Smoke Free legislation and antismoking campaigns have dramatically reduced cigarette smoking. For those predisposed to cigarette smoke allergy or asthma this is welcome relief. Not only is second hand smoke a problem, butts are a serious problem.

The Surgeon General (2006) reported there is no safe level of exposure to second hand smoke. Tobacco smoke pollution contains 4,000 chemical compounds of which 250 are toxic and even 20 minutes of exposure can harm you. Second hand smoke contains: Formaldehyde

•  Arsenic - poison and a group 1 carcinoge
•  Cadmium - know to cause cancer
• Benzene - oxidizes in the body, can’t be excreted easily, causes DNA changes and cancer
• Polonium - chronic exposure carries a long term risk of cancer
• Ammonia — irritates your lungs
• Carbon monoxide — reduces oxygen in your blood
• Methanol — toxic when inhaled or swallowed
• Hydrogen cyanide — a potent poison that interferes with respiratory function

Health side effects of second hand smoke include: Cancer, Heart Disease, and Lung Disease. While the deaths from these ailments attributed to second hand cigarette smoke less than for smokers themselves, people exposed to second hand smoke are the victims of other people’s decisions. Children being most vulnerable and infants and small children who are held by someone who has smoked a cigarette are exposed to smoke residue on clothing, even if the adult smoked outside. Children with asthma are as highest risk when exposed to second hand smoke. It can cause respiratory infections, bronchitis and pneumonia and is believed to be a factor in SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).

But what about the Butts?
Have you walked along sidewalks and pathways and been disgusted by the left over cigarette butts? They are not just an eyesore. They ARE NOT biodegradable. Filters may look like they are made of cotton or paper, but they are made of cellulose acetate (plastic) fibres. They do not degrade.

They are designed to trap toxic chemicals. So discarding them in public places is like seeding our streets and sidewalks with capsules of toxin. The chemicals leak back into the environment and the chemicals eventually enter our waterways and our drinking water.

The accumulation of butts adds up. Ever empty an ash tray filled by someone who smokes a pack a day? Just think of how many of those there would be across our city. Cigarettelitter.org suggest “several trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide every year.” That is a lot of toxin.

Not only are they non-biodegradable and toxic, they are a fire hazard, resulting in fires that injure and cost human lives and fires that damage our eco-systems.

One organization, cigarettelitter.org is lobbying to get a 10 cent tax on cigarettes – a Butt Tax. But the Recycling Council of BC, and others, believes a tax isn’t the answer. According to Mairi Welman, the spokesperson for the council, it might make more sense to impose an eco-fee on butts, similar to those on tires and paint. This puts the responsibility for collection back to the manufacturers and calls for users to be responsible.

If one must smoke, the appropriate way to dispose of a cigarette is to break away all the tobacco and paper and ensure there is no spark left and then deposit the remainder of the butt in the garbage – until such time as someone finds a solution making the cigarette companies responsible for a better disposal method or some brilliant entrepreneur finds a solution.

September 8th, 2008 | Tags: asthma, bronchitis, cigarette butts, cigarettes, disposal, polution, respiratory infections, second hand smoke, tobacco | Category: Garbage & Recycling | Leave a comment

On June 10, 2008, Vancouver City Council unanimously voted to adopt the Eco-Density Charter, committing the City to consider environmental sustainability, affordability and livablity in all planning decisions. Established on the premise that population density reduces regional sprawl, protecting agricultural land. Higher density buildings conserve energy and water and enable walkable communities. Eco-density also supports mixed-use neighbourhoods placing amenities closer to users.

Rezoning Policy will require buildings to be Greener, meeting energy performance, water efficiency and storm water use. Larger sites rezoned for development will be required to maintain 2 acres of green space and larger sites will be required to offer a range of types of housing including affordable housing.

Options to increase density will require ongoing discussion and policy. Issues surrounding carriage houses or laneway housing require review. In order to enact change it requires overruling other zoning bylaws, such as bylaws surrounding the development in existing homes.

