Last week, we mentioned FOX’s interesting move of including a bottle of Icelandic Glacial water in their eco gift bags. We questioned the motives on the part of the organizers for doing an incredible job with the event, but coming up short on recognizing bottled water (and not the company involved) as unsustainable and harmful to the environment.

This week, we focus on another bottled water company, H20M, that has been sponsoring eco-events all around Hollywood; including the 2007 Emmy Ultimate Green Room. According to the site, H20M is “the world’s first interactive natural spring water. Infused with the power of positive energy through words, music, colors, symbols and you.” Some may laugh at that claim, others may support the power of positive words and vibrations; either way I don’t know one way or the other so I’ll leave the critiques up to you.

Beyond the energy claims, H20M also does a great job of working with charities and environmental groups to encourage recycling of water bottles and stewardship of the planet. A portion of their profits go towards the International Water for Life Foundation (which apparently no longer exists), and the Love Planet Foundation. This is their angle — this is how they will get in to sponsor an event that other bottled water companies might get shot down for. Clever.

And it is clever — because at the end of the day, this is still bottled water. This is still a company producing something readily available around the country. I know, I know — some of you do need bottled water, but it’s nowhere near what the marketing tells us. Take a look at this quote pulled directly from their website,

“To remain healthy, an adult must drink 8ozs of pure water (we recommend H2Om), (not tap) for every two waking hours.”

They actually say not to drink tap water! Uh Oh. Look out. If you don’t drink our water, you’ll soon be ill. Watch out for scary tap water! Snake oil anyone?

So, wake up Hollywood. Bottled water is still bottled water, no matter how green the company is behind the label.

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About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

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