Time for a confession (mine)
I have been feeling guilty about something for the last 10 days. They say that confession is good for the soul, and what could be better than a public confession? So, it is time to confess.
Ten days ago I bought 36 bottles of water.
Why did I do it? Not because I was preparing my household for an earthquake, not because I was preparing to go hiking at Yosemite with a large group, not because I was preparing to travel to a country with unsanitary water. It was because the IABC Executive Committee was coming to town for a meeting.
First, a disclaimer–the EC did not ask me to commit this guilt-producing act. But I knew they would want some water, and since the IABC conference room is NOT equipped with a wet bar, keeping pitchers of water full would require many trips down the hall to the kitchen, and I was feeling too lazy to do that.
“Wait a minute,” you are thinking. “Why is she getting so worked up about bottled water? Isn’t it much better to be drinking water than a sugared soft drink or even a diet drink? And hasn’t bottled water helped to prevent disease in many places?”
Yes, it is true that water is more healthful than soft drinks and water from contaminated sources. Though it should be noted that some dentists report an increase in tooth decay because bottled water is not fluridated. But the issue is not so much water as the oil used to bottle, transport and cool the water. According to the Earth Policy Institute, it takes 1.5 billion barrels of oil a year to make plastic water bottles. Then, of course, there is the disposal issue. How many plastic bottles end up in the trash instead of the recycle bin?
So, maybe 1.5 billion barrels of oil isn’t much in the grand scheme of things and there definitely are times and places where drinking bottled water is warranted. But in places where the tap water is safe, that’s what I am drinking. And it looks like I will be making a lot of trips to the kitchen when the IABC Executive Board and Research Foundation Trustees come to town in September.
August 21st, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Interesting thoughts on the subject of bottled water. At one level, it indicates an untended byproduct of how interconnected we have become over the last few years–where we scrutinise basic transactions for their social and environmental impact just as we routinely convene conference calls covering twelve or more timezones.
At another, it indicates a need for products and services that can fill those needs with reduced environmental and energy impact–enhanced video conferencing, personal water filters, locally farmed produce, and my personal favourite, the Soda Club machine that makes my own sparkling water and aspartame-free diet soda, which has already kept a good ten litre bottles from going into the landfill since I bought it earlier this month.
On a third level, it indicates that communicators not only need to be aware of the extent to which their organizations walk their talk on these topics, but also to be aware of where our stakeholders are so they can position their messages accordingly. No one talks of recyclable paper or “California Emissions” any more–standards are getting higher and communicators need to stay with them.
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:10 am
Interesting post — and it’s not an insignificant notion, Julie. Sometimes it’s the small acts — like explaining to a Board members why water is in pitchers and not plastic bottles — that helps us make the biggest impact as communicators.
It’s not a pet issue of mine but
this article from Best Life magazine blew my mind and really got me thinking about not using plastic bottles, bags, etc.
-Dan
August 24th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Dan–
I am reminded of the story of the man on vacation who was walking along a beach by the ocean. He saw that hundreds of starfish had washed up on the shore. Then he came across a man throwing starfish, one by one, back into the ocean.
“Why are you doing that?’ the vacationer asked.
“So they won’t die.”
“But you can’t possibly throw them all back,” the vacationer said. “What you are doing can’t possibly make a difference.”
“To the ones I am throwing back it does.”
That story has stuck with me for a long time. We may not be able to save the world, but we can make a difference in some places.
August 26th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Don’t buy local water.
Buy Fiji water, say, or melted Canadian glacier water, or water from France.
Then, as an international business communcations association employee, you’ll be supporting the businesses around the world that extract the water from springs or ice floes, manufacture bottles, build and operate ships and trains and trucks planes, and even keep the less interllectually gifted gainfully employed stocking shelves at retail establishments.
Just skip the brands of companies — Coke and Pepsi come to mind — that have been less than straightforward about where the water comes from, how it is processed, etc. That’s why we apparently now have “public sources” as code for tapwater.
Which is not to say that recycling the bottles isn’t a good idea — it keeps the recycling company employees employed, too.
BAK
August 28th, 2007 at 11:03 am
Brian–
Whether the water comes from Fiji, Canadian, France or a U.S. tap, it takes oil to make the bottles, transport the bottles, refrigerate the bottles and recycle the bottles.
I am still planning to turn on the tap.
JAF