Climate change is one of the most pressing global problems at the moment, which is, unfortunately, being ignored at the expense of increasing health concerns and rising temperatures.
Ignorance may be bliss, but for how long? It’s about time we realize the drastic impact of climate change on us and future generations. In 2020, the world’s temperature was 0.98 Celsius degrees warmer than in the previous century.
Every year, around 150,000 people die due to the effects of climate change, whether it’s abnormally high temperatures or lack of water availability.
While we may not be able to restrict the larger corporations, we can take steps on an individual level to slow down climate change. One of these steps includes using water filters at home.
You might wonder how a water filtration system can help the environment. Let’s answer this question below.
How Do Water Filters Help The Environment?
It’s no news that plastic is bad for Earth. Even with this knowledge being prevalent, millions of plastic bottles end up in landfills and the ocean bed every year. Statistics show that for every six plastic bottles, only one is recycled.
At the moment, there are over 2 million tons of plastic water bottles in US landfills. Unlike organic matter, plastic does not biodegrade.
So, it sits in the ocean or a landfill, leaking chemicals into the water and soil for up to a thousand years.
Oceans are our saviors because they absorb much of the carbon dioxide from the air. Moreover, plants also breathe in carbon dioxide. But excessive use of plastic water bottles is rendering both these sources useless for reducing pollutants.
Plastic-polluted ocean water is unable to absorb harmful gases from the air effectively. Similarly, if the soil is rich in chemicals released from photodegrading plastic, it will not be fertile enough for plant growth.
Thus, it’s crucial to find an alternative to plastic bottles, and the best option is water filtration systems. If you’re uncertain about the kind of water filter to choose, read up all about them on watermasterz.com.
Here are some ways water filters help fight climate change:
Help Cut Down Waste
Companies making plastic bottles convince you to buy their products by advertising their water bottles as safer alternatives to tap water. However, research says otherwise.
According to the World Wide Fund For Nature Report, around 89 billion liters of water are bottled into 1.5 million tons of plastic water bottles every year. That’s an astronomical amount of single-use plastic that ends up in the ocean.
To prevent this from happening, you can simply install a water filter in your home. Thus, you won’t be buying any single-use plastic water bottles or contributing to environment-harming waste.
Eliminate Water Pollution
Experts suggest that single-use bottles can take anywhere from three to four centuries to degrade. So, they remain at the pit of the landfills for generations.
During degrading, plastic bottles leach chemicals into the soil and water, creating water and land pollution. Additionally, plastic bottles are made using polyethylene terephthalate – a petroleum product that needs fossil fuels for formation.
Every year, the plastic bottle industry uses 17 million oil barrels. That’s the same amount of fuel needed to power one million cars for a year. As compared to tap water production, plastic bottle formation needs 2000 times more energy.
Where does this energy come from? Burning fossil fuels.
Thus, single-use plastic bottles are polluting the environment in two ways. First, they take centuries to degrade. Second, they’re made using fossil fuels, which are non-renewable and create hazardous fumes, leading to air pollution.
A simple way to avoid increasing your carbon footprint is by installing a water filter. When you get clean, filtered water at home, you won’t need to buy single-use plastic bottles.
Increase Appliance Lifespan
Unfiltered water leaves mineral deposits on your electrical appliances, reducing their lifespan. As a result, these electronics end up in the waste earlier than they should.
On the other hand, if you use filtered water, your appliances will last longer, reducing your overall waste production. It might seem far-fetched, but electronic waste is becoming a growing concern today.
Better Than Recycling
You might try to make yourself feel better about your plastic bottle consumption by putting the bottles in the recycling bin. However, did you know that 50% of this material is never recycled and goes in the landfills with the rest of your waste?
That’s because there are several layers to recycling and limitations on the kind of plastics that can be recycled. So, there’s always a chance that the material in your recycling bin will go to the landfills.
Why take this risk when you can use a much more environment-friendly alternative, i.e., water filters?
Conclusion
Every year, Americans discard 35 billion water bottles that further pollute the environment, contaminate our oceans, and restrict healthy plant growth. All of this can be easily prevented by using water filters.
