Savouring Stratford in 2010

This past weekend Bo and I returned to Savour Stratford. We introduced The Water Wagon at Savour Stratford in September of 2009 - so it was nostalgic to come back to the place were it all started.

Many things had stayed the same over those 12 months. First, the food was still amazing. The Farmer's market was full of colour, flavour and life. It made me very proud to be a part of community that was celebrating the essential contributions of our farmers.

The restaurant's offered some wonderful treats as well. I especially liked the veggies. The people were the same too. Everyone that came by The Water Wagon was turned on to the environmental sense The Water Wagon brought to the festival. The comments (just like last year) were all about the "common sense" of The Water Wagon - or the "forward-thinking" of our company. It was great to bask in that for two days.

Our return included a few differences as well. First, we were at the festival with a Water Wagon borrowed from The Region of Waterloo. (we sold out for this season - even our demo) The Region of Waterloo generously offered their wagon so we could return to Savour Stratford.

Many people commented on the "Region of Waterloo" logos. They asked if we were from Waterloo. When we told them that we were a company from Stratford - the question always came to "why aren't you using the Stratford Water Wagon".

The first couple of times I explained that Stratford had no interest in The Water Wagon, at this time. I also explained that we manufactured in Stratford - made jobs in Stratford - promoted Stratford (and its water) - and used local businesses for virtually all of our supplies.

And after a few more explanations - I started to feel a bit uncomfortable. The Water Wagon has been rolled out from Stratford and has already (in one year) served tens of thousands of customers. It has been to the Olympics, Cambridge, Kitchener, Markham - festivals, concerts, street events. Its a great idea and KewlEarth is a Stratford company that is helping to make this tap water revolution move forward.

I guess its true that it is hard to be noticed in your own home town. Stratford is a beautiful place to live and work. I encourage Stratford to continue its efforts to be environmentally active. I also hope that Kewlearth can help them reach those kinds of goals.

It has been a busy summer. That is one of the reasons that the blog has been sitting idle for the past few months. Our new website http://www.kewlearth.com/ (which is really exceptional) has also taken up a lot of my time. Now that it is up - I think I can get back to blogging.

I must admit that I am new to this kind of media. It is one of those "old dog - new trick' scenarios. But, I am willing to give it a shot if you are. My committment is one blog per week. I hope you can handle that much of me.

As Bo and I made our way around Ontario (and the USA) this summer we met literally hundreds of people. And every conversation led its way back to water (of course).

From these conversations, I believe that Kewlearth is a part of an important revolution in thinking about water. Everywhere we went - people were talking about the value of tap water, the dangers of plastic pollution, and how we need to fight for this basic right - clean, accessible tap water. These passionate words were coming from all directions -young families, senior citizens, students, men, women - everyone.

I suppose we are thinking in the same direction because - water binds us together. No matter what your language, religion, race etc. - everyone understands the language of water. Thirst. Cool. Fresh. Quenching. Everyone knows (down in their DNA) how important water is to their basic survival.

So this new revolution about preserving out water resources is based in something very old. Ancient peoples survived because they had water. We will survive, if we protect and preserve our water.

If you are out there and are interested in discussing water, our company, or just have some questions - drop us a line at info@kewlearth.ca or comment here.

Be back next week.

Fresh Spring Water

Spring is well underway and Spring weather means everyone is thinking the same thoughts. Sunny summer days - beaches - concerts - parks - family and friends. Along with summer fun comes the need for a nice cool drink.

Bottled water companies would have us believe that spring water is just a convenience store and a five-dollar bill away. What we do know is that the cost of bottled water is much more than a couple of bucks.

Plastic water bottles are part of a global environmental disaster. Plastic is fouling our oceans at a disturbing rate. And everywhere you look our land is polluted with discarded plastic water bottles.

On my way to the office last week I decided to do a quick count of any discarded plastic water bottles. I drive about 4 km around the outskirts of a small city (Stratford, Ontario) with a population of 31 000. On my short commute I counted 5 plastic water bottles on or beside the road.

If I assume that my focus on driving made me miss a few - and I assume that I only got to see about 1/100 th of the town - that means Ithere are about 700 discardedplastic water bottles lying around my town. (My guess is that there are probably more)

Using my rough formula that would mean there are 700 000 bottles lying around Canada. From there I could estimate that there are 147 million bottles discarded in the world. Howmany bottles is that? How long would it take to pick all those up? What a mess!

I must take a lot of effort for these companies to keep our focus off this mountain of mess and onto their "spring" water. (much of this water is tap water)

This summer I will be drinking tap water and moving Water Wagons everywhere I can so more people can enjoy quality tap water - and not contributing to the mountain of plastic mess.

The New Cola Wars

I think that making people buy their own tap water in a plastic bottle, at a price hundreds of times more expensive than tap water - was a brilliant (if not terribly ethical) business strategy. First, we destroy the image of tap water by instilling doubt about its safety. Then we market filtered tap water as fresh spring water from deep in the mountains. The rest of the song just plays itself. A multi-billion dollar industry built on a false image. Brilliant.

