Analysis Of Bad To The Last Drop By Tom Standage

Plastic is believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish floating in the oceans. Bottled water does have its place. It’s useful for emergencies and essential for people whose health can’t tolerate even filtered water. But it’s often no better than tap water, its environmental and social price is high, and it lets our public guardians off the hook for protecting watersheds, stopping polluters, upgrading treatment and distribution infrastructure, and strengthening treatment standards.

The economy is hurt when people spend money on bottled water, which in fact tastes the same as tap water, but costs much more. Not only do people waste money on water that tastes the same as tap, but they waste money on water that helps destroy the environment. Not only does bottled water cost more, but it takes money away that could be used to help upgrade and provide cleaner tap water. People would like to save money, but they spend it on bottled water which tie in with tap water. “Nearly 40 percent of bottled water is simply filtered water filled in a bottle. Humans pay 1900 times

Water is essential to life, scientific fact, not debatable (Tracy). More than half of all Americans drink bottled water; about a third of the public consumes it regularly (Olsen). Many drink or buy bottled water simply because they believe it is of better quality, cleaner, and better tasting. On the contrary, several individuals do not know the cons of drinking bottled water. Today, there are many misconceptions and myths about bottled water. Many people are uneducated about what goes into our bottles and how it not only affects us but also our environment. In the article “The New Oil” by Jeneen Interlandi and Ryan Tracy they discuss the issues that have to do with water and the privatization of it. They believe there is a crisis and something has to be done. Due to the cost, pollution, shortage, and health issues, bottled water should be outlawed. Water should not be controlled by water bottle companies and should not be allowed to be sold in plastic bottles.

Author Michael I. Niman is a professor of journalism at Buffalo State College. In his article “Bottled Insanity," Niman claims that the rage for imported bottled water is unnecessary. Niman argues that people in America are “mad” for Fiji Water because they are “being sold a fantasy. A moment in Fiji. A taste of Fiji”. The author describes how this craze for “designer water” is negatively effecting our environment. According to the Niman, to transport a bottle of water from Fiji to Western New York State requires packing the water into cardboard boxes made from rain forest trees, loading the bottles onto trucks that require gasoline that are driven to a cargo ships powered by fossil fuels, which are then shipped to The United States, and again loaded onto trains and trucks and transported all across the country, then from the warehouses the bottles are delivered everywhere you buy Fiji Water. The author supports his claim that this infatuation of “designer water” is “bottled insanity” by informing the reader that this process “threatens the very existence of the tropical paradise” because of how it is negatively effecting Fiji including the island’s “chronic water shortage”. In continuation, Niman brings up the fact that where he lives, in Western New York State he is fairly close to both the great lakes and Adirondack mountain aquifers. In addition, the author reveals that his region already has “some of the best water on the planet”. Overall, according to Niman the

Having had the chance to travel to some the most primitive areas around the world for missions work, lack of clean water affects the health and hygiene of a people. Improper disposal of human waste and trash are key contributors to water contamination in underdeveloped countries. “In 2016, 143 communities and 57 schools received clean water in Sierra Leone, Kenya and Uganda” (“2016 Annual Report”). Organizations, like The Water Project, are making great efforts around the world to make a difference in these areas by installing wells and providing water purification systems. Until the proper infrastructure is in place, bottled water is the perfect stopgap. Bottled water can provide those living in these unreached areas a way to get their daily intake of water without fear of sickness.

argued that bottled water is “morally unacceptable” – the discomforting fact while having perfectly good tap water, the UK spends almost $2 billion pounds on bottled water, “its treated as a luxury bauble while others die from its absence”. The Fiji Water Company, LLC provides some water to surrounding villages after cyclones and flash flooding, it also provides some funding towards clean water projects across the islands, but the company is not responsible for the islander’s water supply (Heap, 2008). Fiji Water’s good works are more hope than reality. Two years after a riot at the water plant, the Vatukaloko Trust Fund was created, a charity targeting several villages surrounding the plant, agreed to donate .15 percent of its Fijian operation’s revenues, a company official testified that the total was about $100,000 in 2007 (for perspective, the trade journal Brandweek put Fiji Water’s marketing budget at $10 million in 2008) (Lenzer, 2009). The aforementioned presents an ethical issue with Fiji Water profiting from freshwater pumped from the aquifer, then exported and marketed as a luxury product, meanwhile the people of Fiji are getting sicker in certain cases dying from the lack of it. This can be viewed as controversial and moral contextual issue; under Applied Ethics the normative principles that can be argued are Social Benefit, Principle of Benevolence, and the Principle of Paternalism. Next, an additional concern arises, the

Tom Standage’s essay “Bad to the Last Drop” first appeared in the New York Times on the first of August, 2005. And it appears on pages 662-664 in the textbook; Practical Argument, compiled by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. In his essay, Standage argues that we, as a society, should do away with bottled water. He justifies his stance with several points including the shear monetary cost to the consumer, the lack of any nutritional benefit in bottled water, and even his results in a “water tasting”, a parody of a wine tasting which he partook in with the help of a few of his friends (Standage). By far, one of Tom’s strongest points, though, is the plight of impoverished nations around the world and their lack of clean water. One can almost feel his contempt for the seeming hypocrisy of first-world countries and their rejection of their perfectly adequate tap water, especially in the face of such global need. He demonizes the “illogical enthusiasm” with which wealthy nations turn up their noses at tap water (Standage). But in the midst of his tirade, he is certain to pardon developing countries, as bottled water is often times the cleanest water available to them. As his final point, Standage concludes that the most reasonable course of action is that the populace of developed nations, in light of the deficiency of water in other countries, ought to cease consumption of bottled water and send that money to water charities instead.

