Think Outside of the Bottle
Posted on October 19, 2007
Filed Under Action |
So, today it is raining in the mountains. Sweet tears of the heavens!
Being that I’m a water element (Cancer), I definitely feel at home in large quantities of dihydrogen monoxide. I’ve always enjoyed boating, water-skiing, and plenty of surfing from early on in life. I learned to respect the power of nature from many bodies of water, throughout my short time on earth, having also nearly drowned twice; water is deadly serious.
I’ve had other dramatic (and all completely voluntary) interactions with water along life’s path as well, from jumping out of trees at points approaching fifty or sixty feet high into rivers below, to sliding down twenty feet or so of near vertical slippery rock into a few feet of water at a place called Widow’s Creek Falls in Stone Mountain State Park, North Carolina…
Head first.
I love water, and I trust it to take care of me and my family, from quenching my thirst, to washing interesting mixtures of fruit spreads and bread crumbs off the faces of my kids, to watering my wife’s micro gardens and houseplants. Of course, I also trust the water to gently break my fall when behaving like the hillbilly daredevil that I am.
So yeah, gotta love good ol H2O. Yay for water!
What I don’t love however, is bottled water. Bottled water is problematic on a number of fronts, and for a multitude of reasons.
Dear reader:
If there is one thing I would ask of you on this fine Friday, from atop my little soapbox, amidst the gorgeous North Carolina mountains’ Fall colors, it would be to strongly reconsider ever drinking another bottle of the stuff.
- In a nutshell, here are a some of the reasons why I do not drink bottled water, and why I have even signed the Think Outside of the Bottle Pledge to show my commitment to consuming water from other sources, such as wells and public drinking water:
- Corporations are commoditizing a naturally occurring resource humans require for survival: Consumers have been duped into helping make bottled water an accepted norm. Next they’ll be happily paying extremely ridiculous prices just to breathe. Case in point: 7-11 Japan sells canned air for breathing, as an energy booster…it’s flavored even, but I’m sure that will soon change…
- Convenience costs us dearly: Bottled water is largely a convenience item, and therefore consumed while on-the-go. Can you guess where the majority of bottles from water consumed this way end up? Yup- in the trash. Recycle on that for a minute…
- Oil is at $90.00 per barrel now and plastic doesn’t grow on trees. Last year, energy use equivalent to 17 million barrels of oil was used just to make the bottles. Oil is used in every aspect of producing and distributing bottled water.
- There’s no difference whatsoever: The fact that some water was trucked in from the island of Fiji, Iceland, or some other exotic locale does not make it taste one bit better, or add any properties to the water that are worth the total cost in dollars and impact on our little home planet here, people. Don’t believe the hype!
- It is a scam : Do you recognize when someone’s ripping you off? Well, here’s the rub with the bottled-water rip-off in the United States, anyway: The major players in the bottled water industry are all soft drink vendors. They looked at their raw materials one day: municipal tap water and a proprietary blend of crap syrup, and thought with glee, Wow! we could probably sell the tap water with syrup or without! Boy, were they ever right, and what’s more, they’ve even created two distinct markets: the unhealthy syrup chuggers, and the health-conscious water sippers. So, you’re drinking a soft drink without the syrup in many cases- there’s nothing special about the water, not the bottle, not the label, and not even the place where you bought it.
Well then, what’s a water lover to do? Easy:
- Stop drinking bottled water. Take the Think Outside of the Bottle Pledge and remain committed to sustainable drinking water solutions.
- Establish a sustainable solution. Get a reusable water bottle, and fill it when needed. Forget about convenience, and add a few minutes of extra effort into your day that will result in much larger savings for us all.
- Educate and share: Try to explain the negative effects of bottled water to others compassionately, and encourage them to strongly consider switching, too.
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