WaterLog

There have been a lot of stories about bottled water in the past month. Bottled water companies are more frequently being criticized for everything from bottling municipal water to contributing to global warming through the production, shipment and disposal of beverage containers. So, this is the latest article I’ve read on the topic. It caught my eye because it also talks about the amount of money we spend on bottled water ($15 billion annually) when so many poor people in the world have no source of clean water.

Message in a Bottle

I’m not posting this to add to the conversations about the bottled water industry, although I do agree that plastic bottles are wasteful and I’m happy filling my sports bottle daily with tap water that’s practically free. There are a million comparisons we can make about our personal indulgences – how much we spend on coffee (especially here in Seattle), how much we spend dining out, how much we spend on clothes. That doesn’t even get into military spending and other comparisons of government spending that I think about daily.

I actually find these comparisons hopeful because it’s evidence to me that we can solve this problem of water and toilets for the world’s poor. There is enough money in the world to cover the costs that cannot be borne by the people who are today walking to water holes. It’s simply up to us as individuals to make a change.