I live across the street from a public reservoir which is pretty big. But know that public water isn't really public. Most of the water, including the rights to it are owned by corporations. In some states, the water companies sue to keep their municipal contract expiration dates from being enforced, arguing that they have perpetual rights to sell our water to us. We also know that in most years, areas with large reservoirs and great distribution systems experience droughts. These droughts can require us to limit our water consumption.
This reminds me of an experience I had a few years ago in a different town. The town owned its own water system, and had ordered restrictions. My honey and I returned from a kayak trip, and I was hosing off the kayaks in our driveway. My neighbor was the supervisor for the town's public works, and head of the water department. He was driving past our house as I was hosing the salt water off of the fiberglass kayaks, and slammed his brakes on. He began yelling at me to turn the water off or he'd call the police and have me ticketed. I calmly walked out to his car, and leaned in real close. I told him that we walk our dog late at night, and the soaker hoses he runs every night to keep has lawn green was real easy to hear, so there must be plenty of water. Isn't there? He turned the brightest shade of red. By the way, I had contacted the state and asked if I could clean a boat after it was in salt water, and they said that was an acceptable use of water in a drought. The supervisor became my best buddy from that day forward. But water is an important resource.
Water was back on my mind during a recent airplane flight. My honey and I noted that the water bottles we purchased in St. Croix were from Georgia, USA. We contemplated the resources required to move that bottle from Georgia, to St. Croix, USVI, so we could drink it on the flight to NY. That conversation led us to diet soda, and the resources required to manufacture and transport it.
I am not against bottled water, and see the many good uses for a transportable and clean water supply. Humanitarian relief, quick trips that require hydration, and many other activities are great uses for bottled water.
We regularly utilize reusable containers to carry our water, and would have filled ours in the St. Croix airport. But they had no water sources in the terminal, other than the bathroom faucets. The bathrooms were very disgusting, and we decided that bottled water was a good thing under the circumstances. I did look at the numerous TSA employees staring at the passengers, and wondered if they would be better utilized protecting me from bathroom germs, but wasn't sure they'd think that was an appropriate use of their expertise.
This conversation with my honey about water led us to talking about diet soda. Diet soda contains no calories. It is like water with a whole bunch of other useless processed stuff put in a bottle. Last year I was talking to an acquaintance about diet soda, which he was consuming in large quantities, and I asked him if he ever saw a fit and average weight person who drinks diet soda regularly. He said "me". I told him to look in the mirror, he was not exactly a healthy weight. He looked pissed, and was going to prove me wrong. A few moments later, someone we knew walked by. He was thin. The heavy diet soda drinker asked how much diet soda the person drank, and found they didn't drink any soda. He repeated this with the next few people, and found no one who drank diet soda who was a normal weight.
That night, I thought some more about what I said, and realized I hadn't really done any research to support my statement. I just believed it was true because it was what I observed. So I started searching, and found that studies are showing that people who drink diet soda gain more weight than those who drink regular soda. Regular soda has loads of sugar, so the same study showed a very large increase in the risk of obesity for those who drink regular soda. And the diet soda drinkers were at an even higher risk of being obese.
I also found that diet soda consumption increases the risk of stroke, the acidity is so high that it destroys your teeth, and contains excessive levels of salt that causes water retention, thus making the drinkers even heavier. This salt also triggers feelings of hunger, which leads to people eating more food. Heck, if you are drinking diet soda, then getting the calorie laden appetizer before dinner is already paid for, right? In my opinion, the real danger in diet soda is that no one really knows what kinds of reactions occur in your body as a result of the chemicals in the diet soda. Time will tell, and many will be happy that didn't drink much of it when the results come out.
And in case you think you'll go back to regular soda, a 12 ounce can contains about 9 spoons of sugar. Actually, it isn't really sugar, it's processed sugar from corn, beets, and other things that used to be living plants. They are chemically modified into "sugar". Maybe the person drinking soda is depriving the poor of food, while driving food costs up to astronomical levels. Just sayin'.
Now let's talk about the water. After all, this is the reason I started writing this post. It is difficult to estimate how much water is needed to create a liter of soda. One large distributor claims they use "only" 3.2 liters of water to make 1 liter of soda, while an advocacy group claims it takes 9 liters of water to make 1 liter of soda. That's for regular soda, and diet soda requires more water. How about the water needed to grow and or produce all of the ingredients? I heard a few years ago that it takes 270 liters of water to make 1 liter of diet soda if you add up the water used in the whole production chain. I can't find a source for this information, but let's pretend they exaggerated and it only takes 135 liters. Does that sound better?
I don't like reading long blogs, so I won't delve deeper into this topic right now. Some food for thought - think of the container the soda comes in, the amount of resources it takes to produce, deliver, fill, pack, pallet, load, truck, warehouse, truck again, deliver, stock, and take it to your mouth. Is it worth all of this just so you can drink something that's bad for you? Here's a startling fact - it takes 1 liter of tap water to fill a 1 liter container. Really, I wouldn't make this up.
