Water makes up 75% of our body mass. I’d consider it a necessity for life. There are many ways to procure potable water, the most popular being consuming water bottles (not the actual bottle, just the water. Don’t be foolish.) That being said, might that 36 pack of Deer Park you just bought from Louis’ be banned from campus? If the new student group, Penn State Environment, Ecology and Education in the College of Education (3E-COE), has anything to say about it, the answer just might be – yes.

John Stevenson, a member of the group said:

“Water bottles in particular are one of the dumbest things people do on a regular basis, environmentally. You should drink water and do it in a way that’s not wasteful.”

The group recently gave President Spanier a letter discussing their position. At a rally in front of Old Main, they noted that a bottled water ban on campus would not be without precedent. Washington University in St. Louis has stopped selling water bottles on campus because, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Sustainability Mark Malkin says:

“It costs society a lot more in energy and expense to bottle water than to have students head for the nearest hallway drinking fountain.”

If Penn State adopts a similar policy, which would require negotiation with its contracted beverage distributor Pepsico, bottled water being sold on campus would become a thing of the past. Once an agreement would be made, the closest place to buy those polluting water bottles would be dear old McLanahan’s, a long schlep for those over in East.

While I admit to using plastic water bottles from time to time (usually when my roommate buys a case of water), the idea of paying for the convenience of water in a bottle, if you think about it, is fairly insane. Is this the level to which mankind, a people that used to spear their own sustenance (woolly mammoths), has fallen!? Apparently so.

Those that went to see Bill Nye in October received free green reusable metal water bottles, use them! Other stylish water toting options include:

                    Sigg,                            Nalgene (the BPA-free ones),               and Kleen Kanteen.

While you might think that Poland Spring or Wegmans water tastes better than State College’s, get a Brita, get off your ass, and use that water bottle.

The Earth will thank you.

And no, putting bottled water in a reusable bottle is not the same thing, smartass.

[Collegian via Treehugger]