The North Pole is Now an Island

The North Pole has become an island for the first time in human history. Startling satellite pictures taken three days ago show that melting ice has opened up the fabled North-West and North-East Passages - making it possible to sail around the Arctic ice cap. This has been eagerly awaited by shipping companies (read: profits) that will cut thousands of miles off their routes. It sounds to me these folks are not concerned about their children's future, but hey, everyone has to make a buck, right?

Mark Serreze, a sea ice specialist, described the images as an 'historic event' - but warned they added to fears that the Arctic icecap has entered a 'death spiral'.

The pictures, produced by Nasa, mark the first time in at least 125,000 years that the two shortcuts linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans have been ice-free at the same time.

In 2005, the North-East Passage around Russia opened, while the western one, across the top of Canada, remained closed, and last year the position was reversed.

But the satellite data shows that the North-West passage opened last weekend and the remaining tongue of ice blocking the North-Eastern one dissolved a few days later.

Professor Serreze, of the U.S. government-funded National Snow and Ice Data Center, told a Sunday newspaper: 'The passages are open. It is an historic event. 'We are going to see this more and more as the years go by.' Read the rest of the cataclysmic story here.

E-waste be gone!

stop the e-waste madness...the following info is from ideal bite, a wonderful endless source of recycling tips:


Ready to eject your old CDs?

Pause before you chuck 'em. Now that MP3s and Blu-ray hi-def movies are taking over, CDs, DVDs, and VHS tapes (and their cases) are going the way of the phonograph. After you've converted or burned them, recycling is easier than skipping to the next song.

The Benefits
More space for everything else. When was the last time you actually listened to that copy of Kenny G's Greatest Hits?

CDs that don't play the earth. Each month, more than 45 tons of CDs become obsolete and end up inlandfills and incinerators - and in landfills they can take centuries to biodegrade.

Personally Speaking
Toshio found a record store in Portland that pays cash for any CD - yes, they even took Celine Dion.

Wanna Try?
Greendisk Technotrash Pack-IT - recycle any electronic waste in your home (up to 20 pounds) through this mail-in service ($7).
Ripstyles - Lazy Biters: opt for its LXRY service, where it'll burn your albums for you and recycle your jewel boxes (prices vary depending on volume).
ACT Recycling - recycle videocassettes and computer disks through an org that provides jobs to disabled people.

DIY Bite: Many nonprofits such as Goodwill will take your old CDs, DVDs, and computer games. You can also exchange them for cash or new media in used movie/music shops, or online.

hang it up

since i spent part of the day air drying my laundry despite some drops of rain... and reading my middlebury magazine... a shout out to a fellow middlebury alum who is the founder of project laundry list. alexander lee is a full on air-drying advocate who helps green activists promote the "right to dry."

from the sierra club,

Alexander Lee

Concord, New Hampshire

Founder and executive director, Project Laundry List

"When I was a child, my mother always hung out our clothes to dry. At the time I didn't think much of it, but when I was in college, Helen Caldicott gave a speech at a peace symposium. She said one step to shut down the nuclear industry was for us all to dry our laundry on a clothesline. That really made me stop and think.

"Dryers use a lot of energy: 6 to 10 percent of residential electricity usage. Clotheslines are a great alternative. Your clothes will last longer and smell better, and you'll save money on your energy bills. The sun basically does all the work for free.

"Project Laundry List was created at Middlebury College. We launched National Hanging Out Day and asked people to 'hang your pants, stop the plants' and 'put yourself on the line.'

"I've gotten hundreds of e-mails from people all over the country saying that they're going to try putting a clothesline in their backyard. It's an easy step anyone can take. The problem is that in a lot of neighborhoods, community associations see hanging laundry as a flag of poverty, and they have banned it in public. In Columbus, Ohio, you're not allowed to hang clothing out to dry in any historic district, and there are other restrictions around the country. We're trying to pass legislation in North Carolina and Vermont that would say community association boards can't prohibit people from using clotheslines. We are also championing right-to-dry language in any national climate-change legislation.

"Taking the time to hang out your clothes is a consciousness-raising activity; it makes you rethink other parts of your life. Plus, you can save up to $85 a year in energy costs."

