The mission to increase water accessibility and sustainability is critical to reducing hunger and improving equity around the world. GIVE H2O, a new startup founded by two Harvard students, is the first buy-one-give-one bottled water brand, redefining the way that people engage with water accessibility in their daily lives. Buying GIVE H2O Natural Spring Water both provides you with a sleek, innovative, and reusable water bottle and allows you to donate a bottle to a nonprofit of your choosing. GIVE H2O’s innovative product helps customers increase accessibility for others while becoming more sustainable themselves.
Nema Kheradmand (Harvard Stem Cell & Regenerative Biology) founded GIVE H2O, looking to Henrik Ilvesmäki (Harvard Graduate School of Design) for guidance on bottle design and conception. Although they began as roommates with the mere goal of creating an environmentally-friendly and manageable water bottle design, Ilvesmäki and Kheradmand are now business partners in their admirable endeavor of making clean water more accessible and sustainable for their communities.
The Iconic Design
Are you in need of a trendy bottle of water whose functionality is as good as its ultra-sleek design? GIVE H2O’s innovative water bottle design delivers on both fronts. By being the first to introduce an aluminum-based, reusable, and hexagonal-shaped bottle to the public, both the form and function of their bottles are impressive. The greater efficiency of these bottles compared to typical round bottles make them a unique addition to your bottle collection, as they are quite compact but still able to hold ample amounts of water. It also keeps your water cool and crisp throughout the day, maximizing your hydration.
GIVE H2O’s high-quality aluminum prevents any dents or accidents that would normally arise with a more traditional bottle. If, however, you need to dispose of the bottle, it can be sustainably recycled in good conscience.
Need for Sustainable Water Bottles
Given the current state of the environmental issues that are making detrimental, long-lasting impacts on the world, it is important to recognize that using plastic water bottles can exponentially heighten the harm such issues. The various aspects of GIVE H2O’s water bottles themselves help promote the environmentally conscious goals of the brand, as GIVE H2O is free of PFAS and this reduces such long-lasting environmental contaminants. Their bottles are recyclable and refillable, containing a safe BPA-Free Liner which helps protect every drinker and keeps your water extremely fresh.
GIVE H2O’s bottles are environmentally friendly at every step of the process. GIVE H2O bottles are filled at the water source using solar energy. Sourced from Kyynärjärvi, a lake in southern Finland, their water is held to the utmost sustainable standards. The spring water supplied in the bottles rises naturally to ground level and is filtered by layers of sand, eliminating any chemical methods often used to filter water which can be environmentally detrimental. When you order, GIVE H2O will send the bottle to you with less packaging materials than ever, making it even more sustainable and hassle-free to enjoy safe and tasty water. You are helping save the environment one bottle at a time by buying GIVE H2O bottles.
Connecting Environmental Concerns with Community Service
While being passionate about improving the environment and helping underprivileged communities is an important first step, finding tangible ways to help can be a challenge. Even finding the time to help can be a roadblock to real change. GIVE H2O attacks this problem from a unique angle as the first buy-one-give-one bottled water. Currently, GIVE H2O can be found in stores at Pemberton Farms Marketplace in Cambridge, Massachusetts and online at giveh2o.com. On your daily stop to the grocery store or while surfing the web, you can simply replace your bottled water with GIVE H2O. If you purchase a bottle online, you can have it delivered right to your doorstep. At an affordable price, you’re getting fresh water in a sleek reusable bottle. But what really makes GIVE H2O unique comes into play at no additional cost: The buy-one-give-one program also allows you to give an additional bottle–for each bottle purchased–to a nonprofit organization of your choice.
GIVE H2O currently partners with the American Red Cross Boston Food Pantry, the Cambridge Women’s Center, and the Somerville Fire Department. Online customers can choose which of these organizations to donate to, while all the bottles purchased in store at Pemberton Farms will be donated to either The Red Cross Boston Food Pantry or the Cambridge Women’s Center. Incorporating social and environmental justice into your life has never been easier. As an easy alternative day-to-day water bottle option, GIVE H2O has created the unique opportunity to effortlessly address important community and environmental needs.
From the moment of its founding, GIVE H2O has reimagined the relationship between community service and environmental justice. From former roommates to co- founders, Ilvesmäki and Kheradmand have imagined the process of increasing sustainability as a part of daily life for those passionate about change. As an alternative day-to-day water bottle company, GIVE H2O has incredible overall social benefits. Regardless of whether you are an environmentally conscious consumer, drinker of bottled water, or someone who just wants to give back to your community, GIVE H2O is right for you.
For more follow GIVE H2O on Instagram @giveh2owater and Twitter @giveh2o.
The Crimson's news and opinion teams—including writers, editors, photographers, and designers—were not involved in the production of this article.