Over 1 million plastic water bottles are purchased every minute in the world. That computes to 500 billion per year, and more than 90 percent ar...

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Over 1 million plastic water bottles are purchased every minute in the world. That computes to 500 billion per year, and more than 90 percent ar...
Over 1 million plastic water bottles are purchased every minute in the world. That computes to 500 billion per year, and more than 90 percent are not recycled. Imagine if we could make water out of thin air and eliminate all that waste in our environment, and all the microplastics we are ingesting when we drink from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) containers.

This is exactly the thought Cody Soodeen had when, as an architecture student at the University of Hartford, he was sitting in a biomimicry class. Biomimicry is the science of how we can learn from nature to solve complex human problems sustainably. “They show a video about this beetle in the Namib Desert that climbs up a big sand dune, does a handstand and sticks its butt up in the air,” recounts Greenwich native Bill Irvine, who is now Soodeen’s business partner. “There are gusts of wind coming off the Atlantic with water in it. And this beetle, using hydrophilic bumps and hydrophobic troughs in its shell, condenses the water and drinks it. That was Cody’s aha moment.”

The Stenocara gracilipes, or Namib Desert beetle, lent part of its name to the company that evolved out of that revelatory moment: Kara Water. The logo alludes to the critter’s magnificently designed shell. Soodeen, having grown up on well water in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, and suffered through his family getting sick from contaminated water, was particularly primed for this epiphany. Spooked by the illness, his family had shifted to drinking entirely bottled water. They weren’t alone. “It turns out that like 66 million Americans will only drink bottled water,” says Irvine.


Kara Water’s new Kara Pod satisfies all your water and coffee needs without taking up much counter space or emptying your wallet.


Harrison Bohrman, vice president of marketing

Cody Soodeen, co-founder and CEO

Bill Irvine, co-founder and financial advisor
THE GREENWICH CONNECTION

Having an idea is one thing; creating the machine that can replicate a beetle’s ingenuity and then turning it into a successful business is another. That’s where Irvine and his childhood pals from Cat Rock Road come into the picture.

“I’d been working in finance and ended up going to Columbia Business School for my executive MBA. I took some classes on entrepreneurship, as well as venture investing, and helped out one of my Johns Hopkins friends,” explains Irvine, who attended Johns Hopkins for undergrad. “He had an idea that uses genetic engineering of rare bacteria that can eat sulfur for energy and breathe in carbon dioxide and create useful byproducts. I developed a passion for investing in high-impact companies and mentoring future entrepreneurs.”
SOURCE: https://mofflylifestylemedia.com/kara-waters-air-to-water-technology-the-breakthrough-turning-thin-air-into-clean-drinking-water/

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