The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep

Note -- the guy who put this together himself points out that this is back-of-the-envelope type stuff, and fudges a lot of the information a careful analysis gathering all the facts etc...

But none of his critics (down in the comments to the linked post) can get around the notion that there is simply no way you can make plastic 1-liter bottles in quantity, bottle water in these individual-serving-size containers in Fiji, ship said water literally halfway around the world (to a place where potable water is not scarce but in fact available in beyond-plenitude amounts), and not use up natural resources and emit waste products in absurd multiples of what it takes for a municipality to provide clean water to come pouring out of a GODDAMN TAP.

I agree. The commenters clearly reveal a rabid "can't see the forest for the trees" mentality in attacking the author's guesstimating. It reminds me of what congressional debates must be like.
I'd like to see a TV PSA with Al Gore dressed up as a Native American shedding a tear while he laments a mountain of discarded empty Fiji bottles.

I'm pretty sure I would *not* like to see that.

Unless, that is, we could get Dick Cheney, Joe Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain to dress up as the rest of the Village People. And instead of shedding a tear, maybe they could do...well, there aren't any appropriate Village People songs that I know of. "Fire Island" is about an island, but doesn't really work.

Maybe "Bali Hai" from South Pacific?

Yeah. That'd be good.

Right wing individualism! That's the phrase I've been looking for ever since I started hating people who say the homeless are living out *bad karma* and crap like that. Affluent newagists (some of my own acquaintances, sadly, included) would be shocked to be called right wing. There you have it. I love the Guardian! Well played, Tipper.

*And that's the most sinister feature of the whole nutritionist project, graphically exemplified by McKeith: it's a manifesto of rightwing individualism - you are what you eat, and people die young because they deserve it. They choose death, through ignorance and laziness, but you choose life, fresh fish, olive oil, and that's why you're healthy*

The *crying Indian* ad is reviled in Indian country for its noble savagery and pan-Indian image-brokering as a tool to market environmental awareness.

While the actor Iron Eyes Cody's Cherokee heritage is disputed by some, aknowledged by others, everyone agrees the tear was glycerine.

Why was a Cherokee wearing Plains regalia? Same reason the Village Person did — it's the most widely recognized stereotypical garb.

The campaign did result in 88 percent litter reduction in 38 states, though.