But not everyone agrees with the cities policy. The question is with the lack of space left for development is the plan more about enabling Developers to make more money. Neighbourhoods for Sustainable Vancouver, state the Charter lack community amenities. 28 different neighbourhoods in the group opposed the Charter and 80 people came out to speak at hearings prior to passing the Charter. Another group that opposed the Charter is the Coalition Against EcoDensity and for Liviability. Barsallo, convenor of the Coalition Against was quoted in the Georgia Straight (May 2008) as saying “If we agree to live in a crowded environment, where are the assurances that the developers won’t just move to the next green patch and build some more?” It is a good question.
Also, noted is the move by council to approve several Big Box Stores along SW Marine Drive. Big box retail stores exploit the economies of scale. They cannot exist on neighbourhood business. They depend on car owners. One only needs to look at the size of an IKEA, or Costco parking lot to recognize the carbon emissions caused by customers shopping there. Big Box stores are dependent on fossil fuels, so somehow EcoDensity and environmental campaigns to decrease greenhouse gases conflict.

Add to all of this, the complexities of the 2010 Olympics and homelessness, which have all too often been lumped as an inseparable couplet, even though fundamentally they have no connection. After the games come and go, homeless people will be forgot and does the present rapid development and is the scurry to clean up the downtown Eastside only mask a much bigger problem? Rapid growth of new condo complexes and conversions or closures of residential hotels is displacing low-income residents. When are decisions make in the name of progress, when they are merely convenient politically?

Can our cities offer affordable housing, keep up with the needs of neighbourhoods, and maintain a healthy vibrant economy? What is progress?

There are no simple answers. The question is: “what do we really want and how can we achievable?”

September 8th, 2008 | Tags: city planning, Eco-Density, environmental sustainability, green space, neighborhoods, policies, rezoning, water efficiency | Category: Home and Garden | Leave a comment

According to The National Geographic Society, by the time a child reaches 2 ½ years of age they consume 420 pints of mile that has travelled 100 miles – a total of 42,000 miles. The distance food travels from the grower or producer to our plate is referred to as food miles. Every commitment we make to grow our own food diminishes the carbon imprint we leave.

One day while shopping at Granville Island, I commented about the expense of $7.00 a pound, heirloom tomatoes. Another customer commented that he wasn’t concerned it was cheaper for him than buying a number of packets of seeds. He said, he has harvested about 10 tomatoes already (it was early July) from seeds he reserved from a yellow tomato plant he has growing on his balcony from seeds a tomato he purchased last year.

Today, we have highly sophisticated palates. We are experienced with foods from around the world and are more willing to try new foods. Ironically, many of the new foods we are experiencing are really heritage foods, like yellow tomatoes. My father grew yellow tomatoes in his greenhouse back in the early ‘60’s and although we as a family enjoyed them, only a couple of his customers were adventurous enough to even try them.

In fact heirloom tomatoes are a great choice to propagate from foods you have purchased. Seeds from hybrid foods not produce what you expect. The seeds may produce small, or sparse fruit. Heirloom foods, are natural in every sense. They are not hybrids, developed by genetic engineering. If you take seeds from an hybrid and plant it, the fruit may not be like the parent fruit, nor will it necessarily be like the previous generations. Some traits will be more recessive than others and in some cases seed from hybrids will not produce no fruit at all.

City dwellers are often curbed by lack of space to grow gardens. However, even apartment dwellers can enjoy a few home grown foods. The joy of watching the plant grow and harvesting its fruit directly from the vine is an experience worth the effort. As part of the initiative to supply consumers with the information and resources they need to connect to sustainable food supplies, our Resource Directory will provide links to garden supplies and other helpful resources. 

Selecting plants that produce higher yields in a smaller amount of space and selecting to grow foods which normally sell at higher prices can make good use of space. Shared gardens, community gardens and planter gardens offer alternatives enabling us to make good use of space.

Trellises, cages or poles can enable you to grow for tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and other vines. Patio gardeners can also take advantage of permanent features, such as fences and railings, to support their plants. Planting taller plants in the centre of a pot and shorter plants can save space, as can planting quick crops which will be removed as slower crops mature. For example, radishes mature in about a month and need to be harvested when ready. Radishes left in the ground become woody. Planting several plantings, a week or so apart can allow several crops of radishes to come to harvest while carrots or beets start only inches away.

