What if they didn’t sell bottled water at the football game?
At the football game, a bottle of water was $6. That just plain hurts in so many ways.
Then at the airport, there was a water dispenser above the water fountain that made it even easier to fill your own water bottle. This was right in so many ways. Let’s count them.
- Plastic: with a fountain, we don’t have to use a new plastic bottle, we have our own (ideally metal, but thick plastic is better than having to buy another one).
- Economy: I have $6, I’m just careful about where I spend it. I’ll spend it on kettle corn, that’s important! I also know, from experience, that kettle corn is difficult to make well at home. I’m happy to pay someone else to make some. Think of the family who doesn’t have $6 or at least shouldn’t be spending it on a bottle of water. It’s just wrong.
- Habit: I’m actually a fan of the (San Francisco or is it all of California now?) bag fee. It forces us into a new habit: to bring our own bags. What if they didn’t sell water in plastic bottles at events? We could only get it from a fountain. Or they had the nice water faucets that make it even easier to fill your bottle. They could sell metal or plastic or glass bottles at the event, emblazoned with the logo of the event, and people would then be reminded to bring it next time. Also because it would cost more than $6 so they’d maybe remember … right?
- Environment: this could go under the plastic heading above, but more that this bottle will end up in a landfill (or OK, fine, it will be recycled), but still, if we didn’t have to make it at all in the first place, it wouldn’t have a cycle to be recycled.
I just can’t pay $6 for a (25 cl) bottle of water. I’d have trouble paying for several gallons for $6. Maybe it was too many years living in Holland where water is everywhere as compared to California where water is nowhere (except the ocean). But in the span of two days I saw two different perspectives on water supply. It was for sale for $6 or you could tip your bottle or cup your hand to try to fill your own bottle that you had to SMUGGLE through the security at the game. Versus the airport where they had a faucet especially for the water bottle so you could fill your own. It’s another world. What world do we live in?