Fact of the Day... Plastic Bottles

Did you know that Americans throw away approximately 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour? Meeting the nation's demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually. That is enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year.


Plastic bottles can also leach chemicals, such as BPA (bisphenol A) into your water. Plastic containers that have the number 7 recycling code on them usually contain BPA. Recent studies have shown BPA to be toxic to animals, and potentially to humans.

One way to keep the environmental impact down, as well as to protect yourself from exposure to toxic chemicals, would be to invest in a BPA free water bottle. If you prefer plastic, Camelbak makes a great BPA free water bottle. They also recently came out with a stainless steel water bottle. Another well known maker of stainless steel bottles is Klean Kanteen. Many people also like the Sigg bottles, although these are aluminum, which has been shown to have its own issues to consider (more about this later). The Sigg bottles do have a liner that is supposed to protect you from the aluminum. Whichever bottle you choose to use, please consider purchasing a reusable bottle... both for your health and the environment's sake.

Sources:
http://webecoist.com/2008/11/26/amazing-frightening-green-facts-environmental-statistics/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/stv-green-storygallery-tipsandfacts,0,7677451.storygallery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

Fact of the Day... World Hunger

The Wall Street bailout is costing taxpayers around $700 billion and growing. Yet, just 4% of the Wall Street bailout could end world hunger. Though the problem is often touted as insurmountable, in truth, global food insecurity could be completely solved by creating agricultural programs that would cost about $30 billion a year. 854 million people in the world – one in seven – do not get enough food to be healthy, making hunger the number one risk to health worldwide.

http://webecoist.com/2008/11/26/amazing-frightening-green-facts-environmental-statistics/


(image via: LA Times)