The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

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KOR Water

BPA Ocean - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

03 Jul

Posted by Randi as Sustainability, Videos

Bottled water gets lots of attention about its contribution to landfill waste, but its “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” status plays another role in our ocean. Awareness and concern is growing about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch thanks to a flurry of online media and videos about the mess. In case you missed it, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a heap of debris floating in the Pacific that’s twice the size of Texas, according to marine biologists. Consisting of 80 percent plastic and weighing in at 3.5 million tons, this island of plastic is caught in a swirl of ocean currents between San Francisco and Hawaii where few people ever travel. Since the 1950’s, the Patch has been growing 1000% every decade according to Chris Parry, public education program manager with the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco.

The video below is 1 of 12 of an upcoming documentary on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by VBS.tv. Click through to watch all 12. (warning: there is some swearing in these videos)

Click here to learn more….

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How To Choose A Safe Reusable Water Bottle. | The Good Human

Image by Serdal via Flickr

How To Choose A Safe Reusable Water Bottle. | The Good Human

How To Choose A Safe Reusable Water Bottle.
March 17th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

* EarthTalk: On Leaching Plastics For Food Storage.
* Find Out What Your Water Footprint Is And How To Reduce It.
* New Study Shows Chlorinated Water Causes Heart Problems For Babies.

Filed Under: Featured • toxic
Tags: bottle • bpa • reusable • water

Aside from staying home and drinking tap water out of a washable glass, the best way to be “green” while on the go is choosing your water bottle wisely. From the lowly single-use-only plastic water bottle you can buy at your local gas station to the stainless steel and aluminum options, making the right choice is important in maintaining both your health and the health of the environment!


The worst kind of water bottle is the kind that you only use once - the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottle that you find in grocery stores, gas stations, etc, that is used for water, soda and juice. This kind of plastic has been proven to leach DEHP (Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate) after repeated use and is a probable carcinogen. They can also harbor bacterial growth inside any cracks and crevices inside the bottle, which cannot be too good for your health either!


Next to the regular old plastic bottles we see everywhere, probably the most common would be your typical bottle as seen here. These plastic bottles, commonly used by exercise buffs and campers, are made out of thermoplastic polymers that usually goes by the name polycarbonate. However, it’s not just water bottles that are made out of polycarbonate; CD’s, iPods, sunglasses, and computer shells are also made of the material. Thankfully though, we don’t normally chew on CD’s or computers because polycarbonates have been proven to leach BPA, a synthetic hormone that can mimic estrogen and cause prostate cancer. Even scarier is the fact that most baby bottles are made out of polycarbonate, and when you heat up milk in them to feed your baby, the BPA could be leaching in at an even higher rate than normal. Not good at all, if you ask me!


A much better option than either of the above two would be an aluminum water bottle. A big manufacturer of aluminum water bottles is Sigg (which you can get at Reusable Bags, where we got ours), which claims to make environmentally friendly products. They have a lot of information on their site about the safety of aluminum,but one little part concerns me that I didn’t know until just a little while ago - these bottles still have a plastic liner. *Update - The liner inside is made from a water-based resin that is baked into the bottles, according to company representative who just emailed me.


The best way to get your daily dose of water on the go, in my opinion, is a stainless steel reusable container. Kleen Kanteen is a large manufacturer of these type of bottles, and you can get them from Reusable Bags. They are made entirely out of stainless steel, which does not leach, is difficult to break or crack, and does not easily stain or interact with whatever product you are consuming. The water always tastes good out of it (at least ours does, and it is Los Angeles tap water!) and it keeps it reasonably cold for a little while when we go hiking or out in the sun. They don’t recommend using them for hot beverages, which is understandable - that’s what a thermos is for.

Ideally, the best way to drink water on the go would be an aluminum or stainless steel water bottle, as they seem to exhibit the least amount of health concerns out of all the choices. Add in the fact that they can be used over and over again with no degradation and do not need to be recycled each time you use one, they really are the “green” choice. And since upwards of 40% of bottled water is actually just tap water in disguise, buying it seems like not only a health risk due to the plastic leaching possibilities, but also a wallet risk due to wasting money on something you already have at home!

* EarthTalk: On Leaching Plastics For Food Storage.
* Find Out What Your Water Footprint Is And How To Reduce It.
* New Study Shows Chlorinated Water Causes Heart Problems For Babies.