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    Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water
    Unavailable
    Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water
    Unavailable
    Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water
    Ebook297 pages4 hours

    Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water

    By Peter H. Gleick

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Peter Gleick knows water. A world-renowned scientist and freshwater expert, Gleick is a MacArthur Foundation "genius," and according to the BBC, an environmental visionary. And he drinks from the tap. Why don’t the rest of us?

    Bottled and Sold shows how water wfrom being a free natural resource to one of the msuccessful commercial products of the last one hundred years—and why we are poorer for it. It’s a big story and water is big business. Every second of every day in the United States, a thousand people buy a plastic bottle of water, and every second of every day a thousand more throw one of those bottles away. That adds up to more than thirty billion bottles a year and tens of billions of dollars of sales.

    Are there legitimate reasons to buy all those bottles? With a scientist’s eye and a natural storyteller’s wit, Gleick investigates whether industry claims about the relative safety, convenience, and taste of bottled versus tap hold water. And he exposes the true reasons we’ve turned to the bottle, from fearmongering by business interests and our own vanity to the breakdown of public systems and global inequities.

    "Designer" H2O may be laughable, but the debate over commodifying water is deadly serious. It comes down to society’s choices about human rights, the role of governmand free markets, the importance of being "green," and fundamental values. Gleick gets to the heart of the bottled water craze, exploring what it means for us to bottle and sell our mbasic necessity.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIsland Press
    Release dateMay 3, 2010
    ISBN9781597268103
    Unavailable
    Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water

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    Reviews for Bottled and Sold

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      While traveling abroad I often drink bottled water, usually due to the fact that the water from the tap tastes like liquid chlorine or like swamp water. Living in a country with one of the best water quality worldwide you should think I don't drink bottled water at all back home. I rarely do and now, in fact, I'm glad about it.With his book Bottled And Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession With Bottled Water Peter H. Gleick gives a fascinating insight into the whole industry of bottled water production and its implications on frighteningly many aspects of our lives. Apart from the obvious, the impact on the environment, it definitely makes you think twice whether you shouldn't just stick to good old tap water when you learn that more stringent quality tests are performed on it than on bottled water.This is a very comprehensibly written must-read book on the topic, highlighting not only environmental, but even more so, safety, health, and ethical concerns when it comes to the bottled water industry. While the main focus is on the US, the author also dips into and compares the industry with other regions, like Europe or Australia. Trust me, after reading this book you're going to seriously reconsider your drinking habits when it comes to water.In short: A well written and highly informative book on the hazards of bottled water for both the environment and those who drink it!
    • 4/5
      This is a book about the implications of the mass consumption of bottled water. Touching on the most well-known problem created by bottled water, millions of plastic bottles left in landfills, as well as more subtle issues, Gleick provides a comprehensive look at the environmental and social effects of bottled water. And those effects are staggering. Bottled water creates environmental issues not only in landfills, but also in communities where water is sourced. To be labeled "spring water" water must be sourced from underground aquifers, which are depleted far more quickly than their ability to self-replenish. Communities with bottling plants have found their water resources diminishing at an alarming rate. Media and marketing play significant roles in creating the public frenzy for bottled water. The marketing of mainstream bottled water regularly suggests that it is better-tasting, purer, and safer than tap water. As Gleick proves, however, these claims are specious, at best. Blind taste tests have shown that many people do not prefer the taste of bottled water. Most interesting to me was the difference in safety standards applied to bottled and tap water. Tap water is regulated by the EPA, and must be tested multiple times daily. Any problem must be reported within hours. Bottled water is regulated by the FDA, and is required to be tested far less frequently, once monthly at best in many cases. Marketing issues are not restricted to claims of safety and purity. Gleick's research also highlights the growth of a snake-oil like water hucksters who claim their bottled water has magical or healing properties. Some bottled waters claim to have realigned their molecules to create curative powers, or they claim to have spiritual powers, most famously the Kabbalah water favored by Madonna, among others. Minimal regulation allows these bottlers to make various unsubstantiated claims, and extort monies from willing believers. Most troubling to Gleick is the fact that the increasing privitization of water may make potable water a luxury, rather than a necessity. If municipal water systems are ignored in favor of bottled water, the most vulnerable populations will be left without water resources. This is the problem Gleick most wants to stop. He is not advocating a complete ban on bottled water, but he is calling for tighter regulation, and more transparency on the effects of the bottled water industry. One might think that a book on bottled water would not be interesting, but this was a highly readable book, decidedly engaging for anyone with an interest in social or environmental issues. Glecik's book is well-researched. This is a man who certainly knows his water. I can certainly recommend this book to other concerned readers.
    • 4/5
      Bottled water is seductive. We drink it thinking it's healthier and better for us than the water that comes out of our sinks. When we are done with the bottles, they typically go into landfills. Reading Bottled And Sold by Peter H Gleick has further opened my eyes to this 'scam.' As basically the manufacturers of this product put out ads about how it's so much more healthy than tap water, it'll make you lose weight, and in some instances will cleanse the soul of the sinner, via blessed holy water which is also sold for profit.Bottled And Sold is a non-fiction book about, obviously, the selling of water. It goes into depth on the environmental impact of consuming bottled water. I should probably confess right now that I used to drink bottled water until I decided it was ludicrous for me to spend over a dollar per bottle on something I could get from the tap for free. Call me cheap. Call me environmental. I prefer to think of it this way, each dollar I save by drinking tap water could go towards a new book.Gleick explores the difference between tap and bottled water, and describes blind taste tests conducted. These tests basically found that there was no true difference in taste that people were able to detect. Other tests conducted found tap water to be more regulated and safer than bottled water - as proven by a Cleveland test of, I think, Evian water.I think if you are interested in the green movement, or preserving the Earth, then this is something you should read. It is not dense nor is it full of unreadable mumbo-jumbo jargon. It talks about how basically if you buy bottled water sold separately at the gas station, you wind up paying around 5$ per gallon, more money than you pump into your car per gallon. I thought that particular statistic was crazy, and sort of confirms my new book/tap water stance.And I do love it when my stances are confirmed.