Comments on: How to Buy Green http://www.welovedc.com/2009/10/20/how-to-buy-green/ Your Life Beyond The Capitol Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:18:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Joan Friedlander http://www.welovedc.com/2009/10/20/how-to-buy-green/comment-page-1/#comment-13129 Joan Friedlander Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:43:04 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=20845#comment-13129 Donna, what a great and thorough article. I, too, attended the meeting. You did an excellent job capturing what each woman addressed. I think the bottom line, as you clearly stated, is stay awake, read labels, ask questions and do your best. My top take away from the meeting: farmers do deserve a living wage and in exchange for quality food, I can support them. I'm contacting CSA's in my area to see if I can connect with one for the winter crops. Donna, what a great and thorough article. I, too, attended the meeting. You did an excellent job capturing what each woman addressed. I think the bottom line, as you clearly stated, is stay awake, read labels, ask questions and do your best.

My top take away from the meeting: farmers do deserve a living wage and in exchange for quality food, I can support them. I’m contacting CSA’s in my area to see if I can connect with one for the winter crops.

]]> By: Donna C. http://www.welovedc.com/2009/10/20/how-to-buy-green/comment-page-1/#comment-13119 Donna C. Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:38:54 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=20845#comment-13119 Damian, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I hear your point that if tap water is bad there should be an alternative, but bottled water often is tap water. And it's not necessarily safe, either. Here's a piece that outlines some of the issues: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/bottled/bottled-water-illusions-of-purity It goes back to the "ask questions" part - online databases and calling around are good ways to find out where water, tap or bottled, comes from and if it's been tested. As for carbonated drinks, hooray, there's a solution for reducing those bottles, too - home soda makers like this: http://www.sodaclub.com. There's a big box by my door that just arrived with one, fresh from the Green Festival, so I'm curious to see how it does! Damian, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I hear your point that if tap water is bad there should be an alternative, but bottled water often is tap water. And it’s not necessarily safe, either. Here’s a piece that outlines some of the issues: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/bottled/bottled-water-illusions-of-purity It goes back to the “ask questions” part – online databases and calling around are good ways to find out where water, tap or bottled, comes from and if it’s been tested.

As for carbonated drinks, hooray, there’s a solution for reducing those bottles, too – home soda makers like this: http://www.sodaclub.com. There’s a big box by my door that just arrived with one, fresh from the Green Festival, so I’m curious to see how it does!

]]> By: Damian Hockney http://www.welovedc.com/2009/10/20/how-to-buy-green/comment-page-1/#comment-13010 Damian Hockney Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:53:19 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=20845#comment-13010 The problem with citing safety as an issue regarding bottled water is that tap water has been adulterated by governments over the decades in the name of 'health and safety', and there are so many occasions when the government agencies' own departments tell people NOT to drink tap water because of infections and scares. I am probably unusual in being someone who has never bought a bottle of water, simply on grounds of the absurdity of paying good money for something that I already pay for through taxes, but the issue of public water supply is much more complicated than people sometimes think, and choice is vital. Another interesting fact is that, sadly, campaigns against bottled water among the young lead to a rise in them buying carbonated drinks or 'flavoured waters' (groan) because, of course, they are marketed as somehow 'green'. The problem with citing safety as an issue regarding bottled water is that tap water has been adulterated by governments over the decades in the name of ‘health and safety’, and there are so many occasions when the government agencies’ own departments tell people NOT to drink tap water because of infections and scares. I am probably unusual in being someone who has never bought a bottle of water, simply on grounds of the absurdity of paying good money for something that I already pay for through taxes, but the issue of public water supply is much more complicated than people sometimes think, and choice is vital. Another interesting fact is that, sadly, campaigns against bottled water among the young lead to a rise in them buying carbonated drinks or ‘flavoured waters’ (groan) because, of course, they are marketed as somehow ‘green’.

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