Containers need to be watered at least once a day in summer. They also require regular fertilization. Of course you will want to use natural source fertilizers such as which combines organic fish emulsion, liquefied kelp, a special form of calcium, fulvic and humic acids offer good results and are organic. Bone meal available at pet stores or farm supply stores provides calcium which helps produce larger fruits. Using bone meal, can double the size of a head of cauliflower or cabbage. Instead of buying the components in small boxes, buy bulk bags (40-50 lbs.) at a farm supply or feed store. As long as you keep them dry, they will last for many years.
This recipe for organic fertilizer (from Steve Solomon - founder of Territorial Seed Company) is made from easily available, cost effective natural ingredients. All measurements are in terms of volume, not weight.
• 4 parts seed meal
• 1 part dolomite lime
• ½ part bone meal -or- 1 part soft rock phosphate
• ½ part kelp meal
While purchasing large bags of ingredients for a recipe for organic fertilizer may seem daunting and unwise, sharing with other community gardeners is a great way to build community.
When I was a child my parents grew or bartered for almost all of our food supply. My father owned several commercial greenhouses. We had more than an acre of garden and my father kept more than 10 hives of honey bees. Produce from our garden or honey was traded for credit with farmers for our annual supply of beef, pork and credit towards our weekly supply of milk and eggs. My mother baked bread with flour from a local mill, and canned fruit and froze vegetables.

Living on the prairies our favorite fruit was wild Saskatoons, and from age 9 we all helped pick our years supply. My children, raised in the Lower Mainland, have a love hate relationship with Blackberries. Unless your kids are different than mine were, it is hard to convince our kids to participate in picking these antioxidant rich berries, difficult to pick berries. Nevertheless they are often more than $3.00 a cup in retail stores making it worth the effort.

As society as become more complicated we now find ourselves time pressured. Going back to gardening may not be as time-consuming as you may assume. Maybe it is a good trade off to the trip to the gym.

August 30th, 2008 | Tags: community gardens, food miles, garden, gardeners, gardening, growing, patio, patio garden, tomatoes, Vancouver | Category: Home and Garden | Leave a comment

One activity we all participate in is the grocery shopping trip. We have noticed a real shift in how groceries are handled at the checkout. It is not uncommon to be asked if you want a bag prior to bagging certain items such as milk, toilet tissue and other larger items, once bagged without question. We have noticed the plastic bags getting thinner and thinner. But that offers little benefit, as cashiers often have to double bags to prevent breaking. Alas, the biggest change of all is the number of people carrying their own recyclable shopping bag.

It is hoped Vancouver’s garbage strike of 2007 hasn’t been forgotten and that we continue to be conscious about how much stuff we throw in the garbage. Even with recycling programs we are continuing to send too much stuff to the landfills. A few shifts in our shopping habits can make a difference to our environment.

Buy local and seasonal produce, whenever possible. Buying local food reduces the carbon footprint caused by eating large quantities of food imported or shipped long distance. Organic foods are raised using methods that contribute less to greenhouse gasses, hence an environmentally conscious choice. Purchasing fresh rather than processed foods also contributes to less over-packaging. The plethora of prepared foods is the biggest offender of all when it comes to over-packaging. Heat and serve, or frozen microwavable meals are usually packaged in an aluminum or plastic heat and serve container inside a glossy plasticized cardboard box – made of course with non-recycled paper products. Not to mention that these products are usually extremely high sodium, laced with hydrogenated fat, sucrose and/or monosodium glutamate.

Many are made with commercially prepared food products are made from food exposed to pesticides. Buying local food reconnects the relationship between the grower and the consumer. When we go to the grocery store, we have very little control over the process. Did you know the reason all the carrots in the grocery stores are orange is to make the store look nicer? Carrots are by nature orange, purple and yellow. We don’t see yellow carrots or purple carrots because grocery store chains want to carry only products that can be purchased in massive quanitities. They are not interested in novel, or low volume vegetables produced by smaller farms. Same for tomatoes, cauliflower and many other vegetables. Purple cauliflower is not a new product it is a natural food once considered too unsightly for the grocery store.  Until recently major grocery stores did not carry anything organic. The shift to grocery stores carrying organic vegetables is for the most part a shift that has occurred in the past 5 years. Commercialization and consumerism have disconnected the grower from the consumer. It is time to reconnect.

