Water bottles vs Factory farms

The most shocking article was Clarence's "The story of bottled water" (http://www.storyofstuff.org/) link which described the many disadvantages of bottled water. The massive amount of waste that is produced by used water bottles is appalling, especially since we can get better quality water from our own tap. There is essentially no benefit to bottled water and it costs 1,900 times more and uses 2,000 more energy than tap water.

The most interesting article was Nick's post (http://beyondfactoryfarming.org/get-informed/locations/quebec/qu%C3%A9bec) regarding the decline of small farms in Quebec and how industrialized farming is taking over. The corporate concentration of agriculture in the province is such that 20 per cent of producers (with incomes greater than $250,000) generated 70 per cent of total agricultural revenue.

Neither of us usually buy water bottles but "The story of bottled water" has further discouraged us to do so in the future. Furthermore, we are now more compelled to convince others to avoid buying water bottles. In terms of discouraging factory farms, we think that supporting farmer's markets might be the best solution. Neither of us are aware of market locations but are willing to do some research.

By : Melanie Hansma and Qi Zhang