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See what researchers found when they tested a bottle of Fiji Water against a glass of tap water.

Is bottled water REALLY all that bad?

bottled water, fiji water vs tap, tap water

via Free Stock Photos

A young woman drinking bottled water outdoors before exercising.

The Story of Bottled Waterwww.youtube.com

Here are six facts from the video above by The Story of Stuff Project that I'll definitely remember next time I'm tempted to buy bottled water.

1. Bottled water is more expensive than tap water (and not just a little).

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube

A Business Insider column noted that two-thirds of the bottled water sold in the United States is in individual 16.9-ounce bottles, which comes out to roughly $7.50 per gallon. That's about 2,000 times higher than the cost of a gallon of tap water.

And in an article in 20 Something Finance, G.E. Miller investigated the cost of bottled versus tap water for himself. He found that he could fill 4,787 20-ounce bottles with tap water for only $2.10! So if he paid $1 for a bottled water, he'd be paying 2,279 times the cost of tap.

2. Bottled water could potentially be of lower quality than tap water.

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube

Fiji Water ran an ad campaign that was pretty disparaging about the city of Cleveland. Not a wise move. The city ordered a test of the snooty brand's water and found that Fiji Water contained levels of arsenic that weren't seen in the city's water supply.

How was that possible? Sarah Goodman of the New York Times explains:

" Bottled water manufacturers are not required to disclose as much information as municipal water utilities because of gaps in federal oversight authority. Bottom line: The Food and Drug Administration oversees bottled water, and U.S. EPA is in charge of tap water. FDA lacks the regulatory authority of EPA."

3. The amount of bottled water we buy every week in the U.S. alone could circle the globe five times!

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube

That sounded like it just had to be impossible, so we looked into it. Here's what our fact-checkers found:

"According to the video, ' People in the U.S. buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week.' National Geographic says for 2011, bottled water sales hit 9.1 billion gallons (roughly 34 billion liters).

A 'typical' water bottle is a half-liter, so that's about 68 billion bottles per year. Divided by 52 weeks would be a little over 1 billion bottles of water sold per week in the U.S. Because that's based on a smaller 'typical' bottle size, it seems reasonable that a half billion bottles a week could be accurate.

The Earth is about 131.5 million feet around, so yep, half a billion bottles of varying sizes strung end-to-end could circle the Earth five times."

4. Paying for bottled water makes us chumps.

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube

Beverage companies have turned bottled water into a multibillion-dollar industry through a concept known as manufactured demand. Bottled water advertisements used a combination of scare tactics (Tap water bad!) and seduction (From the purest mountain streams EVER!) to reel us in.

Well, we now know their claims about the superior quality of bottled water are mostly bogus. And research shows that anywhere from a quarter to 45% of all bottled water comes from the exact same place as your tap water (which, to reiterate, is so cheap it's almost free).

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube

5. Bottled water is FILTHY.

It takes oil — lots of it — to make plastic bottles. According to the video, the energy in the amount of oil it takes to make the plastic water bottles sold in the U.S. in one year could fuel a million cars. That's not even counting the oil it takes to ship bottled water around the world.

And once we've guzzled our bottled water, up to 80% of the empty bottles end up in landfills or noxious-gas-producing incinerators. The rest is either recycled or shipped to countries like India where poor people without environmental and labor protections have to deal with it.

On top of all that, the process of manufacturing plastic bottles is polluting public water supplies, which makes it easier for bottled water companies to sell us their expensive product.

6. There are 750 million people around the world who don't have access to clean water.

Photo by H2O for Life.

A child dies every minute from a waterborne disease. And for me, that's the core of what makes bottled water so evil.

The video wraps by comparing buying bottled water to smoking while pregnant. That may sound extreme, but after learning everything I just did about the bottled water industry, I can't disagree.

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube

If you're properly disgusted, here are a few ways you can help destroy the bottled water industry:

Don't buy bottled water. Get a reusable water bottle. The savings will add up.
Rally your schools, workplaces, and communities to ban bottled water.
Demand that your city, state, and federal governments invest in better water infrastructure.

This article originally appeared on 5.7.15

From Your Site Articles

National Geographic Documentary Films

National Geographic Documentary Films

Nat Geo's 'Blink' tracks a family finding beauty while facing blindness as they travel the globe

“Let's go all in and fill their visual memory with as much beauty as we can."

via Edith Lemay/NatGeo

Mia, Leo, Colin, and Laurent Pelletier pose on top of their camper van in front of adouble rainbow while in Mongolia.

