The Appalachian trail is 2,178 miles long and runs from Maine to Georgia. Steven and Matt are a father and son duo who love to hike. They decided to put their love of the outdoors to use by hiking to raise money for Water For People. They plan to start at the southern end of the trail in April and end up in Maine by August.

You can find out more details on their website—Hiking For Water. After they start, you’ll be able to track their hiking and fundraising progress.

The Cove is an nominee for best documentary in the upcoming Academy Awards. I received this message from Ric Barry who heads up the campaign to save the dolphins. Donate to the cause. Watch the awards ceremony.

From Ric Barry:

This is a heads-up that our work, as featured in the blockbuster documentary The Cove, will be coming up at the Academy Awards telecast this weekend!

You can watch us vie for the Best Documentary Award on Sunday night March 7th at 8pm Eastern Time (US). The event will also be streaming live online at: www.livestream.com/academyawards

We are beyond excited about what this means to the Save Japan Dolphins Campaign! More than ONE BILLION people are expected to view the Oscars. And the Oscars are the most-watched television show in Japan!

We need to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to:

* ramp up efforts around the world to press Japan to end the slaughter and stop all sales of poisoned dolphin meat;
* get hundreds of thousands of people in Japan to go see the subtitled version of The Cove. (An Oscar win could ensure that The Cove opens in more theaters, with greater media coverage and pubic impact);
* increase our monitoring of the cove in Taiji, and bring over journalists, celebrities, and members of the public to stand firm against the dolphin killing.

Please give us as generous a contribution as you are able.

I hope you can help me translate the powerful message of The Cove into an end of the dolphin killing in Japan.

Your donations make it possible for me to get back to Japan, and for us to reach out to the hundreds of media outlets that will be focused on the Oscars next Sunday.

You probably won’t see me on the red carpet next Sunday, and I’ve never owned a tuxedo. But I will be there in the auditorium, waiting for that white envelope to be opened for Best Documentary, and knowing what it could mean for the dolphins and people of Japan.

Even if we don’t win, the publicity from being nominated has been huge.

But we do need funds to get our message out to the media, and we need follow-up to get the Japanese version of The Cove movie out in Japan, where it will do the most good.

Please donate and support our efforts to save the dolphins.

I’ve witnessed people in Japan watch this film and learn of our efforts for the first time, and many are as shocked as we are. Most have no idea that the killing is even happening and don’t support it continuing. These people hold the hope for building internal pressure in Japan to stop the slaughter.

Thanks for being part of our historic campaign, for watching and keeping fingers crossed on March 7th, and mostly for your constant help for the dolphins!

Ric O’Barry
Campaign Director
Save Japan Dolphins

P.S. Give what you can today! All of our travel and organizing costs money.

P.P.S. Learn more by going to our blog at savejapandolphins.org/blog.html.

This story, from Inside the Bottle, highlights action taken by students on campuses in Ontario, Canada.

February 22, 2010, OTTAWA –Campus organizers from across Ontario are racing to see whose campus can go bottled water free first. The Ontario Bottled Water Free Campus Challenge is a challenge initiated by more than 20 Ontario campuses that are actively working to restrict bottled water while promoting accessible public water infrastructure on campus.

Over the last 12 months three Canadian campuses—The University of Winnipeg (Manitoba), Memorial University (Newfoundland & Labrador) and Brandon University (Manitoba)—all signed water declarations to end the sale and distribution of bottled water and promote public water on campus. To date no Ontario campus has banned bottled water.

For the rest of the story, go to the Inside the Bottle website.

Kohler—the plumbing fixture company—has pledged to give Habitat for Humanity $1 in products for every quiz taken on its Save Water America site. So far, they’ve donated over $1.5 million dollars worth of water-saving products.

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit group whose goal is to end poverty housing and homelessness. They build houses in all parts of the world, including the USA. They build and rehab houses which they then sell to partner families for NO profit.

Take the quiz now and help Habitat!

A Twitter update from one of Katie Spotz’s friend’s:

“Just had a chat with Katie on the sat-phone. She’s great, but we were rudely interrupted by a fish hitting her face! [Sam]”

Katie has been rowing from Africa to South America for more than 52 days. Her cause: To raise money for Blue Planet Run Foundation and to raise awareness of the need for clean drinking water in many parts of the world.

I’ve been following her blog. This is a strong woman, both physically and mentally. Can you imagine living in a high-tech row boat? She has a few conveniences, like solar power so she can blog and get fresh water. Of course, she has fresh fish flying all around her!

Encourage Katie by leaving a comment on her blog. She’ll reach land in 28 days at the soonest. But it could be much more if she encounters strong currents, winds, or a big storm.

HPA is a group of Harry Potter fans who whose purpose is to help address pressing concerns of the real world. They have raised money for Darfur and Burma, donated books to developing countries, fought for gay marriage rights in Maine, fought against genocide, trained student leaders, and, more recently, raised money to help Haiti.

Pretty impressive list of activities. But they are wizards!

Check out their website. Volunteer to be a wizard.

The distance from Loch Lomond, Scotland to the Sahara desert is 4,000 miles. On March 22, Mark Spriggs plans to start that trek. He was drawn to take action after he learned about the lack of water in developing countries. This is his personal call to action to raise money and awareness for this worthy cause.

According to my map, there is a body of water between the U.K. and the continent. How does Mark plan to cross it? You can find out the details of his route by visiting the Walking 4 Water website. Contact him if you want to walk with him.

The money Mark raises will go to Pump Aid. This agency specializes in low-cost solutions that require community support and maintenance.

Watch this video. Then go to the One Drop website and make a commitment. You can see what other people like yourself are doing around the world to help solve the global water crisis.

---

Filter Pure issued a challenge to women to give up a hair cut and use that money to purchase a life-saving water filter for someone in Haiti. Lisa Ballantine, the Executive Director of FilterPure figures that the average cost of a haircut for a woman is $30. I actually think that’s a low estimate, at least for the Bay area in California. She is in Port-au-Prince helping out with disaster relief. Overwhelmed by the scope of the tragedy, she issued this statement:

I am calling on the women of American for help! Consider this fact: the average women in the U.S. will spend $30 at minimum on a haircut. $30 will provide a Haitian family with a water filter that will provide them with safe clean water for 5 years!! I am calling on all American women to consider donating $30, the cost of a haircut to provide a lifesaving water filter to a family affected by the tragic earthquake. I am calling on all American women to help me to bring attention to this message and help me to raise awareness. As a demonstration of my love, commitment and devotion to this project, I will be shaving my head Saturday on the street in Port-au-Prince. Please consider making a donation and asking others to do the same. When my head is shaved, I will be wearing my special bandana hoping to draw attention to the cause. You can also purchase a bandana for $3 of promote this effort of bringing safe clean water to the families and children of Haiti. Please watch my head shaving ceremony on the video section of the website www.filterpurefilters.org on Saturday for the ceremony.”

Lisa already shaved her head. You can see the results on the FilterPure website.

If you are a member of the the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, or know a member, vote for The Cove to win best documentary film. The exposure will help stop Japan from killing the dolphins. In turn you’ll also help stop the Japanese people and countless pets from being exposed to mercury by the deceptive labeling of dolphin meat, which has toxic levels of mercury.

If you are not a member of the Academy, buy the DVD and host a screening at your house prior to Oscar night. Get your friends to discuss the issues in the movie and to take action.