Water, Water Everywhere

There were SO many water companies at the Natural Products Expo. Healthy water, fun water, Artesian water, mineral water, flavored water, coconut water... that was just the water, not the juices and teas and everything else. So much water, so many plastic bottles. Natural does not equal green. But shouldn't it?

My favorite beverages were in glass or cans. In this post, though, I will touch on the plastic people. The great glass beverages deserve their own individual posts.

I liked some of these people very much, and I liked their product, and I wish I could get behind them. But I cannot. I just cannot, never, no, ever justify these plastic bottles. Yeah, so it's a sticking point for me. Do I think we can be healthy  without drinking all these froufy fancy waters? Yeah. Do I wish I could drink them? Sure. They are very tasty! But it's just not worth it.

Take Crazy Woman Water. I loved these guys. And, ironically, though it is Crazy *Woman* Water, and the company founder is a woman, there was nary a woman in the booth. But the guys were fun! And informative. CWW is premium Artesian water, naturally rich in minerals, from Wyoming's Bighorn National Forest. It was yummy. Yes, you could really tell there was something special about this water. Made me want to live right there so I could walk out my door and go to this spring and sip from the Crazy Woman Mountain Spring. But do I want it captured and dragged out from the aquifer and put in plastic bottles and delivered to me wherever I am so I can enjoy it? Call me a crazy woman, but no. I want it to stay right there where it was meant to be and never exploited.

Then there is Real Water. These guys really crack me up in their quest to get you to buy their plastic bottles. I get their point that negatively ionized water is good for you, and I understand their point that the water we end up drinking becomes positively ionized on its way to us, I see what they are saying about alkaline water being healthy, but AT WHAT COST to the planet??? There are such things that make your water alkaline in your own home; you don't have to ship it into your mouth via a plastic bottle. I DON'T CARE if the bottle is suddenly BPA-free. It still ain't goin' anywhere when yer done with it!!!! And - here's the really funny part, I mean the real screamingly HIGH-sterical kicker... they want $36 a case for this! 36 bucks! Thirty-six smackers! REALLY??? So, only really rich people with seriously disposable income (dispose everything?) can drink healthy water? Sigh.

U'a Water was another. Now, I really liked the lady at the booth, but I couldn't get behind the product. U'a Deep Sea Hawaiian Water. I don't even think you can buy it yet. It is extracted from the ocean depths, desalinated, and remains rich in nutrients blah blah blah. Was it good? Yes. Do I feel the need to have it delivered to my mouth in - again, you guessed it - a plastic bottle? NO! I don't need this stuff and neither do you. Is it delicious and healthy? Yes. Should we be trashing the planet for it?

I think you know how I would answer that one.

This is some kind of insanity to me. I'm going to talk about a filter system for your home that gives you alkaline water right there and then, no millions of bottles wasted.

Because, repeat after me, just because we throw it in the bin, doesn't mean it gets recycled. It just. Goes. Away.

Sorry, guys I met along the path. I liked you, I did. But I cannot fall in line with you. Talk to me when you have glass bottles.