Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Tap Water Revolution!

So, I've been trying to green up around here. One of the things I'm focusing on right now is reducing the plastics in our lives, especially food container plastics. It's super daunting when you stop to think that no matter what you store your food in at home, or what plates and glasses you choose to eat off of, much of the food we buy comes in plastic (like a block of cheese, a container of yogurt, and lots of other healthy foods). I've just decided not to get all defeatist about that. We're making small changes to reduce our plastic exposure. So, to that end, I bought these Klean Kanteens: two for the little guys, a medium one for me, and a larger one for Ken. They're great; I really prefer the taste/feel of drinking from the metal and I love not having all those plastic water bottles rolling around the floor of my van!

Love the Klean Kanteens, but I decided to take it one step further by filling mine with tap water instead of home delivered water, as the rest of the family does. And wow, I feel very good about that choice. Bottled water has always seemed a little wasteful to me, but I was totally swept along in the tide of bottled water drinking like the rest of the nation. But, you know what? I don't like water either way: not bottled, not tap, so why not drink the water that is safe, cheap, plentiful, and that has an existing infrastructure that brings it to us efficiently? Doesn't it seem pretty ridiculous, when you sit down and think about it, to have water delivered on trucks, thus widening our carbon footprint even more? So I've made the switch, I put a squeeze of lemon in it, which I would do anyway (and I chill it in the fridge) and I'm perfectly happy with the taste and feeling very green.

Other green updates:
  • I've thrown out most of our plastic food storage containers and am using mostly Pyrex now (I have yet to replace a couple of the larger plastic containers but will soon).
  • The Envirosax are working great for me. They roll up so small and light in my bag that I have them wherever I go. I just need to remember to get them out, but I'm getting better and better about that. And people always ask me about them.
  • And last but not least, I have a special treat for you. Check out this episode of Good Food. It has a very informative segment on plastics, an interesting bit on bottled water, plus a really fascinating story on the environmental effects of the meat industry. Just listen to it, you are in for a treat!!
Tomorrow night is Back to School night at my job, so I'll either be posting late or not at all. Now go enjoy a nice glass of tap water!

5 comments:

Felicia said...

I carry my orange Nalgene water bottle with me to work everyday :)

Kate said...

wow... you truly do inspire me! I switched to cloth grocery bags this summer and am working on the water bottle thing... I actually have a ton of nalgenes, so for now we're using those, someday we'll move up like you guys, great job! I totally wanted those envirosax but I had to make my own... cause i had the fabric...

Kimberly said...

I totally have to get the babe the KK sippie cup ... we've been using Siggs but I like the stainless steel much better.

Gift of Green said...

YAHOO!!!! Good work! I'm switching to Siggs and tossing out our gnarly sippie cups.

Melissa! said...

I am so with you on this issue! The only thing we were lagging on was getting new water bottles. Thank you for the reminder, I'll go to New Leaf this week!