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The 8-minute Story of Bottled Water: Watch it, then stop drinking it
You've seen The Story of Stuff, right? That short and sweet video explanation of our "consumption problem" and what we can do about it? Well Annie Leonard and the gang at Free Range Studios (plus a few great partners, including EWG!) have done it again. This time about our bottled water problem.
We've taken a close look at bottled water quality (not so good) and labeling (not so informative), and can safely say: don't buy the stuff. Find out why in 8 informative minutes:
Interested in drinking safer water?
Grab a reusable water bottle and get started withEWG's Safe Drinking Water Guide.pdf.
great vid, and a nice sequel to 'Story of Stuff'. One point I would suggest - there is a place in the film where the issue of 'end of life' of the bottle is discussed. You didn't get that quite right and miss what I think is a good opportunity. The numbers are not that 80% of the bottles go to landfill and 'the rest go to recycling'; there is some fraction that become litter, then marine debris, which lasts essentially forever. And even a larger fraction of the bottle caps probably end up as litter, since they are easier to toss and have no redemption value. I think you could add 30 very effective seconds of extra vid by bringing this aspect of bottles and caps to light.
You seem less concerned about the quality of bottled water than with the numbers of plastic bottles to be dealt with. I do think more cities should have a recycling program as mine does. But
tap water contains chlorine and fluoride among many other chemicals. You state that Aquafina (my favorite) and Dasani is filtered tap water. The key word is "filtered" and it says so on the bottle. My kitchen tap water is also filtered. I won't drink tap water if I can avoid it. I use bottled water as a convenience. I also use reusable bottles when I have the time to fill them. Sometimes it's just easier to grab an Aquafina out of the fridge on my way out the door. Your comparison of drinking bottled water in public to a smoking pregnant woman is downright ridiculous. It's a good idea to cut down on the amount of bottled water we drink, but it shouldn't be entirely eliminated. I like having a choice.
Well that IS the point of this video: the environmental ramifications of bottled water. Recycling bottles is not enough. They are still being produced, there are still costs in recycling them, and less of them get recycled than thrown out no matter how good the recycling programs. The point is we need to stop relying on those bottles in the first place and halt their costly manufacturing.
If you feel your kitchen water is not up to your drinking standards, then running it through a filter is a great choice! So why not use that filtered water? And yes, it's easier to grab an Aquafina, but that is precisely where taking a few seconds to plan ahead instead of falling back on false convenience is key. Some mornings (ok, most mornings) I'm in a rush but it's just as fast to grab my refillable water bottle and if I'm short on time then I fill it up once I'm on campus/in my office. Bottled water is only a choice because the industry told us we needed that choice.