Alex Blumenthal

Dr. Schmalbeck

Honors Energy and Sustainability

9 September 2019

Assessing the Argument: Water Bottles

Bottled water is bad for our environment and has many consequences unbeknownst to the

general population. The amount of oil needed to produce the 33 liters of bottled water yearly is

54 million barrels. (Gleick and Cooley) This is just the beginning of the amount of energy

needed as the plastic water bottles must be shipped around the world and then to be used in about

2 minutes. The disposal process is even more environmentally degrading as a majority of the

water bottles “recycled” end up in landfills. (visionontv) Ways to mitigate these problems are

investing in public water infrastructures and buying reusable water bottles. While bottled water

may have an easiness to it, we must acknowledge the marketing ploys used by these companies

and deter away from them. After knowing the bad effects of the bottled water, we as a society

much choose to invest in our sustainable future.

 Works Cited

Gleick, P H, and H S Cooley. “Energy Implications of Bottled Water.”

“The Story of Bottled Water.” YouTube, 22 Mar. 2010, https://youtu.be/FnCnf-1-iRk.