bottled out!

Check this out! My friend Sam sent this information my way, and I lusted it!

"H2-Whoa! Australian town bans bottled water | via MSNBC.com

SYDNEY - Residents of a rural Australian town hoping to protect the earth and their wallets have voted to ban the sale of bottled water, the first community in the country — and possibly the world — to take such a drastic step in the growing backlash against the industry.

Residents of Bundanoon cheered after their near-unanimous approval of the measure at a town meeting Wednesday. It was the second blow to Australia's beverage industry in one day: Hours earlier, the New South Wales state premier banned all state departments and agencies from buying bottled water, calling it a waste of money and natural resources.

"I have never seen 350 Australians in the same room all agreeing to something," said Jon Dee, who helped spearhead the "Bundy on Tap" campaign in Bundanoon, a town of 2,500 about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Sydney. "It's time for people to realize they're being conned by the bottled water industry."

First popularized in the 1980s as a convenient, healthy alternative to sugary drinks, bottled water today is often criticized as an environmental menace, with bottles cluttering landfills and requiring large amounts of energy to produce and transport.

America's 'Think Outside the Bottle' campaign
Over the past few years, at least 60 cities in the United States and a handful of others in Canada and the United Kingdom have agreed to stop spending taxpayer dollars on bottled water, which is often consumed during city meetings, said Deborah Lapidus, organizer of Corporate Accountability International's "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign in the U.S.

But the Boston-based nonprofit corporate watchdog has never heard of a community banning the sale of bottled water, she said.

"I think what this town is doing is taking it one step further and recognizing that there's safe drinking water coming out of our taps," she said.

Bundanoon's battle against the bottle has been brewing for years, ever since a Sydney-based beverage company announced plans to build a water extraction plant in the town. Residents were furious over the prospect of an outsider taking their water, trucking it up to Sydney for processing and then selling it back to them. The town is still fighting the company's proposal in court.

Then in March, Huw Kingston, who owns the town's combination cafe and bike shop, had a thought: If the town was so against hosting a water bottling company, why not ban the end product?

Reusable bottles proposed
To prevent lost profit in the 10-or-so town businesses that sell bottled water, Kingston suggested they instead sell reusable bottles for about the same price. Residents will be able to fill the bottles for free at public water fountains, or pay a small fee to fill them with filtered water kept in the stores.

The measure will not impose penalties on those who don't comply when it goes into effect in September. Still, all the business owners voluntarily agreed to follow it, recognizing the financial and environmental drawbacks of bottled water, Kingston said.

On Wednesday, 356 people turned up for a vote — the biggest turnout ever at a town meeting.

Only two people voted no. One said he was worried banning bottled water would encourage people to drink sugary beverages. The other was Geoff Parker, director of the Australasian Bottled Water Institute — which represents the bottled water industry.

Australians spent 500 million Australian dollars ($390 million) on bottled water in 2008 — a hefty sum for a country of just under 22 million people.

Ban criticized for removing consumer choice
On Thursday, Parker blasted the ban as unfair, misguided and ineffective.

He said the bottled water industry is a leader in researching ways to minimize bottled beverage impact on the environment. Plus, he said, the ban removes consumer choice.

"To take away someone's right to choose possibly the healthiest option in a shop fridge or a vending machine we think doesn't embrace common sense," he said.

But tap water is just as good as the stuff you find encased in plastic, said campaign organizer Dee, who also serves as director of the Australian environment group Do Something!

"We're hoping it will act as a catalyst to people's memories to remember the days when we did not have bottled water," he said. "What is 'Evian' spelled backwards? 'Naive.'"

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I love that last line! You know, it's crazy to me a tiny town in Australia of 2,500 people have the drive to do something like this! I mean, I live in a town called GREENSboro, and they just suck at recycling, as well as being green. You'd think we'd actually try, but nah. In fact, someone just recently sent me an email about how Greensboro will only recycle plastics with a 1 and 2 on the bottle; BUT there are particular specifications within THOSE numbers, in order for them to actually get recycled. Uh, Greensboro, it's time to WAKE UP! Green rant over.

So, are you going bottle water free? (I use a tap water filter attachment at home, and it's amazing! Seriously.)

earth day comes but once a year...

...and yet we can do so much to help out Mother Earth each and every day! Earth Day 2009 happens to be April 22 (Yeah, that'd be this Wednesday!) So let's all celebrate in style! So we'll have an earth to celebrate for zillions and zillions of years to come!

