If you believe the forecasters, 2010 looks set to be a sizzler (possibly maybe) with temperatures matching that of the 1976 summer heatwave.

Sounds nice! After our extended Winter the thoughts of a long, hot summer and lazy evenings with a beer outdoors definitely push lots of buttons for me.  But as we gear up for Summer, whatever the weather outcome, you can be sure the warmer months will be putting pressure on the UK’s precious water resources.

According to Waterwise, the South of England has less water available than the Sudan and Syria and many parts of the UK are currently dealing with the lowest groundwater and reservoir levels for decades.

One of the problems is our thirst for water which has been increasing by 1% a year since 1930, a figure which is not sustainable in the long term.  To address the problem, we can all make a difference by reducing our consumption and using water more efficiently at home.

Showers account for around 12% of our water use and one way to decrease this water usage is through the installation of a water saving shower head such as the Nordic Eco Shower Head.  This innovative shower head reduces average flow rate and thereby water consumption by 50-70% without any reduction in shower comfort thanks to a clever technology which works on a soft pulse basis.

This week marked World Water Day and to do our bit to raise awareness for the rest of March and throughout the month of April, we have placed the Nordic Eco Shower Head on sale with a special offer price of £38.50 which is 15% of the usual RRP of £44.99.

We also have 3 Nordic Eco Shower Heads up for grabs in our latest competition.  If you fancy your chances of winning one and saving up to 70% on water usage in the shower simply send an email to comps@ecoutlet.co.uk with the subject title Nordic Eco Shower and your email address will be entered into the draw.

Competition is only open to UK and Ireland residents.  Three winners will be selected randomly on April 30th and will be notified via email.

Speakers corner has just launched here at ECOutlet. Yes this is your chance to get on your soapbox and tell us what you think of our products by leaving us a Customer Review!

To help get things rolling with our latest feature, we’ve decided to add a little incentive so at the end of this month we’re going to reward the Top 15 reviews with a set of recycled glasses worth £14 each.

Though we do appreciate positive feedback, reviews don’t need to be glowingly positive to impress.  Constructive criticism will also be rewarded as will reviews which make us chuckle – in fact anything which helps to inform other customers will be in the running to win one of the prizes.

At the end of the month, we’ll select the Top 15 reviews which we think are the most helpful to our customers and the winners will each receive a set of glasses.

The glasses which are made using recycled Coca Cola bottles will make a lovely addition to any kitchen.  They are great everyday drinking glasses and also double up as slinky Ice Cream Sundae glasses.

If you fancy joining in and entering the competition, there are two ways to leave a customer review:

1. Log in or register with us on the customer sign-up page.  Go to the product you would like to leave a review for, click the Customer Review tab and leave us your thoughts.   You will then be automatically entered into the prize draw.
2. Guests can also leave a review.  Simply go to the product page and click the Customer Reviews tab to leave the review.
   If you leave a review this way and want to be considered for the prize draw, you will need to send us an email at comps@ecoutlet.co.uk and in the body of the email please confirm the name of review headline you left on the website.

The Customer Review competition closes on February 28^th. Winners will be selected and notified by email on March 1^st and all the winners names will also be announced here on the comments section of this blog entry.

Go on… help us to make ECOutlet a better place for everyone by giving us your feedback!

Every month in the ECOutlet newsletter we run a competition to win something fabulous and eco friendly.  This month we have 3 Cardboard Castles up for grabs worth £11.99 each and to be in with a chance all you have to do is email us at comps@ecoutlet.co.uk with the answer to the following question:

What species of dinosaur is our Cardboard Dinosaur?

Is it
a) Diplodocus
b) Tyrannosaurus rex
c) Doyouthinkhesawus

The newsletter competition is only open to residents of the UK and Ireland and any entrants must be already signed up to the newsletter.  If your names not down on the newsletter list, you entry will be excluded from the draw.

More details on our monthly newsletter can be found here and to sign up, simply enter your email address in the field provided.  This months competition closes on December 11^th and the winners will be notified by email after the closing date.

In last months newsletter we had 5 H2Onya Water Bottles up for grabs and the lucky winners were:

Sally Rock – Bournville
Lorraine Wilson – Buckie
Fiona Edwards – Broadstone
Martin Best – Wimborne
Beth Bowdler – Truro

We’ve just added Ethical Living to the range of eco and green lifestyle magazines you can subscribe to via the website and to celebrate we have 5 x 1 year’s subscriptions of this stylish publication on offer to our to ECOutlet newsletter subscribers and blog readers.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of having the next six issues of Ethical Living delivered directly to your home free of charge is send us an email at info@ecoutlet.co.uk with Ethical Living in the subject line and tell us what your favourite magazine(s) is to read.  It’s that simple!

Ethical Living is printed every two months and provides you with all the information you need to make a positive difference to the world around you.
As well as thought-provoking features on environmental and social concerns, each issue of Ethical Living is crammed with inspirational features on fashion and beauty as well as regular articles on travel, finance, homes and gardens, food and drink, health and family life.  Every subscription also comes with a free gift which differs depending on the current subscription offer!

Good luck everyone!!

Please Note: Competition is open to UK residents only and closes on August 21st.  Winners will be notified by email after the closing date.

Ethical lifestyle magazine, Sustained have just released their 4th issue, a gardening special and over the coming weeks, ECOutlet will be including a complimentary copy with every order placed on the website. Published bi-monthly with a moto of small change, big difference, the magazine promotes the little things we can all do to make a difference.

Issue 4 is packed full of features including a look at the new Sustained allotment project. Michaela Furney of Jimmy’s Farm has converted a derelict cow yard into a herb garden and she shares her hints and tips. There is an interview with TV personality and garden designer Sven Wombell and UK downshifting expert, Tracey Smith, tackles readers questions as part of the Green flavoured family programme. The Ethical Shopper section also includes all the latest additions and must-haves for every British Garden and as always everything is up for grabs with a total prize fund of £400 worth of goodies including the Paper Potter from ECOutlet. To make sure you don’t miss out on future issues, subscriptions to Sustained are also available in our magazines section!

The celebrity endorsed campaign group, Global Cool have recently launched a new competition for aspiring filmakers on the theme of climate change. The total prize fund is an impressive £10,000 with half of that going to the winning short film.

To be in the runnning all you have to do is make a short film five minutes or less in duration on the theme of climate change.  It can be live-action, animation or anything else you fancy mixing it up with.  To enter go to Scenewon to register your details and upload your film. Registered users will also have the power to comment on other entries by submitting reviews, the best of which will be awarded a £500 prize.  Entries are being accepted now until the closing date June 30th.

Salad leaves….

It only took 4 days from sowing the seeds for these little shoots to appear.  As Matt was the only one to guess correctly, we have a winner.  A bodyflik will be on its way over to you today Matt, be sure to flik next time after you shower!

Day 1 in the germination house…

We’ve sowed tomatoes, spring onions, courgettes, spinach, basil, thyme, fennel, mint, chives and salad leaves.  Who sprouts first?  Nature decides…..The first person to guess correctly wins a Bodyflik.  Please include your username so we can identify all entrants and stay tuned for future updates!