Look To The Stars News: Water

Win A Water Filtration Device To Celebrate Charity Climb

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0000

In January, Jessica Biel and Isabel Lucas will be among a group of celebrities as they set off to climb the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, to raise awareness of the importance of safe drinking water. And to celebrate, Look To The Stars will give away a PUR water filtration system to one lucky reader.

The stars will be joined by Ethiopian singer Kenna and rapper Lupe Fiasco, and the Summit On The Summit expedition will raise money and awareness for the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and PlayPumps International.

“My dad almost died as a child from waterborne diseases in Ethiopia, and he had talked to me about digging a well there, and I thought, ’I have too many friends who would be concerned with the subject of clean water,” said Kenna. “Maybe I can help out.’”

And it is a challenge Lupe Fiasco is looking forward to: “I’m an adventure junkie. Part of the motivation is beating Kenna to the top. Sabotaging his tent, taking the lining out of his coat, lacing it with ants or something like that. [The water crisis in Africa] is a universal problem; it’s all mounting to the point where eventually there’s no clean water left. If I did a song, it would be jam-packed with so much information, it would almost be like we fit the substance of an entire interview in three and a half minutes.”

Dr. Greg Allgood, Founder and Director of the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW), will be joining the climb as the water issues expert, educating the climbers on the global water crisis and what is being done to help. PUR Water Filtration Specialists is sponsoring this initiative and, for every PUR system purchase, one week of clean drinking water is provided to children in the developing world through the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program: which has, to date, provided over 1.8 billion liters of clean water worldwide. You can also sponsor a foot of the climb – $2.00 provides 200 liters of clean drinking water for those in need, and $10 will provide a clean water solution for a child for 1.5 years.

The CSDW program distributes small, easy-to-use PUR packets of powdered mixture that remove impurities found in contaminated drinking water. Click HERE to see a demonstration. Through the use of these packets PUR has provided 1.8 billion liters of clean water to those in developing countries and at the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative made a new commitment to provide 4 billion liters by 2012. This will prevent an estimated 160 million days of diarrheal illness and save an estimated 20,000 lives.

Look To The Stars is giving away a PUR Filtration System to one lucky reader. All you have to do is name one of the celebrities taking part in the Summit On The Summit event. Email the answer, as well as your full name and address (including your country), to contests@looktothestars.org by Tuesday, December 1 and we’ll put you in the draw.

Harrison Ford To Host Environmental Charity Awards

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart will host a special event for Oceana this Friday, November 20, to honor Deepak Chopra and Arianna Huffington.

The 2009 Oceana Partners Award Gala honors those individuals who have made outstanding contributions through their personal commitment to the cause of protecting and conserving the environment. Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of 12 books. Dr. Deepak Chopra is the Founder of Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, California and Manhattan, New York. He is also the author of many best-selling books.

Joining Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart in hosting the event will be Morgan Freeman, Jeff Goldblum, Trudie Styler, Sting, Robert Redford and Ron Howard. Working behind the scenes are Ted Danson and Sam Waterston.

The event will take place at the private residence of Keri Selig and Keith Addis in Los Angeles. To find out more about the event, visit the official website.

Sam Waterston Pens Ocean Conservation Article For CNN

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Law & Order’s Sam Waterston has penned an article for CNN.com on the issue of ocean conservation.

The actor is a member of the board of directors of Oceana, a nonprofit organization that seeks to protect the world’s oceans by opposing overfishing and pollution, and has been honored several times for his conservation work.

“For 800,000 years, the seas were a stable solution, a hospitable solution for all sorts of creatures to live in, and a generous solution to all sorts of human problems, from food supply to waste disposal,” wrote the veteran actor. "We must not make them inhospitable, for people or for the 80 percent of life on the planet that lives in them.

“As a native New Englander, I know full and well how much we depend on the oceans. They have often been a solution for our problems.

“They’ve been a highway for goods and people, connecting us to the world, and a barrier against foreign invasion, protecting us from the world; a source of food and wealth, going back to our earliest beginnings, when whale oil lit our houses and when cod were so plentiful that huge specimens were commonly stacked like cordwood on our docks and wharves, and still there were so many that you could almost walk on their backs across some harbors.”

Waterston goes on to write about carbon levels in the ocean and the effect they have on living creatures.

“For the last 250 years, the oceans have absorbed 30 percent of the carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, moderating and masking its global impact. They take in 11 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Each year, the amount we release grows another 3 percent.

