The New Styrofoam

I've had this bottle of Fiji water sitting on my desk for the last few weeks. It's just sitting there. I almost caved one day and brought it in the car with me to drink. It was sitting in my cupboard since before starting this blog (there are a couple more from the six pack I had bought way back when). But I couldn't open it because I didn't want to go back to this blog and have to write about how I broke my own rule. So, it's sitting there. And being a writer, I spend a lot of time at my desk not writing (any writer can explain that one). So the other day I actually read the back of the bottle.

"The purest water comes from the purest clouds. Our rainfall is purified by trade winds as it travels across the Pacific Ocean to the islands of Fiji. A continent away from acid rain and other polutants, Fiji Water is preserved and protected by one of the last virgin ecosystems on Earth."

So I went to Fijigreen.com to learn more about their water and about the company going green. Their goals sound great. Reducing CO2 emissions, 50% renewable energy sources by 2010, and setting goals to be "carbon negative." Awesome, right? But just as I was about to crack open the bottle and toast to a brighter, more convenient future where I don't have to remember to keep refilling the pitcher of water in my refrigerator, I thought about something. We're talking about water. WATER! You know, the stuff that comes out of the sink. How much CO2 does a sink give off? Anyone, anyone...?

I don't mean to pick on Fiji. Sorry cute little Fiji with those adorable little post-it drawings on your website, illustrating all the different CO2 emitting steps it took to get this bottle of water to sit on my desk and stare at me. The truth is, that it's not their fault. It's ours. We're buying it.

I was at someone's house for dinner (no, I'm not going to mention names) and the person had set the table with styrofoam (spelling???) plates. Yes, stirofoam (another attempt at spelling). Is it more accurate to say polystyrene? Anyway, everyone sitting at the table said something (the relationships at the table were too close knit to let a little thing like disposable dinnerware ruin them). The host was embarrassed even before the ridicule, but kept saying, "I've had these plates for so long, what am I supposed to do with them?" Good point, but she will likely never buy them again. I want this to happen with bottled water. I want there to come a day where someone is drinking bottled water and everyone around them says, "what the heck are you doing???" First things first - stop buying bottled water.