More often than not, my mind is consumed with our history – the arcane vocabulary, the passion in obtaining the simplest of rights, the eccentric movements that spurned inhumane bloodshed – and the idea that Thoreau would puke in all of our faces if he saw the state to which we’ve allowed the environment he had objectively studied degrade – especially with the prospect of 2050.

I swear that apocalyptic number was somehow interwoven into the Sesame Street episode where Katy Perry made children cry.  What is wrong with it, you may ask?  It signals the year we will reach 8 billion, an elusive and mysterious time that reeks of turmoil when one considers population strain, demand for food and most grievously, the state of the environment around us.

Understandably, the first 50,000 years of human existence have been a slow progression to the number 1 billion because of our limited advancements in medicine and the consuming need to structure ever complex civilizations within the bounds of Malthusian limits.  But once urbanization kicked in and child labor laws were introduced, longevity began to increased while birthrate slowly declined  This holds true today the world’s population is more chlorofluorocarbon happy than ever.

Even though China has limited the amount of children its citizens can have, it’s still not enough to curb the amount of impact we have on the biosphere  Eighty-three million people are still being added each year, and with it, the coming strain on our atmosphere — not to mention the balance of nature itself — is getting to be much more pronounced. But, instead of dwelling on the doom and gloom of such affairs, we should work to foster a more environmental mindset in our own generation.

Now, our green projects have gotten a bad rap in lieu of the nihilistic Rick Perry, Keystone XL and the willies Obama gets when it comes to air purification, so here is a viable solution: invest in a bow and arrow and turn up the tunes to a favorite 70’s protest song.

No more talk of children dying from poisoned water when we can take out the very product the corporate fiends seem to have tailored for their insidious purposes. What is this product?  Blue Gold.  Aquafina.  Good ‘ol H2O.

Bottled water is a big business that grosses between $50-100 billion per year with global bottled water consumption growing 10 percent annually.  But what is shocking is the fact that this money is not being used to help those who are in desperate need of fresh water. Equally as appalling is that in terms of price versus production cost, bottled water beats oil.  This is because most bottled water is 40 percent municipal water supply a.k.a. tap water. So when it is close to its distribution point, it comes to less than one cent per gallon, whereas oil, after being pumped out of the ground and shipped over great expanses, comes to a little over two cents.

You may argue, “Well, that’s what the blue bin is for, isn’t it?”  Well, one glance at the amount of electricity, water and manpower that goes into the processing of a recycled bottle indicates a clear misallocation of resources.

The bottles are sorted into plastic No. 1 – or, for the smarty pants out there, the polyethylene terephthalate section — where a clever little machine tries to determine if it is reusable; most of the time it is not.  According to Discover Magazine, “6.8 percent of the total plastic used in the U.S. actually goes [the] route … 28 percent for milk and water bottles.”

This is particularly the case with water bottles and jugs because of their shape.  Components like a bottle’s handle, for example, sometimes are not durable enough for new contents to be put inside it, so it’s chucked.  In fact, the bottled water industry is responsible for  about 1.5 million tons of plastic waste — or  47 million wasted gallons of oil – annually.

If you still think tap water is icky, consider this: “municipal water falls under the purview of the Environmental Protection Agency, and is regularly inspected for bacteria and toxic chemicals.”  Meaning, the government makes sure that you get the cleanest water possible.  No one, especially the government, wants a lawsuit.

For those who do want to kick quit the bottle, I recommend purchasing a reusable aluminum container as plastic ones contain thermoplastic polymers that leaks BPA, a hormone that mimics estrogen and can cause prostate cancer, into whatever is in the bottle.  What is also important to note is that reusing water bottles is not a good alternative. After repeated use they leach the probable carcinogen DEHP  and are a great breeding ground for bacteria.

So start piercing the plastic straight in the heart during target practice.  Otherwise, this particularly innocuous liquid will be placed into the wrong, greedy hands.

Alexa Jones is a Collegian columnist. She can be reached at [email protected].