“Carbon dioxide in the sea is the front line of climate carbon addiction. Reverse the trend toward ocean acidification, and we will also have made a giant stride in addressing the effects of climate change. The sea is warning us to change course and calling us to seize enormous opportunities. Now.”

To read the full article, visit the CNN website here.

Matt Damon Writes On The Importance Of Giving Back

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:00:00 -0000

Matt Damon has put pen to paper and written an article for Parade Magazine on the importance of giving back.

“Here’s something that matters to me right now,” wrote Damon, who is a founder of Not On Our Watch, H2O Africa and Water.org. "Every 15 seconds, a child dies because of a lack of clean water and sanitation. I should probably repeat that: Every 15 seconds, a child dies because of a lack of clean water and sanitation. A billion people on our planet will never have a clean drink of water. There are 2.5 billion people in the world without toilet facilities. That kind of deprivation isn’t even on our radar in the U.S., but in Africa it’s the central preoccupation of many people’s lives. And the most devastating thing about it is that it takes so little to change it. Just $25 will give someone clean water for life—yes, just $25 will change someone’s future forever.

“I’ve taken a lot of trips in the last few years to places like Africa and India and Haiti to try to learn what conditions are like. You can read about extreme poverty and possible solutions, but it’s really powerful when you get to meet the people and shake their hands and listen to their stories. I try to keep my trips short because my kids are so young that my wife, Lucy, can’t come. We don’t like to be separated, but we both feel it’s so important to learn about these things. There’s so much I don’t know. In the future, I know these trips are something we’ll do as a family.

“There’s so much need, it’s so hard to decide where to give. For me, I look at the organizations that are actually doing the work on the ground. I co-founded Water.org, which focuses on water and sanitation. I was in Ethiopia earlier this year, and I watched children taking filthy water out of a hand-dug well and putting it in bottles to take to school. The water was so dirty, it looked like chocolate milk. I wanted to knock it out of their hands and say, “Don’t drink that—it could kill you.” The dilemma is that drinking nothing at all will kill them even faster. Parents in these impoverished areas lose children every year to diseases that could be completely prevented if they had access to clean water.

“Please find out what you can do to make a difference. Take five minutes to educate yourself on an issue you didn’t know about before. Then tell somebody else. Or make a small donation, if you can. Every dollar counts. Charitable foundations would rather have a million people donate $1 each than have a handful of people write big checks, because that means millions of us are getting involved. If you give $5 and talk to your neighbor about giving $5, that’s a big deal. If that conversation goes on across the country, we’ll really start moving some mountains.

“We’re here for such a short time. When your great-great-grandkids study history, don’t you want them to be proud that you were part of the solution?”

To read the full article Damon has written, visit the Parade Magazine website. You can also join Parade Magazine’s Giving Challenge – in which you could win $50,000 for your favorite charity – by clicking here.

January Jones Afraid For Sharks

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:00:00 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

Actress January Jones was in Washington recently on behalf of Oceana’s campaign to save the sharks. She was there to lobby Congress members to tighten up US laws that would help regenerate the population of sharks from which 100 million are killed every year.

“The United States needs to stand up for sharks,” said Jones. “Congress can do its part by passing the Shark Conservation Act.”

Existing laws already ban “finning” – where a shark’s fins are cut off and the carcass thrown back into the sea – yet allow for the transfer of fins at sea from countries without restrictions as a way around the ban. However, Oceana is pushing for the requirement that sharks be landed whole, i.e. with fins still naturally attached. They also want to decrease the demand for shark products and reduce unintended shark catch.

According to Oceana, sharks are key to maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems by regulating species abundance, distribution and diversity, and providing food sources for scavengers. They’re also critical to the health of other systems. Without them, coral reefs would become algae dominated systems, seagrass beds would decline and chain reactions to these would be set into motion.

As Jones says in a public service announcement: “We should be scared for sharks, not of them.”

Celebrities Support The Amazon At "Crude" Screening

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:30:00 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

The New York Times’ Stephen Holden called it “A sprawling legal thriller with rare depth and power.” Village Voice’s Ed Gonzales called it “A Herculean work of investigative journalism.”

They’re talking about Crude, a new feature-length documentary meant to bring attention to and lay out both sides of the 27-billion-dollar lawsuit surrounding Chevron’s polluting of the Ecuadorean Amazon during its years of oil exploration.

