Transcript
1. In 2001, the corporation USA Springs set its sights on Nottingham, NH, aiming to extract 430,000 gallons a day of the town’s water and convert it to profits.
[IMAGE: a tall robotic machine labeled “USA SPRINGS” strides down a curved road from the distance, toward a sign that reads, “Entering Nottingham”]
2. After initial approval from the town government, many residents objected on the grounds that the water bottling plant would drain the aquifer, draw pollutants into it, and damage wetlands.
[IMAGE: Angry protesters with signs. One speaks a word balloon containing a picture of a puzzled person turning on their sink tap and only getting a drip, and another picture of the robotic USA SPRINGS machine sucking water through a flexible pipe stuck in the ground. A man in a suit pilots the machine, and a rapidly-filling bag attached to the rear of the machine bears a dollar sign.]
3. Nottingham citizens worked tirelessly to learn the ins and outs of the regulatory system.
[IMAGE: Protesters trying to navigate a maze; the leader has a map and looks stressed.]
4. Unfortunately, they learned that the rights of corporations trump those of people, as their challenges were dismissed, or won and then overturned.
[IMAGE: The protesters, having reached a dead end in the maze, watch in alarm as the USA SPRINGS machine strides down a straight corridor through the center of the maze, just on the other side of the wall.]
Here’s the first page of my comic in WATER, the new Trees & Hills anthology. To read the rest, pick up a copy – it’s full of good comics!