True

“Blink,” a new film by National Geographic Documentary Films shows how a family with four children, three of whom are going blind, embraces life in the face of an uncertain future. It’s a testament to the resilience of the Lemay-Pelletier family but also a reminder for all of us to seize the day because all our futures are uncertain.

Edith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier are the parents of Mia, a 13-year-old girl, and three boys: Léo, 11, Colin, 9, and Laurent, 7. Over the last six years, they’ve learned that Mia and the two youngest boys have retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disease in which the cells of the retina slowly die. As the disease progresses, the person develops “tunnel vision” that shrinks until very little vision remains.

The diagnosis devastated the parents. "The hardest part with the diagnosis was inaction. There's nothing they can do about it. There's no treatment,” Edith says in the film.

However, even though the parents couldn’t affect the progress of the disease, they could give their children’s senses an epic experience that would benefit them for a lifetime.

“We don’t know how fast it’s going to go, but we expect them to be completely blind by mid-life,” said the parents. Mia’s impairment advisor suggested they fill her visual memory with pictures from books. “I thought, I’m not going to show her an elephant in a book; I’m going to take her to see a real elephant,” Edith explains in the film. “And I’m going to fill her visual memory with the best, most beautiful images I can.”

The Pelletier family (from left): Mia, Sebastien, Colin, Edith Lemay, Laurent and Leo inKuujjuaq, Canada.via National Geographic/Katie Orlinsky

This realization led to an inspiring year-long journey across 24 countries, during which every family member experienced something on their bucket list. Mia swam with dolphins, Edith rode a hot-air balloon in Cappadocia, and Léo saw elephants on safari.

Colin realized his dream of sleeping on a moving train while Sébastien saw the historic site of Angkor Wat.

“We were focusing on sights,” explains Pelletier. “We were also focusing a lot on fauna and flora. We’ve seen incredible animals in Africa but also elsewhere. So we were really trying to make them see things that they wouldn’t have seen at home and have the most incredible experiences.”

Cameras followed the family for 76 days as they traveled to far-flung locales, including Namibia, Mongolia, Egypt, Laos, Nepal and Turkey. Along the way, the family made friends with local people and wildlife. In a heartbreaking scene, the boys wept as the family had to leave behind a dog named Bella he befriended in the mountains of Nepal.

But the film isn't just about the wonders of nature and family camaraderie. The family's trip becomes a “nightmare” when they are trapped in a cable car suspended hundreds of feet above the Ecuadorian forest for over 10 hours.

annapurna range, blink, nat geo Leo, Laurent, Edith, Colin, Mia, and Sebastien look out at the mountains in the Annapurna range.via MRC/Jean-Sébastien Francoeur

As expected, NatGeo’s cinematographers beautifully capture the family's journey, and in the case of “Blink,” this majestic vision is of even greater importance. In some of the film's quietest moments, we see the children taking in the world's wonders, from the vast White Desert in Egypt to a fearless butterfly in Nepal, with the full knowledge that their sight will fail one day.

Along the way, the family took as many pictures as possible to reinforce the memories they made on their adventure. “Maybe they’ll be able to look at the photographs and the pictures and they will bring back those stories, those memories, of the family together,” Edith says.

But the film is about more than travel adventures and the pain of grief; ultimately, it’s about family.

“By balancing [the parents’ grief] with a more innocent and joyous tale of childlike wonder and discovery, we felt we could go beyond a mere catalog of locations and capture something universal,” the directors Edmund Stenson and Daniel Roher, said in a statement. “Keeping our camera at kid-height and intimately close to the family, we aimed to immerse the audience in the observational realities of their daily life, as well as the subtle relationships between each of them. This is a film built on looks, gestures and tiny details—the very fabric of our relationships with one another.”

Ultimately, “Blink” is a great film to see with your loved ones because it’s a beautiful reminder to appreciate the wonders of our world, the gift of our senses and the beauty of family.

The film will open in over 150 theaters in the U.S. and Canada beginning Oct. 4 and will debut on National Geographic Channel and stream on Disney+ and Hulu later this year. Visit the “Blink” website for more information.

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national geographic

Ecologist 'burst into tears' seeing endangered gliders using boxes designed to save them

A third of the greater gliders' remaining habitat was destroyed in the Australian wildfires, and researchers didn't know if their high-tech box idea would work.

Mark Gillow/Flickr

Greater gliders are endangered in Australia and rely on old-growth tree hollows to make their nests.

