Drinking Water Distrust Threatens Democracy (w/ Dr. Manny Teodoro)

Jackson, Mississippi. Flint, Michigan. The local governments of countless other communities in America have failed at providing the most basic of public services - clean drinking water. What happens to the residents of those communities and similar communities across the country as they lose faith in government's ability to supply healthy water? What can Americans' growing demand for bottled water tell us about Americans' trust in government?

Dr. Manny Teodoro joins The Climate Pod to answer these questions and explain the vicious cycle of public distrust in tap water and how it can lead to broader disengagement with the democratic process. Dr. Teodoro's new book "The Profits of Distrust: Citizen-Consumers, Drinking Water, and the Crisis of Confidence in American Government" explains why Americans purchased 15 billion gallons of bottled water in 2020, even though it was more expensive, more harmful to the environment, and less regulated than tap water, and how this upward trend in bottled water consumption is eroding democracy.

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