“Green” Question of the Day?

Do you drink tap water or bottle water? And why? You know, as ignorant as I may be about many things “green”, the bottle water thing has stuck in my craw for years. It was strange to me (give me a little latitude here for just a moment) that as soon as it was announced that “in order to be healthy enough” we must drink a minimum of 64 ounces of water a day, all of the sudden it was just as important that we drink it from a prepackaged bottle at the cost of no less than $1 - maybe a bit less, probably more. We began paying absurd amounts for “good water”. The further away it was bottled, the better. Not that I haven’t drank my fair share of bottle water. I have indeed. But this is my new soapbox I think. If you think of what it costs in the scheme of things it is more than ridiculous. Cost in energy not only for the bottle water plants to run, and supposedly purify the water, but the cost of the bottles even the recycled bottles, and then the enormous amount of cost tagged on for shipping all over the nation/world. Crazy.

Here is a very good article I found after my mind started toying with all this: Green Guide: Tapped Out.  There is also several podcasts over on NPR.

So where am I in all of this?  Husband just put in a reverse osmosis system on our home.  This was necessary if we were to drink our well water.  It was, well…unpalatable.  It was safe.  We had it tested.  But it is so soft and so full of natural minerals that it just wasnt tasty.  Or maybe too tasty!  We were spending upwards of $150-$200 a month on drinking water.  Nope - that isnt a misprint.  Two hundred of his hard earned dollars.  But this system he put in is great! So I think I can say with very little reservation that I am to the point I am buying reusable (not reusing flimsy) containers for our water we take with us instead of buying no telling how much bottled water while we are not at home.  Husband will still have to purchase bottled water in his travels but here at home…tap only.

GREEN TIP FOR TODAY:  Switch from paper and plastic bags to reusable bags and totes.