Green Packaging Memo: Design Firm Says its New, Paper Water Bottle Could Revolutionize How Bottled Water is Packaged

The word "innovation" is used far to casually and often today when it comes to new food, grocery and beverage products and new types of product packaging. In the case of consumer packaged goods packaging (wet or dry), "new" doesn't automatically mean innovative, after all.

We think in order for a new type of packaging to be "innovative," one of the things such packaging must do is to address a need (keeps a product fresher, for longer, for example) or help provide a solution to an existing packaging problem (recycling, source reduction, ect., for example.)

And of course, one of the most pressing issues and problems in the food, grocery and beverage packaging/container realm today is waste vs. recycling vs. reuse; "green" packaging issues in other words. The quest is about how to create more environmentally positive types of packaging that still do there job containing consumer packaged goods in a safe and efficient way, and do so at a reasonable cost to the user.

Using this two-part definition, packaging innovation is the exception rather than than norm.

But we think a design firm called Brandimage might be on to something in the beverage container innovation department with what is says is a new paper water bottle that could replace the plastic bottles used throughout the bottled water industry.

The design firm calls its "innovation" the 360 Paper Water Bottle (pictured at the top, left of this piece). It's made from pressed renewable-plant fibers coated with a thin film of PLA plastic - all 100% recyclable, according to Brandimage. Labels can be printed directly on the material using soy- or water-based dyes. The bottles are designed to bundle together, eliminating the need for separate multipack carriers, the design firm says.

"We have undertaken this program without the support of a manufacturing and/or materials supplier partner," Brandimage writes on its website. "We intend to find the 360 Paper Water Bottle a branded home." You can view the Web site here, where Brandimage writes more about the 360 Paper Water Bottle.

"Some of the world's largest brands" have already expressed interest in the 360 Paper Water Bottle, Brandimage also writes on its Web site. It doesn't offer any names of those brands however.

Obviously the jury is still way out on the design firm's paper water bottle. Little things like: has it been tested yet in a real world situation, in the distribution chain and on the store shelf, for example? FDA approval? Finding a bottled water company willing to use it to package its brand?

But having pointed to those obvious reality-based facts, we think the idea has merit in the packaging innovation realm.

If it works, and is affordable, it also could help solve one of the most heated issues and debates among consumers, environmental groups and the bottled water industry (with retailers right in the middle of the fight), which is the environmental consequences of all the plastic waste generated by all of the plastic bottled water bottles disposed of each year -- or month, week, day -- in the countries throughout the world -- read primarily the U.S., Europe and parts of Asia -- where the marketing of and purchasing of water in plastic bottles is super-high. And where a proper infrastructure for recycling these bottles is lacking in most of these countries, particularly in the U.S.

Additionally, if it works and is reasonable in terms of cost, the first bottled water company to use the 360 Paper Water Bottle, even in a test, could get major props -- and thus sales -- from "green" consumers for using the alternative paper container for its water.

So, we give Brandimage major packaging innovation points for merely coming up with the paper water bottle concept and designing the bottle.

And if they can turn it into a usable and reasonably priced bottle, such innovation could lead to not only a "greener" water bottle (and we would think it might be used for other beverages as well like organic and new age drinks to start), but also to a bunch of that other kind of green -- money -- for the design firm. If the paper water bottle hits store shelves, it also will add an additional element to that frequently asked question at the grocery store -- "paper or plastic"

More on the 360 paper Water Bottle here at the Brandimage Web site.

[Reader Note: You can follow Natural~Specialty Foods Memo (NSFM) on Twitter.com at: www.twitter.com/nsfoodsmemo]

Book Review Memo: American Consumers and Their Love of Bottled Water; and the Marketing Behind It

Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It

By Elizabeth Royte

Bloomsbury; 248 pages; $24.99

Book Review by Abe Streep

This was supposed to be the year when the bottled water industry got smacked down.

In 2007, organizations such as Corporate Accountability International lashed out at single-serving bottled water, labeling exotic brands like Fiji and Voss as some of our worst eco-offenders, thanks to the petroleum in the bottles' plastic and the oil required to ship the product.

The news media followed suit, and the ensuing public backlash was harsh: City governments from San Francisco to Santa Fe outlawed the spending of tax dollars on bottled water; Alice Waters dropped bubbling Italian Santa Lucia from the Chez Panisse menu.

