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Published on Thursday, August 6, 2009 by The Nation
Bottled Water Sucks
I knew bottled water was a social ill but I didn't know how damaging it was until I saw an explosive and compelling new documentary called Tapped.
With style, verve and righteous anger, the film exposes the bottled water industry's role in suckering the public, harming our health, accelerating climate change, contributing to overall pollution, and increasing America's dependence on fossil fuels. All while gouging consumers with exorbitant and indefensible prices.
Claire Thompson summed up the problem well in her post on the movie at Grist:
"Not only is it [bottled water] a clear waste of resources (only 20 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States are recycled, and far too many of the rest probably end up in the Pacific Garbage Patch), it's an incredible waste of money for consumers, who pay more than the price of gasoline for water that's marketed as "pure," but in reality is largely unregulated, full of harmful toxins like BPA, and far less safe for drinking than free tap water. (In fact, 40 percent of the time, bottled water is nothing but municipal tap water, freed from the government oversight that keeps it safe.)"
Watch the movie's powerful trailer.
The film's website lists where you can see the doc in the theater, and offers opportunities for hosting a screening of your own. (So far, it will be screened in a smattering of the coastal cities where you'd expect them to play.)There's also a Facebook page for the film and, most importantly for readers of this blog, ample tips on how to get involved in the effort to wean America of its pernicious bottled water habit. The first thing to do is stop drinking bottled water and gently but firmly urge your friends and family to follow suit -- buying them a reusable thermos can be a useful incentive. You can also sign an online petition, tell Jennifer Aniston and Tom Brady to stop shilling for Smart Water, and call on Congress to adequately fund our water infrastructure, which in many regions consists largely of dilapidated, Civil War era-water and sewer pipes.
Copyright © 2009 The Nation
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14 Comments so far
Show Allhas anyone considered the possible health benefits of using exclusively bottled water for waterboarding?
Embarrassingly, nearly ALL of us bought into the bottled water myth...I can't believe I fell for it. Hindsight is so 20-20. What could we have been thinking- WATER! In little plastic bottles!! Crazy. Just goes to show how gullible we are and how amazingly effective marketing can be.
I agree!!
We're screwed.
Bottled water, diapers, SUVs, Monster pick up trucks with spinning wheels, PACs, prescription drugs, contaminated food, hemorrhoids, foreclosed properties, credit card fees, gas prices rising during the day at the pump, No Child Left Behind, Military Industrial Complex, pilots asleep at the wheel, texting while driving two tons of metal at 75mph, growing trade inbalance, twisting science to fit the Bible, eavesdropping, bombing wedding parties to win the hearts and minds, melting icecaps, Carl Rove, overfishing, swine flu, press one for English, steroids in sports, child pornography, abusive priests, the French:), no healthcare, California IOUs, Wall Street Gambling, home invasions, lack of manufacturing, Bank Bailouts, corrupt oversexed phony baloney politicians on the take...
Get used to it, we're screwed.
Might I just point out that there was Dennis Kucinich, AGAIN,
standing for the RIGHT thing for the RIGHT reasons.
Remember him in 2012!
There won't be a Democratic primary in 2012. Unfortunately.
Maybe he'll run as an Independent.
My 'bottled water' is from my tap, into a steel water bottle that travels with me where ever I go. I refill it from public fountains whenever I wish.
Cost of the 1 liter steel bottle, 1 year ago, $9.99. Cost of tap water to fill it >$.01.
Average cost of one 450ml bottle of water, today in the local super market, $1.17 (when bought in a twelve pack). On sale.
Do the math.
Walk in peace.
Evian is naive spelled backwards.
The wars over water will make the wars over oil look like a schoolyard scuffle.
"Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the shadow"
That was clever, astute, and funny--well said and nicely done.
Poet
I'm a California Green, but I was very disappointed in Dennis Kucinich, when he failed to stand up against Sen. John Kerry at the Democratic Convention in Boston. Progressive Democrats supported Kucinich against Kerry. Kerry lost to Bush in the disinformation campaign pushed by the all-powerful right wing forces in the U.S.
It would have been better if Kucinich would have stood on his principles, told Kerry to stuff it, and carried out his anti-war campaign however far it would have taken him.
Polls show now, just as they did during Nixon's Vietnam invasions & bombings, that the majority of U.S. people are against Iraq & Afghanistan invasions, yet, republicrats will not stop voting for candidates, presidential or congressional, who vote to continue the atrocities. Blindly, they continue to vote for the knight in shining armor, who will lead them to the promised land, as mass infomedia interpret reality.
Republicrats need to get off their collective asses, organize against those Congress people who vote trillion dollar military budgets while denying health care to everyone but their selfish selves.
My family of 4 had been drinking Deerpark bottled water until just recently. Our community well water is not harmful but tastes like crap. One day I looked out into the garage and saw two huge plastic bags filled with plastic bottles. That was enough, I went to Lowes and bought a Whirlpool osmotic filtration system and paid a plumber about a hundred bucks to install it. In a year or less it will pay for itself.
It doesn't do the cause of truth-squading bottled water any good to misrepresent tap water.
First of all tap water is not free--it is drasticly cheaper than bottled water but it does have a cost that most pay with a monthly bill just like elecrical power.
Secondly, there is much in most tap water (some of necessity like chlorine and some not like flouride)that is potentially harmful to human health.
Thirdly, the weakest link in tap water is the delivery system that allows for the substance to pick up all manner of bactyeria and disease-causing toxins along the way to your sink or tub.
Finally, for those of you who are smug in the assurance that your well water bypasses all those problems, you better think again and get the stuff regularly tested to see if any pesticides, fertilizers, or other chemicals have leeched into your water source.
The cheapest and best insurance for healthy water is to get a home filtration-purification system to treat your own tap water. Filtration, sanitization through ozone treatment and ultraviolet technology, and storage is best done in either glass or ceramic contaioners which need to be regularly cleaned and sanitized.
Lastly for those who like the convenience and portability of bottled water consider getting a stainless steel containerr like Klean Canteen which is portable and sanitary.
Poet
P.T. Barnum's premise for his business model was "There's a sucker born every minute".
Obviously, a gross under-estimate.
Not to mention drinking from plastic may be doing to
our health - and our children's health!
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"