Another Inconvenient Truth: Bottled Water - its killing the world

by LilHoody | May 3, 2009 at 11:15 pm

1026 views | 56 Recommendations | 10 comments

Drinking from plastic bottled water is not only damaging to yourself, to the enviornment, but you are also contributing to less water in the world.

Recently in Australia, it was bought to our attention how valuable water is. Though, due to recent rain periods it seems we have forgotten. Though, to us, that was just a glimpse of what potentially could really happen. We could potentially have no water.

To us, that was just a fraction of the taste of a baron land. Though look at countries where children have no water and are forced to drink from dried wells. We are all guilty of pleading ignorance, so I am sure some of you will think you know. Perhaps you should be placed in that situation for you to fully understand.

I digress.

The facts on bottled water is astounding.

Bottled water costs more than $1.50, that is 1,900 times the price of tap water! This affects you how - we will see.

In the year 2004, bottled water usage was marked as 26,000,000,000 (liters). That is big, too big for you to grasp. Well that equates to 28,000,000,000 plastic bottles in a year, of which nearly 86% ends up in the garbage. To put it to you in another way - that is 1,500 water bottles end up as garbage every second.

You sick of paying too much money to fill up your car?

Pacific Institute’s estimates for the energy used for pumping and processing, transportation, and refrigeration, brings the annual fossil fuel footprint of bottled water consumption in the United States to over 50 million barrels of oil equivalent—enough to run 3 million cars for one year. If everyone drank as much bottled water as Americans do, the world would need the equivalent of more than 1 billion barrels of oil to produce close to 650 billion individual bottles.

You think that is scary - 26,000,000,000 liters also produces 2,500,000 tons of carbon dioxide. That means, by you simply putting down that plastic water bottle, or not buying a plastic bottle - you are reducing your carbon foot print dramatically.

Do not think for a second that we own this beautiful place. We are here to protect our Planet, and look at what we are doing - we are producing garbage!

None the less - you probably more concerned about your wallet huh; well humans spend 100,000,000,000 (one hundred billion dollars) every year on bottled water - what was the federal bailout package again?

Bottle Water and your health.

Some bottled water have a great amount of fluoride exceeding what's recommended for children thus causing teeth mottling. Some bottled water have more than 10 mg/liter of sodium which is detrimental to people with heart and kidney problems and those who are hypertensive. There's no manufacturing date on the bottled water so you have no idea how long the water has been in the bottle. With that, it has been said that leeching of the plastic bottle components into the water happens more with time. Some bottles still contain bacteria because they don't normally undergo decontamination.

The plastic, ones heated be that the sun in your car, and by the means of transportation in getting to the supermarket - has a chemical reaction to the body that causes cancer.

A report released by the Environmental Working Group this week provides yet another reason not to drink bottled water: disinfection byproducts, fertilizer residue and pain medication. All these chemicals and more were found in multiple brands of bottled water EWG tested.

EWG announced it filed a suit to require Walmart post a warning sign on its bottles that the water contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, an act required under California law

Other brands tested contained chemicals including fertilizer byproducts, chemical remnants of prescription meds, industrial chemicals, bacteria, arsenic, and even boron. The study also included assays for breast cancer cell proliferation, conducted at the University of Missouri. One bottled water brand spurred a 78% increase in the growth of the breast cancer cells compared to the control sample.

Research shows that for a fraction of the amount, everyone on the Planet could have safe drinking water and proper sanitation.

Please be mindful of your actions, they have consequences.

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend Sign In or Join to post comments

TrudiPants

at 23:58 on May 3rd, 2009

WOAW - thank you for bringing this information to our attention.

Amazing, incrediable - and appauling that companies get away with this all for money. Who cares about your health, lets make money and ask questions later.

Uwe Paschen

at 02:27 on May 4th, 2009

The numbers of plastic waste over all are mind blowing and one of the worth environmental crimes we commit as a global society.

http://my.nowpublic.com/environment/plastic-bags-and-holidays-no-no-eco-system

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 02:41 on May 4th, 2009

Bottled water became the fashionable thing to do. It came along with fashionable gym outfits. It was just plain cool. It was a lie sold to us by the big soft drink manufacturers when sales of sugar loaded soft drinks declined. Thanks for this story Litlle Hoodie.

freewind

at 02:51 on May 4th, 2009

Thank you for these facts, I wish the whole world could read this!

LilHoody

at 03:57 on May 4th, 2009

Thank you all very much for your comments.

I didn't realize these facts until very recently, and holding other discussions it seems not too many people were.

It wasn't until some facts came my way and sourced some information on news sites that I found even more alarming statistics.

Doing the best we can individually for ourselves, our friends and loved ones can certainly make a lot of difference.

Andrew Jonathan Thompson (not verified)

at 06:01 on May 4th, 2009

Just another example of the 'haves' squandering the wealth of the planet without a thought for the consequences or any sense of moral responsibility for those that do not enjoy the basics of life. Check out www.turnonthetap.org and make a difference.

My own walk 'Godrevy Turn on the Tap' in Cornwall U.K in support of the International Relief organisation 'Samaritan's Purse' is on June 14 when my colleagues and I will walk 15 miles to raise awareness and funding for water projects in the developing world. We enlist the participation of local schools and members of Parliament to try and publicise this issue.

Currently one child dies every 20 seconds from a totally preventable waterborne illness.

Not only that, but many children do not receive an education due to their committment on a daily basis to the search and collection of 'clean' water for their basic needs.

Please contact me if you would like to support this cause that is going global this year.

ajthomphayle@talktalk.net

LilHoody

at 11:28 on May 4th, 2009

What a very nobel and gracious ideal - always very cool to hear about people doing charitable deeds to rais awarness. Thank you Andrew Jonathan Thompson for your comments.

gerrypopplestone

at 06:29 on May 4th, 2009

I can't understand such stupid people in the Global North! After all, it would be understandable if they were living in Kinshasa or somewhere like that where good drinking water was rare! But they aren't: they are so ignorant about the quality of the water that is available to them through the common tap. We in London drink water that has been through the recycling five times or more. OK it's not so tasty as water from a spring but it has all the right ingredients and none of the wrong ones. That's all that matters.

LilHoody

at 11:32 on May 4th, 2009

Perhaps gerrypopplestone - though if I was you I would be checking out your water. I am very lucky to be privilege to drink from tank water which is stored from rain. Though I know in the major cities in Australia they are introducing fluoride into the drinking water, flogging it as it is good for your teeth. Where the harm they are really doing to the citizens of their own country is disgusting.

So appauling that they market it as being good for you.

Scott Smythe (not verified)

at 13:50 on May 13th, 2009

I got off plastic bottles a while ago. I just filter my water at home and take it with me. I found a great glass bottle at www.betrulyyou.com . It has a protective sleeve for when I am on the road, and nothing's better than the feel of a cold glass bottle full of water. I've had mine for about six months now, and even dropped it on the hard floor at work without it breaking. Don't support the privitization of the worlds water supplies! Drink tap water. Every little thing adds up to make a real difference.