The Story of Bottled Water

Today is World Water Day and in honor of that I am sharing this fantastic website with you - www.storyofbottledwater.org This 7-minute animated film discusses the myths about tap and bottled water.

Fortunately for our planet, more people are becoming aware about how ridiculous it is to buy plastic bottled water. A Harris Poll found that 29% of the people surveyed switched back to tap water this year. "Bottled water usage is in decline in the United States for the first time in three decades, thanks in part to the hard work of our partners on this film. We hope this film helps to drive the final nail in this huge rip off," said Annie Leonard.

5 great reasons to give up bottled water

There are a million reasons why we need to break our country's addiction to bottled water - it's ridicously expensive, bad for the environment, totally unnessary, - the list goes on and on. Here's 5 reasons why you need to kick the bottled water habit:

1. Save $500 a year by breaking a bottle a day water habit.

2. According to earthpolicy.org, you could run 100,000 cars for a year on the amount of oil used to make plastic water bottles.

3. Nine out of 10 single use water bottles are thrown away insead of recycled.

4. If you drank the recommended 8 cups of water per day by drinking single serving Aquafina bottles, you would spend $2,500 a year! Kinda crazy in this current economic crisis to spend money on something you can get for free.

5. In most taste tests, people can't taste the difference between bottled or tap water. In fact the top selling bottled waters - Aquafina and Dasani - come from municipal water supplies.

Make the switch to reusable stainless steel water bottles, your pocketbook and the planet will thank you. Check out the great bottles available at www.earthlust.com

Rise Above Plastics

We vacationed at the beach this weekend and were reminded of the growing problem of plastics on our beaches... bottles, bottle caps, straws, bags, toys, toothbrushes, etc. The problem with plastics is that they never biograde, virtually every piece of plastic that has ever been made still exists. According to marine researcher and Surfrider Foundation activist Captain Charlie Moore, in certain areas of the ocean the amount of plastic particles in the water outnumber plankton six-to-one. Once in the ocean, plastics can be mistaken for food by marine animals. Over one million sea birds and hundred thousand marine mammals die each year from ingestion of or entanglement in plastics. Surfrider Foundation launched a new educational program called Rise Above Plastics (RAP) to educate the public on the impact plastics have on marine environments, and how to make changes in their daily lives and within their communities that will reduce the flow of plastics into the environment. The program calls upon people to reduce their plastic footprint by reducing or eliminating their use of single-use water bottles and single-use plastic grocery bags and when they need to use plastics to be sure to recycle them. Visit www.riseaboveplastics.org for more information and take the Rise Above Plastics Pledge:

I pledge to rise above plastics and reduce the amount of plastic waste I generate on a daily basis by doing one or more of the following:
Stop using single-use plastic grocery bags and use reusable bags instead
Use a refillable bottle instead of buying single-use plastic water bottles
Buy products with the least amount of packaging
Pick up at least one piece of trash or litter of the ground every day

6 Reasons to Give Up Bottled Water

I know some people don't get what the big deal is with plastic water bottles, but studies show not only is the plastic dangerous to you (check previous posts on BPA) but plastic bottles have a huge impact on our Earth. Maybe one of these facts will help convince someone with a plastic bottle habit to invest in a reusable bottle.

1. North Americans spent $15,000,000,000 on water in plastic bottles last year.

2. Americans consumed 50 billion plastic water bottles last year, made of totally recyclable PET plastic however we only recycle 38% of these bottles meaning 38 billion water bottles a year go into landfills.

3. EVERY piece of petroleum-based plastic EVER manufactured still exists!

4. Plastic is the most common type of marine litter found worldwide, over 300,000 pieces of plastic per square mile have been found in the middle of the North Pacific.

5. The hidden costs of bottled water: the production of bottles uses crude oil, each liter of water sold actually represents three liters of water because manufacturing the PET plastic uses two times the amount of water that each bottle will hold, filling the bottles with water at the factory also uses energy, transporting it to the buyer uses gas, cooling it in grocery stores and home refrigerators, and recovering, recycling or discarding the empty bottles uses even more energy. The Pacific Institute estimates that "the total amount of energy embedded in our use of bottled water can be as high as the equivalent of filling a plastic bottle one quarter full with oil." And you wonder why gas prices are so high!

6. Make a change today to reusable bottles and save money. While reusable bottles, like Sigg aluminum bottles may seem pricey at $20 a bottle, statistics show the average person buys 167 water bottles a year - with water selling for at least $1 a bottle you will save money in the long run!

