Global Movement to Ban Bottled Water in Municipalities
Bottled water should be available for emergency situations only. It is not a sustainable solution. Communities in developing countries need and deserve long term solutions. Filtration systems and utmost protection of precious water sources are viable long term solutions.
Bottled water corporations are succeeding at changing the very way people think about water. Though many bottled water brands come from the same source as public tap water, they are marketed as somehow more pure. What's more bottled water corporations sell water back to the public at thousands times the cost. Plastic bottles also require massive amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture and transport. Billions of those bottles wind up in landfills each and every year.
By signing this petition you can help reverse this disturbing trend. Tens of thousands are supporting the efforts of progressive local officials to reduce the social impact and environmental harm of bottles water by banning bottled water within their municipalities and prioritizing public water systems.
"It struck me that all you had to do is take the water out of the ground and then sell it for more than the price of wine, milk or, for that matter, oil." - Past chairman of Perrier
"We Sell Water, so we have to be Clever" - Nestlé Executive
Did you know...
Seventy-four percent of Americans drink bottled water, and one in five drinks only bottled water.
Worldwide, consumers spent $100 billion on bottled water in 2005.
Each year more than 4 billion pounds of PET plastic bottles end up in landfills or as roadside litter.
Making bottles to meet Americans's demand for bottled water required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil last year - enough fuel for more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year - and generated more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
http://www.canadians.org/water/index.html
http://www.blueplanetproject.net/
http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/companies.cfm - Lists Social & Environmental Impacts of Major Corporations
http://www.killercoke.org/bottledwater.htm - The Bottled Water Issue
http://www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org
Water is a Human Right, Not a Commodity!
Bottled water should be available for emergency situations only. It is not a sustainable solution. Communities in developing countries need and deserve long term solutions. Filtration systems and utmost protection of precious water sources are viable long term solutions.
Bottled water corporations are succeeding at changing the very way people think about water. Though many bottled water brands come from the same source as public tap water, they are marketed as somehow more pure. What's more bottled water corporations sell water back to the public at thousands times the cost. Plastic bottles also require massive amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture and transport. Billions of those bottles wind up in landfills each and every year.
By signing this petition you can help reverse this disturbing trend. Tens of thousands are supporting the efforts of progressive local officials to reduce the social impact and environmental harm of bottles water by banning bottled water within their municipalities and prioritizing public water systems.
"It struck me that all you had to do is take the water out of the ground and then sell it for more than the price of wine, milk or, for that matter, oil." - Past chairman of Perrier
"We Sell Water, so we have to be Clever" - Nestlé Executive
Did you know...
Seventy-four percent of Americans drink bottled water, and one in five drinks only bottled water.
Worldwide, consumers spent $100 billion on bottled water in 2005.
Each year more than 4 billion pounds of PET plastic bottles end up in landfills or as roadside litter.
Making bottles to meet Americans's demand for bottled water required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil last year - enough fuel for more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year - and generated more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
http://www.canadians.org/water/index.html
http://www.blueplanetproject.net/
http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/companies.cfm - Lists Social & Environmental Impacts of Major Corporations
http://www.killercoke.org/bottledwater.htm - The Bottled Water Issue
http://www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org
Water is a Human Right, Not a Commodity!
The internet is a wonderful medium for delivering the truth, and a miraculous way for people around the world to share in prioritizing and working towards a common goal. Sure we can re-use or recycle plastic, there's lots of room for creativity in that regard. But I feel that the most important thing is to REDUCE: to RADICALLY REDUCE our needs & RADICALLY REDUCE our waste. A 50-year plan won't cut it, and 10 cent deposits only works for those who really need money - it's too conservative! I mean, if the situation is serious, then serious action has to be taken. The planet is sick, and so are a lot of breathing beings. Things are not going to get better 'slowly' - things will only get worse. The convenience of plastic water bottles is deceptive, and their total environmental costs are incalculable - but even the pipes that bring water to the house are made of plastic. Nevertheless, banning plastic water bottles is a wonderful FIRST step towards increased environmental consciousness and taking global responsibility. Life's not so hard without plastic water bottles, or most of the things we think we have to have in order to get by. Tap water is usable, and water purifying systems, distillers, and filters are available in abundance! I store my distilled water in glass bottles. We have a choice - actually, we have MANY many choices - but we're so pampered, so used to having everything within hand's reach at the cost of a few dollars, that sometimes it seems we have no brains left at all and can't think for ourselves. But all this is easy for us me to say - I'm not in a country that's ravaged by war or submersed in poverty where I'm just struggling to survive. But that's all the more reason for more fortunate countries, like Taiwan, to take responsibility, to take the first step. We enjoy prosperity and freedom, and we're the ones who need to practice restraint. If we do it, others will, too. Being a leader just means, doing it, doing it, doing it YOURSELF. And doing it NOW. If something needs to be done, you do it. Don't wait for the perfect situation, don't wait for the world to change first, don't make excuses - it's a terrible waste of time and energy when just sit around waiting for someone else to do the job. If something needs to be done, you do it, and then change is already happening, already a reality. The results are out of our hands, but we make the effort nevertheless - without ill-will, with joy, with patience and persistence - because we know this is for all our benefit. Not just for our own physical well-being and environmental satisfaction, but for our long-term development, as a species, in virtue, inner peace and calm, and in liberating wisdom - for our spiritual well-being. Meeting this sort of global and personal challenge is a great teacher, a great teaching that spurs us on beyond what we thought possible, forcing us to let go of old habits, old forms, old feelings, old perceptions, old ways of thinking, and old views - to break our barriers, to see beyond ourselves, to hold the bigger picture in mind and to keep it alive in our hearts as we attend to the details of everyday life. We are always participating, we are always 'in class' - we can't run away. Those who are wise will learn much from this, no matter the outcome. May all beings all around the universe be well, happy, and peaceful, and incline their minds toward what is wholesome for themselves, wholesome for others, and what is wholesome for both. With peace & Metta, let's be part of the solution.