However, this watery idol seems to be losing its luster. People are beginning to understand that tap water is just as good (if fact often better) in quality that plottle water (plastic + bottled = plottled). They are also starting to understand the cost of the bottles themselves. It takes energy and oil to make them and then they are garbage. There are estimates that only 14% of these lttle bottles ever make it to recycling. Which makes for a giant plastic mess.

Our throw-away society needs to wake up. The cola wars are real. Cola companies (and others) are at war with the entire world. If they win - we all lose.

Vancouver On Board

I was quite taken by a recent article in the Vancouver Sun in which Councillor Stevenson makes reference to our Water Wagon at the Olympics.

http://www.vancouversun.com/British+Columbians+drink+more+water+than+rest+Canada/2695129/story.html

I was gratified to hear his opinion about how successful he saw our presence in Vancouver.

I think that it is wonderful that municipal governments are seeing their water as something worth talking about. Vancouver is a great example of a forward-thinking city that has invested in their drinking water infrastructure. Now, they seem poised to take the next step towards telling everyone the effort, time and money they have spent making the highest quality water possible.

The Water Wagon is the vehicle (literally) that will take them to that next level. The Water Wagon is a highly effective marketing tool that brings tap water back into the spotlight.

This is a sign of the future of public water, The Water Wagon and KewlEarth. It feels great.

Money, Water and Time

Having a small business has been a learning experience. With a little money, a couple of great ideas and about a year's worth of time - Bo and I have done a lot. With the help of our manufacturing guys, our designer and our other suppliers we have taken a good idea and made it into the best it could be. Not to say there have not been a lot of barriers in the way - believe me, there have. But, what we have created is nothing short of spectacular.

The Water Wagon is an evolutionary leap forward from earlier design attempts. We have put a lot of thought into this product - and it shows. We did a Fall '09 promotional tour with out first wagon and then Bo went to the Olympics with our deluxe model. He was there for nearly a month - connecting people to tap water and The Water Wagon.

The Wagon has many creative new features that make it fit into any public venue. It is big enough to handle the volume of patrons at any event - but it is not so big that it becomes a road block. Wrapped in vinyl the wagon is a thing of beauty. Everyone notices it. Bo said that there were thousands of pictures taken of the wagon in Vancouver. No one can walk by without looking at the wagon and the messaging placed on its sides.

The Wagon is built to the highest standards for both durability and health. Stainless steel - child steps - wheel chair access - easy-pull fountain levers. The Water Wagon is awesome. (Sometimes I think it is odd that "I" am talking about a water trailor like this) But, you just have to see one and understand what it represents. It represents the salvation of public water in North America - and beyond. Now that is worth writing about.

Me, Bo and the Idea

I imagine that my first goal is to introduce myself, the company I have co-founded, and our product.

My name is Rick (and along with my partner Bo) I have co-founded a company named "KewlEarth". The starting place for our company goes back eight years. I am a school teacher by profession. Bo is a retired military man. An unlikely match - but one that has been built on mutual understanding and a shared vision about our place in the world.

Bo came to my school one day and started volunteering in my class. Our chemistry was immediate. We seemed to instantly understand that our differences were complimentary. What he could say in words - I could write. What I could imagine - he could make happen. That is magic.

About 18 months ago Bo asked me if I was interested in changing the world. I said "yes". The product that we have developed to start this change is called "The Water Wagon", (Based on the HTO to Go). It is the solution to bringing tap water to everyone - everywhere.

We can see the damage caused by single-serving plastic water bottles. We can also see the social groundswell that is taking shape - that promotes tap water and has begun to reveal the environmental price-tag of plastic bottles.

The Water Wagon is a mobile water fountain that gives local governments (and other organizations) the ability to deliver tap water to any public location. Whether hooked up to a fire hydrant or drawing from its 1100 litre tank - tap water can be there to replace the plastic water bottle. We have already proven that The Water Wagon is an effective means of promoting and providing public water at the 2010 Winter games in Vancouver - that was us at the corner of Robson and Howe!

Our company want's to protect and preserve public water. We want to be a part of the movement to protect our environment. We are also a business - we want to make some money. To say otherwise would be untrue and ridiculous. However, that "shared vision of our place in the world" - is our priority. Our vision is revealed in our motto. IT'S HOW WE LIVE. That makes the difference. How we live determines our impact on the environment. How we live determines our impact on our friends, our family and our community.

Through this blog, it is my hope to start a dialogue among our customers, patrons of The Water wagon, environmentalists and other concerned citizens. We must protect our water - without it we can't survive.

The conversation will evolve. But, I will always bring it back to "It's how we live."

A special thanks to our first follower - since the first follower makes a leader a leader - not just a guy with an opinion.