BPA Update

It's been a busy few weeks on the BPA front. Consumers have been able to do what the government hasn't wanted to - change what goes into plastic bottles. As the demand for BPA-free bottles increased, retail giant Walmart stepped up and announced that it would halt sales of baby bottles, sippy cups, pacifiers, food containers and water bottles made with BPA in its stores following a release of a report from the U.S. National Toxicology Program that expressed concern that BPA, which is used to make plastic, could cause behavioral changes in infants and children and trigger the early onset of puberty in females. Now I may be cynical regarding Walmart's motive - increased sales, but who cares, despite Walmart's many flaws they are providing greener products at a price that makes them more accessible to the majority of people. Given Walmart's market influence & buying power, I suspect that this will have a major impact on the plastics industry rather quickly. Case in point, Nalgene, the company that became the generic name for polycarbonate bottles, will no longer be using Bisphenol A. “Based on all available scientific evidence, we continue to believe that Nalgene products containing BPA are safe for their intended use,” Steven Silverman, the general manager of the Nalgene unit, said in a statement. “However, our customers indicated they preferred BPA-free alternatives, and we acted in response to those concerns.”

What is BPA?

BPA has been all over the news lately, but what is it? BPA stands for Bisphenol A, an estrogen-like chemical which may leach out of polycarbonate plastics (plastics marked with #7). A new American study has linked BPA to breast cancer, early puberty, birth defects, miscarriage, and prostate cancer and is particularly concerned about the effect on babies. Making a few simple changes can protect you and your family from the harmful effects of BPA:

1. Stop using clear plastic baby bottles, research shows that the effect of the estrogen-like BPA on children as being the most significant.

2. Canned foods also poise a risk of BPA leaching, as cans are often lined in plastic BPA. Dispose of older canned foods, especially if they contain tomatoes and other acidic fruits.

3. Replace your polycarbonate bottle with a Sigg, Kleen Kanteen, or another BPA free bottle.

Great Green Gifts

Enjoy the luck of the Irish today! Remember when it comes time to give gifts to friends and family you don't have to use your whole pot of gold to give something green :)

For the home lover - give a clean burning soy candle. Check out - Naked Candle Company www.nkdpure.com

For the beauty queen - Peacekeeper Cause-Metics - all natural cosmetics whose company donates ALL its profits to women's health & human rights advocacy issues www.iamapeacekeeper.com

For the kids - Xeko a fun, new animal trading card game that's driving kids wild. The cards which are printed with soy ink teach kids about animals from far of lands like Madagascar, Indonesia, and Coast Rica. The company has a wrapper recycling program and donates 4% of its sales to Conservation International. www.xeko.com

For the sports lover - Sigg aluminum water bottles - these great refillable bottles allow you to quench your thirst without contributing to the mountains of plastic bottles we generate every day. www.mysigg.com

For the fashion plate - Check out Tees for Change. Their organic cotton or bamboo tees are printed with fun messages like - Laugh Often, Chase Dreams, Choose Happiness. www.teesforchange.com

For the outdoor lover - Help them protect themselves from the sun while avoiding the harmful chemicals found in typical sunscreens with Caribbean Sol www.caribbean-sol.com

For the brown bagger - keep tons of sandwich bags out of landfills with Wrap-N-Mat, a reusable sandwich wrap and mat. www.wrap-n-mat.com

For the pet lover - Give your pet treats so healthy and natural they're safe for you to eat from www.pawsativelydapper.net and for pet clean-ups check out Scoopies - biodegradable waste bags www.scoopies.com

For the shopper - a reusable bag. Eco-Bags have a variety of great bags to help you solve the paper or plastics debate - neither www.ecobags.com

Reusable Water Bottles

I have converted my family to Sigg aluminum bottles and we LOVE them. Sigg bottles are lightweight, great looking, and great for the environment. Currently Americans add over 30 million plastic water bottles to our nation's landfills – everyday! I know since converting to the reusable bottles my family has noticed a difference in the number of bottles in our recycling bin! When making eco-friendly choices remember the 3Rs - reduce, reuse, recycle. The first two are really the most important - although it is great to recycle items, recycling takes energy, also plastic doesn’t recycle 100% like glass or metal does so it is best to eliminate as much plastic use as possible. At first the Sigg bottles seem expensive at $20 a bottle, but think how often you buy bottled water at over $1 a bottle - it adds up quick. Now before heading out we fill up our reusable bottle at home and fill it up throughout the day at restaurants, business water coolers, etc. Check out Sigg bottles at www.mysigg.com