Eco-Maineia

Creating an environmentally sustainable lifestyle doesn’t happen in a day, a week or even a year. It’s a progression, with each step building on the last. It’s also an acceptance of what is practical and affordable today.

For example, I would love to be able to purchase an electric car or install solar panels or heat this house with something other than fossil fuels.

But I can’t right now. So instead I focus on what changes I can make.

Today’s post offers the first of five simple changes that should be within reach for most. All of these changes require (1) a little faith in the cumulative effect, and (2) buying in to the following mantra: I may only be creating a tiny dent in a very large problem, but it is better than contributing to that problem.

Step One: Reusable water bottles

This is an obvious one that we have all likely heard suggested every Earth Day or each time mainstream media does a “going green” clip.

Maybe that clip included something about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, leading us to have a moment of woe the last time we saw an empty bottle littering our streets, coastlines or parks.

If that clip inspired us to scratch a bit beneath the surface, we might have even read about the amount of fuel needed to satisfy our addiction to bottled water.

In 2006 the Earth Policy Institute reported that it takes the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of crude oil to manufacture 29 billion plastic water bottles. If we add in the energy needed to pump, process, transport and refrigerate bottled water, EPI ups its estimate to more than 50 million barrels of oil, or the equivalent of what is needed to run three million cars for one year.

And after all that, what have we done about it? The statistics suggest not much.

About 60 million bottles are thrown away each day in the United States, according to the Container Recycling Institute. In 2018, according to EPA estimates, we generated 35.7 million tons of plastic waste.

A mere eight percent was recycled.

So we’re failing to reuse, reduce and recycle. Ouch.

Like any change, breaking the bottled water habit requires a little planning and some thought about what it means to carry a water bottle with you.

The first step is picking out one (or maybe even two) that fits your lifestyle. The good news is that there are countless viable options.

BPA free has become the norm (click here for information on BPA), and you can find reusable bottles made from plastic, glass, stainless steel, even bamboo. Look for one that will be easy to clean.

If style is your thing. HuffPo offers these trend-setting water bottles. (Sorry, gentlemen, these are more for the ladies.)

Prefer to be hands free? Try a hydration pack.

Frustrated by the idea of a big water bottle taking up space in your bag and adding weight? Check out this collapsible option.

You get the idea.

Still not inspired? As with many changes that have the planet in mind, there is an economic advantage.

Let’s be very conservative and say the average cost of a bottle of water is $1.13, and that the average person consumes about 167 bottles of water a year (a little more than three bottles a week).

That’s nearly $200 per year on bottled water. You could buy a trendy, high-end reusable water bottle for $30, and still walk away with more than $150 in your pocket the first year. (Here’s more on what we are spending on bottled water.)

Look for step two later this week.

-Jesse Nankin