Then, like cell phones, someone realized there was a wider market than just the elite, and pretty soon everyone started drinking bottled water. It became the new Coke, so to speak. Indeed, companies like Coca-Cola began packaging their own versions of it with trendy-sounding names and some pretty slick designs.
But just think of all the waste: the factories that produce it, all the plastic used to bottle it, all the gas to transport the shipments. Ironically, the British government's Environment Department went through 12,600 bottles of water at its meetings in 2006 alone.
Simply put, bottled water leaves an enormous carbon footprint.
So the British Parliament has banned bottled water from all government meetings, joining Scotland in an effort to curb the environmental problems it causes and ideally send a global message that we should all turn to our kitchen taps when we're thirsty.
I recently interviewed a US diplomat at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and I was delighted to see in every assembly room several pitchers of ice water and a glass in front of every chair.
These are the kinds of high-profile organizations that can affect change by example. I doubt anyone would want a totalitarian government telling us we can't do something, but would it be so bad if they at least made it a social taboo?
It worked with smoking. Why not bottled water?
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