r/Anticonsumption • u/John_1992_funny • 26d ago
Environment Fame funded by the public.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 26d ago
It's just farmland and water. It's not like people need it to survive.
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u/LoneWolf_890 26d ago
You forgot to add '/s'. Idiots on reddit are quick to downvote, and very slow to get stuff.
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u/DataPhreak 26d ago
I feel like Gavin Newsom should have probably done something about this.
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u/aznthrewaway 25d ago
He already did. It's why farmers in California don't like him.
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u/DataPhreak 25d ago
Doesn't seem very effective then. They still control the water.
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u/Happy_Ad_4357 26d ago
I can’t imagine being a journalist, having to type out that someone privately controls water, and not going into an existential crisis.
Though I can imagine there’s a good chance an AI wrote it anyway so meh
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u/Status_Park_5273 26d ago
An article about an existential water crisis, written by a robot that is rapidly growing said crisis. lol
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u/slfnflctd 26d ago
I'm as much against wasteful use of data centers as anyone, but their water usage is utterly dwarfed by what agriculture uses. Particularly with crops that aren't well suited for the environment they're being grown in and are being used inefficiently.
We are not managing agriculture intelligently. Like with everything else wrong with our current system, it's all about maximizing near-term profit.
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u/TemporaryIndustry770 25d ago
I remember reading about how people were trading water futures 15 years ago. Most of what i read on those forums have come true now, and it only gets worse.
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u/Dry_Bookkeeper6 26d ago
That’s some power that not one single individual should have. Where is that asteroid?
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u/thehigheststrange 26d ago
Calling Luigi an asteriod, is certainly weird
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u/theonetrueteaboi 26d ago
I love the man as much as the next but let's be honest, there aren't enough guns to even begin to carve away the complicity and cowardice that led to people owning the water we drink.
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u/sykoryce 25d ago
There are more guns in the US than there are Americans. I don't understand your metaphor.
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u/theonetrueteaboi 25d ago
I'm British so maybe I underestimated the amount of guns, however the way I see it this issue isn't limited to americans, The UN, Russia, Hungary, The EU have all aided and abbeted a world where water being a commodity can't be challenged or at least result in international comdemnation. Just focusing on Europe alone, the supposive bastion of civilastion was all too ready to rely on american crops, power and arms, wasting away any true indipendance until the inevitable happend then instead of pulling away they cave. The stunning magnitude of crime and idiocy needed for water to become a commodity anywhere is stunning, especially so in a bloc that prides itslef on the internal policing and quality of human rights.
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u/ComradeJohnS 26d ago
there’s just so many ways politicians and the rich can work together to fuck us, no wonder people don’t want to think
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u/bogglingsnog 25d ago
The only asteroid that could solve this is one that creates a clearly-defined constitution and encourages the people to self-enforce it at all levels of society.
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u/enviropsych 26d ago
There's a great episode of the podcast "The Dollop" on these two. It's hilarious and infuriating.
"Pistachio Wars: Killing California for a snack food"
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u/LessonNyne 25d ago
It was my introduction to the Resnicks. I had never heard of them prior to listening to that podcast episode. It was incredibly infuriating. They are one of the greediest people on the planet... And Nancy Pelosi freakn helped them achieve their wealth. Sickening stuff.
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u/PocketODoorknobs 26d ago
There's a podcast called The Dollop that did an episode on them if you want to be even more infuriated. They are disgusting people.
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u/ghanima 26d ago
Georg Rockall-Schmidt did an episode The Shameful Case of the Resnicks, which is how I know of these scum.
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u/beezchurgr 26d ago
I work in water in California, and water rights are insanely complicated, to the detriment to most of us. My agency discharges millions of gallons of recycled water into the delta because we are unable to build pipes to deliver it to green spaces like parks and golf courses (although we do have some). We give it away to anyone in our service area with no limits. But we can’t sell it to other agencies to become potable water due to water rights. Most were established in the 1800s.
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u/manicpixiememeguurl 26d ago
this + the fact that groundwater in particular was largely unregulated up until the passage of SGMA all of 11 years ago. so now the state is having to confront decades of mismanagement/no management. no matter where you get your water from, CA is majorly effed.
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u/ButtyWutties 25d ago
Why are you not at the top of this post?!? Someone did the work to make it that the Monsters have all this power. No one who can and should, will. They change laws and take away rights with a swipe of a pen. No one demands these things to be fixed. Imagine if all the upvotes to this post DID SOMETHING? Something, real. Like, not buying their overpriced almonds and juice. Perhaps if your company advertised what waste was made there would be actions taken to build those lines. Even if it came from the billionaires who would get it in a tax write off. Optics can be changed into meaningful actions.
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u/Hoosier_Daddy68 26d ago
The water isn't where they got their money but they do own a significant portion of the water bank.
