19 Dec. 2024

I was thinking about Coca-Cola and all the other drinks on the shelves—or better to say, in our lives. We know that they are mostly water with a small amount of substances to give them flavor. Yet, we pay largely for the packaging and shipping of the water, not the actual materials that flavor it.

My point isn’t about the money we pay but about two other prices we pay: the ecological price we pay for the packaging (Coca-Cola is the number one plastic polluter in the world, and the rest of the list follows closely) and secondly the health implications of these drinks. For these beverages to have a reasonable shelf life, they require preservatives—E-numbers—even when the flavoring material is natural. If it’s not natural, then what we’re consuming is essentially chemicals and preservatives, plus a high carbon footprint water, wrapped in pollution. And we drink it. Why? Because we’re seeking variation, which is perfectly legitimate, and because we want life to be as easy as possible.

So, what’s our story at oostaMo in The Netherlands? We ask how we can create the same level of joy in our drinks while emitting far less carbon by not shipping the water itself, avoiding chemicals, and relying solely on pure, raw nature—all while keeping things as convenient as possible. (Although, I must confess, we believe that down the road we may need to sacrifice a small degree of comfort.)Is this possible?
Maybe only if there are some crazy people to follow it or believe in it…