Wednesday, July 16, 2008

It Strikes Me Funny: I’m attracted to certain arguments e.g. for plastic bottles - Part 1

Like a moth attracted to a white-hot zapper I fly toward Letters to the Editor every evening to see what and if people are thinking.

Last night ‘Don’t ban water bottle sales’ by Sandra Aziz [London Free Press] caught my eye.

I thought, Why would she support water sales in plastic bottles?

Sandra wrote:

First, I agree the ban would take away personal choice.

Sandra is wrong.

A ban on plastic bottles, rather than reduce her personal choices, would quickly refine them for her own benefit and for future generations.


[Click here to see photo in context at treehugger.com]

Rather than buying one-use bottles that don’t always get recycled (and therefore congest landfills) she could easily carry her own multi-use thermos filled with tap water, ice and a slice of lime.

Or filled with homemade kool-aid, lemonade or juice. (There are unlimited choices).

Or gin and tonic - depending upon the occasion, of course.

Reduce personal choice? Not one chance.

.

4 comments:

Mojo said...

And let's not forget that for the style conscious consumer, there are whole new lines of handsome water vessels a la the anodized aluminum "Bean Canteen" from LL Bean. No longer is it necessary to lug around the Ralph Cramden bus-driver model vacuum bottle. How long do you think it will take for Gucci and Armani to jump on the water bottle bandwagon? Starbucks will probably have their own line out very soon (if they don't already). And for those who'd rather be caught wearing polyester than drinking water straight from the tap, there's always the option of buying a filtration system. Those are even being offered with flavor-additive ... uh adding things now so you can create your own fruity designer water. Does she or doesn't she? Only her plumber knows for sure.

G. Harrison said...

that is such a good comment, mojo. poor Ralph!

i'm toying with two ideas for next column i.e. re international scope - using Gwynne Dyer's article re CO2 rising at 3 ppm per year and posts re consequences related to my 72nd bash.

or, more local interest - re water bottle issue.

if I go 'local' i may have to quote you; the Ralph line is too good.

geez, could I blend them?

cheers, gord h.

Mojo said...

Feel free to quote me any time.

I guess what I was trying to do was the same thing the organizers of the "Save the Ta-Tas" campaign did. That group took a serious women's health issue (breast cancer) and translated it to "Manspeak" to raise awareness (and by association money) within the ranks of testosterone-based life forms.

By playing up the "designer options" of the new generation of reusable water bottles we can appeal to the fashion slaves who (probably) have made informal studies of whether it's more fashionable to drink Dasani, Aquafina or Deer Park. "The Gucci water bottle, with it's slimming lines and trademark stripe motif, complements any wardrobe choice." And best of all you can fill it from your own faucet, pitcher, or fancy filtration/mineral enhancement/flavor additive processing equipment and never see another petrochemical beverage vessel wind up in the landfill for 500 years.

I'll take two!

Myshell said...

Totally agree...although I like to fill mine with margarita!