I don’t usually creepily take photos of people walking down the street, but the contrast of this person’s jacket and water bottle made it a really good opportunity to capture a photo of something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. Reusable metal water bottles have, I feel like, really exploded in popularity. On most accounts, this is a great thing. It means less plastic waste from single-use water bottles, and less carbon emissions from the mass production and distribution of this water to vendors.
Yet I keep returning to the often high price tag of these metal bottles, which doesn’t sit right with me. These metal bottles are far greener, healthier, and more durable alternatives to even reusable plastic bottles. But a standard Swell bottle costs thirty five dollars, and can be difficult to find in stores. In fact, most goods that are made with sustainable technology often cost a lot more than similar alternatives. Ethical consumption is often inaccessible to lower income individuals. Goods that are made using “green technology” are viewed as a luxury instead of a standard. This makes living a greener life substantially more difficult for very large segments of our population.
In our consumer economy, we often believe that the onus of creating a more eco-friendly world falls on us, to tell producers we demand goods that are sustainably made and good for the environment, and to do so through our purchasing power and choices we make in the global marketplace. But, what if you have no purchasing power, and green living is not a financial reality for you? Are you still at fault for your non-environmentally sound “decisions”, like drinking Poland Spring from a plastic bottle? Or are manufacturers equally responsible for striving toward sustainability, regardless of whether this “green label” adds to the sale value of their product? Is it time to focus less on ethical consumption and more on ethical production?