While the press has been extolling the film’s efforts, celebrities such as Sean Penn, Rosanna Arquette and Dave Navarro are helping to bring attention to the 16-year trial by attending Crude’s premiers that are running through major US cities. Trudie Styler went so far as to invite 6,000 Chevron employees in San Francisco to see the film.

“You may know me as [”Sting’s":http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/212-sting] wife," she wrote, “and you may know of my work for the environment and human rights. You may also have heard my name mentioned as one of the celebrities speaking out in support of the 30,000 Ecuadorean citizens who are pursuing Chevron to clean up the pollution the company left behind in their homeland. Many people will assume that you and I must be on different sides of the fence on this issue. But I don’t believe that. I’m willing to bet that you and I, and all of your colleagues, agree that everyone has the fundamental right to the life-supporting elements of clean air and clean water…I’d like to give you the opportunity to make up your own mind about what has been going on in Ecuador, and to consider how justice can be achieved for the people suffering there. I’d like to invite you to the movies.”

Atossa Soltani, Executive Director of Amazon Watch, which hosted the Hollywood premier last month, is pleased with the reaction to Crude: “The film shows both sides and allows the audience to be the judge on whether Chevron is guilty. Chevron is fast losing the battle in the court of public opinion and showing clear signs that it is afraid of Crude.”   Amazon Watch’s Corporate Accountability Campaigner, Mitch Anderson wants as many people to see the movie as possible, and “to let Chevron know that it can no longer afford to evade it’s clean up responsibility in Ecuador.”

  You can visit the official film website here.

Jessica Biel To Climb Kilimanjaro For Charity

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Jessica Biel is the latest star to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for charity.

The actress will join Isabel Lucas and several others for the trek in January to raise awareness about the need for clean water.

“This is a basic human necessity that needs to be addressed now,” she said. “I want to help any way I can in order to raise awareness toward the life-threatening clean water crisis happening not only in Africa but around the world.”

Biel’s boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, is also set to take part in the climb, which will also raise money for the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and PlayPumps International.

“I’ve been training four times a week to get my VO2 – oxygen consumption – levels up to expand my lungs,” he said. “We’ll climb for a week straight, carrying 30lbs on our backs. It’s going to be intense, but it’s going to be so rewarding. We’re going to be ready for it.”

Third Eye Blind Encourages Fans To Give Back

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Rock band Third Eye Blind hit back at an online leak of their latest album last week by asking all those who downloaded it to give to charity.

“Wow! I leave the country and my album ends up leaking,” said frontman Stephen Jenkins. “I was in Jakarta performing for the fine citizens of Indonesia after their devastating terrorist attack—I can’t speak more highly of the country. I am asking for all those downloaders who illegally downloaded our new album, please donate some money to your local charity.”

The band has two charities in mind that they support whole-heartedly: the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and KickStart.

“The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization,” the band writes on their website. “Their mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species. Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately-balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations. We thank Animal Planet for the series Whale Wars, which shares the story of Sea Shepherd.”

KickStart is another great cause that the band encourages their fans to support.

“We believe in not taking this brief appointment with life for granted,” writes the band. "And life starts with water. For a lot of people (in fact, some of the coolest people you’d ever know) water is scarce, dirty, and too far away. For them, water everyday is life and death. We support KickStart because they create the tools to end poverty by putting water that was once inaccessible into people’s hands. Third Eye Blind has always been “DIY”, and we support the “Do It Yourself” spirit that KickStart fosters."

Third Eye Blind’s new album, Ursa Major, was released officially yesterday.

Matt Damon Launches New Charity Organization

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Matt Damon has launched a new charity project aimed at providing access to safe water in the some of the world’s poorest countries.

Damon is to merge his H2O Africa charity – aimed at creating widespread public awareness of the water crisis in Africa and gathering support for clean water programs in critical areas – with WaterPartners to create a new organization – Water.org – a non-profit focused on bringing access to safe water and sanitation to the developing world.

Water.org will leverage grassroots awareness-building expertise and nearly two decades of demonstrated innovation and success in the sector to help the nearly 890 million people without safe water and the more than 2.5 billion people without safe sanitation.

“Every 15 seconds, a child in the developing world dies from water-related disease,” said Damon. “After visiting project sites in Africa and Asia, I’ve seen the problem and the impact of safe water. As a clear leader in the sector at delivering innovative and sustainable solutions for those in need, WaterPartners was the natural choice with whom to work to truly affect lasting change.”

