Final

The dangers of bottled water have become more prevalent these last couple of years. As corporations continue to scare and seduce the general public into believing their bottled water is clean, environments become devastated. The percent of sales has risen exponentially for a resource that is essentially free. Americans buy, consume, and throw away nearly 50 billion-12oz plastic bottled every year. What’s even more astounding is that only 23% of that is actually recycled. Everything else ends up incinerated, dumped into landfills, or simply left as litter. Not only does bottled water pollute our environment, but additionally strains our energy resources since it takes nearly 12 million in oil to produce the containers. In 2014, bottled water was the #1 beverage in NYC. A city that is keen on its consumption of non-processed foods, yet struggles with realizing the dangers that bottled water bring to the planet. New Yorkers should become more aware of the dangers of bottled water, since avoiding the purchase of the product is a simple lifestyle change. 
My monument idea to raise awareness on this issue is to simply use the bottle itself as a means of communication. It seems like New Yorkers are generally aware of the hazards of bottled water, yet no real means of prevention are imposed upon them – which leads to just consistent consumption.  The sculpture would be a giant Poland Spring bottle, the most popular brand in NYC, however the bottle would be burned in a distinctive manner. The scale of this piece would be around 14ft x 4ft and it’d be made exclusively with recycled bottled water plastic. This would transmute some of the landfill bottles into works of art. A small painted plaque at the bottom of the monument would read “Here Lies X Plastic Bottles”, along with the disfigured monument’s appearance; this gives the viewer a subtle shock of awareness. A secondary type of sculpture that will be used in conjunction with the aforementioned will be another 14ft x 4ft Poland Spring water. However, this version will be intact and used as a tap water dispenser. This would make the sculpture serve a need to the community. Not only would it be saving plastic from being landfill, it’d double as a fountain. The label on the secondary version would also be painted with “Free Water” instead of “Poland Spring”. It’d also display the initiative of the sculptures, and list the multitude of benefits the viewer acquires by consuming the free tap water instead of bottled water. My plan is to have around five to ten of each sculpture spread around New York – prominently the fountain/dispenser version. The sculptures would mainly be around heavy traffic areas of the city. People need to realize the grim truth about bottled water and I believe the burned sculpture does a great job representing that. The dispenser version would mainly be around popular parks as to encourage New Yorkers to take free water. 
      Blind tests have consistently proven that people can’t tell the difference between bottled and tap water. Bottled water simply provides zero benefits to us as individuals or as a species. It is simply a device created by corporations to keep making money. My goal with this monument proposal is to hopefully strike the emotions of New Yorkers. Have them reconsider their financially wasteful consumption. This movement will not only bring awareness, but also starts a step in the right direction with the implementation of fountains for the city.