Go Green: Say NO to Bottled Water

Go Green: Say NO to Bottled Water

I've never really been into bottled water. I can't see paying for something that I can get for practically nothing from my sink. A few months ago I watched a documentary called Tapped and it really opened my eyes to the dirty business that is bottled water. After all the research I've done, it's become so important to me, so here I am trying to spread the word.

Bottled water usually is tap water. Companies such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi often buy municipal water. They pay next to nothing, and then go into towns and cities and drain the lakes. If there is a drought and a community is under water restriction, these companies will keep pumping. Often, by the time they are done, there is nothing left.

Water is bottled and sold back to the consumer for 1,900 times the cost of tap. It costs an average of $2.00 per liter of bottled water; it costs an average of $0.0005 per liter of tap water.

Many people argue that bottled water tastes better and is cleaner. This is not true. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) requires public water suppliers to test their water for contaminants several times a day. You can count on your water being tested an average of 4 times each day. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) requires that bottled water only be tested once a week or once each year, depending on the contaminant. A study of the 10 most popular brands of bottled water found an average of 8 contaminants including arsenic, nitrate, Tylenol, and industrial chemicals. As far as bottled water tasting better, I believe that this is usually psychological. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but the truth is that bottled water and tap water are often one in the same and some bottled water may not ever receive treatment.

The process of making bottles for water is unhealthy. Every year, 1.5 million barrels of oil are used to makes bottles. The process releases toxic compounds such as nickel, ethylbenzene, and ethyleneoxide into the air. The communities where bottled water plants are located have staggering rates of cancer. The residents can't even sell their homes because no one else wants to live near these plants.

Bottled water isn't good for the people who drink it either. The plastic used for bottles contains BPA and phthalates. BPA is linked to reproductive and neurological damage and cancer. Phthalates mimic hormones in your body. Exposure to phthalates may cause brain damage, hyperactivity, and cancer, including prostate cancer.

One more negative effect of bottled water is that the bottles are thrown away where they end up in landfills or the ocean. Only about 20% of water bottles are recycled. Between California and Hawaii, there is a mass of trash floating in the ocean known as the Great Garbage Patch. It contains about 3.5 million tons of trash and is roughly the size of Texas. Most of this garbage is plastic.

The good news is that 90% of tap water in the United States is safe to drink. Your municipality is legally required to share the results of tests on public water, so feel free to ask for it. If you feel that your tap water is unclean, buy a filter. Ultimately it would be ideal to buy a reverse osmosis system, which removes the fluoride from your water. In the long run, it is a better investment than continuing to buy bottled water. There are too many negative effects of bottled water, so please, just say NO.

College students push to restrict bottled water

By Jenna Johnson, Published: April 30

Bottled water: It’s a vending machine’s healthy alternative to sugary soda, a convenient way to hydrate on the go and, lately, a total faux pas on many college campuses.

Some environmentally gung-ho students are not only glaring at those who choose to chug from disposable bottles — rather than earthy-friendly reusable containers — they are also pushing for restrictions on bottled water sales on campus.

At the University of Maryland College Park, students have persuaded the undergraduate and graduate student governments to stop buying bottled water for their meetings and events. Now they serve large pitchers of tap water.

Washington University in St. Louis has adopted an all-out ban in the hope of alleviating the waste going into landfills. The president of University of Mary Washington in Virginia forbade spending school funds on bottled water. Goucher College in Baltimore removed bottled water from its dining halls and campus eateries, but not its bookstore and vending machines.

Proposed restrictions often are met with opposition and caution. Some administrators say they want to avoid discouraging water consumption, especially when students can become dehydrated while playing intramural sports (or drinking games). And there’s the ongoing fight against the Freshman 15: If a student is standing at a vending machine, a bottle of water is usually the least-fattening option.

“It’s definitely a complex issue,” said Aynsley Toews, coordinator of the U-Md. Office of Sustainability and a member of a task force looking at other possible restrictions. Already the group has heard concerns about the university losing money from bottled water sales and not keeping its students properly hydrated. “Then there’s flavored water, there’s vitamin water. What do you do with those?”

