Political Compass question: Bottled Water

[seattlegal]

One of my favorite questions from the survey:

It's a sad reflection on our society that something as basic as drinking water is now a bottled, branded consumer product.​

I'd like to discuss this question in more depth. Why do you hold the opinion you do regarding bottled water?

 

[wil]

It's a sad reflection on our society that something as basic as drinking water is now a bottled?

My issue is that we've polluted, chlorinated and flourinated so much that we have to buy bottled to get away from it. Yet bottled provides us with phyto-estrogens and some other plastic scary thing...

I had a swimming pool once, and had the test kits, and one day my tap water smelled of chlorine, so I tested it, it was higher than was allowed in my swimming pool! I bought a filter that week.

 

[Bandit]

...and most of it has been proven to not be any better or worse than tap. I think a lot of people are just too lazy to fill up a jug water, so they pay someone else to do it for them. If someone wants to do that then be my guest. I can also squeeze my own lemons. Water and brewing tea has become my beverage of choice.

I do think the news is out now how bad it is to keep drinking from the same bottle without cleaning it in between uses because a lot of people thought there was no bacteria in using the same plastic bottle. I saw someone at a restaurant I was at once filling up a large Evian bottle with water from the bar tap and serving it as bottled water. Aint that a hoot! I did not say anything but I should have.

I do my own filtering and distilling at home from the tap and then it goes into gallon milk jugs that are recycled and sanitized for the next use. I have an EVERPURE system that catches it before it ever enters the pipes in the house. I am pleased with it, then of course it gets filtered again at the fridge. I may freeze a jug if I know I am taking a road trip and use it as a beverage and also ice in the cooler. Why should I pay for someone else to make my own ice? You probably do not remember when ice was sold as consumer product and delivered, but that was when people had no other option.

If someone is using a service that delivers 5 gallon jugs of water to an office or home dispenser, I see that as an ok thing while 2 bucks for a 32 OZ bottled water at 7-11 is something I would only buy if I was not prepared. From another perspective I have, It can never hurt to have extra bottled water on hand because you never know what the future holds, but I am not going to pay for someone to do that for me...and that is how I do it. Is that long enough and political enough?

 

[Postmaster]

lol Bottled drinking water has been around a very long time in Europe. You guys in the US might take sometime to get used to it.

 

[c0de]

Its just the idea that water is a commercial product, that is disturbing.

(it falls, from the frekkin sky! ... like, for free)



p.s. are we discussing the potential "water-wars" here or....

 

[Bandit]

lol Bottled drinking water has been around a very long time in Europe. You guys in the US might take sometime to get used to it.

It has been here for a long time too, but now it cost more than a coke or juice so it is getting more attention.

 

[Avi]

It is a direct measure of entropy

 

[GlorytoGod]

in some countries the only safe drinking water is bottled thats just how it is.

i used to buy bottled water because tap is is horrible but now use a filter which is ok.

 

[wil]

Why on Earth Are We Drinking Bottled Water? The Non-Consumer Advocate

I saw a psa years ago, tried to find a clip of it, couldn't.

a couple spread out their blanket and set down the basket for a picnic, take out sandwiches and food and then he offers her a can, and gets his and they get close and all googly eyed as they open their cans together and breathe in...the closeup reveals that on the can it says, "Fresh Air" and then the scroll at the bottom of the screen read...Don't you remember when you laughed at bottled water?

 

[Bandit]

It is a direct measure of entropy

I like you, Avi1223. You are a keeper.

 

[Bandit]

How many gallons of water do you use? Calculate it: Water Science Questionnaire #3: Water use at home

I will need to keep track of the plastic bottles next month

 

[Avi]

Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system. It is best understood by thermodynamics.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics - disorder is always increasing.

The First Law of Thermodynamics - to decrease entropy you need to play the game.

The Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics - you cannot get out of the game.

Thermodynamics is at the interface between engineering and religion.

I like you, Avi1223. You are a keeper.

Thanks, Bandit, we can work with that

 

[c0de]

Entropy is best understood by thermodynamics.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics - disorder is always increasing.

The First Law of Thermodynamics - to decrease entropy you need to play the game.

The Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics - you cannot leave the game.

Thermodynamics is at the interface between engineering and religion.

This reminds me of an essay I wrote once which provided a definition of religion in terms of the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

 

[shawn]

Bandit, you might want to stop using those plastic milk jugs as they do have a shelf life (the plastic they are made of that is) and they break down, releasing toxic stuff.
Better to use gallon glass jugs.
We bought organic apple juice for a while and it came in gallon glass jugs, cost $6 and we got the jug as well.
So I build a rack downstairs to hold them all.
You can use food grade H2O2 to clean them, plus a good idea is to invest in one of those little steamer units which has several different hose attachments as steam is a great cleaning method.
The blue plastic 5 gallon water jugs are not so good either, better to use glass.