Choose seafood wisely. Fish stocks are threatened by human and environmental impacts. Check out one of the online guides to sustainable seafood, like SeaChoice (seachoice.org), State of the Catch hhttp://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/Oceans/StateoftheCatch.pdf, Ocean Wise http://www.vanaqua.org/conservation/oceanwise/ or Seafood Watch http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp to help inform your choices.

The impetus to develop the ThinkLocal® Resource Directory came from the frustrations of trying to understand all the implications of the quality of our food and a desire to be in control of the processes involved in the food we eat. By shorting the number of middlemen in the process from the grower to the dinner plate, it is hoped, takes back control and gets back to nature. Some health practitioners believe we are intended to eat locally grown foods because the foods available in any given season relates to the climate where we live. That is to say, summer weather brings lettuce and lots of vegetables - lighter fare for the summer weather. In the Lower Mainland it is possible to leave some root vegetables in the garden well into winter - natural earthy comfort foods for cold weather. Fish is available year round, as is meat.

Whether you are shopping for a fish dinner or want to buy fish for your business, find sustainable seafood. Most prawns from major grocery store chains, for example, are imported from Thailand and are not sustainable. It is estimated 500 billion to one trillion plastic shopping bags are consumed worldwide per year. Paper shopping bags are not a good solution either. In order for paper bags to bear the weight of groceries they are made of virgin paper (long fibres) rather than the shorter fibres contained in recycled paper.

Plastic bags are not biodegradable and can impact waterways that in turn threatening marine life. Take a recyclable shopping bag. Most stores sell these bags at a nominal fee – less than the cost of producing them as a way of encouraging their consumers to use them. Most of these bags are produced using recycled materials. Break the habit of bagging foods like bananas which come in their own natural wrapper.

August 29th, 2008 | Tags: biodegradable, consumerism, consumers, earth friendly, groceries, grocery, landfill, local food, natural, organic, plastic bags, recycled, shopping | Category: Food and Eats | Leave a comment

It should come as no surprise that Vancouver has many fashion designers who are working with natural fabrics and who are dedicated to environmentally responsible and sustainable business practices. It should also come as no surprise that consumers go through a lot of clothing and that on average we throw away 30 kilograms of clothing per person per year.

Anyone who has worked in a retail clothing store, or for that matter stopped frequently, knows the inventory moving through clothing stores is astronomical. For the most part, we are influenced by fashion rather than by need in most of our fashion purchases. Out with last years jeans, in with this years cut.

What do you do with the clothes you are tired of wearing? Consignment clothing stores can be a great choice for those designer’s items worth a lot of money, but now just sitting in your closet. Seriously, if you aren’t going to wear it – it doesn’t mater what you paid for it, keeping it in your closet does nothing more than using up space. Taking it to a consignment shop or taking it to a Goodwill or Salvation Army Thrift store is the green thing to do. Doing it before it has sat around several years, at least enables someone else to enjoy it, before it gets totally outdated.

Some charitable programs to ensure old winter coats go to those in need help less fortunate school children and street people.

Non-profit organizations such as a Salvation Army or Goodwill generate income from the sales of donated goods and the money goes to social programs, such as job training. It is a worthy cause and has a feel good aspect on more than one level.

When shopping for new clothing, check the labels. Select eco-friendly products and sustainable fabrics. There are lots of clothes made from organic cotton, hemp, silk and other natural fibres. Consider the type of dye the manufacturer uses. Vegetable based dyes are non-toxic and better for the environment when the item is no longer useable. I remember my mother removing buttons and zippers from old clothing and taking the material to a place that made blankets out of recycled clothing. During the 1980’s and 1990’s when we were at the peak of our environmental irresponsibility these types of opportunities were at an all time low.

With growing awareness of global environmental and global warming issues, these types of services will see resurgence.

Vancouver has many small designers who are making clothing that meets the highest of ecological standards. Merida Anderson, owner of PaperBird produces fashion pieces out of natural fabrics. She doesn’t aspire to become a huge label mass producing clothing. She simply does what she loves to generate herself a modest living. Katherine Kim, born in Korea and immigrating to Canada at 13, is the designer behind the Sinbi label. As all work is created and sewn locally, Sinbi is truly “Made in B.C.”

