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Published: Sep 7, 2010
Category: Home
Water on the brain here.
It started with my last review before I put up a ‘gone fishing’ sign and headed off to an island with my family.
I featured Running Out of Water, by Peter Rogers and Susan Leal, because I not only care about resources, I love the ideas of its subtitle: "The Looming Crisis and Solutions to Conserve Our Most Precious Resource." Here, at last, is a book that not only presents a clear account of the crisis, but offers solutions for government, cities and individuals.
The heat index on our vacation destination --- an island three miles long, a half-mile wide --- topped out at 107 degrees. We had a house overlooking the Atlantic, and the ocean breeze kept us from wilting in that sauna. The better reason I didn’t feel like wringing out my shirt every few minutes was that I was in the water --- warm as a bath, clear as our daughter’s conscience --- for hours at the time.
It was Paradise.
Human driftwood. The brain empties out when you stand, for a long time, in chest-deep water and take the waves. The water crests, you bounce up to meet it. And again. And again. After a while, you just go with it. Surrender. “Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream. It is not dying, it is not dying.”
Lennon and McCartney wrote all-purpose lyrics, but hurricanes are exceptions. And while the storms didn’t come near us, they churned up the waters mightily. Soon there was no pattern to the surf --- the waves were disorganized. Go over? Go under? It made no difference. Into the washing machine you go.
Under the water, thrashing, I had only one thought: Paradise is wild. As in untamed. Not capable of human rule, no matter how much we think we can dominate everything. Very quickly, I learned my lesson --- I got out of the water.
Now I’m back, and very enthusiastic about…. water bottles. This is entirely unplanned. My wife --- the queen of consumer products, as those who use the Clarisonic Skin Care System and the Ionic Tourmaline Hair Dryer and Egyptian Magic and Spanx already know --- sent me the link. And then the bottle.
The reason it’s important not to buy bottled water is that everybody does. In America, that’s $11.5 billion worth of water a year. Crazy. Or, as George Carlin put it: “What is Evian spelled backwards?”
In their book, Rogers and Leal point out that Americans spend more on gourmet water per year than we do on our water systems. The amount of fossil fuel we use to make the plastic bottles in a single year could power a million cars. And here’s the craziest thing about bottled water: 25% to 40% comes from a public tap.
Well, if you’re going to pay for tap water, why not start with tap water and filter it yourself?
That is the light bulb idea behind Bobble Water Bottles. [To buy Bobble Bottles from Amazon, click here. To buy replacement filters from Amazon, click here.] Take the 18.5 ounce water bottle and fill it with tap water. Screw in the filter and mouthpiece. Lift. Squeeze gently. Drink.
What does the carbon filter remove? Chlorine, for one. Biological pollutants? Sorry. No. But turning tap water into a refreshing drink isn’t shabby. Neither is this: One water filter is good for about 300 bottles, or two months worth of water. And the bottle, which is made from recycled materials, is 100% recyclable. Just don’t put it into your dishwasher!
The colorful, attention-getting Bobble is the invention of Karim Rashid, a prolific and inspired designer. He created the Oh Chair [To buy it from Amazon, click here] and the Garbo trash can. If you’re interested in design, you might want one of his books, "KarimSpace: The Interior Design and Architecture of Karim Rashid." [To buy the book from Amazon, click here.]
Rashid has written:
I believe that we could be living in an entirely different world --- one that is full of real contemporary inspiring objects, spaces, places, worlds, spirits and experiences.
My real desire is to see people live in the modus of our time, to participate in the contemporary world, and to release themselves from nostalgia, antiquated traditions, old rituals, kitsch and the meaningless. We should be conscious and attune with this world in this moment. If human nature is to live in the past, to change the world is to change human nature.
I find those sentiments inspiring. I want to live in the next world --- that is, one that makes me feel clean and guilt-free. I’m willing to have my nature changed. And it thrills me that I can participate in this change, one bottle at a time.