Students from the International Studies class taught by Chad Thatcher have been organizing an event to bring awareness to the CMU campus. Their focus: stop the use of disposable water bottles. The problem: the environmental and health effects that reusing disposable water bottles can have. The solution: Aquajam.
“The point we want to get across, basically, is that disposable equals death, but renewable equals life,” CMU student Cody Milam said.
The plastic that is used to make disposable water bottles can contain trace amounts of Bisphenol A (BPA), which is a synthetic chemical that can affect the body’s hormonal system. Reusing the same disposable water bottle several times can increase the risk of the trace amounts being ingested along with the water.
The plastic is also harmful to our environment. Not only does producing the bottles release chemicals into the environment, but out of about 34 million bottles that Americans go through a year, only about 20 percent are recycled.
Aquajam is structured to educate the CMU community about the issue of plastic water bottles. Klean Kanteen, a high quality bottle company, provided environmentally friendly water bottles, worth $20, that will be given away as prizes.
“KMSA will definitely be there with a rock block,” KMSA DJ Kenny Coles said. “We’re all for this.”
Aquajam will take place from 1-4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1 on the lower level of University Center. There will be live music, including CMU musicians Jesse Johnson and Kami Sue Keeling, as well as water taste tests that give students an opportunity to win water bottles from Klean Kanteen.
“We’ll have some visuals that demonstrate the impact water bottles have on the planet,” Johnson said. “We want people to see how easily they can make a difference.”
Sponsors for the event include KMSA, Meant 4 Movement, the CMU Outdoor Program and the CMU Sustainability Council.
Jaco Gerbrands, another student in Thatcher’s class, is involved in the project.
“We’ve been really fortunate to have so much support,” Gerbrands said.

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