Shamed bottlers engaged in a greener-than-thou public relations battle that at times bordered on hilarity - Nestle shrank the packaging of its Poland Spring brand and started shipping it in biofuel-powered trucks, while favorite media whipping boy Fiji water announced plans to go carbon negative. ("Smith! What's better than carbon neutral?" "Carbon negative, sir!"). Ordering bottled water at a restaurant has become a sin akin to wearing a fur coat.

So why are we binging on more bottles than ever? According to environmental journalist Elizabeth Royte, Americans spend more than $10 billion per year on bottled water - more than we do on beer. Can our priorities really be that out of whack? And when did we decide it was OK to pay extra for something that flows from our faucets?

These are the questions Royte, author of the 2005 waste manifesto "Garbage Land," tackles in "Bottlemania," a timely, densely reported but also very readable and distressing examination of the way we drink. (Disclosure: Royte has been a correspondent at Outside magazine, where I work.) Royte's reporting takes her from the Kansas City Water Works treatment facility, where engineers turn herbicide-laden Missouri River sludge into some of the country's finest tap water, to Coca-Cola's filtering operation in Queens, N.Y., where water from the municipal supply becomes Dasani. (A Coke company man brags, in earnest, "You could take mud and end up with Dasani.")

But "Bottlemania's" ground zero is Fryeburg, Maine, a small town on the New Hampshire border where people take their water seriously. As they should: The town plays host to a continuing water rights battle between the Nestle corporation and some angry Mainers. At issue is a very productive and clean local aquifer that Nestle uses to fill bottles for its rapidly expanding Poland Spring brand while the Fryeburg residents cry exploitation.

It's difficult to disagree with the locals after reading this book. The Swiss corporation arrives in 2004, and by 2006 is pumping some 800,000 gallons of Fryeburg water a day into bottles of Poland Spring, the best-selling springwater in America. Meanwhile, residents don't see much in the way of returns, besides a lot of trucks huffing through town. When the company buys up land in a neighboring town to pump more water, locals take Nestle to court over the legality of the pumps. Nestle's argument: Not being allowed to tap and sell the local water supply will cause the corporation, which made $7.46 billion in profits in 2006, "economic hardship." Guess who wins?

Royte's storytelling lends the small-town drama gravitas, and the indignant locals don't disappoint. Take plaid-sporting curmudgeon extraordinaire Howard Dearborn. A wealthy, 88-year-old retired engineer, Dearborn leads the opposition to Nestle, contending that the company has ruined his beloved lake by draining the springs that feed it. At one point, Dearborn holds a sort of anti-Nestle Boston Tea Party, in which he pays Fryeburg residents to dump bottles of Poland Spring into the lake. He also threatens to throw Royte - hardly a Nestle sympathizer - in the water when she asks to see the evidence of the lake's demise.

Through the microcosm of Fryeburg, it becomes clear that this book is not about figuring out which form of water is better, tap or bottled. (But Royte does address the issue, and the answer isn't exactly clear-cut. According to the book, your local municipal supply may contain traces of arsenic, the fertilizer by-product nitrate, sewage, gas additives, herbicide, shampoo residue, hormones or maybe a little perchlorate - a rocket fuel ingredient. The EPA-unregulated, astronomically expensive bottled stuff? Different brands come with different levels of purity - Perrier is high in nitrates - and the verdict's still out on how much those polyethylene terephthalate (PET) water bottles leach into your drink. Royte's advice: Go with tap and a filter.)

The real issue here is the commodification and manipulation of our most essential natural resource. The reader comes away with the creepy notion that every last clean drop on the planet is already accounted for - either being muddied with pollutants and then zapped with disinfectants by municipal systems, or pumped and sold as a luxury item. When Royte writes, "(I)n fifty years we may look back at the campaign to control Maine's groundwater as a defining moment in history," it doesn't seem that much of a stretch. OK, maybe that's a bit of a stretch. But this is a dirty business, indeed. As Royte puts it, "So there is s- in the water; I'd have to make peace with that."

Abe Streep is an associate editor at Outside magazine. The review first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on June 25, 2008. The opinions expressed by book reviewers in Natural~Specialty Foods Memo's (NSFM) Book Review Memo are the writers, and are not necessarily shared by NSFM.

Marketing Memo: New Coke CEO to Soon Find Out What's 'Tappening'

We call it an anti-product marketing, marketing campaign. It's creators are calling it a "Tappening." What is it?

