miss maggie (
bossymarmalade) wrote2008-02-03 10:37 am
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Entry tags:
water, water, everywhere, so let's all have a drink
[ 14 Valentines - Day Three: Health ]
Oh my god, is Maggie yakking about water security again? People, you should know by now that I never STOP yakking about water security. *g*
This issue is particularly angering for me right now, because when UBC was making its deals with Coke, one of the stipulations for getting Coke machines put in was that the university have NO DRINKING FOUNTAINS. Yes, when I'm at school, I have to either shell out for Dasani or Aquafina, or fill up my water bottle in the bathroom. I'm real thrilled about this.
But I'll keep it short and punchy today. Here are the salient points:
- "Aquafina brand water is actually nothing more than filtered water from municipal sources, a fact that the company will now note on its bottles. In fact, some 40 percent of bottled water, including Coke's Dasani brand, is water that it gets from the tap for free, puts through filtration processes, and then sells back to the public with a markup of up to 1,000 times."
- "It takes more than 47 million gallons of oil to produce plastic water bottles for Americans every year. Eliminating those bottles would be like taking 100,000 cars off the road and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere."
- "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates bottled water at the federal level, permits the product to contain certain levels of fecal matter, whereas the Environmental Protection Agency does not allow any human waste in city tap water."
- "Bottled water costs from 240 to 10,000 times as much as water straight from the tap."
- "Fortune magazine has touted water as the 'best investment sector for the century.' The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has said that 'water is the last infrastructure frontier for private investors.' The Toronto Globe & Mail has stated that 'water is fast becoming a globalized corporate industry.'"
- "Water requirements for a meat-based diet are five to ten times larger than for a vegetarian diet. Even modest shifts away from meat consumption will cut water demands by a third, or, better, allow the same amount of water to provide nutritious food for more people."
Water security is about more than just recycling your bottles. It's about all of the political constructions and environmental exploitation behind the big-water industry; it's about impoverished communities in South America being forced to pay for basic potable water; it's about rural India losing its watersheds to Coke-bottling plants; it's about the natural aquifers in the grainbelt of North America depleting at an alarming rate and becoming contaminated; it's about us being trained to view fresh water as a commodity that we should be paying exorbitant amounts for.
Potable water is not a commodity. It's a human right. Use a filter.
Oh my god, is Maggie yakking about water security again? People, you should know by now that I never STOP yakking about water security. *g*
This issue is particularly angering for me right now, because when UBC was making its deals with Coke, one of the stipulations for getting Coke machines put in was that the university have NO DRINKING FOUNTAINS. Yes, when I'm at school, I have to either shell out for Dasani or Aquafina, or fill up my water bottle in the bathroom. I'm real thrilled about this.
But I'll keep it short and punchy today. Here are the salient points:
- "Aquafina brand water is actually nothing more than filtered water from municipal sources, a fact that the company will now note on its bottles. In fact, some 40 percent of bottled water, including Coke's Dasani brand, is water that it gets from the tap for free, puts through filtration processes, and then sells back to the public with a markup of up to 1,000 times."
- "It takes more than 47 million gallons of oil to produce plastic water bottles for Americans every year. Eliminating those bottles would be like taking 100,000 cars off the road and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere."
- "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates bottled water at the federal level, permits the product to contain certain levels of fecal matter, whereas the Environmental Protection Agency does not allow any human waste in city tap water."
- "Bottled water costs from 240 to 10,000 times as much as water straight from the tap."
- "Fortune magazine has touted water as the 'best investment sector for the century.' The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has said that 'water is the last infrastructure frontier for private investors.' The Toronto Globe & Mail has stated that 'water is fast becoming a globalized corporate industry.'"
- "Water requirements for a meat-based diet are five to ten times larger than for a vegetarian diet. Even modest shifts away from meat consumption will cut water demands by a third, or, better, allow the same amount of water to provide nutritious food for more people."
