My Solution is the Problem

I don't know what I'm talking about, but the results I come up with make me cringe and hate myself.

The first thing I did after buying my latest bicycle was to go to REI and get a little bottle carrier and bottle. That way I could hydrate myself when riding, or at least masquerade as a real rider, the type who need to do that. At home I fill my little bottle from a five gallon bottle of bought water, which I refill using old milk containers from a nearby market.

This water issue has intrigued me for years. Someone smart once wondered if the necessity of everyone lugging around bottles of water was somehow related to the increased use of anti-depressants, which cause dry mouth. Maybe so, but I still get a chuckle out of people sitting around meetings, each with his or her own little water bottle.

Over one billion people on this planet don't have safe water to drink. I do, but instead of contributing to those who need it, I spend my money on "better" water. As it turns out, we're spending $100 billion dollars a year on bottled water, and only fifteen billion on helping spread decent water to the rest of the world. Even that amount, a small portion of what we spend on designer waters, will only halve the problem over the next ten years.

I'm not a communist, not exactly, but sometimes very much an egalitarian. Those of us who have decent water turn our back on it, to the detriment of the world. The amount of fuel needed to produce the bottles for our chic and exotic water would power 100,000 cars for a year. Worse, that water all comes from somewhere. Those who depend on it locally are finding their streams and water tables depleted, and for what?

Bottled water isn't any healthier than tap water. I can ignore the transportation costs that get added by moving it to my market by enjoying the status it gives me to drink it. And, think how good it is for everyone on the planet when I toss the empty out! It either marinates in the earth for a thousand years or else gets bundled on a ship and shipped to China to become a fleece throw blanket! No energy used there, either!

I'm not making much money now, so $100 billion dollars is a lot for me. The fact that my enjoyment of a nice glass of fancy, cool water is adding horribly to the planet's woes, is doing nothing to create a decent life for the one-sixth of our population who endure bacterial-infected, muddy, water, just shows how much better than I am than those who choose to live like that. Maybe I'll toss 'em a quarter, but I'll probably forget all about it come tomorrow.

You can read more, here.