Water is a resource we must conserve. We can't count on it always being available, and it continues to be consumed faster than it can replenish itself in many areas of our planet. Drinking diet soda, or any soda for that matter, decreases water available for the necessities in life - like farming and hydrating our bodies. Be thoughtful of what goes into your body, and thumb your nose at big business by not buying their chemicals.
We are what we consume. I sweat salt water, so I drink water and make sure I eat enough salt to replenish what I lose. Eating almost any single item of processed food provides you with enough salt for a few days. When I start sweating diet soda, I will drink diet soda. In the meantime, I will stick with tap water.
This reminds me of an experience I had a few years ago in a different town. The town owned its own water system, and had ordered restrictions. My honey and I returned from a kayak trip, and I was hosing off the kayaks in our driveway. My neighbor was the supervisor for the town's public works, and head of the water department. He was driving past our house as I was hosing the salt water off of the fiberglass kayaks, and slammed his brakes on. He began yelling at me to turn the water off or he'd call the police and have me ticketed. I calmly walked out to his car, and leaned in real close. I told him that we walk our dog late at night, and the soaker hoses he runs every night to keep has lawn green was real easy to hear, so there must be plenty of water. Isn't there? He turned the brightest shade of red. By the way, I had contacted the state and asked if I could clean a boat after it was in salt water, and they said that was an acceptable use of water in a drought. The supervisor became my best buddy from that day forward. But water is an important resource.
Water was back on my mind during a recent airplane flight. My honey and I noted that the water bottles we purchased in St. Croix were from Georgia, USA. We contemplated the resources required to move that bottle from Georgia, to St. Croix, USVI, so we could drink it on the flight to NY. That conversation led us to diet soda, and the resources required to manufacture and transport it.
 |
| By U.S. Navy photo [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons |
We regularly utilize reusable containers to carry our water, and would have filled ours in the St. Croix airport. But they had no water sources in the terminal, other than the bathroom faucets. The bathrooms were very disgusting, and we decided that bottled water was a good thing under the circumstances. I did look at the numerous TSA employees staring at the passengers, and wondered if they would be better utilized protecting me from bathroom germs, but wasn't sure they'd think that was an appropriate use of their expertise.
This conversation with my honey about water led us to talking about diet soda. Diet soda contains no calories. It is like water with a whole bunch of other useless processed stuff put in a bottle. Last year I was talking to an acquaintance about diet soda, which he was consuming in large quantities, and I asked him if he ever saw a fit and average weight person who drinks diet soda regularly. He said "me". I told him to look in the mirror, he was not exactly a healthy weight. He looked pissed, and was going to prove me wrong. A few moments later, someone we knew walked by. He was thin. The heavy diet soda drinker asked how much diet soda the person drank, and found they didn't drink any soda. He repeated this with the next few people, and found no one who drank diet soda who was a normal weight.
 |
| By Karen Apricot via Wikimedia Commons |
I also found that diet soda consumption increases the risk of stroke, the acidity is so high that it destroys your teeth, and contains excessive levels of salt that causes water retention, thus making the drinkers even heavier. This salt also triggers feelings of hunger, which leads to people eating more food. Heck, if you are drinking diet soda, then getting the calorie laden appetizer before dinner is already paid for, right? In my opinion, the real danger in diet soda is that no one really knows what kinds of reactions occur in your body as a result of the chemicals in the diet soda. Time will tell, and many will be happy that didn't drink much of it when the results come out.
And in case you think you'll go back to regular soda, a 12 ounce can contains about 9 spoons of sugar. Actually, it isn't really sugar, it's processed sugar from corn, beets, and other things that used to be living plants. They are chemically modified into "sugar". Maybe the person drinking soda is depriving the poor of food, while driving food costs up to astronomical levels. Just sayin'.
Now let's talk about the water. After all, this is the reason I started writing this post. It is difficult to estimate how much water is needed to create a liter of soda. One large distributor claims they use "only" 3.2 liters of water to make 1 liter of soda, while an advocacy group claims it takes 9 liters of water to make 1 liter of soda. That's for regular soda, and diet soda requires more water. How about the water needed to grow and or produce all of the ingredients? I heard a few years ago that it takes 270 liters of water to make 1 liter of diet soda if you add up the water used in the whole production chain. I can't find a source for this information, but let's pretend they exaggerated and it only takes 135 liters. Does that sound better?
 |
| By MobiusDaXter (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons |
Water is a resource we must conserve. We can't count on it always being available, and it continues to be consumed faster than it can replenish itself in many areas of our planet. Drinking diet soda, or any soda for that matter, decreases water available for the necessities in life - like farming and hydrating our bodies. Be thoughtful of what goes into your body, and thumb your nose at big business by not buying their chemicals.
We are what we consume. I sweat salt water, so I drink water and make sure I eat enough salt to replenish what I lose. Eating almost any single item of processed food provides you with enough salt for a few days. When I start sweating diet soda, I will drink diet soda. In the meantime, I will stick with tap water.
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