water — Journal — Jasmine M. Harrison

Modern Boheme vol. 9 | What's the Best Single-use Water?

Picture this: you’re at the airport and you’ve just shoved your feet back into your shoes while trying to grab the clunky grey bins with your carry-on luggage. You’re tugging your backpack on and heading to your gate when you reach back to the pocket on the side of your backpack for your water bottle so that you can refill it before you get on the plane. Your hand comes up empty.

You forget your refillable water bottle at home in your last-minute packing haste.

Now what? You’re thirsty and want something to help choke down the airport bagel. Then you spot a convenience store to your left. You veer in and head straight to the case of cold beverages. Bottled, canned, and boxed water stare back at you. Which do you choose?

environmentJasmine HarrisonApril 8, 2022march 2022, water, recycling, clean water, single-useComment

Modern Boheme | September 2021: America’s Water Infrastructure Problem

Torrential rains flooded parts of the East Coast as Hurricane Ida swept up the country. Along with it came flooding that experts had warned about and that cities were not able to handle. It highlighted the perfect storm that is bearing down on this country: aging water infrastructure and climate change threaten already failing and fragile water systems. As we wait to see what the fate of the $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal will be, it’s clear that we need to dedicate a large swath of money to overhaul water infrastructure and to address how urban areas mitigate the impacts of climate change. According to CNN, $55 billion is being proposed to “upgrade water infrastructure” and another $50 billion would be dedicated to “making the system more resilient -- protecting it from drought, floods and cyber attacks.” Will this be enough?