“For more than 20 years I’ve been working to realize the vision of global access to safe water, and with the help of our donors, staff, partner organizations, and the H2OAfrica team, I’m confident we can accelerate our impact,” added Gary White, founder of WaterPartners and the Executive Director of the new organization. “It will open the door to advocacy work, and bring the water issue to new heights in the public’s consciousness.”

To visit the official site of the new organization, click here.

Matt Damon Joins Entourage For Charity

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Matt Damon will make a cameo appearance on the latest season of Entourage to promote a charity he is involved with.

“It wasn’t hard to get him,” Entourage executive producer Doug Elin told TV Guide. “Matt came on the phone with me and wanted to do something that focused on his charity, [charity:ONEXONE}, which helps kids all over the world.”

Damon will join NBA star LeBron James in the episode, which features Damon forcing Adrian Grenier’s character to donate more to the charity than he intended to.

“The joke is that Matt is very passionate about his charity—almost in a stalkerish kind of way,” said Grenier. “Vince [Grenier’s character] becomes [intimidated] by his intensity. He ends up bullying Vince into giving much more than he should.”

Damon has hosted several galas for ONEXONE, and undertaken several overseas visits to promote the charity’s work. ONEXONE is well known for supporting, preserving and improving the lives of children in Canada and around the world. ONEXONE is a non-profit organization that supports children in Canada and abroad. Established less than four years ago by Joelle Adler, it has already raised over $5 million and created partnerships with major corporations and foundations, such as H2O Africa, the Yéle Haiti Foundation, Millennium Promise, War Child and Spread the Net.

The episode will screen as the finale of Entourage’s sixth season finale on October 4.

LTTS Exclusive: An Interview With Yaya DaCosta

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:20:00 -0000

Written by Brandy Reynolds

America’s Next Top Model runner-up Yaya DaCosta recently told Look To The Stars about the causes important to her, showing both her eloquence and deep understanding of what one person can do to make a difference.

LTTS: Which charities do you support, and why?

Yaya: I have been a member of Greenpeace (which is more of an environmental activist group than a charity) all of my life, and I worked with them during my high school summer vacations. In the past few years, the two charities I have most consistently supported are charity:water and Women for Women International.

Have you seen improvement since you started volunteering?

These organizations were founded and seeing results from their work long before I joined or – in Greenpeace’s case – before I was born! The success of these organizations and their hands-on approaches are in large part why I felt safe getting involved. Every month, people who dedicate their lives to improving the lives of others and the health of the planet are making improvements and advances, but the problems are also growing.

As a child growing up in New York City, occasionally giving part of my lunch to homeless people on the trains, I learned that giving alone doesn’t always fix the problem. I would see the same people begging day after day.

Greenpeace makes advances, but is faced with new challenges every day, especially now with the exponentially increasing threat of global climate change and natural disasters. With every well

charity:water builds and the more they travel, the more aware they become of the many other surrounding villages in need of their help.

It would be virtually impossible for Women for Women International to find and enroll every female victim of war into their recovery program, but with every success story, there is progress and growth in the community of people who care. I think improvement can be defined as a growing awareness of the problems of the world and a sense of responsibility among the “have’s”, as well as a spreading of wealth of knowledge and sense of hope and among the “have not’s”.

Were you raised to think about others, or was there an event in your life that spurred it?

I was raised in a poor (by U.S.A. standards) family in a rough neighborhood in New York City, but I didn’t know I wasn’t well off for a long time, because my parents gave us top-notch educations and taught us that our privilege was defined not by money, but by the love in our lives and by the simple things we enjoyed that poor people in very poor countries couldn’t (food, shelter, childhood etc.).

The act of giving attempts to balance out, even a little bit, the very uneven and unfair structures in which we live.

I saw the homeless people in New York as New Yorkers who had experienced unfortunate circumstances, not as people who weren’t worthy of having a home. I was also reminded by my parents that we – human beings – are all one, and if tragedy could happen to a stranger, it could happen to me too. Children born in poor regions of the world where they have no access to clean water did not ask to be born there. Women in war-torn regions being raped, abused and displaced did not wish these circumstances upon themselves. Being born in a place of relative privilege makes me lucky and gives me the position – obligation, even – to help others in whatever way I can.

What do you get out of it (lessons, morals, etc.)?

I am very sensitive and always conscious of the world’s injustices, so when I am able to help others in the little ways I can, I feel a little less helpless and feel closer to the other people around the world doing their little parts. Hopefully our “little parts” add up and contribute significantly to the work of the our crusaders who dedicate their entire lives to making change.

Why would you recommend others get involved?

