Green Water

I know that drinking water is really important for a healthy lifestyle I just really don't care a whole lot for the flavor of the tap water in my house. To try and remain in good health I've been drinking bottled water but feel pangs of guilt every time I throw the bottle out. What makes it worse is that a bottle is usually only about 1/4 of the daily recommended amount--so, I should be throwing out four bottles a day. This seems really excessive. I'll admit that I'm not totally environmentally friendly, but I'd like to have a smaller carbon footprint if I can help it. Since today is Earth Day I looked up some facts about plastic bottles to help guilt myself into action. Here what I found:

-In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each but only recycled an average of 23 percent. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills.
-Bottled water costs between $1 and $4 per gallon, and 90 percent of the cost is in the bottle, lid and label.
-It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture a year’s supply of bottled water. That’s enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars.
-8 out of 10 plastic water bottles become landfill waste.
-Plastic bottles can take up to 1000 years before they begin to decompose once buried.

Here's what I decided: I'll go out and buy a Britta water filtration pitcher and use that to drink from. It's totally reusable and should help with the flavor and purity of my tap water. I love our beautiful planet and really enjoy being outdoors. This small change in my lifestyle will hopefully help make it a cleaner place for all of us.