The Story
Does Bottled Water Belong on This Campus?
Two weeks ago, the William and Mary Committee on Sustainability (COS) held a panel discussion on the environmental impact of bottled water open to the entire campus community. The panel featured several professors from various departments and a representative from Coca-Cola, the provider of all bottled water on campus. Each panel member made a presentation on a specific environmental concern about bottled water.
At face value, the presence of bottled water on campus doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. For instance, when I finish two hours of basketball at the Rec Center, I walk directly to the vending machines on the bottom floor. The bottle of water I invariably buy makes its way to the recycling bin in my dorm room, and I don’t think about it after that.
Yet the COS invited our supplier of bottled water to come and speak about corporate sustainability efforts. Why?
The answer is generally self-evident. Namely, every bottle of water that comes to a vending machine at this school is shipped from another location by trucks. Once the product is consumed, it is ideally placed in a recycling bin and hauled away by other trucks. This is an issue when you consider that fossil fuels are burned in the shipping process, releasing pollutants into the atmosphere. In addition, we can’t be sure just how efficient recycling on campus really is.
So now we need clarification. Having bottled water on campus can potentially contribute to environmental problems, and generally, as a community, we don’t want that.
As an organization working to make our campus more sustainable, the COS gave Coca-Cola a chance to talk about their efforts to lessen the environmental impact of bottled products.
Enter Coca-Cola.
The Coca-Cola representative was a fantastic speaker. It turns out that this corporation is trying hard to appear more sustainable. For example, Coca-Cola’s delivery system will soon be comprised of hybrid vehicles, cutting back on the carbon footprint of shipping bottled water around the country. In addition, they have bigger plans, like making recycling units more available.
Every other panel member voiced a concern about bottled water, but Coca-Cola countered every point with ingenious corporate lingo. It was made clear that as consumers we have the right to choose to consume bottled water and to enjoy this sustainable source of “hydration” (Coca-Cola’s word, not mine).
And really, who could have a problem with that?
Coca-Cola provides its products not out of self-gratification, but because our community desires them. I want to walk downstairs after playing basketball and buy a bottle of Powerade. This is a right of mine, to enjoy hydrating myself with products from Coca-Cola.
Now, thanks to Coca-Cola, my purchase of a plastic bottle doesn’t have that big of an impact on the environment! How wonderful, right?
I actually don’t believe that Coca-Cola is wonderful. Here’s why:
The environment is becoming the defining issue of our generation. The big media craze today is global warming, but right now, I don’t want to talk about the big issues. I’m not a scientist, and I couldn’t tell you any more than you could find out for yourself.
In general, though, I have a feeling that most people would agree that humanity is harming the global environment, whether that harm is contributing to warming or any range of broader impacts. Simply put, we are hurting the environment and we know it.
Why would we do that?
We wouldn’t hurt the environment for pleasure, so there’s another reason. That reason, of course, is consumption. We are consumers, and we use the environment to make things that we can use in everyday life.
Now it comes down to an issue of priorities. Lessening environmental impact is somewhere on our list of priorities, as are our consumption habits.
Building homes, for instance, is high on our list of priorities. Feeding ourselves is up there, too.
Then bottled water falls in the mix: we can make the process of consuming bottled water more sustainable, but in doing so, we inherently recognize that bottled water causes some level of environmental harm.
But we consume it anyway.
This leaves us with a new term to add to our list of priorities: convenience. It is convenient for me to participate in the consumption of bottled water and to contribute to environmental degradation, if only in a small way.
I think that we recognize this and try to justify it. Coca-Cola is more sustainable than it used to be, so we can tell ourselves that buying bottled water is okay.
The difficult truth to realize is that it’s not what we consume that’s the big problem; it’s the fact that we consume. It’s great that Coca-Cola wants to give us more sustainable options for consumption, but that will never solve our bigger problem, namely that on a societal level convenience takes precedence over the environment. If anything, Coca-Cola’s sustainability efforts have led us to believe that we can continue to do exactly as we please with no real consequences.
When it comes right down to it, bottled water has no place on this campus. Coca-Cola can try as it may, but the decision to be sustainable is our community’s to make.
Max Cunningham is a staff columnist for The DSJ. His views do not necessarily represent those of the entire staff.