Bottled Water: The Metaphor

I was embarrassed to be seen with a bottle of water in 1994. So stupid to buy something that is free, so wasteful. Now I carry one around, like my baby bottle, comforted by it's presence. You know, if a hurricane or terrorist attack happens I might need that water to survive my Superbowl ordeal. Or, if the system collapses I can use the bottle by refilling it at the stream or the FEMA centre.

I remember poor kids in Brazil, the ones without the twisted limbs, wanting my empty water bottle. To use as a water bottle again and again.

First, there is the plastic bottle itself: a product of plastics from oil.
Then, there is the industrial water system that pumps, bottles, and transports the heavy bottles burning more oil and energy. Finally, the bottle sits in a refrigerator (more plastic parts) and stays icy cold by burning more electricity and energy.

Water in a bottle costs more per gallon than gasoline.

We drink it, throw it away, and some more energy is burned in the garbage trucks and bulldozers that pack it into the landfill.

The one positive note is that some energy is saved when an empty water bottle is used as a piss-jar by a trucker - avoiding stopping and wasting time.

Now add that it can be used as a weapon.