fifteenth of may: green goal

In all of the excitement of the big move, I completely neglected May's Green Goal.  Whoops!  So May's Green Goal is to buy myself a reusable water bottle.  Ah! Stop! Don't hate me yet!  I had one.  I swear. It was a beautiful turquoise SIGG.  And I loved it.  (Well, except that the water always tasted a little bit like grass (???) no matter how much I cleaned it...)  And I broke it.  You'd think you couldn't break one of those things...except it turns out you can.  I left it, filled with water, in my car in freezing temperatures and it cracked.  Sigh.  SO, while I don't usually drink water from plastic bottles, I do think that in the hot Kansas City summer, I'm going to want to bring some water around with me.  Especially if I'm exercising.  Let's investigate some options, shall we?

I did love my SIGG, so maybe I should get another one?  I like this Scanning the Globe design ($21.99) and had no idea they did custom designs (starts at $17- $22 depending on size and gets more expensive as you customize) too!  It's so smart of them to capitalize on the personalization trend.

I am also tempted by sleek, clean designs of the Klean Kanteen brand.  I love that they offer insulated bottles ($25.95 with cap shown, or $29.95 with an additional coffee cup cap) not only for things like tea and coffee, but also to keep water cooler for longer in super hot temps.  Plus, forget plastic caps: their new Reflect bottle ($32.95) offers the ultimate in green reusable bottles with a cap made of sustainably harvested bamboo.  

I think I am most tempted by the CamelBak designs.  I love the ease of the drinking straws and how they tuck away so you won't spill.  For the utmost luxury in reusable water bottles, the Groove ($25, new filters are $20 each) filters your water for you on the go.  I, however, am not adverse to drinking water straight from the tap and was pleasantly surprised to find that CamelBak offers a stainless steel bottle ($30).

I guess the purchase of a FuelBelt ($39.95) would have to be in addition to another bottle, but if I start running a lot here, I think it might be a nice thing to have.  (Can you tell I'm nervous about the summer heat yet?) 

Perhaps the most ascetically pleasing, trend-forward bottle I've found is the bkr ($28), pronounced "beaker."  It's made of glass and comes with a colorful silicone sleeve to protect it.  The only problem with it is that it's, well, made of glass.  And that means you have to be careful with it.  However, the company does say that they will replace your broken bkr if you return it to them with all of the pieces and a note saying why you loved it and why you want another one.  That seems pretty fair to me.  I'm going to call this the Apple-esque product of the reusable bottle world.

What's your vote? Which one should I get?