Earth Water vraagt geen donaties of tijd in de vorm van vrijwilligerswerk, Earth Water vraagt alleen om water te drinken.
De volledige nettowinst die Earth Water realiseert, draagt de organisatie af aan het waterfonds van de UNHCR. De UNHCR
investeert de nettowinst vervolgens direct in duurzame watersystemen in gebieden waar dit het hardst nodig is.
Earth Water biedt de Westerse consument en het bedrijfsleven de mogelijkheid een bijdrage te leveren aan de oplossing van een groeiend maatschappelijk probleem. De aandeelhouders van Earth Water zijn de 1.2 miljard mensen wereldwijd die onvoldoende (schoon) water tot hun beschikking hebben.
Dagelijks sterven 6.000 mensen, voornamelijk kinderen, als gevolg van het gebrek hieraan. Een mens kan 30 tot 40 dagen zonder eten, maar slechts drie dagen zonder water. Ook voor een goede persoonlijke hygiëne en sanitaire voorzieningen is schoon water essentieel. Earth Water is verkrijgbaar in de 50cl karton en de 75cl (still & sparkling) eenmalig glas variant.
The background Story
Kori Chilibeck started Earth Water International within months of finishing university. The idea came as an evolution really, he had travelled to 32 different countries throughout the duration of his schooling. This travelling really opened his eyes to the real state that the world was in. The real defining moment came when he was trekking to the base camp of Mount Everest. He was at approximately twenty thousand feet when they met up with an old man coming down the path caring a huge bundle on his back. He was in bear feet, torn pants, and a t-shirt. Through our interpreter they talked with him and he told us them was paid about 50cents per day to carry his load up the trail, which took nearly two weeks. When we asked what he was carrying he said he was not sure what it was, but that it was an item he could never afford. When they looked to see what he was caring, they discovered that it was cans and cans of Coke a Cola. Kori realized that either directly or indirectly some of the worlds largest companies were literally making huge profits off the backs of the poor throughout the world. He thought why couldn’t a company pay their employees a competitive wage and compete on the world stage, and at the end of the day give back the profits to those who need it the most. Thus the concept for Earth Water International was born. Kori did some research and realized that the lack of clean water is the number one killer of women and children throughout the world. Over 6000 people die every day, that is the equivalent of crashing a 747 every hour of every day. It is not that we need to find a cure for something unknown; the answer is easy; clean, fresh drinking water.
The UN is the world’s largest aid organization, with this in mind Kori spent three months simply trying to get a meeting with them in order to share his idea. He faxed, called, emailed, and mailed them trying to request a meeting. He finally received an email from Geneva saying that they would give him ten minutes with someone in the Ottawa office. The idea of Earth Water International was to put the UN name and logo on the bottle, and give 100% of the net profits to them to be used in water aid programs. As luck would have it, the man Kori met, Jonathan Wade of the UNHCR, had the same vision and allowed him a three-month trial period. Kori cashed in his life savings, which wasn’t too much, sold his bike, borrowed money from his parents, and used up the rest of his student loans to make Earth Water International a reality. On October 29, 2004 Kori sold his first bottle of water. He had one customer in Edmonton on this first day, and all of the local media was present. The next day the phone started to ring, and they had ten customers by the end of the week. At that point the entire company consisted of a cell phone, a laptop computer, a van Kori’s grandfather had given him, and a one-room apartment. Kori would deliver the water in the morning and run the company in the afternoon. After six months, Earth Water International was being sold from Vancouver Island to Halifax and sales were growing at 400% every month.