When a team of Australian researchers started checking the high-tech boxes they'd installed to help save endangered greater gliders, they weren't sure what they were going to find. The hope was that the tree-dwelling marsupials would use them for nesting—a replacement for the tree hollows they normally nest in—but no one knew whether or not the creatures would take to them.

So when Dr. Kita Ashman, Threatened Species and Climate Adaptation Ecologist at WWF-Australia, found a glider in the second box she checked, she was thrilled.

"I just burst into tears, I was so surprised and so happy," she told ABC News Australia.

Greater gliders are nocturnal marsupials that live in old-growth forests of eastern Australia. They have large ears, fluffy fur, long tails, and they can glide up to 100 meters at a time. The species is only found in Australia.

"I grew up looking at greater gliders all throughout the Dandenong Ranges. So they have a really special place in my heart," said Dr. Ashman told ANU.

The special nesting boxes were designed and created through a partnership between Australian National University (ANU), Greening Australia and the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia after bushfires destroyed a third of the greater gliders' remaining habitat. The tree hollows that greater gliders rely on to nest can take over 100 years to form, according to ANU, so it's not like they can just find some new trees to live in when their homes are destroyed.

Nesting boxes that are commonly used for wildlife aren't a good fit for greater gliders, as the thin walls and lack of thermal protection can result in gliders overheating. (Heat-stressed gliders will slow their eating, which can be life-threatening, according to ANU.) The high-tech boxes in this project are insulated and include a non-toxic, heat-reflective, fire-resistant coating to keep gliders safe.

"I've affectionately been calling this design the Goldilocks box because we hope it will keep greater gliders not too hot and not too cold and will help to increase the species' resilience in a changing climate," Ashman said in July 2022.

"Producing and installing high-quality nest boxes is costly," added ANU research fellow Dr. Kara Youngentob, "so this project is very important because it will help us understand if expensive interventions like nest boxes are the best use of funding in our urgent mission to save greater gliders."

It appears that their efforts are paying off.

"What we didn't know was whether these boxes worked and whether they have an impact on the glider population," Dr. Youngentob told ABC News Australia. "Much to our delight, within a few months of them going up they are already being used by gliders, so we know the individuals themselves like them and use them."

According to Youngentob, greater gliders are the largest gliding marsupial at risk of extinction. More than 200 nesting boxes have been installed in Victoria's East Gippsland and in Tallaganda National Park in New South Wales. Youngentob told ABC News Australia that this project will help researchers learn more about how many of the species are left in the wild.

The quiet, nocturnal marsupial faces threats from climate change and deforestation in addition to the wildfires that ravaged Australia in 2020. Their population has fallen by 80% in the past 20 years and the species reached endangered status in July of 2022.

"They're a treasure for this country." Dr. Youngentob told ANU. "And I think the more people know about them, the more that they will fall in love with them and want to protect them too."

This article originally appeared on 1.20.23

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australian wildlife

Photographer captures water droplets—'liquid sculptures'—that look like they're alive

Absolutely breathtaking.

Ronny Tertnes/Facebook

Ronny Tertnes' "liquid sculptures" are otherworldly.

Human beings have sculpted artwork out of all kinds of materials throughout history, from clay to concrete to bronze. Some sculpt with water in the form of ice, but what if you could create sculptures with small drops of liquid?

Norwegian artist Ronny Tertnes does just that. His "liquid sculptures" look like something from another planet or another dimension, while at the same time are entirely recognizable as water droplets.

I mean, check this out:

According to SLR Lounge, Tertnes uses ultra high-speed photography, flash rigs, smoke and different types of liquids to create and capture his colorful split-second sculptures. He mixes water with various substances to create texture, color and movement in his photos, and the effect is otherworldly. He does some editing in Photoshop as well. The form in his photographs comes from the unique movement of a single droplet, which can end up looking like a human, a flower, an alien or an abstract glass sculpture. Sometimes they look like people dancing. Just incredible.

Tertnes has shared many of his photos on Facebook and on his website, where you can purchase prints, calendars and more featuring these beauties:

It's fun to ask what other people see when they look at these images.

Amazingly enough, Tertnes has described himself as a "hobby photographer."

Sometimes he creates mirror images that end up looking like animals or alien creatures.

If you're into (or have a marginal understanding of and interest in) NFTs, Tertnes has a Liquid Sculptures NFT store as well.

And finally, here's a slideshow where you can hear him play the guitar and look at his beautiful liquid sculptures. Enjoy.

This article originally appeared on 1.14.22

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Guy who sounds remarkably like Michael Jackson gets 27 million views on first TikTok video

Holy moly that voice.

