We’ve been thinking a lot about bottled water lately. Sometimes, when we talk about the major problem with pollution in our streams and rivers, people think that means we shouldn’t drink local tap water. Instead, they think we should be importing bottled water from some supposedly pristine far-away place. As Ashley recently pointed out, this couldn’t be further from the truth. We need to be supporting our local municipal water systems who do a great job cleaning our water while we work towards cleaner local waterways. And we need to be reducing the amount of plastic waste that ends up forming islands of trash in our oceans.
Here is a great, eight-minute video that explains all of the problems with bottled water. Watch The Story of Bottled Water with Annie Leonard!
The bottled water video is terrific – clear, educational and to the point. We offer our volunteers at Friends of High School Park bottled water, a practice I’ve been wanting to change. I’m going to get to work on that now.
Amy, we’ve had this same dilemma at TTF events and admittedly, we have served bottled water in the past as well. One of the things we have found that works when we have outdoor events is to bring a very large thermos of water and email volunteers to bring reusable water bottles ahead of time. We usually have paper cups on hand for those who forget. Good luck!