Darrell Dexter, the premier of Nova Scotia has announced that his government has committed to a ban on the sale of bottled water, in all provincial facilities that have drinkable water.

How long do you believe it will take the rest of the provinces to follow suit?

Make sure that on March 11th, 2010 you put that bottle of water down and turn on the tap.  Bottled water free day is being organized by the Polaris Institute, the Canadian Federation of Students as well as the Sierra Youth Coalition.

Canada successfully has over 70 municipalities, six school boards and three campuses that have phased out the sale of plastic water bottles.

To learn more about the day make sure to check out www.bottledwaterfreeday.ca

SkyTrax Bottles on a sunny day down under

SkyTrax Bottles has now made its presence onto its fourth continent. Everything started in the city where the plastic water bottle ban all began.  London, Ontario is still the foundation to the ban of the bottle.  SkyTrax bottles then spent some time over with Big Ben over in London, England. After visiting the brits, it climbed to the highest peak in Africa to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. SkyTrax bottles have now landed down under in New Zealand.  Click here or on the picture to check out all of the pictures of SkyTrax Stainless Steel Bottles adventures, including the latest from New Zealand.

Manitoba seems to be leading the way in Universities around Canada to completely ban the sale of bottled water.  In March of 2009, the University of Winnipeg was the first University to completely ban bottled water.

As the world is continually becoming more environmentally conscious, Universities in Canada are keeping pace.  This initiative is a great way to support municipal water and reduce the amount of plastic bottles filling up the Worlds landfills.

The University is going to be building new fountains and fill stations throughout campus while also putting up new signage to increase awareness of these stations.  Brandon University and the student union want to challenge Universities across Canada and other institutions to follow suit and reclaim the tap to reduce bottled water.

6 Months (Left) Day 1 (Right)

Is the day in sight where the world may become plastic free?  Today, SkyTrax of London, On. has announced that it has teamed with ESP Solutions Ltd. of Vancouver to help bring their proprietary Oxo Bio-degradable additive technologies to the marketplace.  Oxo Biodegradation technology causes products made of plastics such as Polyethylene and Polypropylene (comprising 2/3 of all plastics material produced) to start to lose molecular weight when exposed to UV, heat and mechanical stress and then fragment and decompose into microscopic particles.

The picture is an example of a plastic food tray with Oxo biodegradation technology applied in the plastic.  The picture on the right is the food tray at Day 1, and the picture on the left is the food tray after 6 Months.  Something the world has never seen before.

Following  years of research, ESP Solutions Ltd. have been able to create “cutting edge” Oxo Bio technology, it is now possible to manufacture ‘biodegradable’ plastic materials that are non toxic and environmentally friendly, with the additional feature of being completely recyclable.

Polymer scientists believe that regular plastic materials may take up to 100 years or longer to break down causing an increasing plastic accumulation and potential pollution problem. This factor is both hazardous to our planet, our wildlife, overloading our landfills and creating a massive visually disastrous impact on the planet.

ESP Solutions Ltd. mandate is to offer those involved in the buying and selling of plastic packaging materials, a concept for achieving “sustainable solutions” and to provide added value by offering certain proprietary additives that will build customer confidence in these sustainable solutions.

Recent technological developments have reinforced the belief that the Oxo Biodegradable additive system will be economically effective in a wide variety of plastic product applications. Our intelligent additives support the three R’s of Packaging, REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE, and now they offer a 4^th R- REMOVE.

The benefit for businesses switching from conventional plastic packaging such as plastic bags, pallet wrap, plastic bubble wrap, plastic trays, plastic twine, shrink wrap and stretch wraps to degradable/bio-degradable packaging is undeniable. The cost of switching to degradable/bio-degradable plastic products is negligible; however there will be tremendous publicity to be gained by enhancing a company’s environmental image.  The companies that make their packaging “green” ….are perceived by consumers as “Environmentally good Stewards” and socially responsible.

1.  ICE FREE Arctic in 20 Years

• A team of Explorers have spent that last three months researching the state of the ice levels that are currently at risk in the Arctic.
• After months of research the scientist estimate that within the next 10 years a large majority of the ice will be gone and within 20 years we will have summers of NO ICE in the arctic
• We will start to see small islands drowned, and entire cities across the northern part of Alaska are having to relocate
• This could lead to flooding affecting nearly 1/4 of the World’s population
• Read more here or watch the news feature here

2.  Canadian Fresh Water at Risk

• With over 20% of the worlds fresh water, Canada’s 10 major rivers are all at risks
• From the McKenzie in the Northwest Territories, to the Fraser River and even the Ottawa river are all at risk
• The biggest threats include:

1. Climate Change
2. The Pursuit of Low Carbon Energy
3. As well as Growing Water Demand

• WWF Canada suggests that Canada needs to develop a long term plan regarding river flow which includes an examination of the effects of climate change
• As temperature rise, the demand for water is going to be higher than ever, to fix the problem the WWF says the government needs to stop thinking of rivers s lines on a map and develop a plan to take action immediately
• Read more here

1.  ”Tapped” Directed by:  Stephanie Soechtig. Click Here to watch the Trailer.

2. “Flow” Directed by: Irena Salina. Click Here to watch the Trailer.

3.  ”Water Life” Directed by: Kevin McMahon.  Click Here to watch the Trailer.

4.  ”Blue Gold” Directed by: Sam Bozzo. Click Here to watch the Trailer.