Water security is about more than just recycling your bottles. It's about all of the political constructions and environmental exploitation behind the big-water industry; it's about impoverished communities in South America being forced to pay for basic potable water; it's about rural India losing its watersheds to Coke-bottling plants; it's about the natural aquifers in the grainbelt of North America depleting at an alarming rate and becoming contaminated; it's about us being trained to view fresh water as a commodity that we should be paying exorbitant amounts for.
Potable water is not a commodity. It's a human right. Use a filter.
no subject
ARE YOU SERIOUS?!
GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
It took me a long time to find a water bottle that would work for me (actually, I still need one that'll actually fit in the car's cup-holders) but I did finally get one that's OK. Filtering is essential; I grew up on tap water but the stuff in Fremont tastes terrible. I'm horribly embarrassed that I drank bottled watter as much as I did for a few years there.
Goddamnit. This whole issues makes me crazy.
no subject
DUDE FOR REAL. First I thought it was maybe just the old buildings, but after having classes in buildings in every stage of newness/oldness and talking to other students, I have discovered the hideous truth. This is one of the reasons I hate UBC so much; it's possibly the most racist, sexist, corporatist ivory tower post-secondary in all of BC.
I hear you on finding the right bottle! I lucked out and found a wonderful Oxfam one at a food fair thing at the library for school; for the car I use a Rubbermaid one. It took forever to find it and I don't like it much. It's ridiculous how hard it is to find a good one!
no subject
I got a good carrying-around bottle at REI, but yeah, I've gotta see about a car one. Daiso makes these ice-cube trays that result in pen-sized-and-shaped ice which is great for water bottles (
no subject
http://www.kleankanteen.com/
http://www.nalgene-outdoor.com/
http://www.mysigg.com/
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
They come in a variety of sizes and designs, and you can get different tops for them depending on if you prefer to have a sports-bottle style top or to just drink from the bottle or whatever, and while they're not insulated themselves, you can get a couple of different styles of cover for them. (And being aluminum, you can put hot or cold liquid in them.) Plus the sports-bottle style tops come apart so you can clean them properly.
I have two and they seem to be holding up quite well. They are a bit of an investment (I think mine were about $25 US) compared to plastic bottles, but like I said, they seem to be holding up really well and they're MUCH easier to clean.
(In fact, I love mine so much I'm planning to get a third in the tiny child's size, so it'll fit into my bag more easily when I just want to carry some liquid around in case I need to take painkillers in the middle of the day. That's pretty much the only time I buy bottled water these days.)
no subject
no subject
beerbeverage glass bottles to transport my water. I just like glass. Also, I have a collection of half-full bottles in my car. If I ever needed to have sudden hydration, well, 8 bottles later, I'd be great.no subject
Mos Def - New World Water (http://download.yousendit.com/71608A8122BCE426)
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
- "Water requirements for a meat-based diet are five to ten times larger than for a vegetarian diet. Even modest shifts away from meat consumption will cut water demands by a third, or, better, allow the same amount of water to provide nutritious food for more people."
This is one of those statements that is news to me, but makes immediate sense. It just .... well yeah, makes perfect sense. (I'm a rabid carnivore, and I drink a LOT of water and herbal teas through the day.)
no subject
I'm a rabid carnivore
Heh, me too! I like food too much to contemplate giving up entire groups of it; what I'm trying to do is not eat as much red meat, and to use it more as a garnish/flavour than a big honking half of the meal. Apart from the occasional meal of chicken wings or steak, it's turning out pretty well! *g*
no subject
Are there any tap filters that you would recommend? I admit, I buy bottled water (though I buy the generic store brand that is bottled from water resources in my state), and I've been thinking about going to a filtration system, so I can use one of the hard-plastic bottles that I own, but I know nothing about what kind of tap filter system to buy, and what the difference is between the options.
Any help you could offer would be great!
no subject
Thanks for the post!
no subject
no subject
no subject
That's probably one of the scariest sentences I've ever read in my life.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
I do like drinking mineral water, but only the one that actually contains large amounts of minerals and comes from natural sources. And, uh, I recycle.