Garvita dreams of creating a world where all people join hands and contribute to bettering the world. She aims to build a world where ecology and economy work together.
Garvita, India’s so-called Water Girl, began her journey as a change-maker at the age of 13. She was deeply impacted by the water crisis in the year of 2015 and got inspired to start “Why Waste?”, a youth-led organization focused on water conservation, after learning that 14 million liters of water is wasted every year in India just from the amount people leave behind in cups in restaurants. Why Waste? changes mindsets and habits and promotes water conservation through campaigns, petitions and workshops.
Why Waste? began working with restaurants by helping them prevent wastage of water that is left behind in glasses through their viral #GlassHalfFull movement in addition to conducting workshops. Their work has reached over 5 lakh restaurants, and 10 million people and prevented over 6 million liters of water from being wasted. Besides this, Why Waste? App has been launched which helps every individual calculate their water footprint and helps them save at least 100 liters of water every single day through a gamified approach.
A year later, Why Waste? was named an “Ashoka Youth Venture.” They were designated “Water Heroes” by Republic TV in a collaborative venture with the Government of India after becoming India’s largest youth-led movement in water conservation. Gulhati received the prestigious “Diana Award” for her great contribution and efforts toward society. Today through her work, Garvita is inspiring thousands of young people to be the change that they wish to see. Her dedication and enthusiasm towards bringing impact in society has made her one of the early change makers and recognized her as one of the Finalist of Glocal Teen Hero India of 2019.
Beyond this, Garvita represents the voice of youth and works deeply towards involving more youth in change-making through her work with Global Organizations including Facebook, Ashoka, Google, IKEA and Global Changemakers. She is also a Global Changemaker, Ashoka Young Changemaker, Change.org fellow and an Earth Day fellow. Apart from that, Garvita has been selected for Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and received the ‘Earth Day Network Rising Star’ award.
She is the first and only Indian to be awarded a Wonder Grant from the Shawn Mendes Foundation. She is an expert mentor at Global Citizen Year and works with UNICEF on their Youth climate strategy.
Garvita has always been enthusiastic and actively working in the field of environment and social entrepreneur sector with the intention of finding herself. She has inspired millions of teenagers to believe in action and act for the betterment of society. She dreams of doing something big, something positive that can make a huge impact on society or for the nation.