There can never be too many people involved in making positive change. Recommending that people get involved, however, can be tricky because people don’t like to be made to feel guilty. In the Western world, especially, we tend to defend our right to have what we have because we – or our ancestors, or our ancestors’ slaves – worked hard for it. It can be difficult to get past that sense of detachment from our responsibilities as citizens of the world, but if someone is already interested and open, I love sharing ideas with comrades in struggle and urging new friends to get involved in whatever little ways they can.

For people who really don’t have a lot of money to give, where do you suggest they start in helping out?

Where there are small, locally based organizations in their areas, they could volunteer time and labor. Even if people don’t have a lot of money, we can still give a little. If you find a good organization you can trust to put the money exactly where they claim it’s going, then every little bit counts, even loose change. Sometimes when we’re tempted to buy something we don’t really need (a sweet treat, a new pair of earrings, or some other cheap knick-knack), we can stop and decide to put those few dollars aside in a ‘charity box’ and give it to someone in need instead. Also, if we can’t give to people living now, we can always give to our unborn family members and all future generations by making changes in our daily habits to reduce our carbon footprints and help keep the planet human-friendly for a lot longer than scientists are predicting today (ie. recycling, using low energy light bulbs, using dishwashers and clothes washing machines only when full, riding bikes instead of driving, planting a tree etc.). There are so many little things we can do that really do go a long way!

What would you do to fix the issues?

I don’t know about fixing the issues, but I intend to always do my part to help minimize them and, hopefully, as my resources grow, so will my “part”!

Do you feel young females in Hollywood should take action and set an example?

If young women in Hollywood, along with young men in Hollywood, old men on Wall Street, everyone in WalMart, and everyone who can, for that matter, did their little parts and set examples for their family members, I think a more worldly consciousness of interconnectedness and responsibility would spread and we’d all benefit from it.

Will any of your up-and-coming work reflect your feelings on world issues?

Well, I’m always working on my own little projects, in which my feelings on world issues are embedded, by default, but as an actor, anything you see in the near future will simply reflect the job I got hired to do. Every once in a while, though, a movie, a play, or a television show is produced that is entertaining enough to reach a wide audience and brave enough to raise important questions about the state of our governments or our human collective consciousness. If I’m hired to work on one of those projects, I’d be so lucky!

Naomi Watts Plants Trees In Israel

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Naomi Watts took a break from filming Salt with Angelina Jolie earlier this week to join her husband Liev Schreiber in planting trees in Israel.

The celebrity couple – along with their two children – planted a pistachio sapling in Galilee with the Jewish National Fund, an environmental organization that was established in 1901 and has planted 240 million trees, built over 200 reservoirs and dams, developed over 250,000 acres of land, created more than 1,000 parks, provided the infrastructure for over 1,000 communities, brought life to the Negev Desert and helped in educating students around the word about Israel and the environment.

“This particular area is called Galilee,” explained Schreiber. “And in this area, approximately 750,000 trees were destroyed in missile attacks. So what we are doing here today is called Project Renewal.”

The Fund is currently looking for donations to help them replant trees. To find out how you can help, visit their website.

In the pictures: Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, and their two children Sacha and Kai, helped green the land by planting a tree at Jewish National Fund Park in the Galilee on June 14th. Photo Credit: Ronn Torossian, 5W PR

Celebrities Do Whatever It Takes For Charity

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

A huge selection of celebrity-designed bags and T-shirts are currently available at the UK’s premiere celebrity charity auction website, Buy Once Give Twice.

The auction site is hosting the auction for Whatever It Takes, a unique charity artwork project which inspires hope by gathering artworks from leaders in all fields; royalty, film, music, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, sports, literature etc. The artworks are used to ethically produce Whatever It Takes products which are then sold to raise funds for charitable causes chosen by each contributing leader.

Going under the hammer in the auction are T-shirts featuring designs by The Killers, Pink, Snoop Dogg, Nicole Kidman, Hilary Duff, Lucy Liu, Toni Collette, Coldplay, Minnie Driver, Keane, Whoopi Goldberg, Green Day, Barry Manilow, Penelope Cruz, Melanie C, Annie Lennox, and the Kaiser Chiefs. There are also bags and purses designed by Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, Lucy Liu, Kanye West, Slash, David Bowie, Ozzy Osbourne, and Stella McCartney.

