sustainableflatbush.org

It may surprise many people to know that bottled water is a huge sustainability issue, but ponder for a moment the transportation aspect alone and the problems become obvious. According to an article in today’s New York Times importing bottled water from France, Italy and Fiji to the U.S. generates 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of annual emissions from 700 cars. Consider the other sources and destinations worldwide and it is clear that a huge amount of fossil fuel is being used to transport a commodity that is almost always available locally, but smart advertising has discouraged us from consuming.

Credit the bottled water industry with a brilliant marketing job, selling purity and convincing the public that its product tastes better, is more convenient and is safer than good tap water. From a trickle of Perrier in the early 1980s, consumption of bottled water in America rose to 27.6 gallons per capita last year, according to the International Bottled Water Association.

The public water supply is much more stringently regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency than bottled water is by the Food and Drug Administration. The E.P.A. requires multiple daily tests for bacteria, for example, with the results available to the public; the F.D.A. requires weekly testing, which does not have to be reported to the agency, to the states or to the public.

“The rationale for buying bottled water is a fantasy that has a destructive downside,” Dr. Solomon said. “These companies are marketing an illusion of environmental purity.”

The same article reports that a small number of restaurants are beginning to take action by serving filtered tap water in place of bottled still water and using homemade carbonation for the bubbly variety. One of the movement’s outspoken leaders is Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA (my hometown!), and California seems to be leading the way generally, with NYC’s Del Posto and Birdbath Bakery among the few local exceptions. It will be interesting to see the public response to what would ideally become a fast-growing trend; though it is helpful that high end gourmands are leading the way, I suspect this is a marketing conquest that will not be overturned easily. (On a related topic, NY State’s current bottle bill does not allow for recycling of non-carbonated beverage containers, and the industry wants to maintain status quo on that as well.)

There is currently a symbiotic relationship between small farmers and food aid recipients, as both are kept healthier by a government program called the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program. But a disturbing Op-Ed piece in today’s NY Times points out that as states switch from paper coupons to debit cards for distributing food aid, many farmers’ market vendors would unable to accomodate those customers.

Without card readers, farmers fear they will lose the bulk of the farm bill help they get now, and be shut out of those new hundreds of millions. The proposals at the Agriculture Department and in the farm bill would let food-aid recipients buy fruits and vegetables wherever they can find them. That means supermarkets — which remain the most convenient place to buy produce. Farmers’ market advocates are alarmed. The money will go to the centralized industrial farms that supply supermarkets, they say — the ones that crush small farmers and waste fuel.

See the whole article here.

I went on this tour (sponsored by Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment) in 2004, and the experience was somewhat life-changing. It was the first time I learned about rainwater harvesting (at the Hollenback Community Garden on Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill), and the first time I saw a green roof (at Bushwick Gardens, a senior citizens housing development built on a former brownfield site).
This year’s tour has two segments, with the morning ride starting at the Stillwell Ave/Coney Island subway station, and the afternoon one at Added Value Farm in Red Hook. The festivities end (begin?) at Brooklyn Brewery. Can’t wait!

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