--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Something is very, very wrong when people…" description: "\"Something is very, very wrong when people don’t have access to drinking water, and Coke creates its market out of that scarcity.\" — Vandana Shiva" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a73/vandana-shiva-2756_access_something-is-very-very-wrong-when-people_1590138.jpg" --- # Something is very, very wrong when people don’t have… ![“Something is very, very wrong when people don’t have access to drinking water, and Coke creates its market out of that scarcity.” quote by Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a73/vandana-shiva-2756_access_something-is-very-very-wrong-when-people_1590138.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a73/vandana-shiva-2756_access_something-is-very-very-wrong-when-people_1590138.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a73/vandana-shiva-2756_access_something-is-very-very-wrong-when-people_1590138.jpg) > “Something is very, very wrong when people don’t have access to drinking water, and Coke creates its market out of that scarcity.” [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Exploiting essential resources for profit deepens inequality and harms the vulnerable. **In simple terms:** Profit over basic needs harms people. Key Takeaway Prioritize equitable resource access. Themes inequality resource exploitation environmental justice Mood critical urgent Type environmental social When to use this quote - water scarcity - corporate responsibility - policy making - community health Key Concepts sustainability social equity Questions to Reflect On - How can communities secure water rights? - What alternatives to profit‑driven water supply exist? A Different Perspective Market forces may resist regulation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Access](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/access/) [Drinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drinking/) [Drinking water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drinking-water/) [Investing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/investing/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Scarcity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scarcity/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) ## Related quotes > [There are scarcities in drinking water when you pollute the groundwater with nitrates. There is a scarcity in diversity when you create huge cornfields…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/there-are-scarcities-in-drinking-water-when-you-pollute-the/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [It’s not that Monsanto is making money out of the blue. It’s making money by coercing and literally forcing people to pay for what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/it-s-not-that-monsanto-is-making-money-out-of-the-blue-it-s-making/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [Today you have a situation where now the prescription is: People who don’t have enough money to buy food should end up paying for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/today-you-have-a-situation-where-now-the-prescription-is-people-who/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [When you take the entire system into account, ways of developing more of something in one dimension can actually create scarcities in another. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/when-you-take-the-entire-system-into-account-ways-of-developing-more/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [“Christ is born, my wise Solomon, my wretched pen-pusher! Don´t go picking things over with a needle! Is He born or isn´t He? Of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kazantsakis-nikos/christ-is-born-my-wise-solomon-my-wretched-pen-pusher-don-t-go/) Kazantsakis Nikos > [I ran on fixing the roads... I ran on cleaning up drinking water.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretchen-whitmer/i-ran-on-fixing-the-roads-i-ran-on-cleaning-up-drinking-water/) [Gretchen Whitmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretchen-whitmer/) > [“Universal Spirit may fitly be likened to the universal water, or water circulating through the whole earth. This universal water exists everywhere. It exists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kaiten-nukariya/universal-spirit-may-fitly-be-likened-to-the-universal-water-or-water/) [Kaiten Nukariya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kaiten-nukariya/) > [Astronauts living on the International Space Station will soon be getting their drinking water from a new system that recycles their urine into drinkable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-meyers/astronauts-living-on-the-international-space-station-will-soon-be/) [Seth Meyers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-meyers/) > [“At the farm, in our hut, they cooked plain rice porridge and added soy sauce for taste, which nearly rivaled the thrill of drinking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-h-lau/at-the-farm-in-our-hut-they-cooked-plain-rice-porridge-and-added-soy/) Jennifer H. Lau > [We are working on a lot of innovative ways to provide safer drinking water to the American public. Innovative financing ways.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-r-wheeler/we-are-working-on-a-lot-of-innovative-ways-to-provide-safer-drinking/) [Andrew R. Wheeler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-r-wheeler/) > [“Is there any difference between a happy and a lucky man? A happy is someone who finds an oasis with drinking water in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eraldo-banovac/is-there-any-difference-between-a-happy-and-a-lucky-man-a-happy-is/) [Eraldo Banovac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eraldo-banovac/) > [Bromates are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, but officials are required to test for them only when water leaves a treatment plant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-duhigg/bromates-are-regulated-by-the-safe-drinking-water-act-but-officials/) [Charles Duhigg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-duhigg/) > [Over and over, we have to go back to the beginning. We should not be ashamed of this. It is good. It's like drinking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-goldberg/over-and-over-we-have-to-go-back-to-the-beginning-we-should-not-be/) [Natalie Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-goldberg/) > [“We have made some collective mistakes as a species, it’s true – invested too much power in things we can’t see, let alone control.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alastair-reynolds/we-have-made-some-collective-mistakes-as-a-species-it-s-true-invested/) [Alastair Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alastair-reynolds/) > [Your zip code or your income level should not dictate your access to healthy drinking water.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-padilla/your-zip-code-or-your-income-level-should-not-dictate-your-access-to/) [Alex Padilla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-padilla/) ## More by Vandana Shiva > [We share this planet, our home, with millions of species. Justice and sustainability both demand that we do not use more resources than we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/we-share-this-planet-our-home-with-millions-of-species-justice-and/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [The enclosure of the biological and intellectual commons in this way is a real threat to the future of people everywhere because it creates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/the-enclosure-of-the-biological-and-intellectual-commons-in-this-way/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [Ecofeminism is a good term for distinguishing a feminism that is ecological from the kind of feminisms that have become extremely technocratic. I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/ecofeminism-is-a-good-term-for-distinguishing-a-feminism-that-is/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [In the seed and the soil, we find the answers to every one of the crises we face. The crises of violence and war.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/in-the-seed-and-the-soil-we-find-the-answers-to-every-one-of-the/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [We could replace people with fossil fuels, have higher and higher levels of industrialization, of agriculture, of production, without thinking of the green-house gases…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/we-could-replace-people-with-fossil-fuels-have-higher-and-higher/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [Nobody defines it as something women shouldn't be doing. 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With patents on seed, an illegitimate legal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/i-describe-what-is-happening-as-food-fascism-because-this-system-can/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [My mother was a tremendous woman. I was just cleaning up old trunks and I found a book with her notes written during the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/my-mother-was-a-tremendous-woman-i-was-just-cleaning-up-old-trunks/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [Patriarchy is based on appropriating rights and leaving responsibility to others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/patriarchy-is-based-on-appropriating-rights-and-leaving/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [The poorest of families, the poorest of children, are subsidizing the growth of the largest agribusinesses in the world. I think it’s time we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/the-poorest-of-families-the-poorest-of-children-are-subsidizing-the/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [Water must be free for sustenance needs. Since nature gives water to us free of cost, buying and selling it for profit violates our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/water-must-be-free-for-sustenance-needs-since-nature-gives-water-to/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [The abuse of the Earth is the ecological crisis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/the-abuse-of-the-earth-is-the-ecological-crisis/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) [Explore all 151 Vandana Shiva quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) ## More Access quotes > [Conservatism is not about leaving people behind. 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