“Water, Water Everywhere, but Guilt by the Bottleful,” Alex Williams for the NYTimes, 11 August 2007

I too find myself hesitating to buy bottled water lately especially when traveling, or worse when standing in front of the refrigerator faced with the option of Brita-perfectly-filtered water or the ever convenient single serve Evian/Fuji bottled water. What is one to do? Make a conscious effort to help reduce waste, conserve, help our environment one by one, collectively supporting a much larger effort or selfishly consume? Alex Williams gives a bit of humor to the question. We’re not quite as endowed as Roma’s ancient but efficient potable acquifer. Someday, perhaps?

NYTimes feature continues
“…but what do you on a recent family vacation in Cape Cod, Jenny Pollack, 40, a novelist and public relations associate from Brooklyn, did something she knew she would come to regret. She did it on the spur of the moment. She did it because she felt desperate. Besides, the giant illuminated Dasani vending machine was just standing there, like a beacon.

So, with her reusable plastic Nalgene bottles dry and her son Charlie working up a thirst in an indoor playground, she broke down and bought a bottle of water. To most people it would be a simple act of self-refreshment, but to Ms. Pollack it was also a minor offense against the planet — think of all the oil used to package, transport and refrigerate that water.

“Something about it felt like a betrayal,” said Ms. Pollack, who otherwise does not consider herself an ardent environmentalist. She said she decided to stop buying water after hearing friends talk about the impact of America’s bottled water habit. And now she is doing what she can to spread the word.”

FULL STORY cont’d.