Outline

Introduction: -Introducing the issue by engaging the audience attention with the negative effect of marketing on consumers. -Brief summary of opposing viewpoints by citing Moor Zak's “Defying the Nalgene.” -Claim: The public should reduce the usage of bottled water, because the plastic bottles are not environmentally friendly, they are also expensive to produce, transport and recycle as well as unhealthy to consume.

Body Paragraph 1: Polluting the environment - evidence provided by the editorial “In Paradise of Tap Water”
Body Paragraph 2: Hight costs - evidence provided by the editorial “In Paradise of Tap Water”
Body Paragraph 3: Health issues - evidence provided by the editorial “In Paradise of Tap Water”
Body Paragraph 4: Suggested alternatives - evidence provided by personal experience and believes.

Conclusion:

Kristina Yanakieva
EN 102
Prof.
09/10/2013

Buy it! It will make you feel good.

Nowadays, it is amazing how the public is so easily manipulated to buy different kinds of products. Various marketing strategies are being successfully used to talk consumers into purchasing a great number of products, which they think they need, when they actually do not. A typical example is buying bottled water instead of simply consuming tap or fountain water. It is true that great majority of the population is indeed in favor of consuming bottled water, because as Zak Moore, the author of “Defying the Nalgene.” states “if plastic were that valuable then it would not be used to hold water and would cost more money”. But at the same time, the manufacturing and disposal of all those plastic bottles is polluting the environment. Furthermore, the cost of production, transportation and recycling of those same bottles is indeed hight compared to maintaining public water supplies. Last but not least the bottled water is not the healthiest. It is recommended that the human body consumes eight glasses of water per day. According to the editorial “In Praise of Tap Water” such knowledge results in “consuming four billion gallons of water a year in individual-sized bottles” in the United States. Those bottles are made of natural gas and petroleum. So, to meet such needs, the manufacturers use “1.5 million barrels of oil per year” (1.) in producing plastic water bottles. The same amount of oil could be more effectively use to fuel 100 000 cars, for instance. Why this is bad for the environment, well because only twenty three percent of all those plastic bottles are recycled. As a result not only are the natural resources wasted but more litter, to be decomposed over thousands of years, is added to the one that already exists. Also, harmful emissions are present in recycling the plastic bottles. Moreover, the transportation of bottled water is fuel consuming and increases the amount of burned gasses in the atmosphere. Another point to be made is the fact that all the petroleum, fuel, natural gas, and the human labor has to be paid for, which makes bottled water expensive. Yes, the cost of twenty four pack of bottled water may be four dollars, but that is because a great number of it is produces, not because it is cheap to manufacture and transport. These four dollars also add up to fourteen hundred dollars a year for a household, which is not a small amount of money, it is like paying one month rent in Washington DC or going on vacation in Cancun for two weeks, for example. Another important point to be made is that in the process of recycling plastic bottles there is human labor involved, which has to be paid; there are machines to be build, fueled and maintained, which also needs sufficient funding; and there is the collection and transportation of the empty plastic bottles, which also cost money. So, is it cheap to deal with bottled water – NO. It is true that tap water is not free, there is as well the cost of drainage, piping, and electricity for fountains and sinks, but it is not as high as the one paid for bottled water. There is another important factor that needs to be taken into consideration when talking about bottled water. Is is the water, trapped inside the plastic bottle good enough to be consumed by the human body. And surprisingly the answer is no, it is not, because even if that particular water is from a natural spring, when is is bottled it has contact with the plastic, a chemical reaction occurs and the product is water molecules mixed with plastic molecules. Sometimes, the bottled water tastes sweet this is due exactly to those mixed molecules. And no matter the fact that their percentage is low, they still affect the human organism in a bad way. Interesting fact is that bottled water brands such as Aquafina and Dasani are using filterer and distilled tap water, which is a prove that tap water is good and a plastic bottle is unnecessary to be used. Furthermore The United States of America has one of the best public supplies in the world. Then why people keep buying bottled water, when they have cheap and trusted source of water supplies in their homes.

Works Cited

“In Paradise of Tap Water.” Editorial. New York Times 1 March, 2007. Print.
Moore, Zak. “Defying the Nalgene.” TheDartmouth.com 17Aug. 2007. Print.