New Otterbottle Insulated Awesomeness - and a Giveaway!

Updated: The giveaway will be going to

Urban Girl who said...

thanks so much for the chance at the giveaway! I really like the OM thermos. I love that you could have something leakproof to carry liquids to work. yeah!

It's tough, staying hydrated and caffeinated in an eco-unfriendly world. Too easy it is to grab a plastic disposable water bottle or a takeaway coffee cup and paper sleeve. Awesome Canadian company OtterBottle has been trying to change that, one green consumer at a time. They originally introduced a snazzy line of reusable water bottles in fantastic, funky designs. Now they've gone a step further: They're eco-fying your coffee cup and lunch break by introducing a gorgeous new line of insulated food and drink containers, with stylish insulated lunch totes to carry it all in.

All of the new pieces are available in a range of colours and patterns to suit your most fussy whims. OtterBottle was kind enough to let me try out all three pieces, and they are super nice and very practical.

The 350 ml container is perfect for a hot lunch of soup or chili, with a wide lid that screws on and off easily and securely.

The lunch bag is roomy, stylish, easy to carry and secure with a zipper across the top to keep your yummies safe inside.

ecochick's favourite, though, is the 500 ml insulated drink container, which has become the new Caffe Latte mug of choice at casa ecochick - perfectly sized for a grande latte and with a screw-off cap to reveal the drink nozzle, it's perfect to use too. There's even an elasticized clip to keep the cap attached to the bottle while you're drinking - smart! My coffee stays toasty warm for literally hours - this would keep you going all morning, no problem. For a busy mom whose coffee is usually refrigerator-cold by the time I get to drink it, this is nirvana.

Oh, you say! How I'd like to try one of those out! Well, you're in luck. I have a 500 ml Insulated Drink bottle to give away to one of you lucky folk. Just head on over to OtterBottle and check out the site and tell me what your favourite OtterBottle product is in the comments before Wednesday, November 3. Make sure you leave me your email address - you can't get the bottle if I can't contact you. Good luck!

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!