--interview by Orli Cotel

HANG IT ALL

Just line drying your clothes in the spring and summer can prevent about 700 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per household, based on Energy Information Administration averages. To keep jeans and towels from getting stiff, add a half cup of white distilled vinegar to the rinse cycle or give them a brief spin in a clothes dryer.

ON THE WEB

For more tips on how to use less energy to wash and dry clothes, visit laundrylist.org and www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/laundry.html.

a bird's eye view-- THE AVIAN CODE

just when i thought the joy of reading and books was lost on the younger generation to the tech world of video games, ipods, wii, etc., i realized a good story will always find a home (even if that requires self-publication)! this weekend i picked up a new book, courtesy of my co-worker at legal services. we often talk books but this one is near and dear to his heart. written by his son, brendan when he was just 11 years old, the avian code captures a piece of the wild... from the viewpoint of birds, specifically a peregrine falcon, an osprey, an arctic tern and a swallow-tailed kite.

brendan knows a lot about birds, their diets and migratory patterns... he recently won second place as the young birder of the year 2007 and first place in the writing category from the american birding association.

in his first book, brendan imagines in clever, witty details the society of birds. when their book, the avian code, filled with the laws and rules governing the avian world, is carelessly stolen and discarded by the human children, a band of feathered heroes takes flight to recover it.

a string of close calls and adventures awaits the rescue team... and along the way, they encounter their worst enemies... the humans (hunters, children who trample on nature, TV watchers), a roving gang of cowbirds, and also the evil rogue shrike.

i enjoyed the interesting details about each type of bird, their descriptions, habits and avian vocabulary which are intertwined with the adventure story (the author provides explanatory notes for avian terms). more importantly, brendan addresses the theme of humans versus nature, and how humans treat their environment. whether describing the hunter who shoots the falcon or the children who throw stones & hunt the birds for fun, he brings a voice to the avian world: "maybe someday all people will get brain-washed from television and forget to pollute our lovely environment," hopes katie aka katrina, the prairie falcon who joins the rescue team.

brendan, now 15, remains an avid birdwatcher and expert on avians... what next? avian code: the series... keep writing brendan!

brazilian lights

our brazilian friend renato sent us this interesting eco-tip...
Here is a video about a clever and ingenuous invention. Light bulbs made out of plastic bottles. They are filled with water and a little bit of bleach (to keep germs away), then the caps are protected with photographic film (to protect them from being dried out by the sun rays), and bingo. Each bottle produces as much light as a 50W bulb. How come we never thought of that before???

THE TAX MAN

have you paid the man yet? efiled? i just did and my $$ was refunded from the feds and the state pretty darn fast. ez online process... save paper and money and time. thank goodness. i already spent my money anyway on my gimme gimme gimme frame.

from the ideal bite

The Benefits
Easy does it. Web programs and PC software guide you through the filing process. Bonus: no standing in post office lines with other last-minute filers.

Rapid returns. If you e-file, you can expect to get your return in about half the time it would take with paper.

Not wasting W-2 much paper. The IRS processes over 2 bil sheets of paper each year. E-filing means fewer forms, and getting your refund deposited directly in your account saves even more paper.

It's accurate. The IRS says e-filing is 99% accurate, versus about 80% accurate with paper.

Wanna Try?
IRS E-file - 24-7 federal filing online; free if you make less than $54,000/year. (Note: the IRS may send you info in the mail with a code you need to enter on its site.)

Federation of Tax Administrators - see if your state offers online filing.

TurboTax Deluxe Online - tax software that makes filing even easier than IRS e-filing. Also: simpler, free edition for people with straightforward assets and income ($60/federal and state).

Tax Incentives Assistance Project - if you saved energy at home or with a fuel-efficient car purchase in 2007, you could be eligible for a tax credit.

Mint - free, online money management software so you can prep for a richer 2009.

Watch out for the plastic bag monster!!

Not only will he kill the earth, but he's stealing the balloons! I know it's an ad for Chico bags, but it's awesome and so are the bags. Enjoy!