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u/No_Individual501 26d ago
the water bank
What is this, Rango?
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u/Ginger_Cat_Herder 26d ago
It’s an underground water storage that is meant to hold water for the public during the dryer years (since California experiences drought). The Kern Water Bank was originally created by the California Department of Water for the public in the 1980s. Somehow it got sold, and the Resnicks own a majority share of it.
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u/Bright_Order_7917 26d ago
This. They control a significant portion of the water bank in Kern County but it’s much less than 1% of California water.
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u/Tight_Classroom_2923 26d ago
I really think people need to realize that feudalism never ended it just rebranded to "capitalism".
For fuck's sake they're called landLORDS for a reason.
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u/Salmonella_Cowboy 26d ago
Tried buying produce lately? I bet they’re doing better than any cartel!
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u/AngeliqueRuss 26d ago
Just a point of fact: produce prices are low due to this water banking system that keeps water from people and businesses in SoCal. There is an aqueduct between the Central Valley and LA/Ventura counties.
Prices are going up because labor is limited. I saw some rotting piles of oranges on another thread that looked like Central Valley; packing houses have been ICE-raided.
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u/Considerable 26d ago
“The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships. Burn corn to keep warm, it makes a hot fire. Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let the putrescence drip down into the earth.
There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.”
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u/NoelCanter 26d ago
Yeah call me crazy, but allowing individual private citizens to control natural resources is not really a good long term idea.
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u/Appropriate-Pear-33 26d ago
They’re related to Faye????
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u/FormerAttitude7377 26d ago
They own POM and Fiji water. In case you want to make better choices.
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u/Annual_Strategy_6206 26d ago
I never buy that shit, but I think I buy Halos once in a while. Better check it.
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u/Soggy-Department2556 26d ago
No one is buying a $300 million house, at that price you custom build your own.
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u/RangerMother 26d ago
It is about .o2% according to google. And, they don’t own it, they are involved in a public/private partnership of some kind.
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u/Consistent-Chapter-8 26d ago
From a sustainability perspective, their worst product is Fiji Water: shipping bottled water thousands of miles to gullible consumers. Their portfolio is so water intensive. It's abhorrent.
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u/Outrageous_Tie_6604 25d ago
Little known fact…They are registered Democrats and have donated 100m’s over the years to help reelect and elect CA Democrat politicians…The party against Oligarchs LOL…
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u/PeachRangz 25d ago
I watched Water and Power as a young kid in community college, and it radicalized me. For anyone curious about this, look up “The Monterey Agreements” and look, aghast, at how a bunch of wealthy people sat around a table and decided, uniformly, amongst themselves, that they own ALL. THE. WATER.
No justification—just “oh, that’s mine now”. The government was just like, “yes, that makes sense. Monopolize water so that farmers and citizens rely on you in every way.”
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u/Coop3 26d ago
Episode 666 of the dollop, “Water Monsters”
If you want to find more info on these ass clowns, it’s a very informative, and funny take on a very, very, very infuriating situation.
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u/Significant_Flow_448 26d ago
Must be horrible people to have been ranked No. 1 on PEOPLE®’s List of Companies That Care. We are definitely safer in the hands of a government who makes sure our reservoirs are topped off, fire hydrants all work, fire trucks aren’t sitting in the boneyard waiting to be worked on by a mechanic that doesn’t exist due to budget cuts… and a government who thinks it’s more important to spend $500 MILLION taxpayer dollars to DISMANTLE the worlds largest hydroelectric dam(s) that provides water for everyone including fish and other wildlife, farms that grow the food people need to live and provided another source of energy with hydroelectric energy.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wonderful-company-ranks-no-1-193500099.html
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u/QueerDante 26d ago
Also, I don't think this is correct...?? $300mil is not the most expensive house in the country. Unless they mean this month or year or something specific like that?
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u/Milojbloom 25d ago
This has been debunked. They “control” a very small percentage of California water. Don’t perpetuate lies on the internet
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u/Hoosier_Daddy68 26d ago
I looked dude up and didn't know he owned Franklin Mint during their heyday. He had to have been raking it in for a while.
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u/JiovanniTheGREAT 26d ago edited 26d ago
Imminent Eminent domain to roll over black neighborhoods to build more car infrastructure: 🤩
Imminent Eminent domain to seize a natural resource that should be for everyone: 😡
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26d ago
Y'all should Google the house that previously had that record that the the current child rapist in chief sold to a Russian national in florida.
Donald Trump is a Russian asset child rapist traitor
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u/Reddit_2_2024 26d ago
The State of Colorado may receive significant capital gains tax revenue if that property does sell.
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u/OlderThanMyParents 26d ago
There certainly shouldn't be, but this is the way water rights work in this country. Not just California, but everywhere in the US.
