Obesity is overtaking Americans. We should take away grocery stores.

We’re completely missing the targeted problem right? The same is true with the mayor of San Francisco’s decision to ban bottled water. His office claims that the bottles take too much energy to create, haul to the desired location and dispose of. The mayor wants to help stem global warming and save taxpayers money, so he decided to ban city departments from buying bottled water starting July 1.

That’s nice of him to want to save the environment. But take away clean water? Out of all the unhealthy products people buy, he chooses water? The healthiest bottled drink? He didn’t insist that on a soft drink ban, which actually dehydrate the body and may become addictive; he only forbids pure healthy water.

People do not just buy bottled water because it’s convenient and pretty. Tap water is not always clean. Tap water is disinfected using chlorine. While that may kill microorganism, chlorine actually eats away at the mucus lining of the intestines causing stomach problems. At times you can even smell the chlorine in a glass of water because the concentration is so high.

Some veterinarians even caution dog owners to refrain from giving their pets tap water because the water is so unhealthy. If our pets shouldn’t drink tap water, I doubt that it’s a great idea for us to drink it.

There is also fluoride in the water. Take a look at the warning label of toothpaste. If you accidentally swallow too much, the company insists that you call Poison Control. If you are encouraged to call Poison Control for too much fluoride intake, isn’t it interesting that it’s OK to drink fluorine in our water?

Sure some of the companies that bottle water abuse the word “pure” and sell ordinary tap water, but there are plenty of companies that push their water through an extensive purification process. Steamed distilled water is the best as all of its impurities are taken out. Reverse osmosis is the next best where nutrients are added back into it, such as electrolytes.

It’s important though that people take the time to read the ingredients in their bottled water. Don’t just pick up a pack of water bottles because it’s a pretty blue color. Be smart, drink Smartwater brand of steamed distilled water. Spring water may be purified, but read carefully to see just where the water is bottled and why the location is any better than where your tap water is filtered. Don’t waste yours and the government’s money on something that’s equal to tap water.

While banning bottles is extreme, San Francisco’s mayor should still be praised for his concern for the environment. He did take a big step to help relieve some of the trash pilling up. What urged him to ban the bottles was the report that in California, over one billion bottles are piling up in the landfills. It takes over 1,000 years for the bottles to biodegrade. Plus toxic additives leak into the groundwater.

Instead of banning bottled water though, governments should educate their communities on that simple song college students remember from elementary school: Reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Many North Carolina State University students recycle. Because they care about the environment more than other adults?

Not necessarily. NCSU provides easy access to recycle bins. They are located all over campus so people almost have no choice. It would be dumb to overlook the recycle bin and toss a bottle in the trash.

Here lies the answer to the problem of overfilling landfills — make more recycling bins convenient. While many citizens do care about the environment and want to recycle, it takes so much time to drive their empty bottles to recycling centers.

Praise to the San Francisco mayor though for taking a stand for the environment. He didn’t just talk, he actually did something. Let’s see Raleigh’s government step up and take a stand for the environment as well. Encourage the simple three R’s from elementary school.

Simple and sweet, just like bottled water.