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Personal Come-uppins and Conundrums
We don’t live in the mountains anymore. Dave and I both try to drink a lot of water for a lot of reasons, mostly health-related. We each drink 2-3 liters a day. But we don’t like the taste of the coastal water in our new home. So, we use bottles of water. I could go on for a page explaining why: taste and convenience being primary. We have bottles at bedside, in the bathroom, in the car, I put them in my jacket pocket, in my gardening apron, my marketing bag. We even put them on the table at meal times where we guzzle our entire bottles with the meal. If water is served in a glass, we drink half and pour out the rest. It is healthy for us to have these little bottles.
Each week the city empties our big blue container of recyclables. Except for the newspaper, mail, and some packaging, ours is filled with plastic water bottles. I’m embarrassed and ashamed of our lack of stewardship. Healthy for us maybe, but not so much for the rest of the world. I’m looking for solutions. How can we drink adequate amounts of water and not continue to use these little plastic bottles?
I’ve looked at the carry-around reusable bottles in stores. They don’t have the same appeal as the clear, light-weight bottles that look refreshing, inviting a drink. Some are metal, most aren’t clear. They are colored, decorated, heavy-looking. They don’t look like something I want to carry around or drink water out of, and probably wouldn’t. Many don’t fit easily in and out of the cup holders in my car while I’m driving, or my pocket when I’m walking. Most are too tall to put in my garden apron. Some have little sippy-lips. Totally unappealing to me. I’ve looked at the big jugs of water Lowes sells. How does one carry these up the steps into the house? It needs its own “break room.”
What do other people do? How do you drink enough water? If you have bad-tasting water, what do you do to improve it and not make it worse with chemicals? When you travel, how do you take enough water in the car? What do you do? I’m looking for answers to be a better steward, and yet continue to drink enough water.
Refer to the mini blog July 8, 2017, and you will read why this bothers me so much. Then please share your answers. I’m probably not be the only one who needs to hear your solutions.