As for the water question, we rarely buy bottled water unless we have run out while we are away from home.
It is so easy to bring a jug along with us and far cheaper.
Tap water is only drinkable if you invest in costly filters, if you don't you are just willingly ingesting poison. Sodium fluoride is rat poison with absolutely no health benefit.
If you water your garden with the hose, you should put an inline fluoride filter to sieve the poison out before you feed it to your veges as you will eat it later (seasoned with fluoride).

 

[citizenzen]

One of my favorite questions from the survey:

It's a sad reflection on our society that something as basic as drinking water is now a bottled, branded consumer product.​

It's a reflection. How sad you want to get about it is entirely up to you.

 

[seattlegal]

Why on Earth Are We Drinking Bottled Water? The Non-Consumer Advocate

I saw a psa years ago, tried to find a clip of it, couldn't.

a couple spread out their blanket and set down the basket for a picnic, take out sandwiches and food and then he offers her a can, and gets his and they get close and all googly eyed as they open their cans together and breathe in...the closeup reveals that on the can it says, "Fresh Air" and then the scroll at the bottom of the screen read...Don't you remember when you laughed at bottled water?

Without bottled water, how would new parents be able to get non-fluoridated water to mix their infant formula with? Infants are not supposed to get fluoride until they are at least six months old. Filtering does not remove fluoride. Reverse osmosis or activated alumina defluoridation filters will work, but are very expensive for home use. {I have to admit, I nearly went ballistic a couple of years ago when some folks tried to pass a law that all bottled water must be fluoridated. Could you imagine a black market for non-fluoridated water for infants?}

 

[seattlegal]

Its just the idea that water is a commercial product, that is disturbing.

(it falls, from the frekkin sky! ... like, for free)



p.s. are we discussing the potential "water-wars" here or....

{Shh...this is one test I use to separate the communists from the socialists, c0de.}

 

[nativeastral]

...and most of it has been proven to not be any better or worse than tap. I think a lot of people are just too lazy to fill up a jug water, so they pay someone else to do it for them. If someone wants to do that then be my guest. I can also squeeze my own lemons. Water and brewing tea has become my beverage of choice.

I do think the news is out now how bad it is to keep drinking from the same bottle without cleaning it in between uses because a lot of people thought there was no bacteria in using the same plastic bottle. I saw someone at a restaurant I was at once filling up a large Evian bottle with water from the bar tap and serving it as bottled water. Aint that a hoot! I did not say anything but I should have.

I do my own filtering and distilling at home from the tap and then it goes into gallon milk jugs that are recycled and sanitized for the next use. I have an EVERPURE system that catches it before it ever enters the pipes in the house. I am pleased with it, then of course it gets filtered again at the fridge. I may freeze a jug if I know I am taking a road trip and use it as a beverage and also ice in the cooler. Why should I pay for someone else to make my own ice? You probably do not remember when ice was sold as consumer product and delivered, but that was when people had no other option.

If someone is using a service that delivers 5 gallon jugs of water to an office or home dispenser, I see that as an ok thing while 2 bucks for a 32 OZ bottled water at 7-11 is something I would only buy if I was not prepared. From another perspective I have, It can never hurt to have extra bottled water on hand because you never know what the future holds, but I am not going to pay for someone to do that for me...and that is how I do it. Is that long enough and political enough?

wow youre organized!

 

[Avi]

This reminds me of an essay I wrote once which provided a definition of religion in terms of the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

C0de - what was the conclusion of your essay ?

I have been studying engineering for most of my life, but religion, only for a few years.

Engineers are good at doing detailed and complex calculations, but not always good at interpreting the results in terms of the big picture. Philosophers and religious folks are better at big picture issues.

Then once in a while someone like Einstein shows up who can do both.

 

[Avi]

One of my favorite questions from the survey:

It's a sad reflection on our society that something as basic as drinking water is now a bottled, branded consumer product.
​

I'd like to discuss this question in more depth. Why do you hold the opinion you do regarding bottled water?

Seattlegal, I believe the connection to entropy is that because of the nature of our society, water pollution levels have increased during the last generation. The sad part, which you point to, is that we have not been better stewards of our environment.

The good news is that because our environment is so robust, we have not completely destroyed it yet. But if this generation does not become much smarter we can still do that.

And on the other hand Seattlegal, remember that money isn't everything !! (How is that for breaking negative stereotypes from a Jewish poster )