GARBAGE SOUP FOR DINNER, ANYONE?

with super tuesday and the super bowl -- giants mania (ick!) gripping our attention lately, i wanted to devote a little space to my main everyday worry -- mother earth.

walking around hoboken, jersey city and nyc, i'm reminded that we haven't heard the message to conserve. lots of plastic bags, bottle and to go cups. one trip bags for a few items that are soon tossed, a coffee cup -- once consumed, littered.

barista boy sent me this super alarming article about "a 'plastic soup' of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean [that] is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said."

the details get worse:

"The 'soup' is actually two linked areas, either side of the islands of Hawaii, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches. About one-fifth of the junk – which includes everything from footballs and kayaks to Lego blocks and carrier bags – is thrown off ships or oil platforms. The rest comes from land."

scared? we should be... this soup ends up as our dinner...

"These pollutants act as chemical sponges attracting man-made chemicals such as hydrocarbons and the pesticide DDT. They then enter the food chain. 'What goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It's that simple,' said Dr Eriksen."

but i leave you with a bright spot... the irish solution!

the new york times reported this good news last sunday:

"In 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic bags; customers who want them must now pay 33 cents per bag at the register. There was an advertising awareness campaign. And then something happened that was bigger than the sum of these parts.

Within weeks, plastic bag use dropped 94 percent. Within a year, nearly everyone had bought reusable cloth bags, keeping them in offices and in the backs of cars. Plastic bags were not outlawed, but carrying them became socially unacceptable — on a par with wearing a fur coat or not cleaning up after one’s dog."

and the good, green irish government news continues...

"Ireland has moved on with the tax concept, proposing similar taxes on customers for A.T.M. receipts and chewing gum. (The sidewalks of Dublin are dotted with old wads.) The gum tax has been avoided for the time being because the chewing gum giant Wrigley agreed to create a public cleanup fund as an alternative. This year, the government plans to ban conventional light bulbs, making only low-energy, long-life fluorescent bulbs available."

can a town like hoboken ever usher in change like this? i'm not so optimistic right now, seeing how cleaning up after one's dog has yet to be conquered, but i'm hopeful one day soon, it will be seriously uncool to carry plastic bags and disposable cups...

STICKER SHOCK

and now, a break from politics... a green tip to start your day from ideal bite:

how about those little stickers on the fruit & veggies we buy?

The little stickers on fruits and veggies have digits that let you know whether they're conventionally grown or organic, and if they're genetically modified (GM).

GM foods have been in stores only since the 1990s, so we don't know the long-term health risks, and in a 1998 EPA sampling, 29% of the foods tested contained detectable pesticides. Scientists are concerned that GMOs will reduce biodiversity.

Look for the labels stuck on your fruits and veggies:

A four-digit number means it's conventionally grown.

A five-digit number beginning with 9 means it's organic.

A five-digit number beginning with 8 means it's GM.

...TOP 3 SG READER COMMENTS...

i thought i'd share some comments of interest this week from subversive garden readers, in response to our posts. we hope you will join the discussion...

immigration arrests:

"I am an illegal immigrant. I arrived here when I was only 2 years old. My brother when he was 12. My family applied for citizenship and went to court but due to what my mom says a 'stupid lawyer', we were mailed orders of deportation. I have experienced these 'raids' firsthand. 4 officers came into my dad's house and arrested him while I was sleeping. They proceeded upstairs into my 23 year old brother's bedroom where I was sleeping. He was placed in handcuffs because he was a threat as someone who does martial arts. I am 17 and am waiting to see my family again. --Anonymous


clintons are what's wrong with politics:

"What is most Rovian about this line of attacks is the subtle racism in it. I have not heard this said elsewhere. But it seems to me that in the United States, if you suggest that a black candidate was a drug dealer you are sending a coded message. 'Can we REALLY trust a black man to be president? You know what they're like.'

Personal attacks are part of American politics. But no other Democrat has yet done anything so irresponsible this year. We have a field brimming with history this year. An African-American, a woman, a Latino. This is a great strength of the Democratic Party. I am convinced it will benefit us electorally in 2008, and for many years to come (especially in light of the GOP's suicidal decent into xenophobia and racism).

Hillary is playing a dangerous game here. If African-Americans come out of this primary process convinced that Hillary won it through racism we are in real trouble in November.
She got away with it this time. One more such trick, and we risk shredding the Democratic coalition, and indeed harming the fabric of American society." --Paul Newell


from our brazilian logo creator, renato:

"Recently I saw the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth' by Nobel Prize winner and former future president of the US, Mr. Al Gore. Some jaw dropping facts there, huh? I have also read an article in National Geographic on global warming. It said that we humans are on the verge of going through an actual 'rite of passage', where for the first time we may not succeed.

