Letter: Think Outside the Bottle for Earth Day

To the editor:

As a Melrose resident and small business owner, protecting the environment where we live and work is important to me. That's why 7ate9 Bakery took Corporate Accountability International's “Think Outside the Bottle” pledge to be a bottled water free establishment.

Bottled water’s environmental impact is significant when one considers that we all have a low-impact alternative: the tap. Ounce for ounce, it takes nearly 2,000 times the energy to produce and distribute bottled water than it does for tap water. Even industry studies admit the tap has a smaller energy footprint than bottled water.

Bottled water corporations have long tried to convince us that the only safe water comes in a bottle. But the truth is that public water is tested hundreds of times a month and is much more highly regulated than bottled water. Additionally, what you’re paying for in the bottle is frequently the same as what already flows from your tap: Nearly half of the bottled water sold in the U.S. (including Nestlé‘s Pure Life, Coke‘s Dasani, and Pepsi‘s Aquafina) comes from our tap water systems.

We’re lucky in and around Boston in that we have some of the best water in the world—but we have to protect it by reinvesting in our water systems. Luckily, this saves money in the long run and creates green jobs now. In recognition of Earth Day this past weekend, I ask you to take the Think Outside the Bottle pledge and support the tap!

Sarah-Beth Chester, Owner
7ate9 Bakery