This is a nice clip. Next time you reach for a bottle of “...the most environmentally responsible consumer product in the world*,” think about the Story of Bottled Water. With Earth Day coming up, it’s a good opportunity to think of the impacts of the little decisions we make on daily basis. Do you need to buy all those bottles of water? In many countries, tap water is as good or better in terms of cleanliness, and even in places like Indonesia, dispensers are everywhere.

How could we significantly reduce the use of plastic bottles in our school?

The story of stuff is a fledgling YouTube channel with a decent purpose – to educate people about the way our motivation for ‘stuff’ becomes a global problem, and how we can take steps to solve the problems.

Maybe it’s time to follow in the footsteps of this Australian town.

*Nice greenwashing there, Nestle.

IB students can think about the links between science and economics in this story, including manufactured demand, pseudoscientific claims and making profits from portraying a product as being more ‘green’ than it really is. Greenwashing is a growing problem, and it takes real critical thinking skills to be able to deduce greenwashing claims  from genuine information. Check out this SlideShare presentation for more information: