Few things make me as cranky as bottled water. We're one of the privileged few nations that can, for the most part, count on clean drinking water. Or at least we have the ability to seek recourse when our water is not as clean and safe as it should be. Yet from office buildings to schoolyards, we spend our money fueling an industry that takes water from our reservoirs and sells it back to us. Then we discard the bottles, usually without recycling them. Surely, bottled water isn't the only source of waste, but it's always been the most egregious offender in my mind because everyone has an alternative in their kitchen sink.
Turns out I'm not alone. The New York Times had a story a few days ago on Jean Hill, a Concord, Massachusetts woman who convinced her town to ban bottled water.
The industry is, of course, threatening to sue. Even if they succeeded in getting the ban overturned, maybe it'll make residents think twice before buying water. They already pay for the potable water that flows into their home, of course, but maybe they're not paying enough. Maybe the idea that it's a free natural resource leads consumers to buy the idea that it's unclean. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is threatened by water shortages. The bottled water phenomenon is another way Americans overconsume, completely unaware that the rest of the world lacks stability in the most basic resources.
-- Monica Potts
