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Think Outside The Bottle

Posted on Nov 25th 2007 3:51PM by Bev Sklar

Filed Under: Sustainable Community, Diet & Weight Loss, Alternative & Green Health

I stopped buying bottled water a couple months ago. The environmental impact of all those plastic bottles was bothering me. Ice cold tap water is my new best friend.

Bottled water and vitamin-enhanced water have taken the market by storm, but there is a growing grassroots effort to influence the public to stop buying it. Think Outside The Bottle is one such organization -- I just signed their pledge, agreeing to opt for tap water and to support local officials who prioritize strong public water systems over profits from the bottled stuff.

Think Outside The Bottle is more than just a pledge, it is an education on the environmental and moral issues of bottled water. Did you know 40 percent of bottled water in the United States and Canada is drawn from municipal tap water? Did you ever consider water is a human right not to be bought or sold? I'm certainly aware bottling and transporting water burns incredible amounts of fossil fuels and puts billions of plastic bottles in landfills.

Get educated at Think Outside The Bottle and consider signing the pledge. Nearly 15,000 have signed on to challenge corporate control of water and to better the environment. They have attracted a wide stream of respected endorsers, including the Sierra Club, Green Corps and the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

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Tags: Bev Sklar, BevSklar, Center for Science in the Public Interest, CenterForScienceInThePublicInterest, corporate control of water, CorporateControlOfWater, Green Corps, GreenCorps, negative impact of bottled water, NegativeImpactOfBottledWater, Sierra Club, SierraClub, Think Outside The Bottle, Think Outside The Bottle Pledge, ThinkOutsideTheBottle, ThinkOutsideTheBottlePledge, water is a human right, WaterIsAHumanRight

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

james 11-25-2007 @ 7:03PM

how about all of us that refill 5 gallon office water coolers? I have one in my house and the local supermarket has a spring water dispenser costing only $2 for 5 gallons, far cheaper than any bottled water you might find (10 cents a quart!). I then go home and refill quart-sized water bottles so I can take them with me. So I still have my spring water without any plastic wasted :)

nikkicookers 11-25-2007 @ 8:06PM

Totally never thought about the "bottle" problem until now. Is it that much of a problem if people recycle them? I use bottled water because it's handy to carry around with me, but I'm always sure to recycle them. Maybe i'll look into buying water in bulk and refilling smaller bottles that can be re-used. I'm signing the petition, I suggest all other readers do too.

nikki
nikkicookers@aol.com
http://www.fitconnect.com

Dum Dum 11-26-2007 @ 12:03AM

I can remember back when bottled water started taking off. It was marketed as the trendy thing to do so all the drones started carrying bottles with brand names around with them.

Most of the water they carry is just tap water. The drones are led to believe that because its branded its better.

Now the drones find out its bad for the environment, and clashes with their hopping on the 'green' bandwagon, so they will slowly start to wean themselves off the bottle. The people that have to be told what the green faux pas are are usually the loudest 'activists'...like celebrities

Dum Dum 11-26-2007 @ 12:06AM

I pray for the day common sense becomes trendy...or natural selection makes a come back!

starwxrwx 11-26-2007 @ 3:19AM

I buy bottled water, WHEN TAP WATER IS NOT AN OPTION. Like say, at the mall. Better than buying soda! Do people really buy it say, at the supermarket in advance? That seems crazy!

At home? Tap water for sure- helps to remember to fill the jug in the fridge or make ice cubes. THankfully our tap water is fantastic, but I know some places it tastes like &*#% - still, water filters aren't that expesnve.

At work? We thankfully have a water fountain (chilled).

What makes me sickest is the Neverfail (etc) big 20 L or so water coolers that a lot of offices have DELIVERED by truck (hello water is already delivered by pipes! amazing!)-surely it's not so expensive to install a chilled fountain?

Judy 11-26-2007 @ 5:41PM

I live near the Mexico border, in Texas, and there must still be some sort of "don't drink the water" mindset here, because people think we are insane for drinking tap water. It's perfectly safe (and even if it wasn't, wouldn't bathing it, cooking it, doing laundry in it, etc., be as dangerous as drinking it?), and tastes fine. We've had people over who wouldn't drink water here because it's from the tap!

At home we reuse a gallon apple cider jug to keep cold water in the fridge. We've bought bottled water when traveling, but I'm looking at buying some Sigg or Kleen Kanteen bottles for us all. And, most places I've seen still have water fountains. They were fine when I was a kid - what's so wrong with them now?