Hello, my name is Peter Hall.   Two and a half years ago, I had a life-changing moment. I sat in my car after a long, warm day, and reached for a water bottle I’d left in there earlier. I took one sip of the lukewarm and unpleasant-tasting liquid and thought to myself, “This is barely water.” I knew there had to be a better way to store my water on the go. There had to be something better than that flimsy plastic. Here are some of the scary things I discovered during my investigative quest into the overuse of water bottles. One, water bottles don’t break down. This means that instead of leaving beautiful clay pots as artifacts of our civilization to historians thousands of years from now, we will leave behind masses of plastic. Two, every year in the U.S., 25 billion single-use plastic bottles are sold. And more than eighty percent of those are trashed instead of recycled, which means they end up in landfills. Three, 47 million gallons of oil are used to make these bottles every year. As if this country wasn’t oil-dependent enough already! The solution was simple."I needed to help reduce our use of plastic bottles.". For the same reasons people have shifted away from plastic bags toward paper or reusable tote bags, we as a country and a world need to shift from single-use plastic bottles to reusable stainless steel or glass bottles. If you make this lifestyle change, you alone will keep 180 plastic bottles out of landfills each year. In 2010, I launched Hope-2o, a health and conservation-conscious non-profit organization run only by volunteers with dedicated hearts. First and foremost, we distribute free stainless steel water bottles to schools and youth organizations. We also partner with non-profits doing good around the world to help them with their fundraising activities; Gone are the days of selling magazines and candy bars—by using our stainless steel canteens, organizations can raise funds for themselves while helping us achieve our goal of eliminating plastic waste. Hope-2o has been a dream for me. I love to wake each day knowing that I may help somebody somewhere quit using plastic bottles. Maybe today that somebody will be you. Please join us and take the Hope-2o Pledge to switch to reusable canteens—for you, and for the earth.     Why Canteens?   Hope2o canteens were designed as a solution to the problems caused by the massive worldwide use of disposable plastic water bottles. In the U.S. alone, we waste nearly 2.5 million plastic water bottles per hour. These plastic water bottles leech harmful chemicals into our drinking water and cause a massive disposal problem in our landfills. Our canteens are an affordable and quality alternative for those of you who are conscious about their health and our environment. Each time you refill your Hope2o canteen you are being pro-active about your health and our environment! These 100% recyclable, BPA Free canteens are made of 18/8 food grade stainless steel and come in many versatile sizes. They also come with a sports cap and travel clip for easy portability!