Charities supported by Whatever It Takes include: Adopt-A-Minefield, Anti-Slavery International, Breast Cancer Campaign, CARE, Children of the Andes, Children’s Medical Research Institute, Christian Children’s Fund, City at Peace, Comic Relief, Dreams Can Be Foundation, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Greenpeace, Healthlink Worldwide, Heifer International, Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, Red Cross, LIFEbeat, LifeLine & Rape Crisis PMB, Opportunity International, Oxfam, ROTA, Rights and Humanity, S.A.F.E., Save the Children, Sharon Osborne Colon Cancer Program, Snoop Youth Football League, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Teenage Cancer Trust, The BRIT Trust, Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, Little Dreams Foundation, Lotus Outreach, Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, Toothfairy Foundation, Trade plus Aid, UNHCR, UNICEF, and WaterAid.

To make a bid in the auction, which runs until June 30, click here.

Erykah Badu Designs Charity Label

Wed, 20 May 2009 11:30:00 -0000

Written by Catrina K. Sally

Erykah Badu is using her well-known affinity for the Afro hairstyle to help raise money for the Waterkeeper Alliance.

The Alliance is a grassroots advocacy organization committed to protecting and preserving community waterways. Badu has designed an Afro inspired label complete with butterflies and ferns for Kiehl’s body lotion. One hundred percent of net proceeds received from the sales of Kiehl’s Superbly Restorative Argan Body Lotion will directly benefit the Alliance.

Badu’s charitable work is as diverse as her musical repertoire. In addition to body care products, Badu offers philanthropic support through her organization, Beautiful Love Incorporated Non-Profit Development (B.L.I.N.D.). Created in 2003, the group provides community-driven development for inner-city youth through music, dance, theater and visual arts. The singer is also a supporter of Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA), a non-profit group dedicated to fighting the spread of AIDS in Africa.

Hugh Jackman Splits $100,000 Between Two Charities

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Regina Walton

Hugh Jackman followed through on his April 14th promise to donate $100,000 to charity based on the best 140 character or less message explaining why their chosen charity should get the cash.

Jackman sent out a tweet announcing the recipients, “Thank you for all of your passionate responses. I have chosen [”charity:water":http://www.looktothestars.org/charity/611-charity-water] and Operation of Hope. Keep your generous spirit flowing!" He also announced the recipients live on Ryan Seacrest’s morning radio show.

On Seacrest’s show, Jackman said he got so many great tweets about great causes that he was unable to choose just one. The two that recieve the final donation are the two that “really got him.”

Charity:Water is a New York City based non-profit which focuses on bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Charity:Water was founded in 2006 and since then it has helped fund 1,247 projects in 14 countries and has brought 669,045 people clean and safe drinking water. For more information, visit charitywater.org.

Operation of Hope is a non-profit medical foundation started in 1989. Its mission is to donate surgeries to children who have facial deformities. The charity has an all-volunteer medical team. Operation of Hope performs facial surgeries on poor children around the world. All the operations are performed free of charge and all of their surgeons are Board Certified. For more information, visit operationofhope.org.

During the interview Hugh expressed his amazement with the communication potential that Twitter has. “It’s just amazing to me that Twitter has now become a way for people to start talking about things that are really important to them and making a difference.”

We’re glad that Hugh recognized this potential. He not only helped two charities with donations but also helped many good causes spread the word about their efforts.

Listen to the show, courtesy RyanSeacrest.com.

Stars Design Necklaces For Charity Auction

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:00:00 -0000

The World Gold Council has launched its charity auction featuring jewelry designed by some of entertainment’s biggest stars.

As reported by Look To The Stars last year, a range of celebrities – including Debra Messing, Christina Applegate, Whoopi Goldberg, Marcia Gay Harden, Samantha Harris, Eric McCormack, Chris Noth (“Mr Big”), Lena Olin, Rachael Ray, Susan Sarandon, Brooke Shields, and Pauletta & Denzel Washington – have designed gold pendant necklaces incorporating a leaf motif. Participants will choose to have proceeds from the sale of their designs benefit their favorite charity or Jewelers for Children, the jewelers industry charity that has invested over $30 million in special programs to reach children whose lives have been devastated by catastrophic illness or life-threatening abuse and neglect.

Other charities to benefit from the auction include YouthAIDS, Right Action for Women, Ronald McDonald House Charities, the Waterkeeper Alliance, Project Angel Food, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Hope for Henry Foundation – a charity which improves the lives of children with life-threatening illnesses by providing carefully chosen gifts and specially designed programs to entertain and promote comfort, care and recovery – Yum-o!, and the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen.

