While the Seattle-based coffee chain prides itself in being an ethically aware company, the Starbucks water bottling initiative, set in California, has recently come under fire over taking up resources in a land that's deprived of the vital liquid in a historic draught.
In the past, Starbucks has attempted to bring in its socially aware stand to the table, most recently with the ill-fated "Race Together" campaign, which in its first stage saw the company's CEO Howard Schultz asking baristas to actively pursue the subject of race with patrons; only weeks after this, it's Starbucks' water bottling operation in California making headlines.
As California continues to go through its heaviest drought in history, Starbucks' water bottling operation in the state came under fire as it was draining out the precious resource in a time of deep need for those who live there.
Following a report by Mother Jones, Starbucks' water bottling operation came under heavy scrutiny in the past few days, as it accused the Ethos Water Fund, a part of the Starbucks Foundation, of draining California's already-scarce water resources by taking supplies from private springs in Baxter.
The Starbucks water bottling company started as a stand-alone initiative in 2005 under the name Ethos Water, and it was an attempt to "fix" the global water crisis; for each unit of bottled water it sold, the company donated a certain amount of money to water charities around the world.
"We are committed to our mission to be a globally responsible company and to support the people of the state of California as they face this unprecedented drought," said John Kelly, the Starbucks senior vice president of Global Responsibility and Public Policy, according to New York Daily News.
NBC News reports that, while putting a stop to Starbucks' water bottling operation certainly helps, other measures have been taken to preserve water in the state, including a 25 percent urban water reduction recently approved by Governor Jerry Brown as the state marches into its fourth year of droughts.
