UVSS committee working to help students bin the bottle
The Environmental Responsibility Committee is hoping to convince students to use tap water instead of bottled water.
The UVic Students’ Society (UVSS) Environmental Responsibility Committee (ERC) is ramping up its efforts to get students and staff to kick their bottled water addiction.
The committee has been working to increase campus awareness of the more sustainable alternative: tap water.
“We shouldn’t rely on a truck to get high-quality drinking water,” said ERC Chairperson Christine Comrie. “Tap water is just as high quality, and is much better for the environment. It should be made more accessible.”
The centerpiece of the committee’s water campaign is the creation of an online map of all the places on campus with a drinking fountain. People will be able to click on a building and a map will highlight the locations of all of the fountains in the building so that they can find the one that is most convenient. By clicking on the individual fountain, a brief description of the fountain will appear. The maps are being created by the geography department, free of charge.
The ERC is also trying to get more filtered water taps and taps for filling reusable water bottles on campus. There are currently only two filtered taps, one in Bean There and the other in the Resource Center in the Student Union Building (SUB).
The committee also plans to try and break some of bleakness caused by November weather by decorating the water fountains on campus so that students are more aware of where they are.
UVic’s Office of Sustainability is supportive the ERC’s work and has offered to collaborate, though no discussions have yet been held.
UVic is currently in the process of building 15 new water fountains with taps for filling reusable water bottles.
“Bottled water depletes our natural resources and the environmental impact infringes on other communities,” said Comrie. “We’re paying money to big businesses for them to ship us basically bottled tap water … and the environment is paying for it.”
20 Comments
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aerf Oct. 23, 2009, 5:22 a.m.
Zat's soooo 2006.
aerf Oct. 23, 2009, 5:22 a.m.
Zat's soooo 2006.
B Oct. 23, 2009, 4:36 p.m.
This is typical of the
news reportingI see from the Martlet. Rather than doing any research at all in the interests of being objective, it's a lot easier just to parrot comments from one individual as if that counts asfacts. So what do really learn from this article? That Christine Comrie thinks bottled water is bad. Do I care about the opinions of Christine Comrie or the ERC? Maybe the reporter could have - oh I dunno - told the readers what professional qualifications Christine Comrie give her opinions any validity whatsoever? Perhaps the reporter should be more concerned about Christine Comrie and the ERC trying to socially engineer the students of UVic based on what they believe. Maybe Christine Comrie is correct. Maybe bottled water is a bad thing and we should be acting to reduce our dependancy on it. But there's not a single fact in that article to back up that argument.B Oct. 23, 2009, 4:36 p.m.
This is typical of the
news reportingI see from the Martlet. Rather than doing any research at all in the interests of being objective, it's a lot easier just to parrot comments from one individual as if that counts asfacts. So what do really learn from this article? That Christine Comrie thinks bottled water is bad. Do I care about the opinions of Christine Comrie or the ERC? Maybe the reporter could have - oh I dunno - told the readers what professional qualifications Christine Comrie give her opinions any validity whatsoever? Perhaps the reporter should be more concerned about Christine Comrie and the ERC trying to socially engineer the students of UVic based on what they believe. Maybe Christine Comrie is correct. Maybe bottled water is a bad thing and we should be acting to reduce our dependancy on it. But there's not a single fact in that article to back up that argument.D Oct. 23, 2009, 7:05 p.m.
I'd rather see people drinking bottled water instead of something like pop.
D Oct. 23, 2009, 7:05 p.m.
I'd rather see people drinking bottled water instead of something like pop.
Leo Zhang Oct. 23, 2009, 8:46 p.m.
D: Good Call!
Leo Zhang Oct. 23, 2009, 8:46 p.m.
D: Good Call!
Ivan M Oct. 24, 2009, 1:32 a.m.
ARGHRGH there is no need for spending money on new fountains! There are already water fountains in every single building in just about every hallway and you can always refill your water bottle from bathroom taps too. Or are people too civilized to drink water from bathroom taps? It's what you're using to wash your hands to protect yourself from the dreaded swine flu.
UVic needs to just keep that fountain money 'cause they're gonna need it if they do ever do the right thing and that's actually ban bottled water for sale on campus.
Ivan M Oct. 24, 2009, 1:32 a.m.
ARGHRGH there is no need for spending money on new fountains! There are already water fountains in every single building in just about every hallway and you can always refill your water bottle from bathroom taps too. Or are people too civilized to drink water from bathroom taps? It's what you're using to wash your hands to protect yourself from the dreaded swine flu.
