Patric Gerard
Jonathan Cluck
Environment and Politics, Section 3
28 October 2014
Articles Annotations
How plastic bottled water is harming you and the environment
The main argument of this article is that plastic water bottles are over all harmful for
humans and the environment. The sub arguments of the article are that plastic bottles are harmful
to human health and they are harmful to the environment. One point the article brings up is how
toxic the process of manufacturing plastic water bottles is, when the article stated, “Furthermore,
poor neighborhoods, often in minority communities, are being poisoned by the toxic
manufacturing of plastic bottles.” Plastic water bottles end up being destructive to the environment
even before they come into existence, so any reduction in the demand would make shutting down
the factories that produce plastic water bottles more of a reality. Also the article point out the
human health problems of plastic water bottles when it states, “In third-party testing, bottled water
showed traces of bacteria, chemicals, fluoride, endocrine disruptors such as BPA and PETE (or
PET).” Obviously water from plastic bottles is not as healthy their manufactures would like you
to think with all their super pristine labels. So drink water from bottle water is something we should
look to replace in life. One piece of evidence the article bring up to support that plastic bottles are
bad for the environment is that it takes as much oil to fuel a million cars as it takes for the entire
market to manufacture plastic water bottles. The article bring up the statistic that the manufacturing
of plastic water bottles wastes 72 billion gallons of water. The article supports its argument by
bringing up third party testing which found plastic bottle water contained chemicals that block the
endocrine system like PET and BPA. This article informs my project in that it brings to light the
various problems associated with plastic water bottles. These problems include their impact on the
environment and their impact on human health, both which have been shown to be negative. There
is plenty on information in that article that I can use for my project. On terms of waste the article
brings up how the US consumes enough water bottles in 27 ours the line the equator of the earth
with bottles. Also there where the various chemical found inside the water itself is a good fact to
show how the water is less healthy than it is marketed as. All of this information can be used to
make an argument that RPI should be a plastic water bottle free campus like my project entails.
Campus Water Fountains: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
This article examines the lack of water fountains around Canadian college campuses. The
main argument that article reaches at the conclusion of its analysis is that the lack of water
fountains around campus is a symptom of a greater problem of the increasing commercialization
of higher education. One argument the article makes is that building codes allow college campuses
to have reduced amounts of water fountains. Also the article argues that plastic water bottle
consumption has increased because of exclusivity deals that colleges make with water bottle
companies. Exclusivity deals are where a college gives a company exclusive rights to sell their
products around the campus, be they through vending machines or stores that serve food. The
article states, “The advent of beverage exclusivity contracts and the rapid growth of bottled water
sales over the past fifteen years have clearly de-emphasized the importance of drinking fountains
for university planners.” to connect exclusivity deals and reduced water fountains. The article also
says, “. . . provincial and federal building codes do not require building plans to include drinking
fountains.” to explain how colleges are allowed to have so few water fountains in their facilities.
The article cites a 2008 study that states that 54% of students at college campuses indicated their
school has an exclusive deal with Coca-Cola and 40% indicated their school had an exclusivity
deal with PepsiCo. This goes to prove the point that water bottles are becoming more prominent.
The article also points out that recently Simon Fraser University finished two new buildings on
their campus neither of which have any water fountains. This is one piece of evidence the article
cites to show the trend of schools backing away from water fountains from campus. The article
cites Ontario’s building code which states, “. . . on every floor where work will be performed and
within 100 m of any area where work will be performed, potable water shall be provided from, (a)
a fountain with an upward jet, (b) a tap from a piped water supply, or (c) a tap from a covered
vessel.” This essentially means that universities are not required to have water fountains in their
facilities. This is one piece of evidence that the article brings up to explain why college campuses
are lacking in water fountains. This article can inform our project on why colleges have fewer
water fountains and/or increased water bottle access. This would explain why RPI seemingly only
sells Aquafina water bottles around the campus. The article would also help to inform us that RPI
may have a pipeline of money that makes things possible for the school because they have an
exclusivity deal. It also may show that RPI may only have water fountains because laws force
them to. This would make it seem that upgrading the water fountains around campus will be lowest
of the priorities for the school. The article doesn’t really give any good arguments for why RPI
should retrofit their water fountains with newer ones, but it may be a good way of saying if RPI
wanted to be an innovative school it wouldn’t follow the trend of other schools.
Think Twice Before You Drink That Water Bottle
The main argument of this article is that tap water is better than plastic water bottles. The
sub arguments that the article makes is that tap water is more well regulated compared to bottled
water, the production of plastic water bottles consumes a lot of energy, and bottled water contains
dangerous chemicals. The article in its conclusion states, “From tap water being well regulated, to
less pollution and energy being wasted, tap water has undeniably proven to be both a healthier and
more socially responsible choice.” This is brings up some of the reason why tap water is superior
to water from disposable plastic water bottles. One of the reason plastic water bottles are less
healthy than tap water is because plastic water bottles are less strictly regulated than tap water, the
article states that this is according to the National Resource Defense Council. Another problem
with plastic water bottles is it takes 17 million barrels of oil to transport and cool bottles water.
That is a ton of energy wasted on plastic water bottles that could be eliminated if people chose to
drink more tap water. The Article also quotes the Sierra Club in saying that the production of
bottled water requires the pumping of local aquifers which damages local watersheds. Even when
you don’t count the trash that piles up because of plastic water bottles there is still harm caused to
the environment. The Article switches from the environment to human health when it states, “Not
only is bottled water detrimental to the environment, but it can potentially be hazardous to our
health.” The article states that water in disposable plastic bottles can contain Bisphenol A or BPA.
The article cites health.usnews.com when it says that exposure to BPA lead to an increased risk of
breast cancer, prostate cancer, and uterine fibroids. This article can inform our project by providing
us with information why plastic water bottles are bad for students on campus and bad for the
environment. This will help us make or argument to the RPI administration or Sodexo. We can use
the information about the dangerous chemicals, the amount of oil that moving water bottles, and
the negative effects to local aquifers. This is all information that we can use to make our case to
RPI.
Works Cited
"Campus Water Fountains: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY." (n.d.): 19. Insidethebottle.org. Polaris Institute. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
Johanna, H. "Think Twice Before Drinking That Bottle of Water." Teen Ink. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov.
2014.
Khalek, Anita. "How Plastic Bottled Water Is Harming You and the Environment." NaturalNews. N.p.,
07 Nov. 2012. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.