Constru-centro /Wikimedia Commons

Brandon Conway sounds remarkably like Michael Jackson when he sings.

When Michael Jackson died 13 years ago, the pop music world lost a legend. However markedly mysterious and controversial his personal life was, his contributions to music will go down in history as some of the most influential of all time.

Part of what made him such a beloved singer was the uniqueness of his voice. From the time he was a young child singing lead for The Jackson 5, his high-pitched vocals stood out. Hearing him sing live was impressive, his pitch-perfect performances always entertaining.

No one could ever really be compared to MJ, or so we thought. Out of the blue, a guy showed up on TikTok recently with a casual performance that sounds so much like the King of Pop it's blowing people away.

Brandon Conway posted his first TikTok video ever on July 24, and in less than three weeks it's been viewed more than 27 million times. It's just him standing in a parking lot snapping his fingers and singing "The Way You Make Me Feel," but when he opens his mouth, whoa.

As he keeps going, it gets even more whoa. Then he hits Jackson's signature "he he" and the whoa turns into what?!?

Take a listen:

@brandonconway11
First post on tiktok let me know what you guys think! More videos coming soon feom mj to country to rock so yall be sure to stay tuned!#fyp #singer #usherchallenge @usher @tpain #letsgo #firstvideo

Uncanny, right? If you need a reminder of how Jackson himself sounded when he sang it, here's a live performance from Auckland during his 1996 world tour.

Very impressive. You can follow Brandon Conway on TikTok to hear more from him.

This article originally appeared on 8.10.22

From Your Site Articles

Kitty gets his own custom aquarium to see the fishies up close and people can't stop watching

This is some next-level feline enrichment.

Aquatics and Exotics gave Jasper a front row seat to fishy theatre.

Some lucky cats really do hit the jackpot when it comes to their entertainment.

Pampered feline and social media star Jasper the Cat was given his own custom aquarium, giving him a 360-degree underwater view of the colorful fish as they swim by. If that’s not prime “cat TV” programming, I don’t know what is.

According to Daily Mail, Jasper’s owner Melissa Krieger was inspired after her fish supplier was cleaning the tank. Hoping to make a “mini SeaWorld” for her beloved Siamese, Krieger spent a whopping $2,500 to fashion a 125-gallon tank with see-through cube shaped indentation at the bottom.

As any cat parent would agree, the money was well worth it.

"It's great to see him so happy because you've got to stimulate their brains. It's definitely been worth the money," Krieger told Daily Mail.

She added, ”You spend that much on a TV and this is like a TV for cats. As soon as we feed the fish, he comes running. He's living the dream.”

@jasperthecatfish
♬ Hello, Goodbye - The Beatles Revival Band

There’s no shortage of visual delights for Jasper. The 4 ft x 2.5 ft saltwater tank is home to several tropical fish, including the parrotfish.

See on Instagram

…which looks exactly like you expect them to.

@jasperthecatfish Eyes of the World#cats #catsoftiktok #fishtank #gratefuldead #funny #eyesoftheworld #catmom #aqauarium #jasper ♬ Eyes Of The World (Live at Lockn' Festival, Arrington, VA, 8/26/2018) - Dead & Company

None of these fish seem to really mind Jasper getting up close and personal.

@jasperthecatfish Willow wants a turn…#catsoftiktok #fishtank #jasper #funny ♬ Cute - Tik Tok

The only downside apparently is having to share his next-level aquarium with his sister Willow. Ah, the common sibling conundrum.

@jasperthecatfish #jasperthecatfish #catdaddy #cats #catsoftiktok #fishtank #catmom #cutecat #jasper #catlover #catlovers #catlove ♬ WOW - Zara Larsson

Even cat guru and feline behavior expert Jackson Galaxy was impressed, and reposted Jasper’s video. Galaxy is a well-loved top tier resource for kitty supplements, toys and activity ideas. For dog people, imagine if your pup made it into one of Cesar Millan’s Instagram stories. That’s some pet publicity right there.

cat behavior, cat tv

Photo by Kate Stone Matheson on Unsplash

As Galaxy will tell you, environmental enrichment is key for a cat’s happiness. Part of that enrichment is visual stimulation. A major, yet often overlooked, aspect of the hunting process is stalking prey. All cats have this instinct, and not having an outlet can lead to major (not to mention messy) behavioral problems, like furniture scratching and not using the litter box.

Pretty soon, the viral video had others asking, “where can I purchase this tank?” Aquatics and Exotics, the company that made the innovative aquarium, might have an influx of custom orders on their hands.

