As you know, not serving individual bottled water at conferences and events has the potential for huge environmental and economic savings. Some planners have been concerned about how to sell this to stakeholders and participants. From what I have been reading lately, that job may be getting easier!

From Grist…

“Forget SUVs and Styrofoam: hip-to-the-times green folk are directing their ire at plastic water bottles. In the last few months, the energy-intensiveness of bottled water — 1.5 million barrels of oil go into making the bottles for the U.S. market each year, and oodles more to transporting the H2O — has seeped into the public consciousness. Big-city mayors have urged residents to stop hitting the bottle, and highfalutin restaurants are serving filtered tap water. Advocates point out that water flows freely in nearly every U.S. home, while 38 billion recyclable plastic vessels are trashed every year.”

From the New York Times, August 12, 2007

“In the last few months, bottled water — generally considered a benign, even beneficial, product — has been increasingly portrayed as an environmental villain by city leaders, activist groups and the media.”

From the Harris Interactive Poll…

“Americans claim that they are doing things that will reduce their carbon footprint. A startling 21% have stopped drinking bottled water.”