Similar concerns are echoed by the industry. “You are telling people not to drink water? Holy mackerel,” said Tom Lauria, a spokesman for the International Bottled Water Association. “It’s odd that colleges would look to ban a healthy, legal product.”

Even some environmentalists worry bans could alienate students who are just starting to warm to eco-friendly ideas such as running fewer loads of laundry. When DePauw University in Indiana contemplated a bottle ban in 2010, an opposition group popped up on Facebook, where one student wrote, “guess the next logical thing is to make meatless mondays official. this is ridiculous.”

Americans purchased 8.45 billion gallons of bottled water in 2009. Environmentalists say resources are wasted on producing and transporting bottles of water when most people could receive the same product — for far less money — from their kitchen faucet. Each year about 50 billion water bottles end up in landfills, according to estimates.

Rallying against bottled water has become a cause for college environmental groups in the past few years, especially with the popularity of “Tapped,” a documentary about the bottled water industry.

While bans remain controversial, many colleges are instead trying to make it easier for students to pick refillable bottles over throwaway ones. They are also educating students about recycling and how their several-bottles-a-day habit quickly piles up in a landfill.

Often that means building a giant sculpture made up of thrown-away water bottles. At Maryland, a group of students spent two hours pulling bottles out of trash cans to construct its five-foot-tall plastic statue of a water bottle. At Penn State University, students opted to spell out the word “NO” in collected bottles. (Lauria and water bottle proponents, meanwhile, note that their bottles are the single most recycled item in curbside programs.)

Many schools have also installed “refilling stations” that filter tap water and are easier to use than traditional water fountains. The University of the District of Columbia is in the process of installing “hydration stations” in all of its buildings, while American University is upgrading 100 water fountains to include a bottle-friendly faucet.

American also gives each incoming student a free, reusable water bottle at orientation, and a few times a year the sustainability director hosts a blind-taste test of an array of water options — including tap, filtered and several bottled varieties. The goal is not to limit the number of options students have, but to make reusable bottles the hippest choice, said Chris O’Brien, American’s director of sustainability.

“It’s cool to have a refillable water bottle,” he said. “It’s not cool to be seen with a product that produces greenhouse gases and is not sustainable.”

Bottled Water Is Not The Answer

Most people who drink bottled water do so mainly for convenience, but there are those who believe that bottled water is healthy.  What they may not know is that the bottled water industry is NOT regulated by the federal government because it is classified as a “food” and falls under the standards of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

So while tap water from our faucet is regulated by the stricter Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the FDA’s water regulations are not as strict – and they regulate the bottled water industry.  So while you could have bottled water that is unacceptable by the EPA, it could be just fine for the FDA and your local water bottling company.

Amazingly, bottled water is not tested for Cryptosporidium (a parasite) even though a 1999 study by the NRDC stated that 1 out of 5 (20%) bottled water tests contained higher than acceptable bacterial counts.

But, even with the FDA’s low standards, most corporations don’t comply with the FDA’s regulations concerning bottled water.  In fact, 60 – 70% of these corporations avoid any federal regulation at all, simply by bottling and distributing their water within the same state.  As long as they don’t cross state lines, they are exempt from all federal regulations.

As a child, when we heard that in the future water would be sold in little containers and cost more than gasoline, we thought that was beyond ridiculous!   Yet, here we are, 40 years later, paying over a dollar for 16 ounces of water in a plastic bottle (There are eight 16 ounce servings in one gallon x $1 each  = $8 per gallon).

And that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the true cost of bottled water.  If you’re an environmentally conscious person, then you may already be aware that Americans are throwing out 2.5 million bottles per hour!  Please read that again – 2.5 million bottles per HOUR!

So, it is doubtful that we have reduced the size of the Pacific Garbage Patch which was twice the size of Texas when it was first discovered over 10 years ago.

Keep in mind that the Pacific Garbage Patch is only ONE of EIGHT of these floating landfills found around the world.  In 1975, a study showed that we were throwing 8 million pounds of plastic into our oceans annually.  Again, it is doubtful that this has been reduced in the last 35 years.