As the thinklocal.ca Resource Directory continues to build, you will see find many opportunities to exercise your ‘think local’ shopping goals.

Fair trade is another concern for many consumers. Buying Fair Trade clothing insures that the workers who have contributed to the manufacturing processes have been treated by fair labour practices. How good can we feel if the clothing on our backs is made off the sweat of another person’s back? Sweat shops in some countries where clothing is manufactured is key to huge profits of many companies, and as long as we buy those products the cycle continues.

August 29th, 2008 | Tags: BC, consignment, design, designers, fashion, fashion design, fashion designers, manufacturing, organic clothes, organic clothing, sustainable clothing, Vancouver | Category: Arts and Design | Leave a comment

Urbanization has resulted in a diminished interest in home gardening. The vast variety of food available results in dinners that have travelled thousands of miles. Perhaps my interest in this topic was sparked when rushed into a major grocery store and purchased a bottle store brand dill pickles. At home I opened them and bit into one only to be hugely disappointed. Suddenly, I found myself craving the dill pickles of my childhood. I looked at the label on the jar, only to find the pickles were grown and packaged in India. In the same bag of groceries I had purchased blueberry juice, packaged for a local company but grown and processed in Poland. Something was wrong with this picture.

• How could it be cost effective to import canned goods from the other side of the world?
• What about the carbon footprint, caused by transporting these products around the world?
• What were the growing conditions?
• Do they use chemicals, during growing, not allowed in Canada?
• What were the working conditions of the farmers and the employees in the canneries?
• How fresh was the product when processed?
• Does the processing protocol meet Canadian standards?

According to the National Geographic Society a child by age 2 ½ years has consumed 420 pints of milk each of which has traveled 100 miles. That totals 42,000 miles. Even when consumers buy and consume local products, the mileage ads up. Reducing food miles reduces carbon emissions. 

Every food we consume that is locally grown, increases the quality of nutrition we consume and gives us more control over what happens to our food between harvest and consumption.

If consumers give it no thought it is possible or even likely that we could have a meal where everything on our plate has travelled more than 2000 miles. How fresh is your tossed salad?Most produce comes from California. BC imports $6.5 million dollars of fresh cucumbers from Mexico and another $5.3 from the US annually (2007) according to Industry Canada’s Trade Data.  BC imports $49 million dollars worth of lettuce annually. Recent increases in gasoline prices have sparked an increased interest in the distance our food is travelling before it arrives at our tables. Read more about food miles, here.

BC also imports $23 million dollars of Tomatoes from the US and another $22 million dollars from Mexico.  Canada imports “246.3 million pounds (virtually all hothouse)” from the US according to the US Department of Agriculture.  If they are grown in greenhouses, and then transported does that make sense from a carbon imprint point of view?

From 1959 to 1971 my father grew tomatoes in a greenhouse in Alberta. Needless to say, it takes a lot of heat to keep a greenhouse warm enough for hothouse tomatoes in the dead of an Alberta winter. His tomatoes were all organically grown and ripened on the vine. He had a delivery route of people who loved his tomatoes. There is no comparison between a tomato picked green enough to endure the jostling of shipping and a tomato ripened on the vine. I am always amused by the tomatoes sole in the store as “on the vine”. Note that it says “on the vine” not “ripened on the vine.” There is a difference. 

Anyone who has had organically grown tomatoes ripened on the vine, then picked and served within a few days – at room temperature, knows the difference.  Even vine ripened tomatoes served straight from a fridge and a tomato at room temperature is different. In the 1970’s and 80’s the tomatoes in most grocery stores were a pale grey-red, tasteless and it is doubtful the nutritional content is comparable to a deep red vine ripened tomato.

Think Local! Establish a food hierarchy. Select Organic Local produce and or food products, first. Select Non-Organic Local produce and foods, second. Some people have achieved a healthy balanced diet while limiting their food consumption to foods grown within a 100 miles – the 100 mile diet. The distance the average meal on a table in Vancouver, travels 1500 or more miles.

While you may not have the dedication to accomplish 100% success on a 100 mile diet, each item you choose to purchase from local sources decreases the overall distance your food has travelled.

