http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWO_5lKVBAA

-Livan

It’s important to fight for cleaner water before it hits your tap. Producing, selling, using, and disposing of personal water filters ultimately is not environmentally friendly.

A national organization with easy ways to get active on legislation is Clean Water Action. The group acts on both national and state levels and has a good track record. They are also involved in climate crisis issues as well.

I drink a lot of coffee, and it has always seemed wrong to me to throw away 3 disposable cups per day, so I started carrying my own mug. Sometimes the office coffee is okay, other times, it’s as undrinkable as the tap water it’s brewed with. That’s where the thermos comes in - one for now in the mug, and another in the thermos for later. It stays hot all day!

As for water, I hate to say it, but in the airport, I usually buy bottled water, then dump it into the Nalgene. It seems silly, but at least this way I empty the bottle while I still have time to find a recycle bin. But when I get to the client site where I’ll be that week, I buy a 2.5 gallon jug of water, and use that to fill my water bottle. But recently, I’ve made a discovery. There’s usually a water cooler with either 5 gallon sping water or even better a reverse osmosis filter right in the hotel! Here’s the secret: it’s in the gym.

In the future i will install a reverse osmosis filter but in y current apartment this is not possible.

I’d also like to tell you about several things i’ve run up against since taking the pledge:
1) i ordered bottled sparkling water at a restaurant before i realized what i had done. it’s not plastic bottled water but it’s still bottled water. so next time i will order club soda, if i must have bubbles, because that comes from the tap at the bar

2) how i solved my dilemma about having drinking water when traveling by air. i posted something on facebook about this issue and everyone thought i was aasking about what to do on the plane. i was wondering what to do once i arrive on the other end and i’m thirsty! i found my solution on line at aquasana, where i bought a travel water purifier. size of a sport water bottle, very light, with filter in it, replacements available.

3) at the same time i quit drinking diet coke, for health reasons, and realized I’m now also *no* using a lot mroe beverage containers. I’m nto ready to quit caffeine, so i started making my own tea at home, sweetening with stevia (natural no calorie sweetener).

Nevertheless, I appreciate Christine’s comments about our grand prize this month (the condo). As you might have guessed, there is an enormous amount of time and energy that goes into finding generous supporters who will donate at this level and more importantly, prizes that we believe are in line with our values. We worked hard to find a number of non-material prizes. I believe your disappointment is justified, but I do invite you to think about it with a different lens, one we used when selecting the prize.

Sun Valley is nature’s gift and there are many ways our grand prize winner can lightly approach their time in that magical setting. For those who live in Sun Valley or visit often, I suspect they are the most in need of the very basic lesson that everything we do has an impact on our environment - even bringing our own mug.

Thanks for your comments,

Lisa Wise
Executive Director
New American Dream

I’m responding to this post because I can’t figure out how to blog directly.

I recently received a suggestion (linking to C3)from a friend that I pledge to stop drinking bottled water, as an action to “cut carbon, eliminate waste, and help make a healthier planet.” At the time, I thought it somewhat unfortunate that the grand prize was a trip to a ski resort, since it seemed anachronistic, but aside from deleting that info in the message that I forwarded in turn, I thought little of it. However, my sister pointed out the irony that the prize for something that is supposed to improve the planet, especially with respect to water issues, is a trip to a place that glorifies conspicuous consumption, and, of all things, squanders precious water resources to make snow.

When this was pointed out, I was fairly disgusted. I wish you would reconsider. I can’t imagine how this makes sense, although I welcome any clarification.

Also, my reaction doesn’t stop me from acting on the pledge. In fact it’s something I have been doing for some, due to water rights issues in the news, joining campaigns against multinational for-profit corporations draining aquifers for bottling plants, witnessing seacoast resort communities pumping in water from rural farmland areas causing difficulties for irrigation of organic food crops on small family farms, and experiencing the effects of water shortages (especially potable water) when visiting friends in Peru.

So, I applaud the values that motivated this latest c3 challenge, while I bemoan your choice of “carrot.” Best wishes on aligning your prizes with your values.

Christine
Belfast, Maine