markup just to gain access to what comes right out of the tap.
It got people thinking..why not ban bottled water all together across the town? Sure enough, its happening now. Vendors are selling re-usable bottles and the town is installing more public water fountains.
So what can be drawn from this? The green movement can happen anywhere and be facilitated by anyone. In this case, business people simply looked at the micro-economics and said enough.
It pleases me no end to see this form of grass roots change. When I see programs such as the Signature Learning Experience, I am hopeful we will see more people take similar actions. This program aims to deliver graduates that are ready to “apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to be socially responsible in a diverse world.”
Social responsibility starts at home and has the potential to ripple around the world. My bet is, the people of Bundanoon had no idea how far and wide their story would travel. I have no doubt, this will trigger similar civic acts around the world.