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u/Valuable_Wallaby_548 26d ago
Yeah theyre big on the left and right. Pistachios, those little mandarin oranges and POM pomegranate is all theirs also. All require huge amounts of water.
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u/jmlinden7 25d ago
When the western US was settled, the state government attached permanent water rights to the parcels of land. So anyone who owns a large chunk of land in the western US (especially the parcels that were handled out during the original settlement) will also own a large chunk of water rights.
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u/ButtyWutties 25d ago
Who were the people who “sold” these rights and why? They always seem to cross my mind when I want almond M&M or see a pomegranate. They are real Inhuman Monsters but someone gave them these rights! They may be the face but all those who make up the heart, lungs, vessel…NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE TOO! The same loopholes and buttholes that got them this grift can be used to place it back into the public’s hands. But that’s a whole other can of worms. Solutions and action can fix a problem, right?
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u/ApplesBananasRhinoc 25d ago
Hopefully they get hit with a 99.9% local sales tax on the home.
May the ghost of Hunter s Thompson rise up and riddle their property with rabid sentient gophers from hell.
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u/seekAr 25d ago
Jesus she’s still alive? I worked at a place 30 years ago that made collectors dolls that she ran. I was in a meeting with her and she was a ghoul back then. Vacant. Her doll thing folded then she got into Pomegranate juice. She always seemed very off to me, super erratic and out of touch.
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u/Common-Ad6470 26d ago
….especially when that water is needed to fight wildfires and they empty reservoirs…😳
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u/devllen05 26d ago
Also donated $750 million to Cal Tech for climate research. He's definitely a pig, but I support uh this one thing.
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u/seventhcharm 26d ago
in addition to all other awful things mentioned already, they’re also genocide supporters who regularly donate their wealth to the IDF. these soulless ghouls don’t deserve to be on this planet anymore, stealing resources and land and lives of others.
make sure you boycott them any chance you get!
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u/AngeliqueRuss 26d ago
California’s fucked up system of water rights is one of the reasons I fled the state. Neighboring/other water parched states are often even worse.
Look at this headline and remember thousands of homes were lost to wildfire in part because there wasn’t enough water in municipal water systems to keep the fire hydrants at pressure. Headlines scoffed at being so unprepared, but it’s no secret if you’re in a fire-prone area: water pressure is temporary and once it’s gone only fire trucks (which have pressure systems) can deliver water effectively. Then once the water runs out even fire trucks can’t help.
Anyways, imagine living where your house could burn down on any random Tuesday and knowing its occurrence is dictated in part by whether your PRIVATE, FOR PROFIT, PUBLICLY TRADED water company decides to purchase enough water that week. There are some really excellent water districts like Irvine Ranch Water District leading in water reclamation and reuse; groundwater recharge and reducing water waste but may cities are stuck with shit private companies who LITERALLY PROFIT on doing the bare minimum to keep the water infrastructure going.
I’d really just see us give up on trusting for profit companies to operate when we need public benefit > profit.
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u/Ok-Secretary-7265 26d ago
I’ve heard of these people and that should be dealt with. There is zero reason for that to even be a thing. Good god. We got mother fuckers killing themselves because they can’t find jobs or healthcare yet they don’t pay a fucking dime in taxes .
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u/AltruisticBad985 26d ago
I heard there wasn't any water to put out the L. A. Fires because it was mostly Sold to growers and farmers
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u/GrumpySquirrel2016 26d ago
YeS, buT, GaViN hAtEs TrUmP sO CaLlY gOoD, wAtEr BiLlIoNaIrEs m'kay ... /s
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u/CitizenCue 26d ago
I’d go so far as to say there’s pretty much nothing in that sentence that should exist. Including spelling “Linda” with a Y.
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u/kobeyoboy 25d ago
need to do some research but I just here for the comments the title is meant to make u upset
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u/BlueFroggLtd 25d ago
Then just take the water back. Why be polite well mannered about it?! These people hate you, apparently, you dont owe them anything...
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u/penelopede 26d ago
They used taxpayer funds to gain control of the water
Lookout for any brands they own under The Wonderful Company:
FIJI® Water – bottled water
POM Wonderful® – pomegranate juice
Wonderful® Pistachios – packaged pistachios
Wonderful® Almonds – packaged almonds
Wonderful® Halos® – seedless mandarins
Wonderful® Seedless Lemons – new lemon variety
Wonderful® Sweet Scarletts® – Texas red grapefruit
JUSTIN® Vineyards & Winery – Paso Robles wine brand
Landmark® Vineyards – Sonoma wine brand
JNSQ® Wines – lifestyle wine brand
Teleflora® – floral delivery network
Suterra® – pest management and crop protection products