Changes have come to our beloved Café M this year. Our purple-clad cafeteria now serves a new array of dishes (Like blueberry crepes! Can you say ‘yum?’) as well as the addition of Nika water. Surely you’ve noticed the smiling ethnic face on your $1.75 bottle of water? Replacing last year’s SmartWater bottles, the new Nika bottles have certainly raised a few questions around campus, especially concerning the price and the reasons behind the switch.

Fear not, however, as these bottles have been placed in our halls of learning for good, not for evil. Nika is a new, carbon-free bottled water company from San Diego that not only “offsets its carbon footprint” but also donates 100% of its profits to give clean water and better sanitation systems to developing countries. The name “Nika” means “to give” in Zulu, and for every bottle bought, one is taken out of the environment and recycled. Each face on the bottles has been drawn by contemporary artist Stephen Bennett, and the company has partnered with multiple schools to expand their recycling efforts.

“The bottles really play into Marlborough’s environmentally friendly environment” said Tara Lio ‘12,  “and since we all buy water bottles everyday, we might as well help the less fortunate.”

Last year, with water priced at $2.25, I cringed every time I brought my ID to the register. It seemed outrageous that we were paying nearly $3 for bottled water. But now with Nika bottles priced appropriately and going towards a good cause, who can say no to the young faces that smile back at us every time we take a sip?