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Oops… during a presentation to a high school audience last week, I let it slip that one of my greatest environmental frustrations is bottled water.
Why bottled water? Because:
- Most bottled water is not natural spring water, but merely filtered tap water.
- Most bottled water is not local; it’s trucked long distances and has a huge transportation footprint.
- The Maritimes have plenty of clean, clear water; surely it’s the last thing we should be sending our money out-of-province for!
- Most empty water bottles are not recycled; instead, they end up in landfills, roadsides or waterways. A recent study warned that the world’s oceans may contain more plastic than fish by 2050. Yuck!
- The water bottles that are recycled don’t come back as bottles; they’re ‘downcycled’ into products like carpet, which eventually end up in a landfill anyway.
You can make a difference, with one simple choice: carry your own refillable bottle or seek out a tap or fountain, and, whenever possible, just say no to bottled water. You’ll be saving money and doing a good thing for the environment at the same time! |
