I had a Twitter conversation with a pro-bottled water person today. She goes by Bottled Water Babe and her profile page includes a link to the site for a coalition formed in 2007 by the International Bottled Water Association.

One of the main points that she makes in her tweets is that many people who are shamed out of drinking bottled water are turning to soft drinks as an alternative. This assertion was pause for thought to say the least. I personally choose to avoid soft drinks except for rare occasions and I actively discourage my kids from drinking them. They still use some of their discretionary funds on the stuff. In a society like America, with its skew towards obesity, pushing people toward the HFCS is not a move in the right direction.

What remains to be seen is whether this argument is based on solid research. A reduction in the consumption of bottled water combined with an increase in soda sales is not evidence. A survey that asks questions about the reasons for beverage choices could be suggestively worded. You ask people if they are doing something out of concern for the environment and they are pretty likely to say yes.

Soft drinks are marketed so aggressively that it’s pretty hard to point at something like environmental concern about bottled water as influencing consumption.

Photo Credit: FoundPhotosLJ

The frustrating thing about the industry backlashes against environmental activism is that they often have a fundamental dishonesty that prevents dialog with those who hold an opposing view. It seems to me that they often word their press releases like they are helping to inform that general public while the real objective is to influence legislators. In a democracy, those legislators are interested in public opinion and the intellectually lazy ones can have their perceptions skewed by corporate lobbyists.