Teddy Roosevelt might have vilified Poland Spring, and John James Audubon might have dissed Fiji, but we live in more dangerous times. So campaigns like the one profiled in today’s New York Times, to make bottled water look like a public scourge, are dangerous distractions in this environmental moment.
Back in the 19th century or so, when most people didn’t understand how industrial living changed the chemistry of life all over the world, we could attack isolated cultural excesses. Rich men like Theodore Roosevelt saw that they had plundered so much of the natural world that laws and cops should protect a designated sliver of what was left. An elitist rep has dogged green politics ever since. Despite the courage and ingenuity of Majora Carter and other advocates for environmental justice, it’s politically easy to pose economic growth and ecological soundness as opposites.
But environmental concerns can no longer translate simply to lifestyle choices. Today, because climate change and other forms of pollution endlessly change the entire natural world in ways we can’t predict, environmental concerns involve how people around the world can work, eat, escape disease and breathe. That means the causes that matter are those with big impacts — passing a global treaty this year that really enforces carbon limits, say, or investing in clean water in the developing world.
Even if you and all your neighbors buy only beer from wind-powered breweries, massive patterns that make the poor world poorer also make the climate less stable. So invest in proving the business case for local food production, via rooftop or alleyway garden. Invest in making a habit of reusing finished goods into a professional service. And yes, pressure water companies to invest in cleaner extraction and delivery. But don’t waste your intensity on the last.
We have limited attention and limited means. And if educated folk spend their green brain cells on fuming over the sight of a Poland Spring bottle at the mall, we can too easily go numb at the sight of ruined ecosystems in the global south. I’d rather we lucky Westerners drink when we’re thirsty, think more clearly when refreshed, and set about understanding how our choices interlock with the earth’s chemistry and the big patterns we can address.
Alec Appelbaum
Alec Appelbaum writes about real estate, true-green business and architecture for the New York Times, Fast Company, New York magazine and others. He has also contributed to Architectural Record, the Architect’s Newspaper, Dwell and the Forum For Urban Design and ...
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Sarah says:
Although I consider myself an environmentalist, the primary reason why I am concerned about the bottled water industry is because of the human rights abuses associated with corporate control of our water.
Poland Springs and other divisions of Nestle waters have been involved in countless lawsuits with small community groups across the country over the past decade. Why? Communities have lost democratic control of local water resources after bottling plants moved into their towns. Citizens found that due to over-pumping, wells were drying up, rivers were disappearing, and once-reliable water tables were collapsing. Nonetheless, the greedy bottlers refuse to reduce pumping even under severe drought conditions. Communities have been left helpless and most do not have the money to support intense legal battles with the industry, which are always wrought with corporate appeals.
Here's a great story about Nestle and bottled water: http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/stories-matter-nestle-draining-america-bottle-bottle-part-1-2
Additionally, bottled water companies are paving the way for complete corporate control of our water. Many corporations are buying up and managing public water systems. Many communities are neglecting public water infrastructure, and when water is found unsafe to drink, community members are told to turn to bottled water. The bottled water industry is making it permissible for governments even in the United States to fail to provide their people with safe drinking water. This is inexcusable - a world in which water has a price tag set by corporations that people aren't just going to go hungry, they're going to go thirsty.
In developing nations, human rights abuses by the water industry have gone much further. Privatization of water by corporations has made water unavailable to those who cannot afford it. Privatization has already sickened and killed countless people who do not have access to safe drinking water. Water should not be a commodity but a basic human right, and it should not be bought and sold for profit. Bottled water corporations are redefining the way we think about water, and supporting their ideology is paving the way for even more egregious human rights abuses internationally and domestically.
The Think Outside the Bottle campaign is working to protect the human right to water. Learn about the campaign at http://www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org
Sarah says:
excuse me, all of the paragraphs in that got blurred together and now it looks like a long, wild rant. I wish there were an "edit" option...
Alec Appelbaum says:
Sarah, please try again. I can format your thoughts (er, rant) and will certainly benefit from them. Thanks.
Aaron Toffler says:
The future of water is actually one of the most pressing environmental concerns of our time. If we allow corporations to control water sources, there is a very real danger that communities will no longer have access to clean water in the future. Additionally, the waste associated with the bottled water industry makes it a perfect target of environmental concerns. Not everyone is able to effect change on the macro-level that you advocate. If this is the issue that gets people interested and active in the environmental movement, I applaud it!
Alec Appelbaum says:
Thanks, Aaron. I'm all for awareness, and I try to avoid buying nonrecyclable bottles. But I urge myself and everyone to make a full commitment to awareness. Fixating on one structural problem can become dangerously habit-forming. The problem of bottled water is a pockmark on a much larger rash of over-consumption, inequity and waste. You're right that everybody needs to start somewhere. I aim to remind folks that bottles are just a start.
Al says:
I just think people who drink bottled water are stupid for paying money for something that literally falls from the sky.
Alec Appelbaum says:
Al, you can't drink rainwater. There's a cost to treating, bottling, distributing and refrigerating it. (Not to mention snapping those open-close doohickeys on top of sports bottles.) And everybody pays when water supply decreases - the questions are what different people pay, in money or externalities, and how we can build industries that address those costs. Thanks.