H2O. Two Oxygen atoms and one Hydrogen. Water is essential for all life as we know it (thus the search for water on Mars). So who thought it would be okay to filter it, put it in bottles, and sell it?

Bottled water may be convenient but at what cost? The plastic bottles water is sold in use a ton of fossil fuels to produce and transport. According to Pacific Institute, in order to make the plastic bottles to quench America’s thirst for bottled water, companies used “17 million barrels of oil last year – enough fuel for more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year – and generated more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.”

Dasani (Coca-Cola) and Aquafina (PepsiCo), the two top-selling bottled water brands, have both made clear that their water is essentially filtered tap water. Can’t we just filter and bottle our own water and save the cash?

Evian, Poland Springs, and other brands may actually use Spring water, but think about the cost of transporting that water all over the world.

“But isn’t bottled water cleaner than tap water?” you ask. No. As a matter of fact tap water is regulated on a regular basis by the government, whereas the laws on testing tap water are less strict. According to www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org, “tap water is tested far more frequently and has more independent oversight by state and federal environmental authorities (EPA and DEP).” As a matter of fact, companies are often responsible for testing the water themselves. I know I feel slightly brainwashed after hearing that companies spend tens of millions of dollars per year trying to convince us that bottled water is cleaner and purer.

So, I was boopin’ around on the web tonight. I plopped to my usual iGoogle home page and gasped at an article entitled, “Ice-free North Pole… maybe” by TG Daily’s Humphrey Cheung. Of course, I clicked and read. I could not believe my eyes. Apparently, scientists are saying that there is a 50/50 chance that the North Pole may melt this summer.

I know that this blog may seem pointless to most people. Especially given the title, most would think this is a foolish, silly pile of organized chaos. Truthfully, I have no idea where I’m going with this. However, I guess that’s how all good things start, right?

Over the past few months, I have become far more politically and ethically motivated than ever. This, I suppose, could be a result of just growing up and getting older. That’s probably partially true because I am going to be an official, bona-fide adult in December (Go Sagittarius!). The important thing to notice is that I’ve gone from being somewhat apathetic and opinion-less to not only being conscious of important issues, but being genuinely interested in them.

I should also point out that I took an ethics course last semester, so that probably also plays into it. And I’m very much a “girlie girl,” but I hope that this blog will be enjoyable to both sexes.

I feel primarily involved with the environmental crisis so I basically want to convert everyone to caring about it as much as I do. I know, I know, convert is a very scary word, but deal with it. The whole climate change is kind of a big deal, like me, so I’ll be the one to help you help yourselves and your future offspring in saving the world.