Why we cannot all just stop drinking bottled water.

I was just reading a blog post that begged the question, why can't we just stop drinking bottled water? It is a great question.
seen here
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sloan-barnett/day-four-why-cant-we-just_b_136001.html

For many of us the answer is that we can and should get over what we have come to see as necessity in our lives and give up the bottled water completely. Between the impact on the environment of all of the non biodegradable material, our landfills filling up with plastic, the fossil fuel it takes to truck these bottles of water around the country, fish and animals dying from either being caught in plastic remnants, eating them, or inhaling nurdles of plastic that have photodegraded, and lets not forget the impact on our health from the xenoestrogenic BPA leached from plastic bottles why are we sticking with this phenomenon. In this country still today a majority of us have access to safe drinking water straight from the tap. So why are we paying for it????

Mostly we pay for it, because it is yet other area of our lives where we have been convinced of the need for corporate intervention. We like that it comes in a clear, sealed bottle, and we can imagine that no contaminants could ever have touched it. Well guess what? That water might as well have come from your tap, and you might have been better off if it did. As I have mentioned in previous posts, bottling plants draw there water from the same sources as community taps, and in many cases do nothing to it, not even run it through a carbon filter before it gets put in the bottle. Community water supplies are tested at a minimum a few times a week, in somewhere like NYC, at least once an hour. A bottling plant may be inspected as little as once a year. And as too the convenience factor of bottled water, REALLY? carrying bottles of water home or having someone deliver jugs of water is more convienient than turning on your faucet? I am guilty of the occasional bottle of water when I am on the run or somewhere that I cannot practically bring my own water - airports to name one - but the rest of the I take water from the tap, and you should too! Unless...

There are many parts of this nation that are not as lucky as the rest of us. Their water supplies are not safe to drink due to environmental contaminations mostly propagated by private industry. Mostly these areas are underrepresented areas with high poverty rates. The water is not safe to drink and even though they pay a monthly water bill, they cannot partake in drinking it and MUST buy bottled water to drink and cook. As the popularity of bottled water has soared, or water supply seems to be getting less safe and has less oversight. The ability to buy water is no substitute for the right and availability of to the life sustaining substance. What happens in those areas of this country where the water supplies are so contaminated people must buy their water and an American citizen's paycheck doesn't quite stretch far enough to pay for water? Where do we live? Is this really America? Is this the America that I was brought up to be proud of and respect?

There is so much going on right now in the United States, economic bailouts, Presidential campaigns, and natural disasters to name a few, when are we going to see that the most important thing is making sure that we all survive? When are we going to realize that we do not have a lack of food or a lack of money in this country, if anything we have too much. The problem is not scarcity, it is the malapportionment of excess and the lack of accountability to our fellow human beings. We have come to believe that we need so many of the modern luxuries in our lives, that we absolutely cannot live without them, but nothing could be further from the truth. Bottled water and cable television are two that come to my mind most vividly. What we need to do is take care of our fellow Americans, be sure that everyone has food and shelter and if we really want to make this world a better place - a little love.

We can continue to talk about all of the "issues" in these last couple weeks of the campaigns, but lets get down to the real issue: The basic needs and rights of all human beings. Lets narrow our focus and assume responsibility, once those issues are met, then talk to me about politics.