The auction runs until May 7, and will be followed by a live gala event in New York City.

To make a bid or view the items, click here.

Have Lunch With MacGyver For Charity

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Rumors of a MacGyver movie may be floating around at the moment, but one thing that has been confirmed is that the original star of the show, Richard Dean Anderson, is to star in a big screen version of Stargate SG-1 towards the end of this year. And now you have the chance to join him on the set for lunch.

The charity auction is raising money for the Waterkeeper Alliance, a coalition of more than 160 local organizations that take personal responsibility for the health of the waterways and communities they represent. Waterkeepers serve as investigator, scientist, educator and lawyer, enforcing environmental laws and solving environmental problems. Waterkeepers are Riverkeeper, Baykeeper, Coastkeeper, and other citizen advocates who patrol and protect their local waterbody, standing up to polluters and guaranteeing everyone’s right to clean water.

The lunch will take place in Vancouver in November or December, and is valid for two people. Bids are already over $18,000, and the auction runs until April 30. To check it out, click here.

Leonardo DiCaprio Busy With Charity Events And Auctions

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Julia Louis Dreyfus is to host the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Gala in Southern California this month, and guests such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Redford have already been confirmed.

The event will take place at the Beverly Wilshire on April 25, and will feature music by Maroon 5 and Rosanna Arquette. A short film featuring DiCaprio and Redford that outlines the accomplishments of NRDC’s Southern California office will also be shown.

“You can be tough doing bad things, and tough doing good things. NRDC, in my opinion, is tough doing good things,” said Robert Redford. The legendary actor, filmmaker and environmental advocate has been an NRDC trustee for more than 30 years. The group’s Southern California office, one of the first LEED Platinum green buildings in the world, was dedicated to Mr. Redford in 2003, which he said “fills me with an enormous sense of pride.”

“NRDC is probably the most effective environmental organization in the world,” said Leonardo DiCaprio, an NRDC trustee. “[They are] willing to take on major corporations and the government itself to hold them accountable for the environmental policy that’s out there.”

More information about the event can be found here.

DiCaprio has also launched an auction to celebrate Earth Day on April 22.

The star is auctioning memorabilia including signed costumes from his films and the chance to accompany him to the premiere of his latest film.

“By bidding on these items at ebay.com/globalgreen, people will help [”Global Green":http://www.looktothestars.org/charity/138-global-green] combat climate change and pursue important environmental imperatives, such as greening our nation’s schools, housing, cities and more," he said.

Green Is The Color For Corey Feldman

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Corey Feldman’s band Truth Movement is to play at the Key Club in Hollywood on April 10 at an event hosted by Ed Begley Jr..

Green Is The Color aims to create an “atmosphere of learning and communication about the environment, ranging from Fuel technology to alternative sources of energy.” Proceeds from the night will go to Global Green, and the evening will feature guest speakers such as Kevin Vickery – who is the co-producer of the award winning new film FUEL – and a live auction that includes a Fender Squire Stratocaster signed by Feldman’s band.

Tickets to the show are available for $20 by clicking here. To read Look To The Stars’ exclusive interview with Corey Feldman, click here.

Leonardo DiCaprio: A Big Green Help

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:30:00 -0000

In recognition for his significant and visible contribution toward helping the environment, and for inspiring kids to do the same, Nickelodeon will honor multi-Academy Award-nominated actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio with the first-ever “Big Green Help Award” at this year’s Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday, March 28, at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles, Calif.

Nickelodeon’s 22nd Annual Kids’ Choice Awards — featuring host Dwayne Johnson — will honor kids’ favorites from the worlds of film, music, sports and television in a star-studded live event.

The award — which will be presented to DiCaprio by longtime friend and fellow friend of the planet Cameron Diaz — is part of Nickelodeon’s Big Green Help campaign — a multiplatform, global pro-social campaign designed to empower kids to take action on the environment and connect them to energy saving and earth-friendly activities in their everyday lives. Created for the more than half of U.S. kids who say they are concerned about the environment, The Big Green Help aims to fashion a new generation of environmentalists for whom green will become not only a cause, but a way of life.

Leonardo DiCaprio has been a tireless promoter of green causes and events, and an avid environmentalist. He established the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 to foster increased awareness of environmental issues, and served as global chairman of Earth Day 2000.

DiCaprio recently co-wrote, co-produced and narrated the documentary The 11th Hour, which touches on the world economy, politics, personal transformation and environmental consciousness. DiCaprio is on the board of trustees of the Natural Resources Defense Council (a Big Green Help partner) and Global Green USA.