It's a welcoming gift of sorts being designed by two marketing executives for incoming Coca Cola CEO Muhtar Kent. But it's not likely the type of welcoming gift he was looking forward to receiving.

Mike DiMasso, creative director at the marketing consultancy DiMasso Goldstein, and Eric Yaverbaum, president of public relations agency Erico communications, are planning to deliver 1 million used water bottles stuffed with messages to new CEO Kent in July, when he takes over the reigns of the huge, international beverage company, according to a story written by Natalie Zmuda in today's Advertising Age.

DiMasso and Yaverbaum's gift to Coke CEO Kent is part of a campaign they call "Tappening." The campaign's goal is to encourage consumers to drink tap water instead of bottled water, along with persuading consumers to buy reusable water bottles with messages on them like "Think Global." "Drink Local."

"We are bringing our marketing experience to bear, and therefore, people are viewing us differently," DiMasso told Ms. Zmud. "This is a public-education initiative dressed up as a brand to change the context in which Coke does business."

Coca Cola Co. is the biggest bottler and marketer of bottled water in the world.

The two marketing execs told Ad Age they chose Coke because it's the biggest bottled water marketer. "They're (other major bottled water marketers like Pepsi and Nestle) all worthy targets but Coke is the biggest, and one thing you learn is to start big," DiMasso says.

DiMasso told Advertising Age that Coke already knows about the plan to deliver the 1 million empty plastic water bottles with the messages inside to Kent in July. In fact, he said Coke has told him they will gladly recycle the plastic bottles upon delivery. The campaign has thus far collected 10,000 empty plastic water bottles towards their goal of 1 million.

The overall "Tappening" tap water campaign is designed to build brand awareness among consumers for tap water. The campaign wants consumers to stop buying bottled water, and instead drink tap water and buy and use reusable water bottles for away from home drinking.

(Read more about the campaign at the Tappening website here.) (You also can read more about the anti-bottled water, pro-tap water movement here.)

The "Tappening" campaign was launched in November, 2007. Among its activities is the selling of reusable water bottles emblazoned with sayings like "What's Tappening" and "Think Global." "Buy Local." Since November, nearly 40,000 of the logo bottles have been sold via the website.

Their are other anti-bottled water--or pro-tap water, depending on your position--initiatives going on the the U.S., along with the "Tappening" campaign. (Do a search at the top of the blog using the key words "bottled water" and "bottled water backlash," and you can read some stories we've done on the issue.)

The pro tap water, anti-bottled water coalition is a diverse one. It includes numerous city governments in the U.S., consumers, community organizations, environmental groups and businesses that produce and market reusable water bottles and tap water filtration systems.

It's a good thing Coke's new CEO Kent will have a nice big corner office at the company's corporate headquarters. It takes lots of space to hold 1 million empty plastic water bottles. We also wonder if he just won't be able to resist at least reading one or two of the messages in the bottles? After all, you don't generally get to become CEO of a multi-billion dollar company without being the curious sort.

Read the full Advertising Age story here.

Product Innovation Memo: The Lifesaver Water Bottle

British inventor Michael Pritchard just might have invented one of the most important, and lifesaving, products in recent history.

Prichard has turned a common looking plastic bottle into a device he says can instantly clean even the dirtiest water, making it safe to drink.

Michael Prichard hold his invention, the Lifesaver water bottle, up for all to see.

Prichard told writer Richard Maino of the London Press Service he got the idea for the Lifesaver water bottle after watching TV coverage of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. The tsunami killed at least 230,000 people and displaced millions. Further, many of the survivors of the tsunami had no water in the aftermath of the killer storm, which left many of them dehydrated, leading to more deaths and numerous illnesses.

In his London Press Service story, Maino describes how the Lifesaver Bottle (pictured below) works, Prichard's goals for the simple-looking water bottle, and the potential it has to save lives in both underdeveloped countries where clean water is at a minimum, and for use in the aftermath of disasters like the tsunami.

Disaster relief workers rely on having bottled and canned water shipped into areas hit by serious disasters like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and even those in first world countries like Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. The problem is the distribution of the bottled and canned water can take days--and it's near-impossible to distribute it to all those affected by a major disaster on the scale of the tsunami for example due to the wide geographical path of the storm.

One the other hand, equipping people with a device like the Lifesaver water bottle in the immediate aftermath of such a disaster (or even giving them to people to have on hand in the event of such a disaster) can save lives that otherwise would be lost.

