How to be health-conscious, eco-friendly, and trendy to boot!

Everybody knows that water is a necessary element of life.  Our bodies are made of mostly water.  Our cells are filled with the stuff.  It is the core element of all body fluids.  Water is life.  And yet the vast majority of us don't even bother drinking it.  Instead, we are happy to spend day after day dumping gallons of carbonated pancake syrup down our gullets.

Sadly, those who have made the health-conscious decision to keep hydrated are inadvertently contributing to an ever-worsening ecological disaster: our landfills are filling up with empty plastic bottles.  According to the Container Recycling Insitute, a Washington-based non-profit:

Americans buy an estimated 28 billion single-serving (1 liter or less) plastic water bottles each year.  More than eight out of ten end up in a landfill or incinerator.  Hundreds of millions end up as litter on roads and beaches or in streams and other waterways.  Taxpayers pay hundreds of millions of dollars each year in disposal and litter cleanup costs.  That's 845 bottles wasted every second.

Add to that the fact that it's recently been discovered that some polycarbonate bottles can leech toxic substances into their contents, and you have an unfortunate situation which begs for an eco-friendly and non-poisonous solution.

Enter SIGG.  The 100-year-old Swiss company has been making aluminum water bottles since before your grandparents were born.  And they seem to have learned a thing or two about making durable, quality water bottles along the way.  They've only recently made a splash in the states, but what a splash they've made.  In the past two years, they've found their way into the "what's hot" section of just about every major magazine.  Their high quality product, combined with the aforementioned news about poisonous plastic bottles, and a general trend toward eco-friendliness, have combined to create enormous demand for these amazing bottles.  The online sales portion of their website has been shut down, as they have found themselves unable to keep up with demand.  They are adding round-the-clock shifts at their factory in Switzerland just to catch up.  Even so, the company's website states that they won't be caught up until after this summer.

For the time being, their bottles are still available at select brick and mortar retailers such as REI (for a full list and to find a retailer near you, click on the link above), though selection can be spotty.

For Pete's sake, people, for the sake of your bodies, stop drinking that fizzy liquid sugar!  Make the switch to water, the drink of champions!  And while you're at it, do the planet (and yourself) a favor and drink it out of a reusable aluminum bottle.  Your children will thank you.