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It surprises me that Belu Water in the UK has not been written about more in the USA and Canada, and even more surprising that its model has not been replicated elsewhere.  I'm currently researching more deeply into what they do and how they do it, but so far it all looks pretty good.  Corn-based plastic that composts in 12 weeks (designed by Design21 - better design for the greater good).  Profits go to places that do not have clean water (first project is in Ta

Tara Cronica is about exploring the never ending desires that fuel all life while finding lyrical beauty in everyday happenings - a site created by three Canadian women with alot of smart things to say.  One of them, Bonnie Johnson posted "The Bottled Water Fairytale" on November 28th, with links to Bundanoon, the Australian town that has gone bottled water free and Tapped, the wonderful documentary we have recommended here before.

Here's an excerpt:

I've noted it before that Canada and Canadians seem to be much more conscious about water issues than the US and Americans.  This may not be literally true, it's an impression based on reading literally hundreds of web entries and blog posts on water issues over the past couple of years.  The story below is another great example.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported: "Bottled-water makers have stepped up a months-long price war this summer to win back customers who have turned on the tap to save money and reduce environmental waste."

First reaction - great news, people are paying attention (and maybe the change in the economic circumstances of millions has helped change their thinking about the practicality of bottled water)!  Second reaction - oops, lower prices will mean higher consumption.  

When I started this site I searched widely for stories about bottled water, and found several key articles in print and online form that provided key information about why bottled water is so bad for all of us.  Clearly, I was not alone in this interest - the number of articles about the negative impacts bottled water has increased tremendously during the past year.  What's really interesting is the number of stories that continue to refer to older articles about bottled water (because these "base" articles are so good!).  I think this is good news - the more people talk about

Here's a really terrific piece by Jeff Swartz, the CEO of Timberland from that company's Earthkeepers newsletter.  He is a passionate and socially engaged manager.  What this is about is the complexity of change and the challenges that arise from making a commitment to real change. The point is that we *all* need to engage the issues of daily life - and sooner rather than later.

Canadians seem always to be a bit farther ahead of Americans on environmental issues of all kinds.  While the references in the article below are all Canadian, the principles are easily transferrable.  Tell local, state and federal government agencies to reduce their use of bottled water and highlight the importance of a publicly supported water infrastructure.  Private enterprise is not always the answer to every problem, in fact it is more likely to be the source of problems we are all experiencing.

by Diane MacEachern, founder and CEO of Big Green Purse.  If it's not easy to recycle something, is it really recyclable?

That's a fair question to ask, since we consumers are constantly being reassured that a product is "green" or "greener" because it is "recyclable" - even when, in reality, the product is barely being recycled at all.

Posted by Ramon Cruz in Drinking Water

This post is by Ramon Cruz, Senior Policy Analyst for Living Cities at Environmental Defense Fund.