So, where does it all end?  How can we stop this madness?  Well, you can eliminate the use and disposal of plastic water bottles from YOUR own home entirely and provide your family with the healthy, purified water they deserve with a home water filtration system.

NOTE: Try out a glass water bottle, like the free one you will get when you order your water filter system from Aquasana.

Water bottles have a number stamped on the bottom of them inside a triangle.  Most water bottles come with the #1, which means it’s made from polyethylene terephthalate.  Phthalates  are plasticizers can leach out of the plastic and into your water.

These compounds are called “xenoestrogens” and they mimic estrogen causing the body to become more dominant in estrogen. Estrogen dominance can cause conditions like endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and infertility.

Phthalates are cancer-causing after long term use, most specifically with reproductive organs.    Usually, the harder the plastic, the higher the number on the bottom and the safer the plastic. The plastic used for bottled water is the least safest of all plastic containers.

So, how would you like your water served today?

free water on tap at all London bus and rail stations

Exempt: tube stations which get notoriously hot will not get the tap water vending machines due to logistical problems

Free water on tap at all London bus and rail stations

Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent
10 Jun 2008 

Tap water vending machines could be installed in Tube and rail stations across London.

They would allow commuters to refill their water bottles, either for free or for a small charge, under plans announced by Thames Water today.

Andrea Riding, community liaison executive for the company, said: "There is a real momentum behind tap water but for people on the go it is a real problem. These machines would allow every rail and Tube station to offer free, chilled tap water.

"I think we have seen a real sea change in the attitude of Londoners to bottled water and now we hope we can bring that choice to people on the move as well."

She said Thames Water was in negotiations with several large agencies, includingTransport for London, about the scheme.

Mrs Riding continued: "We would hope that a company like TfL would run the operation and we think the machines would be a welcome addition to every Tube and bus station.

"It's something that will appeal to everyone, as you can simply fill a bottle on your way to work, then again on your way home."

The vending machines require a power socket and a connection to the water mains. They filter and chill the water and are also capable of selling reusable water bottles. Mrs Riding said the company was hopeful of winning the support of Boris Johnson, adding: "We worked with Ken Livingstone on this idea, so we are hopeful the new mayor will back it as well.

"There would be a nominal charge of perhaps 20p per half litre to cover the cost and upkeep of the machine but we are hopeful that a major sponsor could be attracted.

"The sponsor could have their advert on the machines and bottles and that way it should be possible to offer free tap water to everyone."

The announcement of the project comes in the wake of the Evening Standard's Water On Tap campaign, which aims to reduce the amount of bottled water Londoners consume because it is environmentally unfriendly.

More than 3,000 restaurants, bars and clubs in London have signed up by pledging to offer their customers free tap water alongside bottled.

The public's perception of bottled water is also changing. Shop sales fell by nine per cent to £284million in the year to March, according to independent retail analysts TNS.

Bottled Water Doesn't Always Taste Better

Bottled Water Doesn't Always Taste Better

In blind taste tests, consumers often cannot tell the difference between bottled and tap water, or between expensive bottled water and cheaper brands.

Different waters have different tastes, depending on the natural minerals found in them. But blind taste test after blind taste test has shown that bottled water is not consistently preferred over tap water.

Credit: istockphoto

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-204_162-10005070-6.html#ixzz1K1cRnnmB

U.S. lowers limits for fluoride in water ~ all the more reason to use #tapwater!

Health officials said Americans get fluoride in so many sources now, such as toothpaste and mouth rinses, that it makes sense to lower levels in water.


from an article at Mother Nature Network

HEALTHY SMILES: Water in the United States has been fluoridated since 1945 and the CDC says 196 million Americans get "optimally fluoridated community water." Experts estimate it cuts the rate of cavities by 40 percent to 60 percent. (Photo: jupiterimages)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Government officials lowered recommended limits for fluoride in water on Friday, saying some children may be getting tooth damage from too much.

 

Fluoride is added to the water supply in most communities because it can prevent and repair tooth decay. But health and environment officials said Americans get fluoride in so many sources now, such as toothpaste and mouth rinses, that it makes sense to lower levels.

