Apparently San Francisco’s mayor just banned the use of city funds to buy plastic water bottles. I always sort of pictured San Franciscans as having bottles of Evian water and French poodles at their sides at all times, but I’ve also never actually been to San Francisco. This certainly seems like a great idea, though. I have long been flummoxed by people who rely on bulk packs of Ozarka water in individual bottles to service their daily hydration needs–what’s wrong with a tap and a filter? That way, you replace the filter every so often and generate a small handful of plastic waste compared to bottle drinkers. Plus, they make re-usable bottles that you can easily clean!

Leaving aside the absurd cost per gallon of bottled water, there are so many silly things about it. It really can’t be about cleanliness or purity (yes, I’ve read A Civil Action and know all about trichloroethylene), since you can make any water on earth seem gross this way: the total amount of water has remained pretty constant on earth throughout its history, so there’s a good chance that the water you are drinking right know was once pissed out by a dinosaur. Or a tree sloth. Think about it.