My wife's brother lives in Rotterdam, Europe's largest port. The city is about 25 feet under sea level and my brother-in-law told me he eventually looks up and see ships passing by on top of a dam. He also told us the Netherlands was under alert a couple of weeks ago due to some serious ice thawing on the North Seas."

GET YOURSELF SOME ART

bags, by beth dow

i recently visited the jen bekman gallery on 6 spring street in nolita (i guess that's the neighborhood's trendy name) for the obsessive consumption exhibit. it's a tiny space but she packs a punch of art in there. i'm eager to check out the new photography exhibit by beth dow. i love the stark image with puffy white flower-like plastic bags.

(but hurry... it ends next saturday!)

"This photographer's New York début is smartly understated—modest but memorable. Dow's images of woods and fields nod to the landscape tradition reaching from Eugène Atget to Robert Adams, and their quiet beauty is underlined by the richness of her platinum-palladium prints. Dealing with the over familiar subject of man's rude intrusion into the natural world, she's not always subtle—stacked logs and felled limbs abound—but she knows when to step back and allow an image to breathe. Her pictures of a lone tree in a row of stumps and a pile of smoking stubble under a sad gray sky aren't just taken; they're felt."


more info on the artist here. and if you love her work, you can get a small print for only 20 bucks or a medium sized one for 200. see the 20 x 200 buying art blog for details. add some art to your home...

Burn Baby Burn

Good Magazine presents the high financial (and economic) costs of death and dying. Bury me by a tree and enrich the earth I say.

G R E E N Y O U R C L E A N

can you clean & stay green? i stopped buying those crazy-smelling, eye-burning toxic cleaning products and started to look for alternatives in my local health food, organic store. but what will really clean the grime in the tub and on the counter tops?

the green guide offers this handy list on what to buy that's an all-purpose cleaner but gentle for the environment.

also check out this handy product, simple green (i first discovered it while living in san francisco in the 90s).

from ideal bite:

• Simple Green is qualified under EPA and OSHA guidelines as nontoxic and biodegradable; rescue workers have even used it to clean animals after oil spills.



• Simple Green has donated 1 mil gal of its products to disaster and humanitarian relief projects.



• Except for a few ready-to-use products, the formulas are concentrated, so you can use less of them than other cleaners - it also means there's less packaging waste and energy use for shipping.



• Its EGBAR Foundation funds community cleanups and environmental education programs, which more than 1.5 mil kids have participated in.



• Uses easily recyclable, PVC-free packaging.
  

...going to the dry cleaners...

right now, i'm struggling with a life decision. stick with my regular grantwriting gig with lots of freedom & creativity (no 9 to 5er, i) or jump ship, still do good work as a grantwriter but re-enter "the business casual" world of regular schedules, stuffy clothes and office rules... the sticking point: more cha-ching. while i debate my inner demons and figure out what sort of lifestyle i truly want, i wonder about my total change in dress code. and as i think about dress code, my mind wanders to dry cleaning. in this so-called bedroom community for folks who work in manhattan, hoboken boasts (it seems) a dry cleaner on every block. stunning but makes sense. an "organic" green dry cleaner popped up this past spring. is a regular dry cleaner super toxic? is organic cleaning really better? but what's in a name?

i searched & found an article on co-op america -- here's some helpful answers:

Best Bets for Delicate Clothes

Our top recommendations for dealing with your “Dry Clean Only” clothes:

• Handwash your dry-clean-only clothes: Green living expert and Care2.com editor Annie Bond offers eco-friendly instructions on safely handwashing silk, wool, and rayon clothing.

• Use wet and liquid CO2 cleaners: Occidental College recently launched a national directory of liquid CO2 and wet cleaners. (The liquid CO2 cleaners listed do not include Solvair cleaners, which use a toxic solvent as part of their process.) Also, keep in mind that some wet cleaners, like Chicago’s Greener Cleaner, allow you to mail in your clothes and will mail them back to you wet-cleaned and pressed. Contact Greener Cleaner at 888/875-8345.