Such a device also would be far less expensive than buying bottled water. The environmental impact also would be considerably lower: Not only would gallons upon gallons of fuel be saved do to not having to truck in all the bottled water, but there would be no need to dispose of the empty plastic bottles in landfills. This is an especially serious waste issue in developing countries which generally don't recycle plastics.

If Prichard's invention works--which seems to be the case--it could be one of the most simple and basic, yet important life saving products in recent history.

Read the entire London Press Service article on the Lifesaver water bottle here.

Read more about the Lifesaver water bottle at the company's website here.

Green Memo: Plastic Bag Bans...and More

New Jersey proposes statewide plastic grocery bag ban: If passed would be first in USA

Following on the heels of recent plastic grocery bag bans in San Francisco and Oakland, California in the USA, and in cities in Europe and Australia, New Jersey might become the first state in the U.S. to ban the use of plastic grocery bags by food retailers. In England, the city of London also could ban the bags as early as November 27, when Parliament debates a plastic shopping bag ban for all retailers in the city. We review the growing international movement to ban plastic grocery bags.

New Jersey would become the first state in the U.S. to ban the use of plastic grocery bags by the state's food retailers under a bill introduced yesterday in the state assembly. If passed, the law would require all retail food stores over 10,000 square feet in the state to phase-out the use of plastic grocery bags in three years.

The bill's primary author, Democratic Assemblyman Herb Conaway, says "plastic bags may be cheap and convenient, but they have costly long-term environmental consequences that just can't be ignored. In proposing the legislation Conway, a medical doctor, said nearly 1 trillion plastic grocery bags are used worldwide each year. "We need to get these bags out of the waste stream because they are polluting our soil and water," he explained in announcing the plastic bag ban bill yesterday.

The bill, if passed, requires New Jersey food retailers with stores larger than 10,000 square feet to reduce their use of plastic grocery bags by 50% by December 31, 2009, and eliminate the use of all plastic bags by the end of December, 2010. The stores also would have to provide in-store recycling bins for plastic bags and offer reusable grocery bags for sale as part of the legislation.

New Jersey Democratic Assemblyman Jack Connors, the plastic bag ban bill's co-sponsor, says plastic bags account for 90% of grocery bags in the U.S. "The (plastic) bags end up as litter, take longer to decompose in the environment than paper bags and harm wildlife," he said in explaining one of his reasons for co-sponsoring the bill with Assemblyman Conaway. The stores would still be able to use paper grocery bags if the bill passes.

San Francisco ban went into effect yesterday

San Francisco is the first city in the U.S. to ban the use of plastic grocery bags in retail food stores. The San Francisco law, which went into effect yesterday, requires all retail food stores that do over $2 million a year in sales to no longer offer plastic bags for shoppers. The stores can offer approved biodegradable "plastic" bags made out of corn starch and similar natural materials. Paper bags also are allowed under the San Francisco law.

Oakland following San Francisco's lead

Following San Francisco's lead, the Oakland City Council recently passed a law banning the use of petroleum-based plastic grocery bags by food retailers with stores doing over $1 million in annual sales. The Oakland law pertains to plastic bags used at store's checkout stands, and not those used to bag fresh produce or meats. The law, which hasn't gone into effect yet, allows for the use of biodegradable bags such as those made from cornstarch, like in San Francisco.

The Oakland plastic bag ban also includes chain drug stores along with the food stores. San Francisco's law also includes chain drug stores but they get a one-year (from November 20, 2007) grace period, and must eliminate the bags beginning in November, 2008.

Numerous other California cities are considering similar bans. These cities include nearby Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Davis, Chico and Santa Monica.

California's statewide plastic grocery bag legislation

In September, the state of California implemented a law that requires food retailers to place plastic grocery bag recycling bins in stores and to offer reusable grocery bags for sale. The California Grocers' Association, the state's supermarket trade association, supported the legislation in part as a way to hopefully prevent outright bans like the San Francisco and Oakland laws, and similar plastic grocery bag ban bills working their way through city councils in other California cities.

New York considering plastic bag legislation similar to California's

The state of New York is currently considering legislation similar to California's which would require all food retailers in the state over a certain size to place plastic grocery bag recycling bins in their stores as well as offer reusable grocery bags for sale. There's talk in New York City however about legislation similar to San Francisco's and New Jersey's which would create an outright ban on the bags despite the pending state legislation. Cities can pass their own laws--including bans--despite state legislation.