If consumers living in BC choose food grown in BC over food from elsewhere, next choose food from elsewhere in Canada, the resulting reductions in carbon emissions would make a noticable difference in our environment. This supports our local and Canadian economies. Across the Lower Mainland of BC, for example, we can enjoy Blueberries, Cranberries, Raspberries, and a wide selection of vegetables, organic meats including buffalo, emu, chicken and other meats. Search our Resource Directory for sources of local foods.

If you want to start with one small eat local challenge, start with your salad. There is no reason why we can’t create a totally fresh salad with local ingredients. The imported salad needs to be tossed from our menus!

August 29th, 2008 | Tags: BC, Carbon Emissions, food, food miles, foods, fresh, gardening, grown, hothouse, import, imported food, local, local food, local growers, locally grown, organic, Vancouver | Category: Food and Eats | Leave a comment

“Carbon Offsets”, the purchase of credits intended to counterbalance your carbon consumptions, are used to invest in practices, technology and projects that counterbalance our carbon emissions. The amount of carbon we emit per person has been named our ‘Carbon Footprint.’  Governments, individuals, non-profits, grassroot organizations, and businesses are joining forces to carry the important message of the need to reduce our carbon footprint.

Carbon Offsets purchased by consumers, or businesses, are invested in projects, on a global
scale. While the projects may not be local, global warming is a worldwide problem and programs to reduce carbon emissions elsewhere have a positive effect locally. The goal is for carbon offset programs to counterbalance the damaging effects of pollution and in particular activities that increase greenhouse gases.

Individuals and businesses can calculate how many tonnes of carbon dioxide they produce by using a  Carbon Calculator and based on your carbon footprint, purchasing
Carbon Offsets enables you to be Carbon Neutral. In some ways it is a brilliant plan. Giving people personal responsibility, and businesses corporate responsibility it reduces the governments need to stick their fingers into your pockets to get more taxes. This being said, the Carbon Tax is exactly that. The government taxing you for your carbon use and if we as citizens do not take steps to become Carbon Neutral the present Carbon Tax is just the tip of the iceberg. From the other side of the argument, does Carbon Offsets promote irresponsibility? Does it really reduce greenhouse gas, or is it a cover up? Does it send a message I can use as much as I can possible afford?

The immediate question is “Do invested Carbon Offsets really make a difference? Organizations that collect dollars form individuals, and companies, that purchase Carbon Offsets, offer investment certificates to organizations who are actively involved in reducing emissions. Carbon Offset companies vigilantly monitor where their investment dollars are being used to ensure the funds are well managed and that the project is legitimately making a difference. Impartial environmental agencies assess the effectiveness of selected projects and calculate how much pollution is being prevented or removed.

The Kyoto Protocol has lead the way to accurate and consistent methods for auditing carbon dioxide reductions. All the results of a program must be measurable and transparent. Independent environmental agencies must be involved in the process to conduct annual audits. Examples of projects are: wind farms, solar installations, sustainable tree planting, landfill gas projects, or energy efficiency projects.

Checking out the reputation and the outcomes of a Carbon Offset  organization prior to buying your Carbon Offsets from them is prudent and similar to any other investment you would make on a personal level. These organizations need to be willing to disclose their margins and specifics about their projects. Like any other organization some of the money goes to managing the organization, investments in marketing their services both to persons and organizations seeking to purchase Carbon Offsets, and to organizations seeking
funding. Carbon Offset organizations may be private, public or non-profit social
enterprises. Often projects have the added benefit of improving living conditions in developing countries.

Certified projects fall in a number of categories. The money is invested in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or Gold Standards (GS) and Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) projects. When one purchases Carbon Offsets, they are usually given the option of stipulating what types of projects they wish to back.

Every dollar you contribute to Carbon Offset programs reduces your net carbon emissions. Aim for becoming Carbon Neutral by purchasing enough Carbon Offsets to
counterbalance your annual use. Carbon Offsets are only meaningful if you simultaneously reduce your carbon emissions – it isn’t a license to produce as much carbon emissions as you can afford to pay off through Carbon Offsets.

