Tuesday, August 25, 2009

bottled water = evil?

bottled water. we all drink it. heck, it's just as easy to get as a coke but it's better for you. honestly, i'd never really thought about how harmful to the environment bottled water is. i mean, it's water! what harm could it possibly create? then i read an article about Fiji Water on dailyfinance.com. not real sure how i stumbled onto this website, since finance is quickly becoming one of my least favorite topics (right up there with colonoscopies and the jonas brothers), but it is an enlightening read.

very little of this article is about the effects of bottled water, but what it did mention is how ridiculous a concept it is!

"Bottled water is notorious for its position in top five lists of "what not to do" for the planet. One day, future civilizations will look back on this decade and wonder in disbelief why it was that we pumped water out of one part of the planet, encased it in plastic, then encased it again for shipping, and spent many many non-renewable resources to bring it to another part of the planet where clean water was already plentiful. It's patently ridiculous." i couldn't have said it better myself.

don't get me wrong, i love filtered water. i grew up drinking my water from the tap and the garden hose, but either by habit or corporate brain washing i enjoy the taste of filtered water much more than non-filtered. supposedly, it is better for you (specifically in the removal of lead) and i do think it has a better taste (that could be the brain washing, though.) however, the concept of paying for something that most restaurants give you for free has never set well with me. ad to that the fact that most people do not recycle their plastic bottles, and the problems outweigh the benefits.

here's my suggestion. buy a water filter. brita and pur both make water filters you can either attach directly to your faucet or that filter the water into a pitcher. it tastes the same and it's just as good for you. over the long run, you'll save a bundle and you will keep hundreds (if not thousands) of plastic bottles out of the land fill. even if you recycle, it is still better for the planet to not even have the product in the first place. of the three r's (recycle, reduce, reuse), recycling should be the last resort.

i also suggest that you read this article.

here is another one that is even more damning for Fiji Water.

the picture it paints of Fiji Water is not very pretty. i intend to read up on this company more to get a more balanced opinion of their business practices, but as of now, i am personally boycotting Fiji unless i find these claims to be untrue. i also intend to purchase bottled water as little as possible from hear on. sometimes it will be necessary and sometimes it will be a better idea health-wise than the alternatives, but over all it just seams to be a silly concept.

importing and paying for water... why?

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