London plastic shopping bag ban bill before Parliament next week

last week, the London Assembly, a local governing body consisting of London's 33 local authorities, approved a bill which would ban all plastic grocery bags in the city.

The so called "shopping bag bill" will go to Parliament on November 27 for debate and possible passage into law. The London Assembly can't pass an outright ban bill itself but serves as an advisory body for Parliament.

Polls in London are showing 60% of the city's residents either support an outright plastic shopping bag ban like the bill calls for or support a 15 pence per-bag surcharge, with the money going to recycling programs. The per-bag tax is a possible alternative to an outright ban.

Supporters of the bag tax say doing so would decrease plastic shopping bag usage and provide funds to recycle the bags. Supporters of the ban say that's hogwash. They sight as their evidence next door Ireland, which passed a similar plastic shopping bag tax in 2002. They argue plastic bag use in Ireland hasn't dropped at all since the 2002 tax was implemented because the demand for stronger, heavier bags has resulted in just as much plastic being used in total.

If passed, the London bill would ban the use of free plastic bags at all retail stores, not just food retailers, although grocers are the most prolific users of the bags. The UK's top food retailing chains--Sainsburys, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and others--are against an outright ban but say they're committed to reducing the use of plastic shopping bags in their stores.

All of the UK's leading food retailers sell reusable grocery bags and offer paper bags in addition to plastic. Many also give out reusable bags to shoppers for free and give a discount to the customer for each reusable bag they use on each shopping trip. The retailers say they want to be able to work to get shoppers to change their behavior in terms of using reusable bags rather than throwaway plastic bags. However, they say they still want to be able to offer shoppers the choice of plastic along with paper and various types of reusable grocery bags.

Based on British consumer demand and the examples of cities in France, Germany, Ireland and Australia--and now the USA--which have passed bans, it appears a plastic shopping bag ban is likely to happen in London. If an outright ban like the current bill scheduled to be debated next week in Parliament doesn't pass, it's highly likely we'll see something like a combination bag tax and partial ban enacted into law in London soon.

British PM Brown backs plastic shopping bag elimination

In fact, yesterday British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he's backing the current campaign to eliminate plastic shopping bags--not just in London but in all the country. In a speech laying out his "green" agenda, Brown said he is calling a forum to be attended by British supermarket operators, The British Retail Consortium ( a trade group) and other affiliated groups, to discuss how they can urgently end the use of disposable plastic shopping bags.

U.S. trade group supports recycling laws over plastic bag bans

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., a group called the Progressive Bag Alliance, a Texas-based trade group for plastic bag manufacturers, is working to get states and cities to author plastic grocery bag recycling legislation like California's rather than outright bag bans. The group says they've thus far worked with a number of cities in the U.S., including Austin, Texas, Annapolis, Maryland and Philadelphia to create stricter plastic bag recycling standards and programs instead of banning the use of the plastic grocery bags by food retailers.

Changing consumer behavior the ultimate goal

The goal of all these programs and new laws--whether its an outright plastic bag ban, recycling program, bag tax or other legislation--is to get shoppers to change their behavior. If it became routine for shoppers to take their own reusable bags to the grocery store such legislation wouldn't be needed. However, it's a fact that laws often are needed to change behavior--that's why we have so many of them. Of course, one can view a law as good or bad depending if its your ox that's getting gored or not.

In the case of the plastic bag industry they're feeling gored. On the other hand, the industry might think about speeding up their development and marketing of corn starch-based biodegradable grocery bags. These bags already exist but are offered by just a few suppliers. The conventional plastic grocery bag manufacturer who is the first to convert from selling exclusively or primarily conventional plastic bags to the biodegradable in a big way will be able to have first mover advantage and lead the market. And it's a huge market waiting to be dominated by a large plastic bag manufacturer with the resources to do so.

Paper grocery bag manufacturers at first blush might look like they are in the catbird seat with so many cities and states considering plastic grocery bag bans. After all, that means more sales of paper bags to retailers. And until consumer behavior shifts to using reusable bags as routine that will be the case. However, it just might be a matter of time before paper bag bans come next. Although the bags are recyclable many still end-up being tossed in the garbage and going to landfills rather than to the recycling center. As such, might per-bag recycling taxes and outright bans eventually be enacted for paper as well as plastic?

