10 Things: Thing 1: Stop buying bottled water…

I chose this first because it really embodies what I’m getting at with “10 Things.”  These are very little things, but done consistently, together, can begin to change our collective situation.  My goal for this blogpost is to explain what the impact of this is, how you can take part in the solution, and why this makes sense.  Maybe I will inspire you to act, maybe I will get you to pass a link to this on so that someone else can read it.  If all else fails I’m increasing awareness and that’s never a bad thing.

Let’s open with a clip from CNN

So how much do we spend on bottled water?  Seems like a small thing really, nothing which could make any real impact, right?  According to Fast Company magazine Americans spent fifteen billion dollars on tapwater+bottle in 2006.  That’s roughly $127.50 per year for every household in America.  That could buy a few tanks of gas couldn’t it?  In fact, the bottled water industry is second only to soda-pop in revenue from bottled consumable liquids, but at least soda manufacturers give you chemicals and processed sugar for your money!

It’s more than just that:  Americans are throwing 38 billion water bottles into landfills every year.  That’s like throwing away $1,000,000,000 worth of plastic annually.  In a time when families are scraping for the gas money to drive to a job they are lucky to have we are literally throwing away billions of dollars.  Not to mention the environmental effects.  I don’t care which side of global warming you are on, I think we can all agree that when you throw away a bottle it goes into a land fill.  Over time that landfill gets bigger, which means less land for everything else.

“But I thought we were recycling that stuff now?”

We are, and it is getting somewhat better.  That doesn’t mean we have a handle on it.  A quick visual aid will help put this into context.

We've decreased production of new plastics recently but the problem remains unsolved...

Get the picture?  This is one small way we, collectively, can begin to address the problems within our country.  This is a small thing, but done collectively it will have an impact on our bottom line.

“So stop buying bottled water, okay, but I still need clean water…“

There are many options, all of which will save you many dollars.  Water filtration systems produce the same quality water you get from the bottle, but for much less.  Depending on how you buy it, bottled water can run you anywhere from $1.50 to just over $6.00 a gallon.  Compare that with a range of $0.12 to $0.28 a gallon for filtered water.  The Brita company, for example, provides a range of filtration methods to choose from.

Companies like Brita, Pur, and others provide the cure to your bottled water blues.

Now all you need is a container and you are off and running.  Luckily for you, your options are many.  Find the one that is right for you and just say no to bottled water.  Filtered water won’t cost you any money money, it will actually cost you less, but it will cost more effort.  That $127.50 a year was bound to cost you something, that’s just the way the world works.

In the end, this one thing alone will not change the world, or even fix America.  This is a part of a larger conversation about how and why we do the things we do.  Along the way there are opportunities to do things differently, and this is one of those.  In the end, it will be in the accumulation of these opportunities that we begin to see progress.  If this makes sense to you please pass a link to this blog on, via email, facebook or whatever.

Semper Magnus

Cameron