A Serious Drinking Problem

From the University of Rochester Green Dandelion: Plastic waste

I won't have a chance to listen-in this morning but I read a story to be aired later today. It's the story of the University of Vermont and its recent decision to ban bottled water.

Bottled water is one of those things that would have made my Mother scream in frustration. Paying for water when perfectly good tap water is available throughout most all of the U.S.? Using nonrenewable resources to make plastic bottles so that water can be contained and sold? As is stated in the article, this behavior truly reflects our cultural obsession with commodifying things. What else can explain our obsession with buying water in non-biodegradable plastic bottles, a petroleum based product, when sources of free, good quality tap water abound?

People like to hold up the flag of recycling as the salvation of bottled water. I'm willing to guess, however, there are more than just a few percentage points in the overall population of water bottles that make it to the landfill rather than the recycling bin. Fact is, most do not get recycled. Add to that the actual cost in "manufacturing" bottled water and you start to grasp the scale of the problem-- grasp and gasp. As for water quality? Most of that is marketing baloney as well. Check out a few sobering statistics on the subject from the Environmental Working Group. There's no secret to this information. The Internet is filled with resources documenting the direct and indirect costs associated with selling bottled water as a retail beverage.

I can only hope the day comes when walking around with a single use bottle of water comes to be regarded with the same disdain as walking around smoking a cigarette. On second thought, bottled water is probably worse: At least with a cigarette a person is largely only hurting oneself. I'm inclined to believe the footprint of our bottled water habit is far greater-- and by far less well recognized.