As the mother of two cats myself, I can’t help but look for corners in my tiny Los Angeles apartment that might be prime fish tank real estate.

jackson galaxy, cat toys

Photo by Saman Tsang on Unsplash

Luckily, you don’t need to have a state-of-the-art aquarium to keep your cat stimulated. Experts recommend using something as simple as a bird feeder or window perch. There are even YouTube videos with hours upon hours of curated cat content.

Still, seeing the amount of effort that Jasper’s family put in for the sake of his enjoyment is certainly inspiring.

Our pets provide us so much heartwarming bliss, simply by existing most of the time. Finding ways to pay back that kind of unconditional love is a gift unto itself.

This article originally appeared on 2.9.22

From Your Site Articles

Swim instructor calms a teary toddler with his 'mermaid mantra' and now the adults are crying

Hearing a little girl say, "I'm big, I'm brave, I'm boobooball," shoots straight to the heart. There's no controlling it.

www.jbcharleston.jb.mil

Children learn swimming skills at base pool > Joint Base ...

Learning to swim can be a very scary experience for kids. They’re being asked to quite literally dive into the unknown, after all. And the pool is not without its inherent dangers, so it’s perfectly understandable that the fear can be overwhelming.

Luckily, the “mermaid mantra” can help.

Tyler Reed, the owner of Triton Aquatic Training in Tampa, Florida, recently went viral after teaching the mermaid mantra to a toddler student who was clearly having a hard time.

It goes like this: “I’m big. I’m brave. I’m beautiful.”

Reed encourages the little girl to repeat the mantra, and through sobs, we hear the most adorable little voice in the whole world utter, “I’m beeg. I’m bave. I’m boobooball.”

Seriously, that boobooball is pure utter sweetness.

@tritonaquatictraining Yes… swim lessons can sometimes be scary but when we say our motivational mermaid mantras out loud, we can do anything! 🧜‍♀️🫶 #M #Motivation #m#mobileswimlessonss#swimlessonsp#privateswimlessonss#swiminstructors#southtampat#tampaswimlessonstampasmallbusiness #smallbusiness #smallbusinessowner #survivalswimlessons #survivalswim #fyp #cuteaf #childpsychology #parenting #childeducation #children ♬ original sound - Triton Aquatic Training

Reed’s video quickly went viral online, with folks quick to commend the little one on her bravery.

"It's so scary as a little person to learn these kinds of things but I'm sure she's doing great," one person wrote.

Others were instantly emotional. "I'm boobooful is literally where I lost it. Someone get me the tissue," wrote another.

Clearly Reed’s approach works, because in a subsequent video he and the same student are back in the water, with her swimming and loving every minute of it. Now she recites the mermaid mantra as a song of victory!

Boobooball is still just as cute though.

@tritonaquatictraining MERMAID UPDATE! Look at this big girl swimming and loving it after just a few weeks! Crazy to think that just a few weeks ago we were in tears and scared! But we kept practicing our motivational mermaid mantra of “I’m Big, I’m Brave, I’m Beautiful!” and look how far we’ve come! I am one proud swim instructor! Thank you all so much for the love & support! 🥰🧜‍♀️🔱🧜‍♂️ #swimlessons #privateswimlessons #learntoswim #swimminglessons #survivalswim #survivalswimlessons #childcare #childpsychology #smallbusiness #smallbusinessowner #cutevideo #proudteacher #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #foryoupage #fypシ #viral #trending #fypシ゚viral #fypage ♬ original sound - Triton Aquatic Training

For Reed, the mantra is about instilling power and autonomy back into his students.

"I think a lot of people look at 2-year-olds and babies as children that are incapable of being able to swim or save themselves and I'm trying to kind of erase that psyche from them, that they can they really can do this,” he told Good Morning America.

Not teaching kids to trust themselves, he added, leads to an over-reliance on swim floaties, which develop a “false sense of their ability to swim.” That’s why he believes engaging in swim lessons at an early age is so important.

This kind of wisdom is pretty universal when it comes to raising confident kids. Teaching young ones how to empower themselves through a variety of situations, rather than constantly trying to shield them from discomfort, develops a skill that can last a lifetime. But this can still be done in a loving, gentle way, as Reed so beautifully demonstrated. Sometimes it's simply allowing kids to experiment and make mistakes. Other times, it might be affirmations that connect kids to their inner sea creatures.

Reed said it best: “When we say our motivational mermaid mantras out loud, we can do anything!”

This article originally appeared on 6.12.23

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