July 10 Journal Entry

[Samantha Kantrowitz]

Today was definitely the best Field Trip Day yet. We met this morning at the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta for a behind-the-scenes tour. I had been to the aquarium twice before—once on a crowded Saturday the first weekend I got here and once for a special NEHA event—but getting to go behind the scenes was truly a fantastic experience. We started off by going to the top of the exhibit called “Ocean Explorer.” This exhibit is enormous—over 55 million gallons. We got an overview of all that is required to maintain this size exhibit, including the exhaustive water filtration system. We also went under the exhibit to look at the pipes, we are three stories deep! Another part of the tour took us to the top of the tropical exhibit, where they are actually growing live coral. My favorite part was getting to the top of the cold water exhibit, where we could look down at beluga whales! After the tour, we were given a presentation by the aquarium veterinarian on some of the conservation projects the aquarium is involved with. This may sound like it’s not related to environmental health, but a lot of the environmental factors endangering these animals could be endangering us as well (as well as biodiversity issues, etc.). After the presentation, we had a chance to look at all of the exhibits, which is always fun.

In the afternoon, we went to the Coca Cola World Headquarters. We took a tour of their gigantic building (with a surprisingly large variety of Coke-themed artwork) and they provided us with lunch, which was exciting. Also exciting are the pop machines that dispense drinks for free when you press the button. Anyway, we also attended a presentation by an environmental engineer who works in the water division there. He told us about the water treatment process; each plant treats the water before using it in the product and the wastewater to corporate or local regulations, whichever is more stringent. We found out that over 90% of a bottle of regular Coke is composed of water, and it takes almost twice the volume of the bottle to produce it in the first place, and more in countries that utilize refillable glass bottles. They justify their water consumption by pointing out that the company uses less water globally than a major city like Atlanta. He also talked a lot about the company’s efforts for water conservation, specifically “replenish[ing] water in communities and nature through a global network of local partnerships and projects.” On one hand, I think this is a good goal; on the other hand, I don’t know if taking a village’s water that they had free access to and then selling it to them is truly a humanitarian endeavor. However, for a obviously-for-profit organization, they are making a good effort at being environmentally conscious.