UVic needs to just keep that fountain money 'cause they're gonna need it if they do ever do the right thing and that's actually ban bottled water for sale on campus.
Feel Good Environmentalism Oct. 24, 2009, 11:27 a.m.
This is all leading towards one obvious direction: banning bottled waters.
And it's stupid.
People who buy bottled water do so because they need something to drink--they aren't doing it as a standard practice. Pop bottles contribute far more to the problem at UVic than water bottles--and are unhealthy too.
Why are people so happy about limiting the freedom of others? I use a reuseable water bottle, and I still strongly oppose a water bottle ban. It's paternalistic, overbearing and feel good environmentalism at its worst. Focus on making our recycling less wasteful--something that would save far more of our planet than a bottled water ban.
Feel Good Environmentalism Oct. 24, 2009, 11:27 a.m.
This is all leading towards one obvious direction: banning bottled waters.
And it's stupid.
People who buy bottled water do so because they need something to drink--they aren't doing it as a standard practice. Pop bottles contribute far more to the problem at UVic than water bottles--and are unhealthy too.
Why are people so happy about limiting the freedom of others? I use a reuseable water bottle, and I still strongly oppose a water bottle ban. It's paternalistic, overbearing and feel good environmentalism at its worst. Focus on making our recycling less wasteful--something that would save far more of our planet than a bottled water ban.
Freedom limiter Oct. 25, 2009, 6:52 a.m.
A lot of students don’t know about the issues and don’t know about the facts. We have to make this decision for students.-Christine ComrieFreedom limiter Oct. 25, 2009, 6:52 a.m.
A lot of students don’t know about the issues and don’t know about the facts. We have to make this decision for students.-Christine ComrieFelix Oct. 25, 2009, 7:48 p.m.
Feel Good Environmentalism wrote:
People who buy bottled water do so because they need something to drink--they aren't doing it as a standard practice.If that were the case, there wouldn't be disposable plastic water bottles lying around everywhere. If those who drank bottled water did so purely as a last resort, bottled water wouldn't even be on the environmental radar.
People are choosing bottled water over walking the distance to the nearest fountain or tap. There are also complete morons (who number rather a lot) who think that bottled water is better quality than tap water or that some H2O molecules are somehow magically healthier than others.
Why are people so happy about limiting the freedom of others?Because it feels good to limit the freedoms of idiots who make bad decisions.
Felix Oct. 25, 2009, 7:48 p.m.
Feel Good Environmentalism wrote:
People who buy bottled water do so because they need something to drink--they aren't doing it as a standard practice.If that were the case, there wouldn't be disposable plastic water bottles lying around everywhere. If those who drank bottled water did so purely as a last resort, bottled water wouldn't even be on the environmental radar.
People are choosing bottled water over walking the distance to the nearest fountain or tap. There are also complete morons (who number rather a lot) who think that bottled water is better quality than tap water or that some H2O molecules are somehow magically healthier than others.
Why are people so happy about limiting the freedom of others?Because it feels good to limit the freedoms of idiots who make bad decisions.
B Oct. 26, 2009, 2:59 a.m.
Gee - I'm not one of those who regularly drinks bottled water, but if I was I'd find remarks like Felix's personally offensive. It's exactly this kind of small-mindedness that leads to such repression on campus. And he actually had the gall to say
it feels good. Wow.B Oct. 26, 2009, 2:59 a.m.
Gee - I'm not one of those who regularly drinks bottled water, but if I was I'd find remarks like Felix's personally offensive. It's exactly this kind of small-mindedness that leads to such repression on campus. And he actually had the gall to say
it feels good. Wow.Freya Keddie Jan. 9, 2010, 3:31 a.m.
By increasing the availability of free public water on campus, the UVSS ERC Committee is doing a great service to students, staff and the visiting public.
Restricting access to public water discriminates against cash-strapped students. And from an environmental perspective, the easiest way to reduce one's carbon footprint is to STOP DRINKING BOTTLED WATER.
Freya Keddie Jan. 9, 2010, 3:31 a.m.
By increasing the availability of free public water on campus, the UVSS ERC Committee is doing a great service to students, staff and the visiting public.
Restricting access to public water discriminates against cash-strapped students. And from an environmental perspective, the easiest way to reduce one's carbon footprint is to STOP DRINKING BOTTLED WATER.