I am not sure if everyone knows this, but water in the United States is free (more or less anyways). There are water fountains and wonderful innovations that provide a small spout that shoots water through pipes and into these contraptions called sinks. And before the water hits the sink you can use a glass to catch it in. Sounds groundbreaking (no pun intended).
The reason I bring this up is that lately I have heard too much hoopla over bottled water and the negative effects it brings to the world. I just read a piece on-line about it, that motivated me to write something about it, basically because here in Grand Rapids, Michigan the latest hype is something called Boxed Water.
Brilliant idea from a marketing stand point, but shouldn’t we be fighting the idea of water consumption in anything that is not entirely re-usable and sustainable.
Sure drinking water from a box can be cool (look at me I am different, not really), but convenience is cooler. Water should not be a fad, or an accessory, why must it be made into one? Nalgene bottles (just one of many examples) can be purchased fairly on the cheap these days and it is not bold to sya one of those can last a lifetime, and fit in the water holder on your bike, or the caribbeaner loop on your pants. Boxes….Have fun riding with one hand.
Have we not learned anything from boxed wine!
Oh – check out this trailer too
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May 13, 2009 at 10:01 pm
chad
interesting chris. i wonder if you have had a chance to talk to the boxed water guys, given that they are in at madcap often. maybe because i know these guys, i have access to who they are and what they are about, but i would say in general, these guys would say the same things you are saying here….however they are trying to change the current bottled water system from the inside. i have actually heard them say they hope the bottled water industry collapses due to their involvement. its quite easy to just look at the industry and lump them in, but i would argue that maybe you are making some unfair assumptions….(the video brings up many issues that the boxed water guys are incorporating into their philosophy….the oil used in transportation: given boxes ship more efficiently, it uses less oil, as well as their goal of having a bottling plant within 200 miles of every customer! the boxes are compostable, changing the need to send the plastic overseas for recycling and then having us buy it back for use in our own manufacturing. they are actually working with several very large institutions to provide refilling stations so that their boxes will be re-used, similar to the nalgenes (and with the recent studies of bpa brought up in the video, should i just throw out the 4 nalgenes i own that have bpa now that we know its unhealthy?)
im not disagreeing that the system needs to change, however i am saying maybe more investigation should be done before we call out companies like boxed water, as i know these guys are working for the same things you and i are.