 

The Environmental Protection Agency and Health and Human Services Department lowered their recommended levels to 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water — the lower limit of the current recommended range of 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams.

 

Communities add fluoride to water on a voluntary basis. Doctors and dentists recommend it because it can help protect children's teeth that have not yet broken through the gums.

 

"There are several reasons for this change, including that Americans have access to more sources of fluoride than they did when water fluoridation was first introduced in the United States," the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.

 

It said the EPA did a risk assessment study on whether some children may now get too much fluoride. The study concluded that some children under the age of 8 may be overexposed to fluoride at least occasionally because of their high fluid intake compared to their body weight or because of high natural levels of fluoride in their local drinking water.

 

Too much fluoride can cause a change in the enamel on teeth called dental fluorosis. More than 90 percent of cases appear as white spots on the tooth but in very severe cases it can pit the enamel.

 

"Excessive consumption of fluoride over a lifetime may increase the likelihood of bone fractures and may result in effects on bone leading to pain and tenderness, a condition called skeletal fluorosis," the CDC said. "Severe skeletal fluorosis is a rare condition in the United States."

 

Water in the United States has been fluoridated since 1945 and the CDC says 196 million Americans get "optimally fluoridated community water." Experts estimate it cuts the rate of cavities by 40 percent to 60 percent.

 

The CDC estimates every $1 invested in fluoridating public water supplies saves $38 in dental treatment costs.

 

"Nestle running scared"

 Bottle ban argument doesn’t hold water: Nestlé

 from InsideHalton.com

I read with interest the article written by Tina Depko that appeared in the Nov. edition of the Burlington Post, entitled, Thirsty? Try the tap.

In the piece, Ms. Depko quotes City of Burlington diversion co-ordinator Sean Kenney about a number of matters related to bottled water that require correction.

Mr. Kenney states that Burlington’s decision to ban the sale of bottled water in its facilities will divert thousands of single-use water bottles from landfill and reduce greenhouse gas emissions created through manufacturing and transporting single-use water bottles.

He further states that about 60 per cent of these bottles are being diverted from landfill. Beyond the fact that Stewardship Ontario reports that the diversion rate in Halton Region for plastic beverage containers is about 82 per cent, a 2009 City of Vancouver report put this entire matter in proper perspective when staff there wrote that, “The environmental costs of bottled water include the effects of bulk water removal, the life cycle of the bottles and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the transportation of the beverage. With the exception of bulk water removal, these costs are associated with any packaged beverage. The availability of bottled water in civic facilities is limited and represents only a tiny fraction of the market. It is unlikely that its elimination will have a significant impact in terms of reducing solid waste and greenhouse gases.”

Mr. Kenney’s lament that the diversion rate for plastic water bottles is less than 10 per cent in city facilities could have been dealt with at no cost to Burlington taxpayers had council accepted the Canadian beverage industry’s offer last year to host a pilot public spaces recycling program. Similar industry-led pilots in Manitoba, Quebec, Sarnia, Niagara Region and Halifax have yielded diversion rates well above 80 per cent, on average, and as high as 97 per cent.

Mr. Kenney’s statement that bans on bottled water are “happening all over the place” is incorrect.

Burlington is among just 25 municipalities in Canada that have banned the sale of bottled water in their facilities over the last five years. Over the last three years, 102 local governments across the country have formally rejected resolutions to ban the sale of bottled water in their facilities. Most telling, however, is the fact that several thousand local jurisdictions across Canada have determined that there are more important matters to attend to than considering bans on bottled water, like repairing aging water and sewer infrastructure, maintaining and/or improving local service delivery and keeping taxes low.

Most astonishing is Mr. Kenney’s statement that, “At Beachway Park, we’re still going to sell bottled water because people do need to drink water, especially in hot weather.”

On this point, we agree. But it begs the question, don’t Burlington residents need to drink water at any other city facilities, especially in hot weather?

John B. Challinor II,  Nestlé Waters Canada

Editor’s note: The Polaris Institute in Ottawa told the Post Tuesday that there are 81 municipalities in Canada that have banned the sale of bottled water at their facilities. 