In the reading “throwing like a girl” by James fallows he describes the differences between the Clintons throw during a baseball game. He explains the right way to throw a baseball, and the ways an individual should not throw a baseball. To my understanding, Fallows is trying to explain the correct way and the incorrect way to play/throw a baseball, especially in such a big game, where there are thousands of people watching. To my understanding he uses the phrase “throwing like a girl” referring to the Clintons photographs due to both of the Clintons not throwing the ball the correct way. In the images it shows how both of them are not holding the balls correctly, one has the elbow way low than it should be, and the other a little higher.

When reading about safe drinking water, likenesses and differences in both authors’ points of view have been noted. In the pieces, After Pollution in Flint, Some Find Tap Water’s Benefits Hard to Swallow, and For the World’s Poor, Drinking Water Can Kill, there are many facts presented about how tap water causes issues. When comparing the texts, similarities and differences are noted.

When thinking of Mexican American immigrants, what comes to mind? The American public consistently listens to the media telling stories of how these people cross the border illegally, which is deemed as a crime. Immigrants are portrayed just as stealing American jobs and benefiting from government programs such as welfare. Countless people think it was a voluntary action for them to come to the United States, therefore whatever comes their way is what they deserve regardless if it is health problems, racism or low paying jobs. However, what most of American people don’t realize is that the majority of Mexican migrants are forced to migrate to the United State in order to survive. They constantly risk their lives to cross a dangerous border in order to find the jobs that the American people don’t want to endure. In the book called “Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies”, the author, Seth Holmes focuses on the lives of an indigenous Mexican group called the Triquis. Throughout the book, he focuses on the journey of the group from their hometown of Oaxaca to farms in California and Washington. The book also emphasizes how racism and health problems of migrant workers have become invisible to the American people. It is commonly seen that their personal damage such as health problems and placement on the social hierarchy system is only to be blamed on their sole decision to come to a country where they are considered illegal. Instead of blaming the Triqui people for their sickness, Holmes

Among all of the resources in the world, there is one that we do not often consider to be diminishing. The masses take this resource, water, for granted. When the average person takes a single look at a world map, they see multiple blue oceans covering the Earth. But, although we are surrounded by water, our clean water reserves dwindle rapidly. In her article, “Water Works”, Cynthia Barnett attempts to bring this issue to greater light and offers her own solutions. While I agree with many of Barnett’s points, she fails to look at the arguments of her detractors to the detriment of her already flawed case.

If it were not for water there would be no life on our planet. Water is a fundamental necessity for our race to thrive on. That is why water is such a relevant topic for so many people. With the water industry trading in the billions of dollars, its quite shocking that Americans have just recently begun to question what it is we’re drinking and why. The author of Bottlemania, Elizabeth Royte, succeeds at persuading through her use of eye-opening propositions and inquiry. The author however fails to support

Worldwide one point one billion people live in countries that do not have access to clean safe water according to the Cato Institute. Yet with this, Cato goes on to state that it is due to bad policies that currently stand in the way. In essence Cato is arguing that privatizing the water industry would reduce that. “Cherrapunji, India, the wettest place on earth, suffers from recurrent water shortages” Cato continues with the theme of laying out logical explanations as to why water is alright to be privatized. Their use of this compels the reader to follow the train of thought and beginning looking t the benefits. If the policies in India have led to the wettest place on Earth suffering from water shortages under public policy, we would be

Have you ever had any concerns about bottled water? Do you think that bottled water consumption should be banned? Bottled water is water packed in plastic containers and sold for human consumption (Health Canada, 2013). Currently, the amount of bottled water consumed has increased considerably since many people feel it is safer drinking bottled water than tap water (Parent and Wrong, 2014). According to The Statistics Portal, the global sale of bottled water took a leap from 161, 589 to 181, 608 liters from 2009 to 2011. Only in the United States, each American citizen consumed around 32 gallons of bottled water in 2013, thus meaning an equivalent growth of 15, 94% over 2009 (The Statistics Portal, 2014). In fact, due to good portability, bottled water has been helpful in both simple and complex situations such as daily exercises and natural disasters. Even though having those few considerable advantages, bottled water still have been less beneficial; especially due to the negative impacts in the socio-economic, health and environmental fields.

Arnold, E 2006, ‘Bottled water drains natural resources’, Earth Policy Institute, 1 April , viewed 22 Octobe