Green Options

While watching the new documentary “Tapped” with some of my other Greenies, we glanced at each other when one of the water rights experts used a notable quote courtesy of Mark Twain, “Whiskey is for sipping and water is for fighting.” So true, and the fighting will only get worse at least if you believe the water wars that will soon steal the headlines from the oil wars. Twain’s words echo much of the sentiment for this interesting, informative and thought provoking new docu flick.

Directed by Stephanie Soechtig, the film deconstructs the various aspects of the bottled water industry. Tapped examines the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil. Unlike oil which people think of as a commodity, water hasn’t truly hasn’t been considered a commodity until recently. Although water wars and rights have become big news in various countries, Tapped jumps into the fray and pulls no punches right here in the U.S. The film targets (among others) the big three bottled water companies (Nestle, Coke and Pepsi who declined to be interviewed for the film), the International Bottled Water Association, and the FDA.

In an elegant piece of sustainable engineering, the company Renew Blue, Inc. will use wave power to run a desalination plant in Freeport, Texas, then bottle the results in corn-based biodegradable plastic for sale under the Renew Blue brand.  The wave power system, called SEADOG, will employ a buoy-and-piston mechanism combined with a water wheel to generate electricity at an offshore platform, enough to power operations at the plant.

Though disposable bottled water is a thorn in the side of sustainability, the reality is that disposable bottles will be with us, at least for some limited uses, far into the foreseeable future.  The Renew Blue solution offers a way to provide the convenience with a lower carbon footprint.

The small Australian town of Bundanoon is credited with having started the resistance to bottled water, that has now through an initiative by Thames Water, reached as far as Buckingham Palace.

What’s Driving This?

Ever since

• it became clear that the energy input to bottled water could be visualised as a bottle a quarter full of crude oil
• it was shown that the energy required to produce bottled water is 2000 times that to produce tap water
• Watkiss revealed that England imported 20,000 litres ( 5,500 gallons) of water from Australia but at the same time exported 20,000 litres of British water to Australia
• Australia suffered a drought that was so severe than it drove many farmers off the land

there was little doubt that things would start to happen.

The week in environmental protests worldwide.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used in can linings and hard plastics. It’s been around for a while and is widely used. And chances are, you have it in your system as we speak. With such common usage of the chemical, what are people making a fuss about?

Still have bottled water as a regular item on the grocery list? Or just pick up the occasional bottle when you’re out? It’s so convenient…

As you probably know, that convenience comes at an environmental and social price: documentaries such as FLOW and Thirst, organizations such as the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Fund, and even a few of us lowly bloggers, have reported on the costs created by water’s transformation from a freely-available resource to a multi-billion dollar commodity. That bottle of water you buy now contributes to the world’s third-largest industry.

Drinking water poses a threat due to possible perchlorate contamination and BPA leaching from plastic, but it seems reasonable to assume that in the United States, bottled water is free from fecal matter.  Yet until now, there were no requirements to test source water — 70% of which comes from the the same place as tap water.

Beginning December 1st, “bottled water containing E. coli will be considered adulterated,” says the US Food and Drug Administration.  You don’t say?  It doesn’t seem as though we’d need a press release to tell us that, but this is the FDA we’re talking about.

It had to happen: boxed water is here.

Recently, commentator/comedian Bill Maher hypothesized what would happen if the only sacrifice required to curb climate change was for people everywhere to give up their TV remotes. His theory was that, after an intolerable stint of shuffling betwixt couch and television, harried viewers would finally give up and resume clicking the world toward apocalypse.

It’s an amusing premise, though one seasoned with the nagging aftertaste of truth.  For sustainability will ultimately require changing many small habits, which when weighed in the aggregate, make a big difference.

Few of these habits have received as much attention from environmental advocates as disposable water bottles. Why water? Mainly because (disposable) bottled water adds an avalanche of industry to a resource that is readily and cheaply available at the tap.

Pointing to the success of bottled water, one could make a compelling case for a bottled air industry. There could emerge rainforest and mountain flavors. Cracking open a bottle would provide a lungful of rarefied airs from exotic locales.

Alpine Air. Belgium Breeze. Wyoming Wind. In the realm of the absurd, possibilities are endless.

Yet bottled water has become a staple of Americans on the go, and plucking it from the shelf plays a part in the grocery store shopping ritual for millions of us.

Toothpaste?
Check.

Noodles?
Got ‘em.

Bottles containing the same stuff drawn nearly free from household tap?
Score.

Now enter boxed water. The company’s name is Boxed Water is Better, and it is marketing the product as an earth-friendlier alternative to plastic bottles.

Where does your bottled water originate? Is the company bottling public water and selling it for profit?

Most water companies try their hardest to hide this information, but if a new bill that just was approved by committee today in the California state assembly takes hold, the companies would be forced to sing a different tune.

You might just think of it as Sunday, but this particular Sunday, March 22nd, has a larger importance – it’s World Water Day, an international day of observance and action, drawing attention to the fact that over 1 billion people that share this planet do not have access to clean drinking water.

Born from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, World Water Day has a different theme every year. This year’s focus is on transboundary waters: sharing water, sharing opportunities.

Many parents and caregivers are uninformed that routine practices like providing healthy snacks and sharing utensils may increase their child’s risk of developing cavities, according to a new survey.

The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), a leader in children’s oral health.

It found U.S. parents and caregivers are uninformed about cavity-causing bacteria and teeth-friendly snacks.   One result showed 96% of U.S. adults with children under 12 years old in their household thought a cracker was better for children’s teeth than a piece of caramel.  Starches, however, can also cause cavities like sugars, and caramels dissolve more quickly from the mouth than crackers.