Friday, April 23, 2010

The Green Blue Book: Book Giveaway!

Congratulations to Ash who said..." Pick just one scary fact eh?
1581 gallons for 1 pound of beef - sure helps reaffirm sticking with the vegetarian lifestyle!" You're getting a copy of The Green Blue Book!


It's kinda turning into water week here on ecochick, what with bottles and filters and all kinds of great tools to help you use water in your home more wisely. But there's another way to think about water consumption, and that is how much water went in to the production of the things we eat and use before we actually have them in front of us - what's called "imbedded water". And it's the majority of water use on the planet. Did you know, for example, that that cup of coffee you're sipping while you're reading ecochick actually consumed 37 gallons of water before it got to you? Or how much water that cow needed to get that steak on to your plate? Or even, how much water it takes to make the paper cup at your water cooler (answer: 6 gallons!) It's time for us to realize exactly what the true water impact is in the things that we consume, and what the actual cradle-to-grave impact is of anything that we use. Enter The Green Blue Book: The Simple Water-Savings Guide to Everything in Your Life. From the website:

In The Green Blue Book, you’ll find hundreds of simple tips for water savings in the home, garden, office, and when on the go that will help you make a difference without making big changes in your life. 

Thomas Kostigen shows how to save water not just by turning off the tap, but through discovering “virtual water,” or the water embedded in the products we use every day. By making better decisions about which food, clothes, and household necessities to use, each of us can save thousands of gallons of water—and help avert the water crisis unfolding around the globe.

Water will be the next crisis if we don't act now. So let's start acting, and use the tips in this book as a great starting point.

You can buy The Green Blue Book: The Simple Water-Savings Guide to Everything in Your Life Amazon, Chapters or other book retailers - or - you can head over to http://www.thegreenbluebook.com/ and watch the very enlightening video, then come back and tell me which fact about water scares you the most. Ha. Leave me your comment and a way to contact you by Friday, April 30, and I'll tell a random commenter that they'll be receiving a copy of the book compliments of Rodale Publishing. Good luck!

9 comments:

Jeanette Peters said...

The fact that scared me the most was one of the first: in 2025 2/3 of the planet will be dealing with water shortage. I try to be conscious of my water usage everyday - but I would definitely say I still think of water as being an infinite resource :S

jeanette@naturallynovascotia.com

Jennifer said...

I have never been a bottled water consumer, really. I can count on one hand the times I've purchased bottled water. So the fact that it takes 3 liters of water to make a one liter water bottle is ridiculous to me.
jmac333wentz@gmail.com

Morgan said...

40,000 litres of water to make a computer? GAH!

Shelley said...

Thanks for providing great information via your blog! These are the kinds of things we don't think of til it's put in front of us.

shelley@axonsoft.com

stsammy said...

The fact that there is almost 20 gallons of water in a glass of beer saddens me. I love my brews!

Ash said...

Pick just one scary fact eh?
1581 gallons for 1 pound of beef - sure helps reaffirm sticking with the vegetarian lifestyle!
luna_5_light at hotmail dot com

Paul said...

Here's something that will cook your noodle:

We don't have a water problem.

We have an energy problem.

Around 70% of the planet is covered in water, and with enough energy you can flash distill the saltiest, dirtiest of it into clean, drinkable water. Developing clean sources of energy should therefore be our highest priority as a species.

The molecules of H2O don't get used up, they just get moved around.

ecochick said...

Paul - I totally agree with you. I'd also rather see us reduce water usage, though, so as to not need to use energy to clean it.

orionsmom said...

Yikes, 19.8 gallons of water to make a bottle of beer!
cyndicarroll@hotmail.com