[MD] thoughts on water

[ian glendinning]

Great analysis Arlo,

Tow points specifically.

The value of our "convenience".
And
Our tendency to "post-rationalize" the indefensible.

Two major psychological "failings" we face.
Ian

On 6/23/07, ARLO J BENSINGER JR <ajb102 at psu.edu> wrote:
> [SA]
> I do know earlier in the trip I did stop to buy a bottle of water at a
> convinent store.  I knew this convinent store was on my route, and I waited for
> this particular place to stop.
>
> [Arlo]
> Consider this. According to the cost-analysis given here
> (http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/askpablo-exotic-bottled-water-002401.php),
> which looks at the "true cost" of producing and moving a bottle of water from
> Fiji to San Francisco, it takes approximately 8.5 ounces (243 grams) of gas to
> produce/move this one bottle of water. That's about .06 gallons. That puts it
> about one gallon of fossil fuel for each 16 or so bottles of water moved from
> Fiji just to San Francisco (remember once you distribute within the US, you are
> adding more fossil fuel to the mix).
>
> According to the San Francisco Chronicle
> (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/21/BUGE7NL8RA1.DTL),
> "more than 180 million bottles of Fiji Water were sold last year". The amount
> of fossil fuel consumed just to make and distribute these bottles to San
> Francisco is about 11,250,000 gallons of fuel.
>
> And that's just Fiji Water, and that's just to San Francisco.
>
> Looking at the totality of bottled water produced and consumed, Earth Policy
> Organization (one of those commie, anti-American, evil enemy of freedom groups)
> noted "making bottles to meet Americans' demand for bottled water requires
> more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 U.S.
> cars for a year. Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle
> water each year."
>
> I have suggested to those in my area to use home water purification systems, or
> distillers, to lower the cost and impact of consuming water, while still
> getting good, clean water to drink. But these require larger upfront
> investments, and so many are unwilling. Using reusable containers to carry your
> own water, rather than disposable bottles, is also an idea worth encouraging.
>
> But as I said, we are a people of hindsight, not foresight. We can't be
> inconvenienced or bothered to think about tomorrow, or about larger waste and
> resource management issues. Hell, I'm an evil commie tyrant for simply
> suggesting the idea that we should be concerned about how we are using and
> disposing resources.
>
> [SA]
> This static pattern wasn't open to springs as being a place to stop for water.
>
> [Arlo]
> Getting a bottle of clean water from a convenience store in a pinch is
> something worth keeping. But our practice should be informed by larger impact
> concerns. Stay as local and resuable as you can. And if you happen upon
> polluted or undrinkable springs in the forest, report them to the PA DEP (or
> your local state agency). We should not settle for a polluted world where
> drinking from springs makes you ill.
>
> In closing consider this.
>
> If one bottle of water is 12oz, that's about .09 gallons and cost is about $1.
>
> For gas, at $3/gallon, .09 gallons would cost you about 27 cents.
>
> Bottled water is about 4 times more expensive than gasoline, which is mined,
> refined, shipped, and subject to political turmoil. Water is "the single most
> abundant resource on the planet" (Dennis Miller).
>
>
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