Happy Wednesday friends! Another Wednesday, another tip for you to be more "green" and take care of the earth like you love having a planet.
Okay, so today's tip is to bring your own water bottle with you when you go out somewhere. And, if you want to make this a f***-you-cancer tip too, then let's add this part: make it a glass or metal bottle.
Why? Glad you asked (and, glad I'm now having fake conversations in my head).
1. One-time use water bottles are like the devil. Just picture it. You crack open this water bottle to quench your thirst this one time during one small part of your one day on this planet. Now, you've quenched your thirst for an hour or so, but now this bottle will move on and exist for HUNDREDS of years, being buried in the ground. So, when you're long gone, that one bottle from one moment of your long life is still sitting there in a mountain of buried garbage. Now picture that one water bottle multiplied by a million for all the plastic water bottles you've used. Doesn't make sense, right? That's why this tip seems small, but it makes a HUGE impact.
2. As far as whether to use a plastic or non-plastic reusable bottle goes, you should definitely use non-plastic not only for the environment, but for your health. We have all heard about BPA in plastic and how it causes cancer. Well, BPA is NOT the only thing that's in plastic that causes cancer. And, the effects of BPA were known long before it became well known to the public. There are all kinds of hormone disruptors in plastic. So, while your water is sitting there in the bottle, if it's plastic, your water is absorbing chemicals from that plastic. I personally use glass bottles. I used to use stainless steel ones, but some stainless steel bottles have a coating on the inside that may contain some plastic. So, I decided glass was my best option.
Okay, let's take a break from the list to talk glass bottle options and look at pretty pictures:
You don't have to go out and spend a bunch of money on some fancy glass bottle, unless you want to. Our family has bought several bottles of raw juices from a local business (Drought, if you're interested) in the past, and they came in these cool square-ish glass bottles with wide top mouths. We washed and saved those bottles and now we use them for travelling water bottles. You can do this with any glass bottle. You can even do this with jars from anything, like pasta sauce, peanut butter, etc.
Now, if you want to be all fancy-pants about it, here are some nice glass water bottle options:
I love the simplicity of this one! I feel like this is what beautiful models from Scandinavian countries drink from. While yodeling. From Overstock
These are cool with their ribbed (for your pleasure - haha) rubber grips - BottlesUp
Life Factory glass bottles - Look at the cool rubbery/silicone covers on these. Gives you good grip and a little protection for the glass. But, you have to remember to clean inside those sleeves.
LOVE these bottles! How cute are they?! I want them. Glass bottles by Faucet Face
Oooh, and if you are into sleek and modern vibes, this is perfecto for you - bkr glass bottles
Okay, back to the list. Put your reading glasses back on.
3. Bottled water is less regulated than tap water. There are more regulations and monitoring that goes into your tap water than what goes into bottled water. And studies have shown tap water to be cleaner. If you get Detroit city water, you're getting some of the best tap water available in the country. We have major filtration going on. Detroit even sells some of its water to some water bottle companies. Go figure. So, just carry around an empty reusable water bottle with you and then fill it up at drinking fountains or sinks when you go somewhere. Easy.
4. Bottled water is more expensive than gas for you car. You will pay a couple bucks for a bottle of water, but pay a little more than that for a gallon of gas for your car. Save yourself some money and drink tap water.
So, do yourself and the planet a favor and bring your own water bottle with you instead of drinking water from a one-use plastic bottle.
Until next time!