• Avoid hydrocarbon, greenearth, and solvair CO2 cleaning: Though somewhat better than perc, these methods all use toxic solvents.

• Take our handy wallet card with you: We’ve condensed all the information in this article into a portable card you can take with you. Download the PDF wallet card here.

...good green news...

as we get closer to blog action day on 10/15... here's a piece of good news from today's new york times:

"Seattle now recycles 44 percent of its trash, compared with the national average of around 30 percent, which makes it a major player in big-city waste recovery. Its goal, city waste management officials said, is to reach 60 percent by 2012 and 72 percent by 2025.

In many other parts of the country, recycling is in the doldrums — and in some cases backsliding — despite the sounding of environmental alarms about global warming and shrinking resources. And it is a far cry from recycling’s heyday, after the nation was jarred into action in 1987 by images of a barge carrying garbage from Long Island being towed up and down the East Coast in search of a place to unload. Six months later, its cargo was returned to New York and burned in a Brooklyn incinerator.

The wandering barge had a profound effect on the American psyche, and within three years most states had passed laws requiring some kind of recycling. But recycling victories are now gauged in much smaller increments. In Seattle’s case, the latest success is measured in scraps.
As the law now stands in Seattle, residents of single family houses are allowed to mix food scraps with yard waste, which is then shipped off to be composted. Recycling of food scraps will become mandatory in 2009.

The new law may add yet another container for curbside pickup, which already includes receptacles for nonrecyclable trash, yard waste, glass and other recyclables. In Seattle, many residents take pride that their weekly nonrecyclable output fits in a container no larger than the average countertop microwave."

and another interesting tidbit from the nyt today: seltzer water, how to get your fizz without the guilt of buying and using plastic bottles. read about the three devices you can get to create your own fizz at home!

the reporter also tests several siphon bottles with "a coated aluminum interior from iSi North America (about $40) and a two-liter Liss with a stainless steel interior (about $65). You can buy them online at amazon.com and prairiemoon.biz or from stores like Target or Williams-Sonoma. Boxes of 10 disposable cartridges cost $6 to $10. They can be used for either product and are usually available where siphons are sold."

got green?

well the early to mid october weather in jersey is still in the 80s, so i guess global warming is at play here, right?

so here's 2 green tips to keep us recycling more and trashing less.

1. plaque attack: according to ideal bite, in the United States, 50 million lbs of toothbrushes end up in landfills each year. keep yours out by getting a cool recycled one from radius or preserve (made from recycled yogurt cups).

2. be kind to your skin: try eco-friendly (less packaging) and fair trade beauty products. i just discovered the globally conscious brands at b-glowing and spoke with founder lisa james about some of her fair trade products that "allow people in a given region to humanely support themselves and their communities." her recommendation: adara organic virgin coconut oil for "dry skin, bath, massage, dry hair, split ends, baby and oh so much more! adara believes in ethical trade. It provides fair wages for its workers and builds clinics and schools for its communities."

and some food for thought: i've been thinking about whether whole foods market is a wonderful green grocery chain or just another corporate takeover of local shopping. i looked at the list of stores in development and got dizzy. they are popping up everywhere. is it good because it forces us to think "green" living while we spend lots of cash there or what? i used to shop there regularly but i found that the cost outweighed the feel good aspect for me. i discovered two wonderful local, small organic markets here in hoboken (basic food on washington and 2nd, and sobsey's on bloomfield and newark streets) and i'm loyal to them now. garden of eden, the nyc gourmet grocery store, opened this past spring right near basic foods but i rarely shop there. even a nearby whole foods couldn't tempt me anymore. our local markets provide a range of organic products and fresh fruits/vegetables at very reasonable prices. plus we know the owners well, we feel welcome and appreciated as customers. enough said. but how do others feel, those who might not have stores like sobsey's within walking distance? a recent article from the san francisco chronicle says it's ok to love whole foods. but what about their labor issues?

Climate Protection: Black Balloons

I just saw this ad in my email box. It is pretty powerful. Go to alliance for climate protection for more. The ad campaign is to teach average Americans about the urgency of the climate crisis. The site gives tips on how to be more green at work, home, the store and virtually everywhere in our daily lives.

