Water and Modern Society

Water is an essential element of staying alive but also to remain at ultimate health, it is necessary to hydrate ourselves adequately. “Water makes up greater than 2/3 of the weight of the human body; the brain is 75% water, blood is 83% water, bones are 22% water, muscles are 75% water, and the lungs are 90% water.” Ideally drinking ½ to 2/3 of an ounce of water per pound of body weight is a good rule of thumb depending on how active you are, whether you are breastfeeding, drinking alcoholic beverages or if you are overweight. Society recently has recognized this need by creating the sale of plastic-bottled water which is readily available. To take this a step further we can purchase a re-usable glass or food- grade stainless steel water bottle that we can refill and take with us. We can personalize this bottle and it can become part of our lifestyle and at the same time reduce the amount of petroleum plastics that are created and never reach the recycling bin. The leaching of BPA, an hormone disrupter in the form of synthetic estrogens, is avoided when we do not use plastic water bottles. Furthermore it is important to keep this fact in mine: “Americans drink more bottled water than any other nation, purchasing an impressive 29 billion bottles every year. Making all the plastic for those bottles uses 17 million barrels of crude oil annually. That is equivalent to the fuel needed to keep 1 million vehicles on the road for 12 months.” As we take care of our health, we must also be conscious of what effects we are creating on our environment. The Ninety Ninth Monkey supports Reusability, not only for water bottles but travel mugs for coffee, tea and reusable lunch containers.