Food and other retailers can do more

In terms of food retailers, we suggest they offer shoppers more incentives to regularly use reusable grocery bags. Large retailers who can afford it should give a certain number of the inexpensive reusable bags out for free to shoppers each month. They should also, like many already do, give shoppers five cents (or even 10 cents) or so each time the customer uses their own reusable bag rather than a free paper or plastic one provided by the grocer.

An example of retailers who currently could do much more are the large UK supermarket chains who say they're against the London plastic shopping bag ban. It might be wise for them to step-up their efforts at encouraging shoppers to use reusable bags pronto. Why not a free Sainsburys' or Tesco inexpensive canvas grocery bag for each customer order over $10.00 for the next year. The bags can be bought cheaply in volume by the retailers--and they can afford it as a positive cost of doing business.

Creative incentives needed to change consumer behavior

Cities and retailers also need to work together to come up with creative ways to change shopper behavior from the common use of paper or plastic to the less common but growing use of reusable bags. After all, even if conventional plastic grocery bags are banned everywhere, there still remains paper. Although paper bags are recyclable as we mentioned above, they have to be disposed of properly by consumers in order to get recycled rather than tossed into a landfill.

Creating a culture worldwide where people use reusable shopping bags as a daily course is the long-term solution to the problem. In order to do this consumers first have to accept responsibility for their environmental behavior.

Retailers also have to accept more responsibility for the throw away items they sell and offer in their stores. In fact, we're surprised a major supermarket retailer in the U.S. or Europe hasn't stopped using conventional plastic grocery bags on its own as a demonstration of its green principles. We think its coming, by the way. Some already are offering biodegradable plastic bags only, but its few and far between in terms of the larger chains doing so. Most all food retailers in the U.S. and Europe also offer a variety of reusable grocery bags for sale, ranging from 99 cent biodegradable reusable bags to more expensive canvas bags.

If retailers can offer more economic incentives, like free reusable bags and other ideas, we believe shopper behavior will change more rapidly than many can imagine. We aren't saying cities shouldn't ban plastic bags if they want. Rather, looking to the long-term as we mentioned above, its the behavior change that's key--moving shoppers from using any type of throw away bag to reusable bags should be the overall goal. Getting there will require more than just laws--it will require consumers to accept responsibility for their environmental actions. Governments, retailers and other private sector entities can encourage this behavior change with creative, positive actions.

Green Notes

Locavores have officially arrived:

Oxford University Press has named the word locavore as its Word of the Year in the 2007 edition of its New Oxford American Dictionary.

A locavore is a person who buys and eats local foods; those sourced not farther than 100 miles of where they reside. In more common parlance, locavore's are part of the "buy local, eat local" foods movement.

This is the second year in a row in which Oxford University Press has named a "green" or environmental term its word of the year in its authoritative dictionary. Last year's honor went to the term "carbon neutral."

The inclusion in the dictionary of locavore this year, and awarding it word of the year status, should validate the word and locavore lifestyle in the same way naming carbon neutral last year did for that term. With inclusion in the Oxford American Dictionary, locavores have been legitimized and arrived culturally so to speak.

Green themes seemed to be at the top of the dictionary editors choice list this year. Locavore beat out two other green-oriented words or terms, "upcycling" (the mother of all recycling terms) and "colony collapse disorder" (which refers to the symptom affecting worldwide honey bee colonies).

Have a green Thanksgiving: Adopt a turkey rather than eating one

Tomorrow is the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA. The centerpieces of the holiday is family and friends---and food. The main course eaten by the majority of Americans on Thanksgiving day is the turkey. The mighty bird, traditionally served with side dishes of bread stuffing, sweet and mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and assorted vegetables, will grace the tables of millions of American families tomorrow.

However, there is a green alternative to cooking and eating a turkey for Thanksgiving.

Farm Sanctuary, an animal rescue, education and advocacy group, is asking Americans to feed a turkey this Thanksgiving rather than eat it. Through its Adopt-a-Turkey program. Farm Sanctuary is offering to let you adopt a Turkey for a one-time fee of $20.00. For your twenty bucks you get a color photograph of your new feathered family member, an adoption certificate, your turkey's biography, and a one year subscription to the non-profit organization's quarterly newsletter.

Farm Sanctuary says it's rescued thousands of turkeys from the meat cleaver over the past 20 years. The group operates shelters in Watkins Glen, NY and Orland, CA, where your adopted turkey will live out the rest of its natural life in a human and pleasant environment, never having to again worry about becoming a Thanksgiving day main course.

