... and not a drop to drink
In addition to a great article about Al Gore (and his pic on the cover), last month's issue of FastCompany had a huge article on the massive quantities of bottled water we drink in this country: the amount of money wasted in the process; the damage we're doing to the environment by trucking it around everywhere; and the irony of buying those neat square bottles of Fiji water when half of the nation of Fiji doesn't have potable water. Here's the quote that got me:
Clearly the issue is starting to get some traction. Of course, the Bottled Water Association is unhappy, as you would expect them to be. They feel like they are being unfairly targeted.
Go ahead, take the Bottled Water quiz, to see if you're really paying attention. ;)
If the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000.The article came out just as Coke and Pepsi 'revealed' that their own bottled waters, Dasani and Aquafina, are just filtered tap water. I have to say, the FC article really made an impact on me. When I do buy bottles of water, I re-use them for a week or more before I recycle them. I look for recycling bins everywhere I go now, and am always surprised when I go to an event (or a house) in Austin where there's no recycling bin. It really hit us at work last week, when we ran out of the giant bottles of water, and had to resort to drinking -- gasp! -- tap water! Honestly. Tap water is fine. I grew up on DC water, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with me. [no comments from the peanut gallery, please!]
Clearly the issue is starting to get some traction. Of course, the Bottled Water Association is unhappy, as you would expect them to be. They feel like they are being unfairly targeted.
"If the debate is about the impact of plastic packaging on the environment, a narrow focus on bottled water spotlights only a small portion of the packaged beverage category and an even smaller sliver of the universe of packaged products," he said.I wonder if Dasani and Aquafina sales will drop because of the whole "public water source" flap?
Go ahead, take the Bottled Water quiz, to see if you're really paying attention. ;)
Comments
a much more useful comparison is that bottled water costs much more than gas.
Their not that hard to install, either.
Luckily my parents' house was far enough out of the city that they had water from another source. My in-laws never could drink straight from the tap. Nothing a Brita filter couldn't fix, though. I couldn't even stand to use ice made from unfiltered water when I lived at/near Baylor.
According to my father-in-law, the Waco water has been smelling strongly of bleach lately. Apparently they're cleaning the treatment plant, though no one remembers this ever happening before. The official word it it's fine to drink, but who would want to? He won't even give it to the cat (I wouldn't either!).