LOCATED within a sports complex, the press room provided by the organizing committee of the conference of G-8 industrialized nations in the French resort town of Evian turns into a giant sauna on a busy day.

To quench the thirst of the journalists, cartons after cartons of mineral water were brought in from a local bottled water company. No less than 23,000 bottles were consumed by members of the press. Altogether, 30,000 liters of bottled