August 29th, 2008 | Tags: carbon calculator, carbon dioxide, carbon emission, Carbon Emissions, carbon footprint, carbon offset, carbon offsets, carbon tax, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas, greenhouse gases | Category: Carbon Emissions | Leave a comment

Over the past few months the argument against bottled water has heated up. Recently Skytrain users were surveyed about their drinking water habits in a bid to reduce the use of bottled water by 20 per cent within two years. If the consumption of bottled water is under attack maybe there should be equal or greater pressure to reduce the use of sugar laden or artificially sweetened nutritionally void soft drinks.  If the issue is the use of plastic bottles, soft drinks and water are equal offenders nonetheless water seems to be the target.

It seems the tax payers are footing the tab for the six week survey, as part of the Cities goal to reduce the use of bottled water in all city departments and services. Therefore, when you go to workout, your choices will soon be the communal drinking fountain, carrying your own water, or drinking pop.  The goal is to educate the public on the merits of choosing tap water over bottled water.

The cities of New Westminster and Burnaby offer their councillors and guests water from jugs filled with tap water, at chamber meetings.  Some restaurants are banning bottled water. Does that mean, drinking alcohol which comes in a bottle is fine, but drinking Perrier, or spring water is out?  In 2007 Canadians consumed over $670 million on bottled water. More than 2.3 billion litres of water travelled around in plastic containers in trucks spewing carbon emissions.  Some of this water is more well travelled than the people who are drinking it. Grocery store shelves are full of water: spring water, mineral water, electrolyte enhanced water, flavoured water and artisan water.  Some of this water is merely filtered municipal tap water. PepsiCo’s Aquafina is now labelled “public water source” and Dasani is also made using   municipal city water.

Water bottling is big business and perhaps one of the biggest profit margins for something we already have without needing to pay any additional money for it. Corporate Accountability International, an organization focused on challenging businesses to be socially and environmentally responsible, runs a campaign called Think Outside the bottle. The premise of the campaign is that in addition to the environmental factors, that the bottled water industry undermines the efforts of municipalities to responsibly treat and supply safe drinking water. 

A visit to a bottled water company quite surprised me about how the water was handled and how little regulation there was on the water. I was unimpressed by the truck that hauled the water, although I am sure it was safer than it looked to me. I was also bothered by seeing how much bleach was used to clean the bottles, and how much of chlorine bleach filled rinse water remained in the bottle when it entered the system to be refilled.  Employees in offices where that particular water is delivered are under the impression they are drinking fresh clear spring water and it is highly possible it contains more chlorine than the tap water they are avoiding. 

The irony of all of this is that we are paying more for bottled water than we pay for gasoline and yet we complain more about the price of gasoline than the price of a bottle of water. The regulations on how city water supplies are treated and the constant scrutiny they are subject to on some levels guarantees the water is safer than bottled water. However, for anyone who avoids adding chemicals to their bodies, the treatment systems that city water supplies go through is perceived as unacceptable. There is a solution though. Buying a good water filter and filtering the tap water is at least as safe as the bottled water, and reduces the number of plastic bottles littering our environment. All bets are off, however, if you allow your water to pass through an overused filter. Filters need changing to be effective.

The David Suzuki Foundation has protested the bottled water industry from day one.  Far to many bottles do not reach the recycling depot, and even at best transporting, refrigerating and all the related carbon emissions are about as unnecessary as it comes.  Bottles used for bottling water is polyethylene terephthalate  (PET). While the Food and Drug Administration considers it a safe product it is full of chemicals that are not safe on an independent basis.  Reuse of plastic bottles can be allow harmful chemicals to be released into the water as the composition of the bottle breaks down.  The chemicals include DEHA, a carcinogen related to drinking water because it can cause weight loss, liver problems or reproductive difficulties. DEHA may also cause cancer.  Some research shows that some of these chemicals can leach into the water even between the time the water is bottled and the time it is consumed.

Something so simple and it can make a big difference. Turn on the tap, and save – money, the environment and possibly your exposure to chemicals that could harm your health.

August 29th, 2008 | Tags: bottled water, bottles, carcinogen, DEHA, drink, drinking water, plastic bottles, plastics, polyethylene terephthalate, recycle, recycling, soft drinks, tap water, water, water filter, water filters | Category: Food and Eats | Leave a comment