You know, recently I had a big disagreement (we won't call it an argument, though if it went on any longer, it definitely would have been. Possibly with fists?) with a friend's mother! (I know, his mother! And yes, friend, you know who you are! (Shakes fist in air!) I think his hidden goal was to get me all riled up, cause actually, well, he's evil. Ha ha! But in the end, all my talk of polar bears drowning, method lusting, helping the earth in small ways, and just say no to plastic bags was met with "well if we don't use plastic, what will we make everything out of?/global warming is a bunch of baloney/green cleaning products should be the exact same price as the crappy cleaning products that cost me nothing cause they're made of bad, nasty chemicals (but since they're not, I ain't buyin' them)/I'm not about to take any responsibility myself"-ness. And honestly, I'm still slightly erked. (But plenty of therapy will help me out on this one, let's hope? Ok?)

Which reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons that just ran this past weekend. Where Lisa had to do a report on her town, 50 years in the future. And when she went to research it, her information was full of earthly doom and gloom! It just gets worse and worse!" She exclaimed after doing some internet searching, which resulted in a doctor prescribing some happy pills in the name of Ignoritol! (Gotta lust that name!) And it was just so perfect. There are so many people out there just DANGED and DETERMINED to ignore it all! And if it doesn't fit into their plans, too bad. And you know what, I can take a lot from people; but when it comes to ignorance with either the subject of homosexuality, OR being green for the environment/saving the earth for us, and future generations; well, I lose my patience!

Yeah, you've been warned! LOL

So, with all that said, what are YOUR plans this Earth Day? What thing will you do to make this planet a better place for us all, animal, plant, and man? Remember, it doesn't have to be anything big. Small wins out, too. If everyone did something small, guess what, it'd become BIG! So bike to work, eat lunch at work (instead of driving somewhere to eat), buy organic food, go plastic bagless (word, what do I have to say to you to get this into your head? Seriously, where is my hammer? OH, there it is!), go paper towel-less, plant a tree, plant a garden, start using only method cleaning products (shameless plug, I know!) So, what will YOU be doing this Earth Day? Tell us!

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image: caglecartoons.com

garbage man

A very interesting article/experiment, taken from the Good Morning America website (and morning show.) Hmm, think you could do this?

"'Garbage Man' Saves Trash to Learn About Conservation
By Darcy Bonfils and Imaeyen Ibang

For one year, Los Angeles resident Dave Chameides conducted an experiment to see just how much he could conserve and how little he could throw away.

A California man is living with all the trash he creates for one year.

"I am efficient with my waste," said Chameides, who goes by the name Sustainable Dave on his Web site. "I made a decision that, for one year I would not throw anything away or recycle anything and, instead, I would keep everything in the basement."

After one year, Chameides had stashed about 30 pounds of trash — not counting recyclables — in his basement. He was able to limit his waste for a whole year to roughly the amount the average American produces in six days, he said.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American disposes of five pounds of trash daily, which adds up to nearly 1,700 pounds of garbage annually.

But Chameides' garbage dump was so small he was able to tuck it away in only 10 square feet of space in his basement.

Soon after he began his experiment, Chameides said, he realized how easy it was to cut back on how much waste he produced.

"If you're ever thinking of keeping your trash in the basement, you have to be very well organized. The trail down the stairs are all bottles," Chameides said. "I tell people if I drank bottled water like most people do, which I don't, the whole basement would be full of it by now."

In addition to the garbage he would have thrown out, Chameides accumulated 64 plastic bottles, 153 glass bottles and two aluminum cans to be recycled. He also has 19 pounds of cardboard boxes, 12 pounds of e-waste and a 50-pound box of paper for recycling.

With the help of a secret weapon, Chameides was able to get rid of much of his organic waste.

"It's an in-home worm composting bin. All of my food scraps and paper and things like that go in here and the worms eat them up," he said.

The worms do the trick by eating a couple of pounds of paper a month, in addition to all of Chameides' leftovers.

What he doesn't have are plastic shopping bags, because, he says, they are an eco-enemy.

"I won't use plastic shopping bags," he said.

Most Americans do use plastic shopping bags — the EPA estimates the average person in the United States will use more than 18,000 in their lifetime. They end up tossed in a landfill where, scientists say, they will linger for centuries.

Chameides is taking the lessons he learned during his experiment and applying them to his post-garbage man life. He plans to continue to conserve.

"What I try to tell people is, if they just think along the lines of 'consume less, conserve more,' you've kind of hit it on the head," he said. "When you're going to buy something, look at it and think, 'Where did this come from? What am I going to do with it? And where is it going to go?'"

For more information on Dave Chameides' journey, visit www.sustainabledave.com