When Traveling, Bring Your Own (Reusable) Bottle!

JUNE 2007

"...and the spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters." (Genesis 1:2)

"[A]s people of biblical faith, who live together in trust and hope, our primary motivation is the call to be God's caregivers and to do justice...As members of this church, we commit ourselves to personal lifestyles that contribute to the health of the environment." (Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice ELCA Social Statement, adopted by 1993 Churchwide Assembly)

Bring a reusable bottle when you travel instead of buying bottled water.

• Bottled water creates trash and uses energy.
  Bottled water creates more trash and uses more energy than a re-useable bottle refilled from the tap. Disposable plastic bottles fill our landfills and take up to 1000 years to biodegrade. They also require substantial energy to manufacture, fill and transport. The majority of the energy used comes from fossil fuels like oil and coal, which emit carbon dioxide and are a primary cause of global warming.
   
• Tap water in the U.S. is clean and safe.
  In the U.S. we are blessed with a system to provide safe tap water, which is subject to dozens of state and federal regulations and testing requirements. Testing standards for bottled water are much less strict. Although the majority of bottled water is safe and pure, a Natural Resources Defense Council study tested 103 brands of bottled water and found that 34 of them exceeded either a state-enforceable standard for bacterial or chemical contamination, or a non-enforceable microbiological-purity (HPC) guideline, or both.
  
  Please note that not all countries have tap water that is safe to drink. When traveling abroad, refer to travel guides and web resources to determine how safe the tap water is.
   
• Bottled water is expensive.
  Bottled water can cost as much as $10 per gallon—much more than a gallon of gasoline. A 2006 report found that globally we spend $100 billion on bottled water.

Advocate for clean water for all.

• Advocate for environmental sustainability through the ONE Lutheran Campaign at www.elca.org/one/. Ensuring environmental sustainability is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are eight interrelated development goals that flow from the Millennium Declaration of 2000 adopted by all members of the United Nations, including the United States. Within the goal of ensuring environmental sustainability is the target to cut in half the number of people who lack access to safe drinking water supplies by 2015.
   
• Join the ELCA e-Advocacy Network at www.elca.org/advocacy/  to learn more about opportunities to advocate for clean water for all, as well as other important issues.
   
• Join the ELCA Shareholder's Network at www.elca.org/corporate  to receive periodic updates on water issues, as well as other issues involving corporations.

Download printer-friendly document (pdf)

SOURCES: Earth Policy Institute, “Pouring Resources Down the Drain” (2006); Natural Resources Defense Council, “Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?” (1999).