The Most Expensive Tap Water on Earth?

 Bottled water comes only from pristine streams, right? Not necessarily.

In fact, nearly half of all bottled water is reprocessed tap water, sold at prices up to 3,000 times higher than consumers pay for tap water. And even before the additional processing, the water meets federal water-quality standards.

From CBS news

Bottled Water: 10 Shockers "They" don't want you to know

American tap water? It's considered some of the safest in the world. Yet countless Americans shun the stuff that flows from faucets and fountains and buy bottled water instead.

What's really in the stuff and why does it cost 3,000 times more than tap?

Here Dr. Peter Gleick, the author of "Bottled and Sold: 

The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water," shares 10 of the most shocking facts about bottled water.

from CBS news

HOW BOTTLED WATER IS CHEAP

 I’m walking the Larapinta Trail. It runs west from Alice Springs, out along the Macdonnell Ranges for over 200 km. It is a privilege to be doing this; to be passing through this country day after day, and everywhere, all the time, I am conscious of how fragile life is. For a flower, a bird, a lizard, a tree to survive here is a little bit of a miracle. My own survival is also precarious – much more so than I realize when I am in the city. A sprained ankle, a snake bight, a wrong turn in the trail could finish me off.

And then there is water. Sometimes I have t walk 35 km between water sources. For two days, I need to carry at least 8 litres – 8 kilograms – of water on my back. And I am reliant on there being water in the hole or the tank at the other end. If it does not, I am again just a whisker away from dying.

In truth, it is the same in the city. I rely on being able to turn on the tap, and I never think that water will not come out. But if it didn’t, if I could not get water, I would die in a few days. This is how important Water is to our lives. It is what we are made of, more than any other substance.

Out here in the desert I am much more aware of how important it is, how perhaps only air is more immediate to my survival. Water – simple, mostly unnoticed – is really a treasure beyond almost anything else in value. It is priceless, yet it is free. And it is free also in spirit – it moves through this earth like Gaia’s lifeblood. It runs, falls, rises, flows. It is almost a perfect metaphor for purity and vitality and freedom.

When we put water into a plastic bottle, all this is lost. It becomes a commodity that some have and others do not. It is poisoned with PCP’s and other chemicals. It is held – still and lifeless and contained – its qualities of life completely suppressed.

Out here in the desert, where the real value of water has meaning, it is easy to see that the whole story of water has been terribly cheapened and twisted by the process of commodification.  This is the spiritual travesty of bottled water – so hard to see in the city, where everything has its price, but so simple and obvious in the desert where nothing has value like water.

Unbottled water – let your water be free.

Why Would You Choose Bottled Water?

from an article at: Green Energy News

Nowadays, most people probably agree that we need to drink plenty of water in order to stay healthy, avoid dehydration and to function efficiently. The exact quantity of water that you need will vary according to your body mass and size, climatic conditions you find yourself in and the level of physical activity in which you are engaged. However, most medical authorities currently suggest that your daily water intake should be between six and eight large glasses of water.
This perfectly sound medical advice has been one factor used in the advertising campaigns of bottled water suppliers to very effectively market their product. The bottled water market is relatively new – but it is very large. Consumer demand for bottled water more than doubled between 1997 and 2005, and over 200 billion bottles of water are sold worldwide per annum.
That’s a massive amount of empty bottles being thrown away. Some – a little less than a quarter of the total according to current statistics – are recycled. The rest end up as landfill. The environmental consequences are significant. If all of those empty bottles were aligned end to end, they would span a distance covered long enough to get to the moon and back – 56 times!
The amount of carbon emissions involved, both in the production of the bottles and the transportation of the finished product, is also worthy of consideration. It’s an amazing fact that the production of the bottles uses three times as much water as the bottles contain when they are shipped.
Bottled water is, simply put, an environmental disaster. Of course, it’s not out of the question that you may be more worried about your own health than that of the planet – which may well be understandable in many cases. The problem with this logic is that there is absolutely no evidence that bottled water is better for your health than common or garden tap water.
Tap water in North America and Europe is perfectly safe to drink and is subject to stringent checks. Some bottled water has been found to contain traces of uranium and estrogen chemicals. Some of the chemicals found in bottled water are as a result of “leeching” from the plastic (PET) bottles. It’s also established that many bottled waters contain, along with other minerals, salt – which is not very good for your blood pressure.
The only reason you might conceivably be tempted to use bottled water would be the taste. However, in blind taste tests most consumers are unable to tell the difference between bottled water and tap water. Of course, if your house is in a hard water area, or if you just don’t like the taste of your tap water (perhaps due to chlorine which is often used by the water supplier to kill bacteria) you may wish to evluate other alternatives.
You could consider using a home filtration system – which will be better for the environment, better for your health and very much cheaper than bottled water. You can install whole house filtration systems, under sink filters. All of these solutions will remove contaminants, enhance taste and reduce water hardness in a manner which is environmentally friendly.

