That push commences this Saturday in Chatham with the showing of the film “Tapped,” which critiques the bottled water industry, at the Orpheum Theatre at 10 a.m. That will be followed by a second movie “Divide in Concord,” about the successful battle to ban plastic bottles in Concord, Mass., which will be shown in every town on the Cape except for Mashpee, beginning April 7, in Eastham.
“It’s the concept on consumer responsibility; conscious consumerism,” explained Sustainable Practices founder economist Madhavi Venkatesan of Brewster, who has penned a text on sustainable economics.
Almost 90 percent of seabirds have some plastic in them.
“This has a huge impact in oceans.
Three hundred million tons of plastic is produced each year and 8 million tons of that winds up in the ocean.
Over 100 billion beverage bottle are molded every year in the U.S., 315 per person, and 57 percent of those are for water.
When you walk through a supermarket there are entire rows devoted to bottled soda and fruit juices, most of it in plastic.
“The first thing is you have to replace it with glass and people have to be more aware of the way they are choosing what they are consuming,” the Northeastern professor explained.
Plastic has only been an issue the last 50 to 60 years tops.
“Divide in Concord” on the Lower Cape will be shown as follows: Eastham Public Library, April 7, 12:30 p.m. Provincetown Public Library, April 8, 2 p.m. Chatham Orpheum, April 14, 9 a.m.

Massachusetts Department of Correction officials say the water meets state standards for potability.
But they acknowledge there’s a problem in at least some of the samples collected from the prison’s well: elevated levels of the mineral manganese, which can cause health problems including a Parkinson’s disease-like neurological disorder.
The state Department of Environmental Protection ordered DOC to install the system and has been fining DOC because of delays.
"People in the community shouldn’t have to be put in a position to raise funds to provide water for people incarcerated in our state prison system," says Greg Diatchenko, who served almost 30 years at MCI-Norfolk for murder and was paroled in 2014.
Anywhere, people will tell you that you need clean drinking water to survive."
"The folks inside are human, you know?
And so they deserve the basic human rights that we all have out here, too," adds Christine Mitchell, a Harvard doctoral student in public health and member of Deeper Than Water.
"We know [DOC has] the money and the resources to provide clean water, and they haven’t done it."
Coalition members say their efforts to distribute bottled water hit a snag because a prisoner who was handing out the water, Wayland Coleman, was put in solitary confinement last week for doing so.
The audio for Diatchenko’s and Mitchell’s All Things Considered conversation will be posted later.

All water usage is restricted until further notice.
At a press conference officials would not comment on exactly how much was lost but only emphasized it was a "large amount."
Hopewell uses around four million gallons a day, officials said.
The estimated total of water lost is millions of gallons.
Officials said that pipe burst at the Virginia American Water plant when they were doing maintenance.
As a result of the city-wide water emergency and mandatory water restriction, Hopewell City Public Schools will dismiss early today.
Older children will be dismissed first to minimize concerns around the supervision of younger siblings.
Pre-K, Kindergarten and first- grade students will only be released from the buses to the care of a responsible adult, school officials said.
"We apologize for the inconvenience and are working closely with City officials as they strive to remedy this situation immediately," a school representative said.
Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice, according to officials.

Scientists have found that leading bottled water brands are contaminated with plastic particles.
This is coming on the heels of a research, which revealed that plastic contaminants were identified in 93 per cent of samples, which included major bottled water brands such as Aqua, Nestle Pure Life, Aquafina, Dasani, Evian, San Pellegrino, Bisleri, Dasani, Epura and Evian.
The researchers from the State University of New York at Fredonia in the United States (US), found the sampled bottled waters contaminated with tiny plastic particles that were likely seeping into the products during packaging process.
According to the report, the contaminants are plastic debris, including polypropylene, nylon, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
The researchers tested more than 250 bottles from 11 brands purchased in 19 locations in nine countries.
The bottled waters analysed were from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand and the U.S.
Widespread contamination with plastic was found in the study, led by microplastic researcher, Sherri Mason of the State University of New York, according to a summary released by Orb Media, a U.S-based non-profit media organisation.
The report showed that particle concentration ranged from “zero to more than 10,000 likely plastic particles in a single bottle.
“On average, plastic particles in the 100 micron (0.10 millimeter) size range — considered ‘microplastics’ — were found at an average rate of 10.4 plastic particles per litre.” However, experts cautioned that the extent of the risk to human health posed by such contamination remains unclear.
Previous research by Orb Media has found plastic particles in tap water, too, but on a smaller scale.

A new study claims water bottle drinkers could be consuming microparticles of plastic from bottled water.
Flint homeowner and breast cancer survivor Shirley Snowden worries about what goes into her body.
She has been dealing with the water crisis since the beginning.
She buys spring water for drinking but uses the state-provided water for cooking and rinsing vegetables.
Water activists say the water provided for free at distribution sites are not one of the brands reportedly tainted with tiny particles of plastic, but Snowden is still concerned.
Snowden says it’s hard to trust anyone after the city was failed by so many public officials for so long.
"They are using cheap bottles giving it to us and we are the ones being effected," she says.
Researchers at Orb Media say they tested more than 250 bottles of water from 11 different brands.
Researchers say tiny particles of plastic was found in 93% of the bottles. "
Pure Life, San Pellegrino and Wahaha.

