Student Action

Is bottled water a thing of the past?: On campus campaign is influencing change one pledge at a time

Nicole Elsasser, October 15, 2009, The Ontarion--It's an all too familiar feeling; the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and you know you're being watched. You look around you and try to walk faster but its too late; you've been spotted holding the offending object in your hand. Everyone is glaring at your plastic, disposable water bottle.

For many students on our campus, toting a plastic water bottle is socially unacceptable and several know the inescapable feeling of guilt when walking around with one. Years ago, buying a bottle of water didn't seem to amount to this much grief so what has changed?

An on-campus campaign called Tap In could be considered very responsible for this apparent change in the attitudes of many at the University of Guelph. The campaign is affiliated with the Guelph Students for Environmental Change (GSEC) and involves a number of initiatives bent on eliminating plastic water bottles from the University of Guelph campus.

One of the organizers of the Tap In campaign, Zoe Barrett-Wood, has been involved with the campaign for some time and has seen some positive change take place in that time.

"I know that one of my professors once told me that he feels guilty drinking from a plastic water bottle in class because he knows that everyone is looking at him and that a significant portion of the students will think that that's really wasteful and silly and so he won't bring it anymore," said Barrett-Wood.

While Barrett-Wood explained that any change for the better is encouraging, it is her hope that the Tap In campaign can work towards influencing change through positive reinforcement rather than by using guilt.

"Although I think it's positive that people feel guilty [and] I think that [guilt] is necessary because it is something that we are doing that's wrong for the environment, at the same time, I think it's very important to have a lot of positive reinforcement," said Barrett-Wood. "It's an anti-something campaign and that makes it really hard to be positive but we have to find ways to do that because people shut down when they just are made to feel bad all the time."

According to Barrett-Wood, the members of Tap In are working to place advertisements around campus celebrating individuals who choose to drink out of reusable water bottles rather than condemn those who don't.

Along with positive advertising, Tap In has been working at getting campus clubs to sign a pledge committing to go plastic water bottle free at any meetings or events. In signing a pledge Tap In co-ordinates a rental service including a canteen, and glasses to facilitate the water distribution at meetings. According to Barrett-Wood many of the clubs have been very responsive to this strategy.

Along with getting commitments from many on-campus clubs, Tap In has encouraged a number of campus eateries to eliminate the sale of bottled water. The first one to take the plunge being the Grad Lounge. According to Christine Jefferson, the manager of the Grad Lounge, it was an easy decision and one that they have never regretted.

"We always have water available on the bar anyways. People can fill up their own bottles and we kind of encourage that too," said Jefferson. "The odd person maybe once a month will ask, 'why don't you sell [bottled water]?' but no one's been overly upset about it."

While Barrett-Wood recognizes that a great deal of positive change has taken place on campus because of the Tap In campaign, the tipping point has not been reached just yet.

"I would think that we're working towards [a change] and I don't think it's a negative thing," said Barrett-Wood. "We have a culture of convenience. People have this idea that bottled water is more convenient and I think that it will take a while. I don't think we're there yet because I still see so many plastic water bottles."

Until plastic water bottles are no longer on the University of Guelph campus, Barrett-Wood said that the Tap In campaign will be looking for more creative and innovative ways to encourage people to go bottled water free.

"I don't know if we're there yet but I think we're getting really close," said Barrett-Wood.