More Reasons to Stop Drinking Bottled Water

 from Peter Gleick at fast company

World renowned water expert Peter Gleick has a new book--released in May 2010--outlining the scientific evidence that bottled water use in the U.S. has become unsustainable. The book is called Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind our Obsession with Bottled Water.

Peter Gleick: Twenty five years ago in the United States, each American probably drank a gallon of bottled water a year, on average. Today it's up to 30.

Gleick told EarthSky that--every second in the U.S.--we consume about 1,000 bottles of water. He spoke of the tremendous amount of fuel burned in order to make and transport these bottles, most of which ultimately end up in a landfill.

We did an estimate at the Pacific Institute that if you calculate the energy requirement of making all of the bottles that are consumed the United States in a year, it's on the order of 17 or 18 million barrels of oil equivalent.

He said there are lesser known environmental impacts of bottled water--such as groundwater depletion. He talked about visiting a bottled water facility in California.

It turns out that the source of that water is a desert spring up in a remote canyon in the deserts near Palm Springs. The more water you take out, the less water you have for flow in the springs, the less the rare desert ecosystems have to survive. And that sort of problem is being repeated around the country.

And around the world. He said the global consumption of bottled water is about 40 billion gallons a year. But that's not his biggest concern.

Probably my biggest concern is that I believe very strongly that water is a human right. There are a billion people worldwide today that don't have access to safe tap water. The solution is not bottled water. The solution is developing high quality public water systems that can provide inexpensive water for everyone.

He spoke of public versus private control of water systems.

And it does raise this question about public versus private control. I believe that water ought to be available to the public. We have an incredible tap water system that's been built and operated and owned by the public. I think that's a good model for the rest of the world, but we don't see it yet.

His scientific opinion is that tap water in the United States is, generally, excellent. In fact, he added, about 45% of bottled water is filtered municipal water.

American tap water is carefully monitored. It's carefully regulated. But I'd be the first to argue that it ought to be better. There are places in the United States where people don't have safe drinking water, mostly in rural areas where wells aren't monitored by municipal agencies or federal agencies.

He said our Safe Drinking Water Act is outdated, and that our water-treatment technology needs to be upgraded. But all of those things can be done at a far lower cost than providing bottled water, which often isn't monitored as carefully as our tap water. The first step, he believes, is to maintain and expand a state-of-the-art tap water system.

It's the cheapest, most equitable, most environmentally sound solution. I think if we did that--if we restored confidence in our tap water--bottled water sales would drop.

Written by Beth Lebwohl 
Photo Credit: ricardo/zone41.net

Peter Gleick is co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute in California, a MacArthur Foundation Fellow , and an internationally recognized water expert. His research and writing address the critical connections between water and human health, the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatization and globalization, and international conflicts over water resources. He's a blogger for the Huffington Post, and was named "Visionary: A Catalyst for an Enlightened Future" by the Los Angeles Times in early 2010.

How can we keep doing it?

