Here is a GREAT example of student and faculty taking a proactive approach to the Bottled Water issue – EDUCATING! Professors from The College of William and Mary in Virginia presented economical, environmental, historical & philosophical points on the current bottled water situation.  In addition, Curtis Etherly, the Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications at Coca-Cola,  joined the forum.  You know the Coca-Cola Enterprise that owns Dasani water?! Mr. Etherly spoke first  and gave examples of how his company is attempting to reduce their carbon footprint by creating bottles that are lighter and using 327 hybrid trucks. Interesting…..

This unique event was actually sponsored by an even cooler campaign “Do One Thing” (DOT).  The campaign encourages students to make one sustainability-related change in their lives and to publicly by held responsible by posting their change on their facebook page. 

Interesting, quick read – super good points and ideas for other to use!

Dog Street Journal

Brant County in Ontario continues the Canadian trend of banning the bottle! We are so proud of our Northern friends for taking big steps to decrease landfills and waste, hopefully more US cities will take notice and Ban the Bottle!

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2453987

Unlike our friends in Washington, landfills in North Carolina seem a little less dense these days.

The mid-Atlantic state recently banned disposing plastic bottles in landfills to help reduce trash and encourage recycling. This has become a practical issue in rural towns where curbside recycling is not offered. Winston-Salem Journal reports on how the problem was solved in one county. The president of Rural Garbage Services Inc. offered to pick them up for free: “In order to recycle their plastics, people in those areas would have to take them to one of the county’s three recycling centers…Parrish came up with a solution for his customers: His company would pick up the bottles from its customers for free.” Nice guy.

Although people could just hide the bottles in their trash, the law does seem to be having a positive effect.

More plastic bottles have been dropped off at the county’s three centers since the landfill bottle ban was imposed, according to the City-County Utilities Division. From a monthly average of around 14,000 pounds of plastic for the period from September 2008 to September 2009, collections have risen to an average of about 19,000 a month for the first three months since the ban went into effect.

[via TreeHugger]

The tug-of-war occurring right now with the City of Vancouver and the Olympics is very interesting. If you remember, Vancouver was one of the first cities to Ban Bottled Water (setting off a fabulous trend, if I do say so myself).  And with the Olympics starting in 3-days Vancouver is choosing to hit back against Coca-Cola (a major sponsor of the Olympics) who is selling bottled water during the Olympics thus violating the city-wide ban.

 Two of my favorite quotes from this piece:

“We’re supplying the water … free” – Metro Vancouver’s water committee chairman Tim Stevenson

“Our bottled water does not compete with tap water.”- Coca-Cola’s Nicola Kettilz

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/09/bc-vancouver-tap-water-campaign-coca-cola.html#ixzz0fAIkNMdE

British environmentalist David de Rothschild is planning to sail the Pacific on a boat made of 12,500 drinks bottles.

Mr de Rothschild, 31, the youngest son of renowned financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and part of the de Rothschild banking dynasty, will sail his 60-foot catamaran Plastiki from San Francisco to Australia in March.

Mr de Rothschild, a keen explorer and renewable energy campaigner, will use the voyage as a bold publicity stunt to drawn attention to the waste that plastic creates and how little it is recycled.

An active environmentalist, Mr de Rothschild founded Adventure Ecology in 2005, an eco-charity intended to raise awareness of the plight of the environment.

He plans to sail down toward Mexico and across the Pacific, stopping off at the island of Kiritimati, formerly known as Christmas Island.

The twin hulls of the boat are made from 12, 500 soft drink and water bottles, filled with dry ice.

Mr de Rothschild spent months collecting empty drinks bottles while building the boat in San Francisco, before it first set sail for a test run in early December 2009.

He will sail along with fellow Brit Jo Royle, who will be the ship’s captain, and six other crew members.

Source [thejc.com]