Orb Media’s recent study titled "Microplastics Found In Global Bottled Water" reinforces what Dr. Michael Vaughn recommends to his patients.
Vaughn swore off the product after taking a trip to a local bottling company.
Up until recently, she’s been drinking them, even after the sun has heated the plastic.
"I’m switching to tap," said Callaway.
After testing more than 250 bottles from 11 brands of water, Orb Media found that one single bottle can hold thousands of microscopic plastic particles.
Essentially, the study showed that 93 percent of the water bottle samples contained microplastics.
Orb Media found the highest level of microplastics in a Nestle Pure Life sample, which had 10,390 particles per liter.
"You’re getting microparticles now.
What else are you getting that aren’t particles that you can’t see with the fluorescing?"
Vaughn wondered aloud.

Single-use bottled water will be phased out by May 2019, according to McGill.
The move aims to raise awareness about bottled water’s negative social and environmental impacts.
McGill’s announcement follows similar environmental initiatives on other campuses — many Canadian universities, including both Queen’s University and the University of Toronto, have committed to becoming water-bottle-free.
According to Greenpeace, 10 per cent of all the plastic produced ends up in the oceans each year.
Ninety per cent of the cost of a water bottle is the packaging, shipping, and marketing, rather than the actual product.
Given Western’s commitment to sustainability and waste reduction, phasing out plastic water bottles would be a good idea for our campus.
Plastic is a significant environmental hazard, and water fountains paired with reusable bottles is a good alternative.
There are many water fountains on campus, and most have been retrofitted to include hands-free bottle filling stations.
Western could also do things to ease the transition; for example, increasing the number of water fountains on campus or selling reusable water bottles for a reduced price.
With students becoming increasingly environmentally conscientious, reusable water bottles are now a common sight around campus.

They tested popular brands like Evian, Dasani and Nestle Pure Life.
Scientists found an average of more than 10 plastic particles per one-liter of bottled water.
Researchers tested more than 250 bottles from 11 brands purchased in 19 locations in nine countries reveal contamination with plastic including polypropylene, nylon, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Here are the brands included in the study: Aqua (Danone) Aquafina (PepsiCo) Bisleri (Bisleri International) Dasani (Coca-Cola) Epura (PepsiCo) Evian (Danone) Gerolsteiner (Gerolsteiner Brunnen) Minalba (Grupo Edson Queiroz) Nestlé Pure Life (Nestlé) San Pellegrino (Nestlé) Wahaha (Hangzhou Wahaha Group) According to Orb Media, two leading brands confirmed their products contained the microplastic, but say the study significantly overstates the amount.
Researchers say the size of the plastic ranged from the width of a human hair down to the size of a red blood cell.
Some bottles had thousands.
A few effectively had no plastic at all.
One brand had a concentration of more than 10,000 particles per liter.
Take a look at the number of plastic particles in each brand’s bottles by clicking on the image below.
Right now, scientists don’t know the impact the plastic has on the human body.

Gaffney Board of Public Works said limited water service had been restored Wednesday afternoon but did not expect the system to be at full capacity until Thursday morning.
Below is the full boil water notice: The Gaffney Board of Public Works advises the customers of the Gaffney Board of Public Works, located in Cherokee County, to vigorously boil their water for at least one (1) full minute prior to drinking or cooking.
A major line break at the water treatment plant has resulted in a loss of pressure and to the customers of the Gaffney Board of Public Works.
Water system personnel are working to restore pressure and service to the entire system.
Initially, officials said schools would run on a two-hour delay, but later canceled classes.
The Cherokee County School District announced Thursday that all schools would operate on a 2-hour delay due to the lingering water issues in the county.
Gaffney Board of Public Works its most recent update around 7 p.m. Wednesday: We have made the necessary repairs to the main line at the water plant and we are currently pumping 11 MGD to the system.
The system should be at full capacity and pressure before tomorrow morning.
The Board of Public Works has purchased 19,200 bottles of Aquafina water and we are currently delivering those bottles to all Cherokee County schools for use tomorrow morning.
This is approximately two (2) bottles of drinking water for every Cherokee County school student to get them through the end of the 24 hour boil water period.

GAFFNEY, SC (FOX Carolina) – Water issues continued in Gaffney Thursday after a water main break at the treatment plant on Wednesday led to service loss in the city and prompted schools to close.
Gaffney Board of Public Works said limited water service had been restored Wednesday afternoon but did not expect the system to be at full capacity until Thursday morning.
Below is the full boil water notice: The Gaffney Board of Public Works advises the customers of the Gaffney Board of Public Works, located in Cherokee County, to vigorously boil their water for at least one (1) full minute prior to drinking or cooking.
A major line break at the water treatment plant has resulted in a loss of pressure and to the customers of the Gaffney Board of Public Works.
Water system personnel are working to restore pressure and service to the entire system.
The Cherokee County school district said a decision regarding school on Thursday will be made by 6 a.m. Gaffney Board of Public Works released an update around 7 p.m. Wednesday: We have made the necessary repairs to the main line at the water plant and we are currently pumping 11 MGD to the system.
The system should be at full capacity and pressure before tomorrow morning.
The boil water advisory will run through approximately lunch tomorrow.
The Board of Public Works has purchased 19,200 bottles of Aquafina water and we are currently delivering those bottles to all Cherokee County schools for use tomorrow morning.
Dr. Moore has advised us she will provide the bottled water to students and faculty and have lunch room personnel boil water for cooking.