Religious Orders Bring Clout to War on Bottled Water

Lloyd, Laura, National Catholic Reporter

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If you want to get the lowdown on bottled water, listen to what the "Green Franciscan Sister" has to say. She is Sr. Janet Corcoran, vice president of mission service at Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria, Calif., and she is just one of the Catholic voices spreading the gospel that bottled water, however convenient to tote around, is environmentally, economically and politically wrong. She shares her viewpoints, among other places, in the form of "Environmental Tips from the Green Franciscan Sister" in a hospital publication. Corcoran feels strongly that "Sister Mother Earth" needs all the help she can get, especially when it comes to water.

"It's a matter of getting people to think more consciously about what they are doing," she said.

Concerns about bottled water are bubbling up in Catholic organizations, adding clout to a growing number of cities and secular organizations worried about the issue--with women religious strongly in the lead. Numerous women's religious orders are banning bottled water at their motherhouses, retreat houses and conference centers, and some are substituting refillable water bottles for the throwaway kind at sponsored events.

Among major incentives to get involved is the negative environmental impact of discarded plastic bottles, the oil required to make them, and the limited access to safe drinking water in developing countries--a problem even before big corporations got involved. (See accompanying story.) Here is one sobering statistic: The United Nations estimates that more than 1 billion people worldwide currently lack access to safe drinking water and that by 2025 two-thirds of the world's population will …

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Publication information: Article title: Religious Orders Bring Clout to War on Bottled Water. Contributors: Lloyd, Laura - Author. Magazine title: National Catholic Reporter. Volume: 44. Issue: 10 Publication date: January 11, 2008. Page number: 8+. © 2009 National Catholic Reporter. COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale Group.

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