TANNARA YELLAND
Associate News Editor
A new student group is attempting to stop the sale of bottled water on campus.
Students recently started a Facebook group called “Ban Bottled Water on U of Sask Campus” that is devoted to publicizing and garnering support for this cause.
The group’s Facebook page includes the waste inherent in the sale of single-use plastic bottles and the fact that the bottles leech chemicals into the surrounding environment once disposed of among their reasons for seeking to ban the bottles.
The group has already attracted criticism for its use of computers, which require energy and thus make use of fossil fuels. But organizer Shannon Dyck feels it is important to work for change despite such inconsistencies.
“No matter what we do we will have an impact on the Earth…. People who choose to support environmental and human rights campaigns shouldn’t be seen as people who neglect to see the hypocrisy in the things they do and support. We see the hypocrisy; we’re just trying to make positive change where we can.”
Other resistance has come from people who see the group’s efforts as an infringement on their right to choose to buy water. Dyck acknowledges the importance of freedom of choice and says rather than angrily confront people about their choice to buy bottled water she might ask them why they made that choice.
“Once people understand the impacts of this industry,” she said, “many get on board and support the campaign.”
Many students on campus already agree with the movement. As of Oct. 12 the Facebook group has 105 members.
Water can be acquired from the water fountain for free and old water bottles can simply be re-used.
But Dyck cautions that people should not be re-using plastic bottles that were intended for single use.
“Bottled water bottles are not meant to be reused ”“ neither are any other single use plastic bottles. That’s what re-usable water bottles are for.”
The group is circulating a petition around the U of S campus. The petition has 10 main points and draws evidence for its case from work done by the Polaris Institute, the Canada Bottled Water Association and the Chartered Institution of Water and Environment Management.
“Bottled water results in resource use and waste production that could otherwise be avoided,” reads the petition. And according to the CBWA, the production of one litre of bottled water requires 1.3 litres of water.
Water is often taken from sources in areas like India that are already short on clean, drinkable water to be packaged for sale in, for example, Canada, where there is no shortage of clean tap water. The petition cites the Polaris Institute saying the bottled water industry “threatens to cause a divide between those who can and can not pay for bottled water.” If bottled water becomes the primary way of distributing water this has clear implications for future generations of impoverished citizens.
The Ban Bottled Water group will have a booth in the Arts Tunnel during Green Yourself Week, Oct. 19 to 23. When the petition has accumulated enough signatures the group will present it to both the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union and the Graduate Students’ Association in the hope that the associations will help the group in its cause.
– –
photo Robby Davis