Water & Our Culture of Indulgence

I, like many of you, perhaps, have always felt somehow virtuous when purchasing a bottle of water rather than a soft drink. Sure, there was always that undertone of "I can't believe I'm paying money for something I can get for free at home," but at the same time I was just too careless to remember to bring water with me, and invariably I'd get in the car or get ready to go out somewhere and think, "I need to buy a couple bottles of water!" And I'd at least feel good about the fact that I was making a healthier choice, if not an altogether more responsible choice.

Well, no more.

This article (Message in a Bottle, on FastCompany.com) has a lot of good research into the bottled water industry, and ends with an intriguing challenge. The next time you reach for a bottle of water, instead of asking yourself "Does the value to me equal the 99 cents I'm about to spend?" ask rather "Does the value equal the impact I'm about to leave behind?"

So, no more bottled anything for us, that's my new plan. I'll just need to convince my husband that we really don't need sodas and juice (sob! I love juice!) at home. Which, of course, we don't. *I* definitely don't need the calories, and since we're both huge tea-drinkers, we should be fine without.