It's not too late to adopt a turkey by the way. You can do so anytime during the year, as well as make a donation to the group via its website to help support its other work in animal rescue and education. We're having turkey tomorrow but we still plan on adopting one. After all, if U.S. President George W. Bush can pardon a turkey like he did the other day at the White House, the least we can do is adopt one. By the way, we're referring to the actual turkey President Bush pardoned, not Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Scooter Libby. That pardon was earlier in the year.

Meat The Meatrix:

Speaking of meatless meals, a new animated movie, The Meatrix a takeoff on The Matrix movie trilogy, describes the evils of factory farming in a fun, light hearted way. And just like The Matrix, The Meatrix also is a trilogy.

In the first film in the trilogy, The Meatrix I, Leo The Pig, happy and content in his pen, is greeted by Moophius, a slick-looking, deep-voiced bull dressed in a black trench coat, sharp green necktie and dark sunglasses. "Have you heard about the Meatrix, Moophius asks Leo? Do you want to know what it is?" "The Meatrix, Moophuis explains, is a lie we tell ourselves about where our meat and animal products come from, he tells Leo with a sly look on his face."

The second film in The Meatrix trilogy, The Meatrix II: Revolting, takes on the dairy industry and some of the practices used by some of its players. The third and last film in the trilogy, The Meatrix II 1/2, pays a visit to a meat processing facility, where the narrator says, "We learn how we feed our Fast Food Nation."

You can learn more about The Meatrix trilogy at the films' website. You also can watch a free movie trailer at the website.

Ant- corporate plastic bottled water group says 'think outside the bottle':

The group "Think Outside The Bottle," a coalition comprised of citizens, activists, environmental groups, companies that make tap water filteration systems and reusable water bottles, and others, are asking consumers to take a pledge to give up commercially bottled water in plastic bottles and switch to tap water.

On their website, the group asks consumers to commit to drinking tap water and using reusable water bottles rather than buying commercially bottled water. They argue it's much more ecologically efficient to use tap water at home, and to fill a reusable water bottle with it when going outside the house, rather than buying water commercially bottled in plastic bottles which tends to travel vast distances and end-up needing to be recycled or worse being dumped in a landfill.

The rallying cry to "Think Outside The Bottle" seems to be catching on with many consumers, including numerous celebrities. According to the group, actors martin Sheen and Bill Mckibbon have taken the pledge, and organizations like the Sierra Club, Earth Policy Institute, Union of Concerned Scientists and other groups endorse the pledge. Six U.S. cities also have endorsed the pledge thus far: Salt Lake City, Utah, Boston, and Berkeley, San Leandro and Emeryville in Northern California, as have international municipalities and organizations.

Numerous restaurants in the U.S. also support the program and have taken the pledge to stop selling commercially bottled water in their establishments. Students from colleges and universities throughout the U.S. have taken the pledge as well, giving up buying bottled water and instead filling reusable water bottles with tap water. Faith communities, ranging from Catholic nun orders to Methodist and Presbyterian groups, support the campaign and have taken the pledge as well. You can read a list of pledge endorsers to date here.

As of today, 14,918 consumers have taken the pledge on the group's website to stop buying and drinking commercially bottled water and switch to tap water. The goal is for 25,000 people to take the pledge in what the group calls the first round.

The coalition is focused on the U.S. but has taken the campaign international. And it's not just individuals and non-profit organizations who are supporting the pledge. Companies like Clorox, which makes and markets the Brita Home Tap Water Filteration System and other tap water filter makers, along with companies that produce and sell reusable water bottles, are supporting the coalition as well.

Photo credits: Oxford dictionary courtesy Treehugger.com.

The Friday Fishwrap

Week-ending news and musings

Zen and the art of hydration: With Aquamantra bottled water you 'are' what you drink

We're all familiar with enhanced bottled water's like Vitamin Water and those with added nutritional supplements, caffeine and other goodies. But Aquamantra "mantra-infused" spring water has taken this phenomenon to the next level. The premium bottled water company, located in the upscale Orange County California city of Dana Point, enhances its three varieties of spring water with a more intangible quantity--loads of positive thoughts and energy.

That's right, the mantra waters are infused with good vibes. Three to be exact. The company's three varieties of spring water, which comes from a natural spring near San Diego, are named "I Am Healthy," I Am Loved and "I Am Lucky." Each variety (or mantra, hence the name) is filled with positive energy and thoughts which the company says results in the water's drinkers achieving those respective states of mind. The waters come in 1 liter plastic bottles, and 16.9 oz "mini-mantra's" have just been introduced.

