Scene: Hodgdon Good−to−Go Take−Out. Cast: the ladies and you. Action: peer pressure. We've all been there, a dollar or two under our meal limit, and have had every item in Hodgdon slowly listed to us, sometimes two or three times, until we reach the difficult decision of what else to get. You feel you can't refuse more food from the Hodgdon ladies. You have to choose something. And so you snatch up Poland Spring bottles like they're going out of style because hey, it's water, the spice of life! You use those dollars to your full advantage, and you walk home smiling a little smile for being just that extra bit more penny−wise today. Here's looking at you, kid.
Well, quit smiling. What you believed was the greatest gesture of kindness, appeasing the Hodgdon ladies at no expense to yourself, has become an factor in harming the environment, our resources and you. Have you ever thought about where your plastic water bottles come from or where they go once you're done with them? Probably not, as that sounds exceptionally uninteresting and irrelevant to your life. But that's a dangerous thought. As a wise man once said, "The flow [of ignorance is] like water: [it] get[s] deep and you drown." May Biggie rest in peace.
Let's start with where they come from. At Tufts, all of our water bottles come from Poland Spring, meaning periodic truck deliveries of hundreds of cases of water. By buying plastic water bottles, you are personally contributing to the frequency of these deliveries, thus aiding in the emission of greenhouse gases and the depletion of nonrenewable resources. You're probably saying, sure, but that's true of anything. And it is. But you can't get just anything for free at your kitchen sink. Lord knows Four Loko would be the first on the list, but I digress.
On to the bottle: a symbol of convenience. What's not to love? Well, how about what it's made from. That thin, petroleum−based plastic we know and love is called polycarbonate plastic, and it means business. Temperature changes in the plastic can lead to the release of endocrine disruptors. And for those of you who don't know what endocrine disruptors are, which is probably everyone because I can't even pronounce that, they're teeny tiny compounds that can decrease fertility and increase the risk of some cancers. No big deal, right?
And what about after it's had its way with you? Annually, Americans throw out about 38 billion plastic water bottles. Yes, recycling campaigns have been growing in recent years, but only one out of every five water bottles is actually recycled. Maybe you're every one of those ones in fives, the hero of our time. We thank you. But you are contributing waste, recycled or not, that is completely unnecessary as it takes energy to recycle resources. Water is available sans bottle in virtually every house and building in the country. It would save you a trip to the recycling bin.
All right, so plastic water bottles will hurt the environment and also have the potential to hurt you. Who cares, right? We're college students. Destruction and injury are what we strive for. A little infertility never hurt anyone. Live life to the fullest! Well how about this then: As a college student, you are also very, very poor. Face it: These are — hopefully — the four poorest years of our lives. So why are we, as Americans, still spending $15 billion a year on something we can get anywhere, anytime, for free?
Rumor has it our tap water is swarming with bacteria. I'm sorry, I thought this was America, home of one of the cleanest and most regulated public water systems in the world. It has been so ever since the Environmental Protection Agency set the national standards for water purity in 1974. And if that doesn't help you sleep at night, try digesting the fact that almost a quarter of the plastic water bottles we buy just contain repackaged tap water anyway. You can't get away if you try.
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Hilary Livingston is a sophomore majoring in anthropology and community health. She is enrolled the Experimental College course Environmental Action: Shifting from Saying to Doing.
