SCH goes to Collingswood…
 On Saturday, SCH invited members of the community to come out to the Collingswood Book Festival to hear author, Elizabeth Royte speak about her latest book, Bottle Mania: How water went on sale and Why we bought it. Royte, an award winning investigative journalist, enlightened the group with her research about the real cost of bottled water. She said regulations for the safety and quality of bottled water are actually less stringent than those for tap water. She talked about the environmental footprint that bottled water leaves in terms of the oil used to make, transport and dispose of the bottles. I found her description of the social, economic and environmental affects on the community of Fryberg, Maine (where Poland Spring water comes from) to be the most compelling. Royte told us how corporatized the industry has become and that the residents of Fryberg are spending tens of thousands of dollars trying to stop the Nestle Company (owners of Poland Spring and many other water companies) from exploiting their springs and their town to increase company profits. Lastly, she explained how if America’s current love affair with water bottles continues, than the safety of “common” municipal water sources may be compromised as fewer residents drink and care about tap water.
I was particularly gratified to see some community members come out who are new to the sustainability conversation. They seemed particularly affected by the message of Bottlemania and many emailed me after to tell me about their reaction to the information. Royte also spent a few minutes talking about her first book, Garbageland: The secret trail of trash, which is also an eye opening read! Thank you to everyone who came out and I hope you will tell your friends and families about what you have learned. Believe me… I know the bottled water habit is hard to break. As Elizabeth said, put your reusable water bottle with your keys and your canvas grocery bags and you’ll be off to a good start!
ABOUT Bottlemania: In the follow-up to Garbage Land, her influential investigation into our modern trash crisis, Elizabeth Royte ventures to Fryeburg, Maine, to look deep into the source—of Poland Spring water. In this tiny town, and in others like it across the country, she finds the people, machines, economies, and cultural trends that have made bottled water a $60-billion-a-year phenomenon even as it threatens local control of a natural resource and litters the landscape with plastic waste. Moving beyond the environmental consequences of making, filling, transporting and landfilling those billions of bottles, Royte examines the state of tap water today (you may be surprised), and the social impact of water-hungry multinationals sinking ever more pumps into tiny rural towns. Ultimately,Bottlemania makes a case for protecting public water supplies, for improving our water infrastructure and—in a world of increasing drought and pollution—better allocating the precious drinkable water that remains.
 October 8, 2008
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