According to the Pacific Institute, more than 200 billion liters of bottled water were sold internationally in 2007, with that number expected to rise.

In 2006, 44 percent of all bottled water in the United States originated from a municipal water source and was labeled “purified water.” Water from the tap requires 2,000 times less energy than that needed to produce, fill, label, transport and cool bottled water.

An estimated 50 million barrels of oil are used each year to produce the plastic bottles alone. Only 23 percent of plastic drink containers are ever recycled.

One pitcher water filter can replace as many as 300 plastic 16.9 ounce bottles, and each filter is replaceable.

By filling your reusable water bottles at home, you save money, eliminate waste and reduce your carbon footprint.

– Source: Nicole A. Woodman, city of Flagstaff sustainability manager

Of course, because plastic bottles are not and can never be sustainable, we should be banning them entirely. Refusing to use them is just a good start.

During my workshop at Liberate Earth Day events at the Info-shop, there was one last example that I wanted to talk about, but Klee moved my notes, then quickly lost them. Here is the ad.

I really geeked out with my dictionary and etymology dictionary trying to figure out how a bus can be “ecological.” Lets take a look.

Ecological is defined as “of or relating to the science of ecology.”

okay, so ecology is defined as “the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms.”

Hmmm, the “relations and interactions between organisms and their environment.” Can a fuel efficiant bus help us understand these relations and interactions? No, it’s rediculous. In fact, if we go back to the original meaning, ecology doesn’t even necessarily have anything to do with science.

If we look at the etymology of “ecology,” we discover that although it was coined in 1873, by German zoologist Ernst Haeckel as “Okologie,” it originally came from the Greek word “oikos” which means “house, dwelling place, habitation” + -logia, which is “the study of.”

So stripped down, ecology really means understanding where you live. And a bus, by definition, accomplishes the opposite. It takes us from point A to point B in a contained vehicle on top of asphalt, disallowing us to experience the world outside as we travel. If a bus did travel on this grass, it would tear it up within seconds.

In my talk, I discussed “sustainability,” “eco-friendly,” and “green.” None of these words have standard industry definitions. It is more important than ever to develop what I like to call, your “green” bullshit detector.

If anyone comes across “green” ads like this, please send them to me. I’m starting a collection.

Switching from beef to kangaroo burgers could significantly help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, says an Australian scientist.

The methane gas produced by sheep and cows through belching and flatulence is more potent than carbon dioxide in the damage it can cause to the environment.

But kangaroos produce virtually no methane because their digestive systems are different.
Dr George Wilson, of the Australian Wildlife Services, urges farming them.

….so our answer to climate change is to exploit the kangaroo in factory farms?

Earth day is tuesday……but remember…..

And this doesn’t mean I’m a communist or anti-American or any other sound bite. As I see it, this is just how it is. A way of life based on continuous growth cannot last on a finite planet. We’ve known this all along…

To get at the root problems, we have to question more than our consumer choices.

Here are two examples from many that illustrate the way in which the “green revolution” merely acts as a smoke and mirror trick, whereby one environmental problem is “fixed” but creates other—often larger—problems for the environment in other ways.

Food. (NYT) (thanks to beneath the pavement [formerly Auckland's Burning] for posting this article.)

The world’s food situation is bleak, and shortsighted policies in the United States and other wealthy countries — which are diverting crops to environmentally dubious biofuels — bear much of the blame.

The global cost of wheat has increased by 80% in the last year alone.

Prices have gone so high that the World Food Program, which aims to feed 73 million people this year, said it might have to reduce rations or the number of people it will help.

The reason? We’re not growing food to eat, we’re increasingly growing food to put in our gas tanks.

Yet the most important reason for the price shock is the rich world’s subsidized appetite for biofuels. In the United States, 14 percent of the corn crop was used to produce ethanol in 2006 — a share expected to reach 30 percent by 2010.

Now, you might be thinking, “well, my new plug-in Prius runs solely on electricity.”

They may not be gas-guzzlers, but electric cars have a raging thirst for water. (ENN)

A comparison of the volume of coolant water used in the thermoelectric power plants that provide most of our electricity and that used in extracting and refining petroleum suggests that electric vehicles require significantly more water per mile than those powered by gasoline.

… cars, light trucks, and SUVs running off the electric grid consume three times more water and withdraw 17 times more water per mile than their equivalent gasoline-powered vehicles.