The evidence against the use of plastics for ANYTHING disposable is now overwhelming. Plastics are made from oil. Oil is a resource millions of years in the making and that has been largely used up in just 100 years. Once oil is out of the ground, no matter what you do with it, it is a problem. This can manifest as an oil spill – and the Gulf of Mexico is just the “Ben Hur” of something that goes on every day. It can be when we burn the oil and create air pollutants and greenhouse gas. It can be when we make petrochemical fertilizers and basically “mine” our farmland, leaving it dead and depleted after a few years. It can be in polymers and plastics, which are used for a very short time and then break into tiny particles that, asbestos like, dissipate throughout the environment causing damage in ways we will never know – that prize understanding will be for some distant future generations, who will also have the task of cleaning up or trying to live with our mess.

So how, knowing this, can we keep doing it? How come we are so perverse, so “easy going” in our treatment of the only place in the universe where we can have a life? What stops us using just a little bit of our personal energy and doing whatever it takes to NEVER buy throw away plastics? Because that is what it takes. That is what we need to do, much more than just “get through the day.” More than pay the mortgage, more than cope with another emergency. We need to understand very clearly the difference between what is urgent and what is important. It is important to stop using plastic throw away bottles. Really simple. It is important to take that understanding and slowly expand it to apply to other forms of plastic, and then other unnecessary but “easy” uses of oil. It is important to see, we are just the dust of this earth, made into humans for a little while, and then all our molecules will rejoin the dust again.

This is our earth. We are it, and we are killing it. It is important to stop this self abuse.

Tap Water – get something real into you.

School bans plastic water bottles

Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College in Sydney's north has banned the sale of plastic water bottles.

from an article at ABC North Coast

The canteen will no longer stock plastic water bottles and the school also spent $7,500 installing water bubblers for the students to use instead.

The initiative will be launched today by sailor activist David de Rothschild who this week completed a voyage across the Pacific Ocean on the Plastiki, a boat made from recycled bottles.

Year 12 student Claudia Saunders says she hopes the ban will do more than reduce the school's consumption of plastic bottles.

"It's also about promoting it to Monte girls and getting the awareness out there how unnecessary these bottles are and the damage they can cause to the environment, both in their production and then in their disposal," she said.

The school's effort has been hailed as a model that can be rolled out across the country.

Jon Dee, founder of the environment group Do Something, says the campaign will significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste at the school.

"We'll have 1,100 girls at this school who won't have bottled water," he said.

"Now if they can do that at Monte Sant' Angelo there's no reason why other schools couldn't follow this example.

"It will set a great environmental role model for the kids but it will also show kids you can help the environment and you can save money at the same time."

Roving water stations help New Yorkers beat the heat

from an article in Ode magazine:

Tuesday is Brooklyn Borough Hall. Wednesday is Times Square. Thursday is West 175th Street.

That's when and where drinking water is disseminated via outdoor drinking water stations, for New Yorkers and tourists.

Each station has six faucets, which can be used for drinking or to fill a water bottle. The portable fountains connect to fire hydrants and also cater to the city's four-legged citizens with separate bowls of water for dogs and other pets.

The Water-on-the-Go program began on July 4 and will continue through Labor Day Weekend. It's part of New York City's attempt to fight the dog days of summer and reduce its carbon footprint.

The program is a partnership between the Department of Environmental Protection, theDepartment of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department of Parks and Recreation, theDepartment of Transportation and NYC Service.

A longstanding point of pride for New Yorkers, the city's agua comes to the five boroughs from a watershed more than 125 miles north of the Bronx. The whistle-wetting substance comes from 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes and makes it way to Gotham via some 7,000 miles of water mains, tunnels and aqueducts.

Following a failed bid to introduce a tax on soda sales in New York, Mayor Bloomberg celebrated the city's newfound independence from disposable water bottles last week: "Our water is the healthiest, most affordable and most environmentally friendly way to stay hydrated."

Department of Environmental Protection staff will deliver, set up and disconnect the fountains at the beginning and end of each day and rotate locations according to the summer schedule.

• Tuesdays at the Brooklyn Borough Hall Greenmarket
• Wednesdays at the Times Square Public Plaza
• Thursdays at the West 175th Street and Broadway Greenmarket
• Fridays at the Union Square Greenmarket
• Saturdays at events in Staten Island, Queens and the Bronx
• Sundays at rotating locations
  Photo by gfpeck via Flickr.