Break Your Bottled Water Habit

While ranting to my mom yesterday about my personal peeve with the overpackaging of otherwise good products, I mentioned that I had written a letter to Seventh Generation asking why their paper towels are wrapped in plastic while their toilet paper is wrapped in paper. My mom replied, "I don't even know where to find Seventh Generation paper towels."

I thought my mom hit on a major point. Many, many Americans are in the same boat as my parents, who live in a small town in Kentucky. They want to be more environmentally conscious, but the only place to shop is Walmart (which I've already noted is lacking in the "green" department) and their town doesn't even collect recycling.

Luckily, there are still things they can do, and here's one from the super awesome folks at New American Dream:

Break the Bottled Water Habit, Win a Prize and Cut Your Carbon

When you want pure, healthy drinking water, you should reach for bottled water, right? Surprisingly, on neither a personal nor a global level are you making a healthy choice.

For each gallon of water bottled, two gallons are wasted; producing the plastic wastes the energy equivalent of a quarter-bottle’s worth of oil. And what’s in the bottle could just be tap water.

New American Dream and Corporate Accountability International is asking you to think about where the water in that bottle came from, where the plastic is going, and take the Break the Bottled Water Habit pledge(water.newdream.org) and drink to a healthy ecosystem.

During October, make a conscious choice to slake your thirst without drying up our planet’s resources. In addition to benefiting the environment, participants will have a chance to win a free condo for a week at a ski resort in Idaho. Visit the website (water.newdream.org) now to get started.

I can already hear the protests:

"But my tap water isn't clean!"

The truth is, at least 40 percent of bottled water is tap water anyway, and most tap water meets the EPA's standards for water quality. But if you're still concerned about the cleanliness of your tap water, you can always buy a filter.

"But bottled water is more convenient!"

Buy a reusable water bottle. Get a nice stainless steel model, or go the No Impact Man route: recycle a glass jar. Seriously, if my four-year-old and three-year-old can learn to carry a water bottle with them when they leave the house, you can do it too.

"I already reuse my water bottle. And then I recycle it."

Kudos on the reusing and recycling. The problem here is that the plastic used to make water bottles (PET) is not meant for multiple use and can lead to nasty stuff like bacteria and chemical-leaching.

"But bottled water tastes better!"

Okay, if you really like the taste of plastic, you've got me there, but at least consider that tap water costs on average .2 cents per gallon. That's 750-2700 times cheaper than bottled water.

Be a Conscious Shopper, and break your bottled water habit!