The Story of Water

Pinnacol tries very hard to promote green activities through its employees. We work in a very energy-efficient building, we have recycling bins on all of our floors, and we have a very active 'Green Team' to keep us on our environmentally friendly toes. This morning one of our employees, Ryan, who works on our communications team, wrote an internal blog for our Green Team's intranet page. I thought I'd share it because it made me stop and think. Even though I have heard the message over and over again, I still, like you probably do, occasionally reach for bottled water. So here's Ryan's gentle reminder that even the simplest of our actions can have a big impact.

It seems like the same few ways to help the environment get drilled into us over and over again: Recycle. Take a five-minute shower. Ride a bike to the store. Ride the bus to work. The problem is, some of these things are a huge pain. A bus ride from my home in west Denver (which is right on two major bus routes) to Lowry takes an hour and 20 minutes, compared to a 30 minute drive - I know, I've done it. And while I very much enjoy the time to read or play a game on my phone without two tiny people vying for my attention, I still like my kids and don't want to spend an extra hour and a half away from them. And have you ever tried to ride a bike with a gallon of milk and a two boxes of Cap'n Crunch? It's not easy - done this too.

That's why switching from bottled water to tap water is so refreshing (pun!). It's incredibly easy. You can re-use a Dasani bottle, or head to REI for a thoughtfully-designed vessel that will make you feel cool. Then simply fill it with delicious Rocky Mountain tap water. Who knows, it may have come from one of those bubbling alpine brooks in the Coors commercials! Take it wherever you go, even to restaurants where you'd be tempted to buy a bottle of water. And we've got ice cold water in the dispensers in every break room here at Pinnacol.

Between the production and disposal of the bottles, plus all the shipping, bottled water is incredibly inefficient and wasteful. Especially considering much of the bottled water you drink is simply tap water, filtered (Dasani, Aquafina). So go out and get a water bottle. And watch the video below for a little background on how fancy bottled water gets to your hands.



Of course, nothing in this world is ever really easy. As I was driving in to work this morning there was an interesting story on the radio explaining that all of these new "BPA Free" water bottles still have plenty of 'estrogenic' chemicals in them. It really is a full time job watching out for Mother Earth, but every baby step we take can still make a difference...