Even MORE reasons not to drink bottled water
By Karina | September 15, 2008
As if you needed it, I came across even more reasons not to drink bottled water! The National Geographic has a great page (ostensibly for kids) detailing the issues of water and plastic bottles it’s commonly bought in. Check out these two really illustrative examples of why NOT to drink bottled water:
But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.
Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.
A MILLION CARS for TWELVE MONTHS? talk about a new and wild way to achieve energy independence – I’m not sure what the ratio would be, but how about this: everyone has to fill up their tires to the required pressure, drive at or near the speed limit in an efficient car, and oh, also? how about we ditch the plastic water bottles. A MILLION CARS. TWELVE MONTHS.
Plus we should really point out that plastics recycling is really downcycling – you’ll never get the quality of plastic out of it as you had originally before discarding. As Ask Pablo says: “It is important to remember that “recycle” is the third of the 3 R’s for a reason.” Remember to reduce and reuse first!
Also as an aside – National Geographic has a great on-line magazine called The Green Guide. I’ve been getting their newsletter and I really enjoy the variety of topics they cover.
[image from flickr user ChrisM70 via creative commons license]
Topics: Waste | 13 Comments »
Check it: “Despite massive discounting, brands like Aquafina and Poland Spring are experiencing a sales drought unlike any the category has ever seen. After almost a decade of triple and then double-digit growth, sales volume grew less than 1% for the first half of the year..”
This is tempered by the news (posted in the comments on that thread by Elizabeth Royte) that “the enhanced water category has grown enormously: up 18.4 percent during the same period.” Which sucks. But I’m heartened that that eventually inroads can be made within this category, just like it’s been made with plain old bottled water.
I recently got into a conversation with a water bottle-drinking friend who said, “Oh, no, people always forget to reuse their water bottles, but I reuse my bottles all the time.” I said, “No, people always forget to reduce using their water bottles. It’s REDUCE, Reuse, Recycle.” And to add on to what Ask Pablo says– that’s why “reduce” comes first in the triumvirate of eco-friendly verbs that begin with R.
And now I know I can say it’s “downcycling” when you recycle plastic bottles. I love eco-fun words! Thanks, Tiny Choices, for expanding my 3Rs lexicon!
As I understand it, there were originally 4 R’s when it was first marketed in the 70′s. The first R was REFUSE – as in – refuse the extra packaging, refuse the free toy with your meal, refuse to buy the bottle of water, and drink from the hose. I guess the first R didn’t go down so well with big industry, so let’s spread the first and most important R message along.
Jenny, that is truly a GREAT message to spread. I LOVE confusing cashiers when I say “No bag. I’ll carry it. Thanks!”. Let them know I don’t want it. If we could refuse more and more, it would send a bigger message and make such a great impact!
I get very strange looks carrying my grocery bags in the mall. Talk about a fashion statement!!! It’s awesome.
Once plastic is made, it never, ever leaves our earth. And once a water bottle is made, it isn’t recycled into a new bottle…it can only be recycled into a lower form…like fleece. So, amen to Pablo! This is an enormous waste of our natural resources! It’s not just oil that we’re wasting. I’ve read different reports that cite it takes as much water to produce a bottle as there is in the bottle.
Did you know that, as of today, as a country we have thrown away 91 BILLION beverage containers this year. (According to the Container Recycling Institute.) That’s not recycled – that’s trashed. The introduction and marketing of sports drinks, vitamin waters, iced teas has had a very negative impact on our environment.
All this aside, consider how much tap water you can buy for the cost of a case of water! It just makes sense to use a recyclable metal reusable bottle!
I love love love love love my wholefoods shopping bags. A dollar each and made of 80% post-consumer plastic drink bottles. That is a better solution to what’s already been made. Now we have to stop future production and consumption of these plastic evils. :)
… And I do love my Sigg metal reusable bottle!
I love mine, too! You’re right – it’s a better solution! I use mine for everything – not just groceries!
I am just about the same way… where I go shopping, the reusable bags come in too, and they do draw some funny looks sometimes! ehaehae
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