Week 2 (Blog)

Weekly thoughts for 13/Feb/06

Obviously bottled water has many externalities. I believe that the reason that so many people say that environmentalism and economics don't mix is because of the social justice factor. Companies make money selling products that are made in (or of materials from) other countries. These countries need the capital and the jobs and therefore will subjugate themselves to stooping to what we in America consider to be unacceptable levels of living conditions. Some of the social problems at work are 1) the governments make the decisions; not the people 2) these governements are often under pressure by comapnies or international forces such as WTO 3) the people are left with familes who need to eat and no options as to where the money comes from since bigger businesses with international funding/subsidies out compete local avenues of work with little to no effort.

If the externalities are considered, then the economic sense that is made by depleating resources and wasting oil for waste plastic becomes un-economical. If everyone who bought bottled water was paying to ship in plenty of clean water for the communities whose water is being bottled and shipped off, for the true cost of the oil (non-renewable) that is wasted in making the bottles (and not the subsidized oil prices we see at the gas stations), and for the cost of recycling (not a bottle deposit) for bottles that are not recycled (basically a bottle deposit that reflects the true cost of one more bottle in a landfill) then I am sure that bottled water would become less popular. (That's why God invented Nalgene's anyway.)

Enviro Blog:

Don't Drink the Water (the Bottled Kind That Is).

From the unintended consequences file (Breitbart.com):

Bottled water consumption, which has more than doubled globally in the last six years, is a natural resource that is heavily taxing the world's ecosystem, according to a new US study.

"Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing, producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy," according to Emily Arnold, author of the study published by the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington-based environmental group.

The consequences?

High prices:

"At as much as 2.50 dollars per liter (10 dollars per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline," the study says.

and increased demand for oil:

[The increase in demand] has translated into massive costs in packaging the water, usually in plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) which is derived from crude oil, and then transporting it by boat, train or on land.

"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 US cars for a year," according to the study. "Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year."

and waste disposal:

Once the water is consumed, disposing the plastic bottles poses an environmental risk.

The study, citing the Container Recycling Institute, said that 86 percent of plastic water bottles in the United States end up as garbage and those buried can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.

and water shortages:

The study warned that the rapid growth in the industry has also ironically led to water shortages in some areas, including India where bottling of Dasani water and other drinks by the Coca-Cola company has caused shortages in more than 50 villages.

How many of you are looking at the bottle of water in your hand right now?