Everybody wants to be green and do their part to save the environment, but where do you start? Believe it or not, the answer can be as simple as looking at what you drink on a daily basis. Far too many people rely on sports drinks, sugary juices, and fizzy drinks. Instead, you should work on drinking more water. Drinking water on a regular basis can not only benefit your body, but it can also play a part in saving the environment.
Improving Health
Staying hydrated means better health and more natural energy than what fizzy drinks or other sugary drinks can offer. The healthier you are, the fewer resources you need to use up. By reducing the amount of healthcare you need and ensuring that you have a higher energy level, you will be decreasing your carbon emissions. The minor decrease in emissions doesn't seem like much, but that's the beauty of this situation – a little bit is all you need in order to make a big impact. By reducing your overall health risks, you are decreasing trips to medical screenings, reducing the amount of time and money doctors need to spend on those screenings; and cutting down on the use of disposable items in the process.
Reducing Waste
The biggest environmental hazard that comes from bottled drinks is the amount of plastic that gets wasted in packaging. Even when the containers are recyclable, they are not all fully used and the process of recycling itself creates extra emissions. Common drinking water, on the other hand, can be poured straight into a cup from either a tap or a water cooler. A
plumbed-in water cooler even means no bottles are involved at all, while a bottle-fed water cooler can still supply several gallons of water before needing to be disposed of. By comparison, a typical fizzy drink supplies only a few ounces of fluid per bottle. That's a lot of unnecessary waste which can be avoided simply by drinking more water.
Cutting Down on Deliveries and Maintenance
Whether you get bottled beverages from a store or vending machine, somebody has to deliver those goods. That means more delivery trucks on the road and more noxious gasses in the air. Water cuts down on the amount of deliveries that need to be made and maintenance that needs to be performed on vending machines, coolers, and other storage devices. In the case of bottle-fed water coolers, a delivery can be made on a weekly or monthly basis rather than on a more regular routine, since a large supply can be brought all at once. The fewer deliveries that are made, the better your chances are of decreasing the amount of carbon emissions that get produced by trucks and other vehicles.
From health to packaging to the deliveries themselves, drinking water reduces a lot of environmental waste. If you value your own health and the health of the planet you live on, focusing on drinking more water is a good way to get started with living a greener lifestyle!
