Matan 1
Ana Matan
Ms. Tydings
Senior Religion
9 March 2014
Plastic Water Bottles
Plastic bottles appear to be the ideal means of carrying fresh water. Their convenience
and deceiving presentation as especially healthy makes them appeal to the American people, who
are preoccupied with efficiency and advancement. However, in order to move forward, we must
not continue their production, but rather, cease it, for the cons outweigh the pros when it comes
to plastic bottles. Bottled water is costly, wasteful, and distracts from the construction and
maintenance of safe municipal water systems.
The argument that could possibly sway the opinion of the majority of water bottle
consumers is the unjustifiably high price of bottled water. Most municipal water costs less than 1
cent per gallon, while Coca-Cola’s Dasani bottled water costs 5 cents an ounce. The argument
that bottled water is more expensive than tap water because it is healthier is invalid. The Food
and Drug Administration regulates bottled water in the United States. According to Chris
Baskind in 5 Reasons Not to Drink Bottled Water, “about 70% of bottled water never crosses
state lines for sale, making it exempt from FDA oversight” (Baskind). In Dr. Jennifer Landa’s
article More Than 24,500 Chemicals Found in Bottled Water, she reports that, in a recent study
by German researchers bottled waters revealed interference with estrogen and androgen
receptors (Landa). In contrast, municipal water in the U.S. is regularly inspected for bacteria and
toxic chemicals, and in the same German study, tap water had no effect on the hormone
receptors.
Matan 2
Bottled water is not only costly, but also threatening to the environment. Baskind reports
that bottled water produces up to 1.5 tons of waste each year and that according to the Food and
Water watch, “plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil per year to produce” (Baskind).
Over 80 percent of these non-biodegradable bottles are simply thrown away, overpowering
landfills and making their way to beaches and oceans, posing a great risk to marine life. Ocean
currents pull and trap such plastic waste into the center of ocean gyres, which is demonstrated by
the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Ocean that is about the size of Texas and
continues to accumulate plastic products and other debris. In addition, the bottled water industry
threatens safe municipal water systems as their popularity shifts attention away from upgrading
municipal water treatment. Also, the rapid privatization of municipal water supplies harms local
economies.
The Catholic Church calls us to care for God’s creation, evident in principle of
stewardship expressed in Bryon’s Ten Building Blocks of Catholic Social Teaching. Byron
recalls that in Reflections, it is stated that, “The Catholic tradition insists that we show our
respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation” (Byron). Humans do not own the
environment, but are simply its managers called to a moral responsibility for its protection.
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “of particular concern to the
Church is how environmental problems and our response to these challenges will affect poor and
vulnerable people at home and around the world” (USCCB). Because plastic bottles threaten
both the environment and people through pollution, the use of oil refineries, and their effect on
municipal water systems and local economies, we must eliminate plastic bottles use and work to
clean up those littering our beautiful planet.
Matan 3
At Good Counsel, we are working towards change. We want to cease our contribution to
the damaging effects of plastic bottles. In order to do this, we must replace disposable plastic
bottles with reusable water bottles. However, many students are discouraged from using reusable
water bottles at school because of how difficult refilling these bottles are at a standard water
fountain. This obstacle in school-wide avoidance of disposable plastic bottles motivated Sarah,
Amanda, and myself to work towards the installation of Halsey Taylor water bottle refilling
stations at Good Counsel. We found an affordable and relatively simple attachment to our
existing water fountains, that can refill water bottles at a rate of 1.5 gallons per minute and that
visually displays the count of plastic bottles saved from landfills. We pitched the idea to Mr.
Campbell, who allowed us to plan a dress down day to raise the money we needed to purchase
the stations.
The dress down day was a success. We designed a reusable water bottle with Good
Counsel’s logo to give to the first 500 students that paid for dress down, serving as an additional
incentive. We made 4,000 dollars from the dress down, leaving 3,000 dollars for the water
refilling stations after the water bottles were paid for. Sarah, Amanda, and I decided to purchase
3 water bottle refilling stations, so that there could be one on each floor, and to donate the
remainder of the money to Water Aid, an organization that works to improve access to water,
hygiene, and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. We recognize that not all people in
the world will have the ease of simply walking down the hallway to refill their water bottles. We
believe we have a moral responsibility to help those in need, in addition to the environment.
The damages plastic water bottles pose to our health, the environment, municipal water
systems, and local communities do not justify their convenience. The influence the convenience
of plastic bottles posseses over our decision to use them is even eliminated with the installation
Matan 4
of water bottle refilling stations at Good Counsel, leaving virtually no reason for Good Counsel’s
students to use this wasteful and costly form of carrying water. Good Counsel is working
towards fulfilling our responsibility to our environment as stewards and can only hope to serve
as an example to our community through our efforts.
Word: 956
Matan 5
Works Cited
Baskind, Chris. "5 Reasons Not to Drink Bottled Water." Mother Nature Network. Cirracore, 15
Mar. 2010. Web. 9 Mar. 2014. <http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/5reasons-not-to-drink-bottled-water>.
Byron, William J. "Ten Building Blocks of Social Teaching." America Magazine. America Press
Inc., 31 Oct. 1998. Web. 9 Mar. 2014. <http://americamagazine.org/issue/100/tenbuilding-blocks-catholic-social-teaching>.
"Environment." United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-anddignity/environment/index.cfm>.
Landa, Jennifer. "More than 24,500 Chemicals Found in Bottled Water." Fox News. Fox News
Network, 13 Jan. 2014. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/01/13/more-than-24500-chemicals-found-inbottled-water/>.