I’ve always cared about the environment. So has my husband Danny, however as of late, we are much more earth conscience. I’m not certain when our transformation began or why….but it’s becoming an everyday thought.
Recently Danny has had plastic water bottles on his mind. Of course they are full of allegedly “fresh clean” water and are convenient, but they are horrible for the environment. Unless people recycle (and many people still don’t), these bottles end up in landfills where they take forever to break down. When they do break down, their toxic remnants are left in our soil and water. Essentially buying this "purified" water leads to the destruction of our tap water.
Another fact that makes me cringe is that the typical plastic bottle of water costs approximately 300 times more than tap water. Who can afford to pay 300 times the amount for anything in an already horrible economy?!
Approximately a billion people around the world are not as fortunate as us. They do not have the luxury of choosing between safe tap water or outrageously priced bottled water that is supposedly from Fiji. Instead of buying that Fijian water, that extra money could go to making sure everyone has access to clean safe water.
Some other facts about bottled water that you may find interesting are: It takes something like 1.5 million barrels of oil to produce the plastic water bottles made in America in one year, which can fuel 100,000 cars for a year. Don’t get me started on BPA.
Danny said every time he has to buy a bottle of water he cringes. Not that we buy them often, we mostly do if we are away from home and thirsty. Still, I feel bad too. If I filled up my water bottle with a quarter of oil, that’s how much it would take to produce that single bottle.
My tree hugging husband discussed his concerns with me and decided that we should buy aluminum or stainless steel water bottles. His other concern is that buying aluminum bottles is “trendy.” He doesn’t want to look like (for lack of a better word) a “tool.” I replied, “Some trends are good.” Still not convinced, he went on to explain that he doesn’t want to do something just because everyone else is doing it…blah blah blah. Basically, he is not trying to be all eco-crazy, but if it’s not too extreme and better for the environment, then he will do it. Still unsure about this “trend,” I told him “It’s okay to care about the world.” Reassured that he was still a manly man, he was off to the store to buy some metalish bottles.
Maybe a study will come out saying this new trend is also bad for the world. Maybe someone will call Danny a tool and he will go back to plastic …or he will hit them with his stainless steel bottle. Whatever the case, we are trying, trying to take care of the earth we live in, trying to conserve water because everyone needs it, and trying to do the right thing. We aren’t perfect in our quest, but our hearts are in the right place.
Check out these articles for other fun bottled water facts:
source: http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=18
http://food.change.org/blog/view/cities_cut_spending_on_bottled_water
blogactionday.change.org
I really hope that Danny hits someone with the steal bottle. "I'll show you a tool!"
ReplyDeleteI see you got the widget to work. I could not get it to attach to my post.
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