We live in a class-conscious era, where phrases such as "Eat the Rich" are common and alleged killers of corporate CEOs turn into folk heroes. Members of the elite class have always loved to flaunt their riches, but as the wealth gap in the United States grows beyond even Gilded Age standards and evidence of our burning planet is ever-constant, such ostentation has curdled in the public imagination.
Enter this report on Nancy Walton Laurie, heiress to the Walmart fortune, which was recently posted on the Environmentalism subreddit. Per the article's headline, Laurie "has a home in L.A. so vast that it alone guzzles 2.3 million gallons of water every year, more than the annual usage of 76 American households combined."
The report discusses other aspects of her lavish lifestyle, but the exorbitant water usage is particularly eye-catching and infuriating, especially in Los Angeles, as the city as well as California have a well-documented history of water troubles.
Unsurprisingly, climate activists had already taken notice of Laurie's troubling consumption habits and put her on notice in response. In 2023, several people from the Spanish environmentalist group Futuro Vegetal defaced her superyacht by spray-painting messages such as "Billionaires should not exist" and "You consume, others suffer."
Though likely aware of such injustices generally given their presence on the page, Redditors were outraged about the specifics and scope of Laurie's environmental violations.
"Like 6,000 gallons a DAY? In L.A.?!? Pitchfork time," one top comment read.
"I live in the UK and I've checked my bill, I use 25 US gallons a day," another user wrote. "6300 gallons a day, what are they doing?"
Someone else responded, "Short answer is of course: being absurd."
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