Think Outside the Bottle

Remember back in the day when buying bottled water was the "it" thing to do? I used to be a soda junky (Mr. Pibb was my weakness). When bottled water came out... I happily started buying it. Of course, the lover of all things French that I am... I was an Evian drinker. I was completely convinced that water packaged fresh from the French Alps just tasted better. Besides, carrying a bottle of Evian just made me feel healthy and sophisticated... well as sophisticated as a high schooler could possibly feel ;)

Sit tight... I have a feeling I could get long winded ;)

I bought bottled water well into my twenties. In fact, I only made the decision a little over 2 years ago to stop buying it completely. The reasons why I decided to stop buying bottled water came from various places. The first thought I had about it all came from my loathing of Kimberly-Clark. I got an email from GreenPeace that urged me to vote for Kimberly-Clark in Corporate Accountability International's Hall of Shame to cast light on their corporate abuse. I did. It was there that I noticed their campaign "Think Outside the Bottle". I was immediately curious and started reading.

I took the pledge to "Think Outside the Bottle" and stop buying bottled water.  Because:

• Water is a human right and not a commodity to be bought and sold for profit;
• Bottled water corporations are changing the way people think about water and undermining people's confidence in public water systems;
• Up to 40% of bottled water in the US and Canada is sourced from public tap water;
• Some bottlers have run over communities' concerns and the environment when they extract water and build bottling plants to get local spring and ground water;
• Bottled water travels many miles from the source, results in the burning of massive amounts of fossil fuels, and contributes to the billions of plastic bottles ending up in landfills;
• Worldwide there is a need for investments in public water systems to ensure EQUAL access to water-- a key ingredient for prosperity and health for ALL people, and
• Solutions to ensuring water as a fundamental human right require people acting together and standing up for public water systems.

Another reason that I choose reusable water bottles:

Caps/lids and plastic beverage bottles are numbers 4 and 5 of the most commonly found marine debris items in the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Clean-up.

Deciding to make a commitment to something is easy... standing strong with a commitment takes time, perseverance, and belief that it CAN be done. I believe in not buying bottled water. When we go on road trips I fill up nearly every water bottle we own (depending, of course, how long the trip is). If... by chance... our bottles run dry... it's easy (and free) to fill up at a water fountain or press the water tab on a soda fountain machine.

In the US, 2 million plastic water bottles are used every 5 minutes.

I contribute zero.