Celebrities reach for the stars: We need fresh drinking water

Since 1924, the statement “Because it’s there,” spoken by British climber George Mallory when he was asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest has been a ubiquitous part of our culture.  One thing that just might not be there is fresh drinking water.  We leave it to Hollywood celebrities and other famous heavy-weights to finally give us a better reason to reach for the mountain tops – fresh drinking water.  No, they’re not going up there to collect ice and melt it.  They are trying to create hoop-la to bring attention to the issue of fresh drinking water. They are calling it, “Summit on the Summit.” You can track your favorite celeb’s heart rate and oxygen levels live without being arrested for stalking.  Some of these altruistic climbers include hotties like Jessica Biel (for the guys) and Emile Hirsch (for the ladies), and, some real people like Elizabeth Gore a UN Humanitarian and Dr. Greg Allgood the director of Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program at Proctor & Gamble.

According to the website there are still over 1 billion people who do not have access to clean drinking water; the most affected are children.  Furthermore, water-related diseases are responsible for 80% of all sickness in the world and are the leading cause of death, taking the lives of over 3.5 million people a year.  You would think that since most of the planet is covered by water we should be fine but, only about 0.007% of it is readily accessible for direct human use.  Wow! It must suck for all those third world countries.  Not so fast!  Currently, over half the states in the U.S. are facing serious drought conditions according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“My tap is working – what’s the big deal?” Well, yes, for now.  We take it for granted that we have water availability, even though in many places it takes great ingenuity to transfer it hundreds of miles.  Donald Wilhite of the National Drought Mitigation Center says the Southwest and Southeast are “becoming gradually more vulnerable to drought” because the rising population will need more water. “We think of water as an unlimited resource,” he says. “But what happens when you turn on the tap and it’s not there?” Scary thought.

So what do we do? Well, the obvious thing is save water: shorter showers, wash full laundry loads only, plant low-water-use plants, turn off the water while you brush or shave, fix leaky faucets, use a broom to clean your driveway or sidewalk and, of course, how could I forget, use a “waterless” car wash.  I prefer Lucky Earth J And with all that money you save DIY with Lucky Earth you could donate a few bucks to a worthy cause like Summit on the Summit at http://summitonthesummit.com/#/intro .

I hope these stars have more success than Mallory because not too long after he and his climbing partner disappeared on the way to the summit. I’m just too lazy to climb a rock so hopefully Summit on the Summit’s efforts will make real impact on us as people and the issue of fresh drinking water. Cheers!