Bottled Water sanity
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Longtime readers will know that I’m not a big fan of bottled water.
It’s a massive waste of resources (it takes seven bottles of water to make a bottle of water FFS!) and money that we’ve been duped into over the last decade or two. It also produced many tonnes of unnecessary waste at a time when the planet could really do with cutting down on all that shit.
But finally the worm is turning.
San Francisco has banned the sale of bottled water on public property.
That’s right: an entire city you’ve heard of has banned something incredibly stupid.
That means you banning it in your home or office would be comparatively simple and easy.
Thanks for that!
about fucking time too. that “drink eight glasses of water a day” thing was complete bullshit made up by the bottled water industry too. tea and beer work too.
three, too, one.
Dave Trott wrote a very interesting piece about that stat Vinny. The 8 glasses a day thing was release by some official body or other, but what they failed to mention was the line that followed that said something like ‘most of the water your body needs comes from the food we eat.’
I was a very proud dad the other day when I was eating out with my family, and I asked my daughter what she would like to drink. ‘Tap water’ was her reply. Not ‘water’, but ‘TAP WATER’. Passing it to the next generation is the key.
Right, I know this is going to seem wilfully provocative. But…
…why is buying bottled water any more evil than the many other, ethically questionable, things we all do every day because they’re convenient?
I’m thinking things like shopping at Ikea. Using disposable nappies. Drinking milk at all?
Because in most cases it’s not more convenient.
Pour water from a tap into a filter and keep it in your fridge, or carbonate with a Soda Stream and do the same. Far easier than lugging bottles of water home from the shops. Bottled water is millions of tonnes of waste for something we never even needed 20 years ago, and we don’t need it now.
Is it more evil than the other things? I don’t know, but if you do nothing at all just because you can’t choose which problem to solve then you’re part of the problem.
But it is a convenience purchase though isn’t it?
Most purchases of bottled water in developed countries are in small, portable sizes. I’m out, I’m thirsty so I buy a bottle of water, drink it and move on with my life. What isn’t convenient is to be perennially lugging around a manky refillable bottle that smells faintly of dead cheese. Or, heaven forbid, having an awkward stop and chat with some sullen barista as he fills up my bottle for me.
Also, and let’s be honest about this, some water from some taps tastes disgusting. I don’t know why, it just does.
All I’m saying is, suggesting that people buy bottled water only as the result of some corporate Jedi mind-trick, ignores the reality of the situation. And trust me on this, convenience will trump conservation every single fucking time.
However did we cope in the 80s, when drinking Perrier was a joke?
We’ve just got into a pointless habit that we can choose to get out of. People buy water just because they are in the habit of buying water. If we can stigmatise plastic bags (very convenient) and throwing everything away instead of recycling (also very convenient), then we can do the same for this issue.
Hey, why not try being part of the solution?
I’m yet to see anyone at my local Tesco express get stoned to death for walking out with carrying their lasagne in plastic shopping bags. And, speaking personally, mindlessly throwing away the detritus of my life into the many bins that surround me remains one of the few cathartic moments in my day.
Regarding being part of the solution, it’s simply not convenient for me right now, but I’ll keep you posted.
P.S. People stick take the piss out of anyone who drinks Perrier.
It’s fine that you feel that way; not right or wrong, or good or bad.
But it doesn’t work for the planet or the people on it, yourself included.
How dare you guilt-trip me with the entire fate of humanity.
I was merely whiling away a few slow ours between tissue sessions and now you’ve made me feel like the bastard child of Warren Buffet and Benito Mussolini.
I hope you’re happy…
Whatever it takes 😉