Bottled Water = The Suck
The more I find out about bottled water and the environmental and human costs that producing bottled water incur, the more I am convinced that we – and by “we” I mean “I” – need to make some changes. Tonight I attended a meeting of my food coop and one of the items up for discussion was the proposal to stop selling bottled water at the coop. They presented some compelling evidence of just how bad the whole bottled water industry is and I was reminded of the article I’d read by Charles Fishman. After reading the article I definitely stopped buying Fiji water, in part because:
And in Fiji, a state-of-the-art factory spins out more than a million bottles a day of the hippest bottled water on the U.S. market today, while more than half the people in Fiji do not have safe, reliable drinking water. Which means it is easier for the typical American in Beverly Hills or Baltimore to get a drink of safe, pure, refreshing Fiji water than it is for most people in Fiji.
It’s hard to drink that water without tasting blood and pain. So I stopped, thinking that Poland Springs, because it traveled less miles and because I recycle was a decent compromise.
And yet . . .
Read Fishman’s article, “Message in a Bottle” and I guarantee you won’t be able to buy bottled water without at least a twinge of guild, knowing that you are contributing, even in a small way, to an industry that has profound and negative implications for us all.
I can’t say I’ll never ever ever buy bottled water again, but from tonight on, I’m going to make a concerted effort to stop supporting this industry.
Technorati Tags: bottled water, fiji, environment, sustainability, water