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Show r Sunday, April 20, 2008 DAILY HERALD Our battle with the bottle WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL asites such as Cryptosporidium or Gardia requirements for municipal tap water. Tb FDA says bottled water sources are v ' unlikely fo harbor the parasites. 1 - about every American house '.' available Just plentySoof tap watet has bottled water why consumption doubled in thCtet decade? On average, American consumers . drink about 28 gallons of bottled water annually per persoa One reason: many people seem to believe that bottled water is actually safer than tap water. There's some credence to the claim; some local newspaper investigations have shown all manner of contaminants in supposedly treated municipal water. But after a four-yereview of the ; . bottled water industry and the safety i ; standards that govern it, the National Resources Defense Council concludes that bottled water is no cleaner or safer than water from the tap. "An estimated 25 percent or more of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle - sometimes further treated, sometimes not," says a NRDC report. ar : So what's the problem? Water bottles are often made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET 1), a prod- uct of crude oil "Making bottles to meet i Americans' demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 cars for a year," according to the Earth Policy Institute. Transporting bottled water consumes ' energy, adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, ' contributing to global warming. Plastics are generally recyclable, but we are less likely to recycle water bottles. The Container Recycling Institute claims that a high percentage of plastic water bottles used in the United States , become garbage or litter. mmiwml 1iiii.i ".e " Sources: Consumers Union, Earth Policy Institute, U.S. Food and Drug Administration What are the alternatives? Who monitors quality? The feds. But while US. Food and Increasingly, restaurants serve free, filtered local tap water instead of exDrug Administration standards for contaminants take into account the Environpensive bottled water. This "drink local" mental Protection Agency's tap water 4 movement benefits environment and standards, the two standards aren't iden-- ; f customers by avoiding the environmen-- J ticaL Some standards for bottled water ; tal costs of producing and transporting t. bottled water long distances. The downare stricter than for tap, such as those side: Banning bottles can mean a signififor fluoride and lead. cant loss of revenue for establishments But some are not. Bottled-wate- r compaused to marking up bottled water prices. nies may not disinfect or even test for par NKZSsxc.hu MENTION THIS AD AND WE'LL GIVE YOU A Give 'green' gifts" ASSOCIATED diatery read current consumption in watts, OTleavert OTtolet ft axmtkjkwatt-hours- . - PRESS PER POUND ON ALUMINUM CANS a close convenient turn to your scrap into cash. place We buy all types of Metals, Steel, , . back-countr- - Looking for I Solar charger. Originally made for hik-- ; cabin dwellers, solar i ers or - i Chargers can juice up cell phones and MP3 players. The charger is about the size of a TV remote. Be aware that it takes 10-- 1 12 hours of direct sunlight to charge up ' ah internal battery that in turn then fully charges a cell phone. Other green gifts can be purchased for $50 or less. Examples would be logaj artists' work, local handmade items and I Electricity monitor Most of us tend to donations to green organizations in the our appliances without really knowing what they cost us. All we get is a monthly gift recipient's name. CharityChoice gift cards allow a recipient to choose among bill, with no breakdown. Imagine getting a d more than 75 various phone bill that doesnt tell you where you called, or what each call cost. organizations. Of course, if you are going "extreme For about $20. a simple, inexpensive green," you'd give nothing but love: No electricity monitor helps you get a handle on your consumptioa All you do is plug the energy spent to produce, transport or purchase - and no riskthat your gift will end monitor into a wall outlet, then plug an appliup in a landfill after you leave it behind. ance or lamp into the device. You can imme- You can promote environmental awareness when giving gifts to friends and family. Just try not to be heavy landed about it. For example, giving dad a carbon offset for his SUV is about as tactful as giving your teenage son a stick of deodorant. A lot of environmental gifts carry connotations. With that in mind, here are three ideas for environmentally 20 BONUS y m Autos, Appliances, Aluminum,, - " ggmm Aluminun Cans, Copper Brass, Radiators, 'Stainless Steef, and Batteries: holier-than-th- U.S.-base- long-distan- non-prof- Fast Friendly Service, and a True Commitment to our Customers, Stop by and Give Us XTry! We offer Competitive Prices, 059 Ko. Gcnova Rd it Orcm " |