Hello. As I blue collar worker doing cleanup/garbage at the local municipal buildings I an stuck daily by the amount of plastic bottles that are in the trash bins.I always am pulling them out and recycling when I can,but I am feeling a little overwhelmed at this dirty and ........I could rant forever.Lets also put pressure on the manufacturers and governments to make them at least returnable like in Oregon where this year they are insituting a 10 cent deposit.
About time some people woke up to the damage this is causing and teh waste of resources and energy.
I have signed up to present before Portland, Oregon's city council a ban of bottled for the city.
Keep the environment clean. Our grand kids will be benefited.
my name is Piero Lanaro and I am writing from Italy. We are pursuing a project called "People's Movement Project," and we would like to have e-mail about your initiatives to be included in the site. The best way to understand our initiative is to visit the site www.movimentopopolaremondiale.org, is in Italian but you can translate with a translator of Google. We've added a page that talks about everything that affects enviroment, still being updated, it would be interesting to put your contributions. Thanks very much for your attention and we hope soon to receive e-mail on your initiatives. Could be an interesting iniziative start a world campaign on different subject (public water, free press, alternatives energies, against war, antiracist, for work, against poverty ectetera) Piero Lanaro
Convincing the American people to pay good money for bottled water in a country with safe, clean tap water was the force of the market triumphing over reason. Now it's become a cultural norm. Stop the perpetuation of willful ignorance in the face of the global water crisis. Stop drinking bottled water!
It's ridiculous that water has become privatized. Pure water should be available to every human, and not only in a wasteful plastic bottle.
A reverse osmosis system pays for itself in months, depending on the size. I have a $500 system for home, and a $200 one for travel.
getting fedup with all the bottles every where you look time to step on the hands of people who just throw their garbage where any place they want WAKE UP YOU PEOPLE!!!!!!!!
Where have all the water fountains gone?? bring them back!
Our collective global intellect is rising exponentially and is the driving force behind naming and excising these business scams. Support this and other movements to stem the insatiable greed of global corporations. The more we are active now, the earlier we will gain controlling power over these monsters. Mexico is held captive by Coca-Cola as the prime source of potable water. We need to deal with this form of state ransom. I use tap water but also rejuvenate my Brita filters by giving them warm brine soakings when they become slow. White light to all.
I do think we still have a long way to go to avoid that waste.
$2 for a bottle of Dasani or Aquafina (which comes from municipal supplies!!), while water from your tap is of excellent quality and here in Canada it costs about $0.003 a litre. Just do the math.
Bottled water is a luxury we cannot afford. If you ever wanted a chance to be a hero to your children. This is it. The time for action is now. Gary Brown Natural Resource Issue Advocate Green Party of Ontario.
Water bottles are nothing but another money making scam! I drink tap water and it's just the same. Lets not be blind to the ovious and see what we're doing to our earth and our childrens world!
Excellent petition. I hate the idea of bottled water let alone all the trash it creates and energy used to make the plastic bottles. Bottled water should be banned everywhere, except for emergency uses.
We should do whatever we can do to reuse and recycle plastic bottles. I reuse my water bottles for tap water or to grow plants in.
watch "ECHO TECH" episode "zero waste" all we need is a MRF to take care of plastic. watch "Garbage Warrior" to see plastic bottles put to good use. But I'll sign anyway, because the point is to DO SOMETHING with these bottles besides dumping them in landfills, and using a lot less of them to reduce our dependence on oil. Say speaking of dependence on oil--- http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/zev-independence-day-rally
How many more years is it going to take before we wake up and realize that these marketing "geniuses" are destroying our planet-wide quality of life? Is this evolution? Could we get any stupider?!
As free peoples of a democratic society we need to show what it means to provide for the public, to be responsible to the people and to protect the future of your citizens. Water needs to be declared a human right. Water needs to be kept in the secure hand of the public and must not be sold as a commodity to and or by the business market. Efforts should also be made to conserve the clean fresh water we have and not be used for large industrial efforts such as extracting oil from the Tar Sands or filling plastic bottles and removing the water from the natural water sheds/cycles. Not to mention the problems with the pollution created by the number of bottles that are collecting in land fills. Lets set a positive example for the world ! Angela