"The thoughts in the words (I am healthy, loved, lucky) permeate the liquid, influencing the taste and beneficial properties of the water," says the company. "If you are drinking 'I Am Healthy,' for example, you will resonate with the energy to be healthy. 'I Am Loved' will encourage you to feel loved and 'I Am Lucky' will encourage you to feel gratitude for your life and how you want to be lucky," says Alexandra Teklac, Aquamantra's founder.

This isn't a mere marketing gimmick to the company though. Rather, Ms. Teklac and her team take what they've discovered very seriously, including studying the science behind their corporate product philosophy.

Ms. Teklac says Aquamantra was inspired by the 2004 film What The Bleep Do We Know. The movie discusses the underlying quantum mechanics of the world. The film reviews scientific research which suggests how reality is changed by thoughts. In the film, Dr. Masaru Emoto, who wrote a book called Hidden Messages in Water, says his research, based on the principles of quantum mechanics, demonstrates that the molecular structure of water was changed by a Zen Buddhist Monk's thought.

The company just introduced what it calls its mini-mantras, 16.9oz versions of the three Zen-infused waters, for those who prefer a smaller shot of health, love or luck.

Based on this premise, Aquamantra "spiritually infuses" its three varieties of water with deep thoughts and messages of health, love and luck, and designs the labels on the respective bottles of spring water with Zen images which depict these emotions and attributes. The result, the company says, is a natural spring water that is more refreshing, better tasting and more wholesome to drink. And, depending on which of the three varieties you're drinking, helps make you feel more like what you are drinking--either healthier, more loved, or luckier.

(You can read more about the company's philosophy behind their waters here. You also can read more about Dr. Masuru Emoto and his influence on the bottled water company here. Read more about what a "mantra" is and how the company incorporates the ancient scripts into their philosophy and bottled water here.)

You don't have to believe what the company says exclusively either. You can read some comments from Aquamantra drinkers and believers here. We aren't saying the water works or that it doesn't. That's beyond our epistemological knowledge and above our pay grade. However, the mind is a very suggestive entity as physicists and psychologists are demonstrating more and more. Therefore, perhaps the company is onto something. After all, much of branding is pychological anyway, isn't it?

The Zen Masters of hydration aren't just banking on their product's good health, stronger love and better luck mantras to sell water and create loyal customers however. The company has been winning bottled water competitions all over the U.S. for the product's taste and premium quality.

For example, the well-known Berkeley Springs International Bottled Water competition recently named Aquamantra its best tasting bottled water for 2007. The International Bottled Water Association also has given the water a "best" an award for its premium taste quality.

Aquamantra also is receiving positive acclaim for its "mental and emotional energy in a bottle" attributes. Readers of In Shape magazine named the spring water "the most inspirational" water in a June, 2007 poll featuring numerous bottled water varieties. The "I Am Lucky' water was selected by Hollywood's Academy of Awards organizing committee for this year's Oscar Awards ceremony. Bottles of the water were given to nominees as a way to "enhance" their chances of winning in their respective film categories.

The mantra waters are gaining widespread national distribution in the U.S. All the Whole Foods Market stores in Southern California sell the waters, as do a number of the supernatural grocer's stores in Northern California, Arizona and the Pacific Northwest. Nearly every upscale supermarket and natural foods store in Southern California is merchandising Aquamantra waters. Additionally, numerous liquor stores, cafes and restaurants in the region offer and sell the spring waters.

The company just obtained a major distribution achievement. The Albertsons supermarket chain will soon began selling all three varieties of the Zen-inspired waters in 85 stores in its Southwestern U.S. region. The water guru's also have forged a distribution deal with mega-distributor United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) and its new Millbrook specialty foods subsidiary, which UNFI officially acquired just last week. Both distributors will market the waters to natural foods stores, supermarkets and other retail and foodservice venues nationally.

Aquamantra, who's mission statement is "stimulate your soul," was started just a little over a year ago and is growing rapidly. It's national expansion will perhaps bring health, love and good luck to the millions of Americans who now will have the opportunity to sip the Zen-infused waters like many Western U.S. residents currently are doing. And by the look of the company's rapid success, we have a feeling someone just might have offered them a corporate good luck mantra of their own about a year ago.