I drank how many bottled waters last year?!?

I tend to consider myself a tree hugger. I buy locally produced foods as much as possible, and I prefer to eat organics.  Though we are still working on the bare bones of garden infrastructure at the new house, I used to grow quite a lot of our own produce in the kitchen garden at the old place. I composted in the suburbs when composting wasn't cool.  

Imagine my surprise when I tabulated my own water bottle use.  Conservatively calculating, I realized by drinking just 12 bottled drinks per week, I generate 624 empty plastic bottles in a year.  Again, keeping my numbers conservative, if I double that to include my husband drinking his 12 per week, the trash goes up to 1248 plastic bottles per year.  Include my son and his 12, and my little family uses 1,872 bottles each year! In all actuality, the number is probably over 2000.  I shudder to think of what a pile like that looks like in a landfill.

Of course, we recycle these bottles and other items diligently, and have for years.  I smugly tried to minimize my horror thinking our 1,872+ plastic containers aren't contributing to our growing environmental problems because the plastic, glass, and paper we throw away goes to a recycling plant and becomes new stuff.  Right? Wrong!

It turns out even when I recycle religiously, turn off electronics obsessively, and sequester myself in the house without driving anywhere for three days, we would still need six planet Earths to sustain everyone if everyone lived like my family. Six! You can calculate your own family's impact using this interesting interactivity: http://sustainability.publicradio.org/consumerconsequences/

You will be absolutely amazed how much energy you are using.  Needless to say, there is a whole lot more plain tap water being served out of glassware at my house!