Power Down

so i finally got a laptop-- work related but i'm inching my way closer to wireless & catching up with everyone else! but my old school desktop has served me well... i've been thinking about how much extra energy is needed to power it. so here's some tips on minimizing your computer's power hungry level. and some small steps, easy to take, that save you energy & bucks.

ideal bite lists the big benefits:

• Cleaner air through sleeping...
  Desktop computers can cause 1,500 lb of CO2 per year; enabling sleep mode can reduce energy consumption by up to 70%.


• Saving bucks. Save up to $75 per computer per year.


• It's as simple as popping some Valerian. Changing your PC's settings or downloading a program that does it for you is easier than you think.
  

CO2 Saver - works with Windows XP or Vista.
Microsoft Windows Change Power Management Settings - how to change your settings manually in Vista. Windows XP users, click here.
Mac OS X Energy Use Calculator - calculate the amount of energy your Mac uses, then find out how to optimize your settings here.

more eco-friendly office tips here.

Give It Away

have alot of stuff you don't want anymore? don't trash it. freecycle it. The Freecycle Network™ is a grassroots and nonprofit movement of people who give and get stuff for free in their communities while keeping items out of landfills.

from the new york times: [in 2003], a self-described tree-hugger in Tucson named Deron Beal was working for a nonprofit that focused on recycling as a way to minimize what was going into local landfills. While plenty of people were willing, even eager, to get rid of things they no longer wanted but that weren’t really trash, finding people who wanted those things was a challenge. Beal set up a Yahoo Groups mailing list, hoping to create a giveaway marketplace where people could list usable items and others could lay claim to them and then come pick them up. The mailing list became the basis for Freecycle, a Web-enabled network of about 3,900 such e-mail groups, each dedicated to a local community and managed by a volunteer moderator, and claiming 2.9 million participants in more than 70 countries.

i joined a local group in hoboken-- it's easy, fast and free. i've posted a few times to get rid of stuff (old cell phone) and it worked like a charm. folks give/get all kinds of "treasures" such as steam curlers needed for a beauty pageant wig. while searching grist, i found these lovely earrings designed from cell phone buttons. i guess everything can find a new home.

for stuff you can't give away, try earth 911 where you can find info to recycle most anything.

"In Praise of Tap Water"

NYT editorial, August 1, 2007

"On the streets of New York or Denver or San Mateo this summer, it seems the telltale cap of a water bottle is sticking out of every other satchel. Americans are increasingly thirsty for what is billed as the healthiest, and often most expensive, water on the grocery shelf. But this country has some of the best public water supplies in the world. Instead of consuming four billion gallons of water a year in individual-sized bottles, we need to start thinking about what all those bottles are doing to the planet’s health.

Here are the hard, dry facts: Yes, drinking water is a good thing, far better than buying soft drinks, or liquid candy, as nutritionists like to call it. And almost all municipal water in America is so good that nobody needs to import a single bottle from Italy or France or the Fiji Islands. Meanwhile, if you choose to get your recommended eight glasses a day from bottled water, you could spend up to $1,400 annually. The same amount of tap water would cost about 49 cents.
Next, there’s the environment. Water bottles, like other containers, are made from natural gas and petroleum. The Earth Policy Institute in Washington has estimated that it takes about 1.5 million barrels of oil to make the water bottles Americans use each year. That could fuel 100,000 cars a year instead. And, only about 23 percent of those bottles are recycled, in part because water bottles are often not included in local redemption plans that accept beer and soda cans. Add in the substantial amount of fuel used in transporting water, which is extremely heavy, and the impact on the environment is anything but refreshing.

Tap water may now be the equal of bottled water, but that could change. The more the wealthy opt out of drinking tap water, the less political support there will be for investing in maintaining America’s public water supply. That would be a serious loss. Access to cheap, clean water is basic to the nation’s health.

Some local governments have begun to fight back. Earlier this summer, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom prohibited his city’s departments and agencies from buying bottled water, noting that San Francisco water is “some of the most pristine on the planet.” Salt Lake City has issued a similar decree, and New York City recently began an advertising campaign that touted its water as “clean,” “zero sugar” and even “stain free.”

The real change, though, will come when millions of ordinary consumers realize that they can save money, and save the planet, by turning in their water bottles and turning on the tap."

p.s. for photo above, read about aquafina source defined as tap water.