I'll Drink To That . . . By Director Wayne Hall

September 30, 2009

Bundanoon is a small town (population around two thousand) with a very big problem. Less then a kilometre from the town centre, past the primary school and down a very steep hill, is the entrance to Moreton National park. If you ever get to the area, make a point of driving the extra kilometre into the park to check out the gullies. They are quite spectacular - large enough, in fact, to get you thinking about the meaning of life and that sort of thing…

Near the bottom of the hill and not far from the park entrance, a company called Norlex owns a parcel of land, and a few years back they exercised their “right” to mine water, which effectively meant pumping the aquifer spring water into large trucks and transporting it to Sydney for bottling.

Not surprisingly, the locals are a little upset…a quiet town, hundreds of large truck movements a week, a steep hill, a primary school, a water table being depleted, bicycle trails…and a nearby national park. Surely this was a “no-brainer” and common sense would prevail?

Well, as with so many of these types of issues, neither party has prevailed to date. The matter is still in court and the outcome is uncertain.

But something really fascinating has occurred in the meantime. A local shopkeeper (no names, no pack drill) has managed to step back from the problem to a point well outside the square, and take a different perspective on the issue. This person appreciated that the “small town takes on big, bad corporate” story might get a run for a day or two in the regional press - and perhaps even a segment on one of the current affairs programs (let’s face it, they love their battler stories) - but in the end it was a story which would likely produce one week of attention at best, than die out…and court cases can last a very long time.

So he formed a committee, and out of the meeting came a very different strategy.

“Let’s take bottled water out of the town altogether” came the suggestion. Though greeted cautiously at first, it quickly progressed - in a matter of months - to a town hall gathering at which all but two people voted in agreement. One of the two opposing voters was a representative of a bottled water association - and if nothing else you have to admire his sense of purpose.

So Bundanoon became the first town in the world to take bottled water out of it’s shops - or as reported on CNN, in the South China Daily and on BBC Radio - to “ban bottled water” (they haven’t really banned it; the shops are simply not stocking bottled water for sale). During the weekend just past, a series of futuristic-looking filtered bubblers were unveiled about the village and in the school grounds, while refillable Bundy Water bottles went on sale in the local shops. Other towns are seriously considering similar initiatives, while the move has prompted many government departments, in Australia and globally, to review their use of bottled water (the NSW government has cut back its use in meetings significantly).

Whether one agrees with the outcome or not, there is no doubting that the strategy has been incredibly potent - and while it has yet to prove successful in terms of stopping the water plant, it is a fair bet that it has not done the town’s cause any harm in terms of providing additional resources for the “fight”.

So how was it that the strategy managed to pick up so much momentum?

It would seem that, as with so many successful  “causes”, there were some basic components - a passionate “driver” of the idea, a fairly simple “vision” for people to associate with (let’s go back to drinking from bubblers), genuine example-setting (the initiator was a shopkeeper who was prepared to take bottled water out of his shop), an attachment to a much bigger cause (protecting the environment), an opponent who can be painted as a bad guy (emotional/revenge element) and the delivery - to the combatants - of a sense of control (we can do this…or, as a recent famous politician put it - “yes we can”).

It is this last feature that seems to be the critical one. Because, for as long as the people of Bundanoon were being presented with a court case that seemed largely out of their control (to be presided upon by an impartial judge), it “felt” like there wasn’t much that could be done - outside of a few “don’t mine our water” signs placed about the town.

But the moment the issue became one in which people felt they could actively participate and personally make a difference, it all changed. What’s more, the creative approach to the problem has itself attracted creative partners. The water fountain company has designed filtered bubblers which are effectively street art (and there is definitely a business in what they have to offer), the shopkeepers have dressed their windows with coloured re-usable water bottles, a very cool song has been written about the cause, and a great deal of people around the world have taken up the issue within their own environments. I’ve no doubt there’ll even be some tourism benefits. There’s much to be admired about creative empowerment.

We can learn a lot from these situations, particularly in relation to how we evolve our own strategies - be they at the business, departmental or “deal” level. It would seem that the capacity to step away and take a “helicopter view” of things, and to involve participants on all sides in a manner which gives them some control (and input), are key elements.

There are a lot of parallels to be drawn between Norlex’s approach to mining water and the way licensing bodies (notably PPCA) approach the introduction of new tariffs within the business music market. I’ve no doubt that, just as the Bundanoon townsfolk have done, businesses affected by the latest raft of proposed PPCA tariffs (providers and users of music) will come up with their own creative ways to meet the challenge.

I’ll leave the last comment to an associate with whom I was discussing these issues recently…“isn’t is a pity that both sides didn’t sit down at the start, have a frank face-to-face discussion…and commit to a working relationship. What an incredible waste of time and resources…”

Oops…there’s that “R” word again…

Wayne Hall
Director

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