Meet F1's new chairman

[bhall]

[quote="Peter Brabeck interview with The Big Think, "Water Can't Be Free," August 25, 2009"]We cannot go on that we are losing in the developed countries, I'm speaking now about Europe, about the United States, that we are losing more than 30 percent of our water supply because we don't have sufficient infrastructure because the infrastructure is completely deficient. It cannot be that we are losing 55, 60, 70 percent of the water supply in developing countries because all the tubes have huge leakages and the water is getting lost. We cannot continue to use the water and irrigation systems, which are thousands of years old and are not being upgraded [...]

[...] if you do not give a value to the water, those investments are not going to be made because nobody has an interest to invest because you don't have an economical return. If the value of water is zero, any investment will never yield. If the water has at least a decent price, an investment might yield. And that's why we don't make the investment.[/quote]

Even more interesting is the story of the aflaj, ancient irrigation systems in Oman, with tradable water rights and more than 4,000 years of efficient and sustainable water use.

We are already today overusing over the last couple of years more than 300 cubic kilometer of water, which is about 10 percent -- 8 to 10 percent of total water withdrawal, which is overused.

And who pays for this? The one who pays for it is the environment, huh, because these misuses that we have of water -- and we are misusing water in the most incredible manner -- is being paid by the one area that needs water, which is environment.

So you have -- give an example there -- five of the biggest rivers are not bringing water anymore to the sea for more than four or five, six months, okay? You have the Aral Lake, with -- 25 years ago, cities which were port cities today are 120 kilometer away from the water -- in 25 years, okay, basically because we are overusing -- we are overusing water.

[...] it now has been proven that irreparable harm would occur to the waterways due to pumping by Nestlé at the Sanctuary Spring site. Nestlé’s pumping has caused harm to the Dead Stream by reducing the flow and level, narrowing the stream, exposing mud flats, and restricting the enjoyment of many of the members of MCWC and the public for fishing, boating, and kayaking on the stream. The findings of facts are in the court records that Nestlé pumping has created and will continue into the future to create adverse impacts to the riparian uses and rights.

"[...] food giant Nestlé moved into Michigan to generate support for high-capacity water wells for its Ice Mountain bottled water brand at the headwaters of the Little Muskegon River. Nestlé representatives claimed the company's studies demonstrated that pumping 400 gallons per minute (gpm) 210 million gallons a year would not harm the wetlands, streams and lakes.... In late 2003, Mecosta County Judge Lawrence Root, after a 19-day trial, found that the proposed extraction would cause substantial harm at any rate of pumping, violate long-standing water law principles and impair the water resources." Nestlé appealed the ruling again and again, for six more years, and during all this time continued to pump water, albeit at a slightly lower rate of 250 gpm. The battle is still going on."

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the chairman of Nestlé, lashed out at the Obama administration for promoting the use of ethanol made from corn, at the expense of hundreds of millions of people struggling to afford everyday basics made from the crop.

[...]

"Today, 35 per cent of US corn goes into biofuel," the Nestlé chairman told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York yesterday. "From an environmental point of view this is a nonsense, but more so when we are running out of food in the rest of the world.

"It is absolutely immoral to push hundreds of millions of people into hunger and into extreme poverty because of such a policy, so I think – I insist – no food for fuel."

[...]

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) announced today that shareholders elected two new members, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe and Jay S. Fishman, to its board of directors.

Brabeck-Letmathe is chairman of Nestlé S.A. Fishman is chairman and chief executive officer of The Travelers Companies, Inc..

[...]

Peter Brabeck, ladies and gentlemen.

[SeijaKessen]

Sounds like a winner.

Another, "Do as I say, not as I do." guy.

Good match for Bernie.

[Red Schneider]

Dude is making me want to pee.

[Nando]

It´s an interesting subject water.

I´m actually amazed you can sell water on bottle in countries with good tap water.

That would be like standing in the Sahara desert selling sand.

[xpensive]

And you wonder why DrZ wants to see MrE before signing a new Concord agreement? Jeeez...

[bhall]

I didn't set out to expose this guy's hypocrisy to the forum. I'd just never heard of him and wanted to see what sort of biographical information I could find.

It seems he's the consummate salesman. (In fact, that's how he started as Nestlé.) He's made a career out of playing both sides, and he's done that remarkably well. He's so good that, despite the litany of contradictions he's espoused over the years while representing large, multinational corporations, he's not really on any group's hit list as "Public Enemy #1," a spot most executives find themselves occupying at some point or another.

He's played the water issue so well that he has George Clooney's support - a noted liberal - in spreading the issue around the world.

[ArchAngel]

Today, H2O. Tomorrow, O2! Curse you! You evil man!

[sknguy]

He's played the water issue so well that he has George Clooney's support - a noted liberal - in spreading the issue around the world.

For an executive, being "manipulative" is just part of the formula (no pun intended) for success. I doubt he'd normally give a rat's a$$ about sustainable water use, nor about George Clooney for that matter.

[aaronn1]

Sounds like a winner.

Another, "Do as I say, not as I do." guy.

Good match for Bernie.

LOL, well said bro..

lets just hope for the best..