Going Green Tip of the Week

Green Tip of the Week:

Avoid drinking bottled water

When discussing the reasons people should avoid bottled water I often here the argument "Why, I recycle?"  Well, as you probably already know, there are a slew of problems with bottled water and only one of them deals with recycling.  Studies have indicated the materials used to make the bottles can leach into your water and poison you, it takes a ton of oil to produce the plastic bottle, it also takes a ton of oil to transport the water, often times it is the same tap water that you can get at home, it is much more expensive than tap water & sadly they rarely get recycled (which by the way also takes a ton more energy to do).  All of this can be avoided by making the conscious decision to use your reusable water bottle.  If you are interested in learning more about bottled water and you have not seen the movie "Tapped" I highly recommend it.  You wouldn't think a movie about bottled water could be so engaging, but it is. 

But, it is more than just not purchasing bottled water.....

Last school year I decided I would no longer purchase bottled water and I haven't done so since then :).  However, later in the year I was inspired to totally avoid drinking bottled water too.  A colleague of mine, who is much more environmentally savvy than me, made the point that he doesn't buy bottled water or drink it even when it is provided for free at a gathering.  I got the buying part, but had not really thought about the stronger stance of not even consuming it when it was provided at meetings, parties, races, etc.  It took me some time (I'm a bit slow to change), but I have since come on board with this idea also.  The more you reduce consumption, the greater the reduction in demand.  And really, can't I just bring my water bottle with me to the meeting.   

So, please ditch the bottled water (in the recycling bin of course!) and get out (or buy) those reusable bpa free bottles.

P.S. I also understand that there are times when we must use bottled water, but wouldn't it be great if those were the only times.