Kids can join DiCaprio to help better the environment by pledging on www.nick.com/biggreenhelp. On Earth Day (April 22, 9 p.m. ET/PT), Nickelodeon will “Power Down” for 60-seconds, celebrating the nearly two million kid-pledges to-date, and symbolizing kids’ commitments to be more environmentally conscious. On-screen messaging will ask kids to simultaneously turn off their lights and unplug their gadgets and devices signaling their year-long promise to engage in real-world environmental action. When they power back up, kids can go online and find real-world tactics they can take to help the environment.

Look To The Stars Exclusive: An Interview With Corey Feldman

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Brandy Reynolds

Run through your top 10 favorite films from the 1980’s, and chances are that Corey Feldman will feature in at least one of them. From The Goonies to Gremlins to Stand By Me to The Lost Boys to Friday the 13th:The Final Chapter, his is a face a whole generation grew up recognizing.

Recent viewers may recognize Feldman from The Two Coreys, a reality show on the A&E Network that also starred Corey Haim. Since the late 90’s, he has also been enjoying success with his band, the Truth Movement, but it is charity work that keeps the actor and musician occupied for much of his time. With interests in animal welfare, environmental issues and several other causes, Feldman was awarded the Paws of Fame Award by the Wildlife Way Station.

Look To The Stars’ reporter Brandy Reynolds was lucky enough to catch up with Corey recently to chat about his work towards making the world a better place.

Hi Corey… can you tell us about some of the charities you support?

I support a lot of charities, I’m very involved with several different charities on all different levels. I can kind of give you the hit list .

I can’t really be selective. All are meaningful. At the top of the list would be the The Humane Society, PETA, Farm Sanctuary , Last Chance for Animals. All relatively related to each other. All related to animal rights and animal protection and health and welfare of animals.

And there’s environmental… Greenpeace, Global Green, Save Our Earth… and cancer charities, children’s charities like Camp Rainbow, the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I try to lend my voice to those who don’t have a voice of their own. Which is why I talk about animals, children, or environment – because those 3 topics don’t have their own representative.

Were you raised to think about others, or is there a certain event in your life that made you really want to get involved with charity work?

I’ve always cared about others, I myself was raised in a very abusive house hold. I spent most of my life very poor – always living hand to mouth and figuring out where the next meal was coming from… that was a big part of my life. So that made me very sympathetic to the less fortunate; and my mother was a huge animal rights advocate. When I was a child working as actor she had me involved with a group called Actors and Others for Animals which was one of the first animal rights organizations based out of Hollywood. So I was involved with them very early on… probably seven or eight years old -running around rescuing dogs and bringing them to our home. Shortly after that we ended up with 30 dogs and 20 cats living at our ranch.

We were really consumed with trying to save the world – and at that point of course no one was really doing what we were doing, there wasn’t really a lot of vegetarianism and animal rights activism. By the time I was 10 years old, I was resigned to the fact the I wanted to be a vegetarian for the rest of my life. However, growing up in a strict family environment, my grandparents where old Jewish traditional type people and thought I was crazy for wanting to be a vegetarian. It took until I was about 13 years old when I made the decision to be a strict vegetarian… and have been every since, and it’s been about 24 years for me now.

What would you recommend others do to get involved and what can they do?

There’s a lot you can do and it depends where you want to focus your time and energy. For me, I say anything you can do to help another struggling being [is great]. If you have the opportunity, just do it. That could mean anything from going down to the homeless shelters and feeding people, or if you have food you can go down to the homeless shelters and give it to them. You can hand out things to people on the streets – I don’t suggest handing out money because you don’t know what it’s going to be spent on.

You can get involved , you can be come a volunteer at any countless number of shelters or abuse clinics or hospitals. As far as environmental causes and helping the world goes – become environmentally safer and more eco friendly. There are small things you can do at home, such as using only bio-degradable products, earth-friendly products, making sure you turn your lights off, separate plastic and metals… every little bit that a human being does can push us forward in the battle of trying to restore our earth.

Do you feel Hollywood should set a better example?

I think the wheels are in motion and it’s certainly a hot point that people are progressively thinking about escalating this battle to the next level and making sure that we are setting a example. If you look around, everything is green this and green that. But there’s always more that can be done. For example, I put out a album a couple of months ago with my band, Truth Movement, and we wanted to kind of raise the bar when it came to environmental products and doing things environmentally friendly. So we released it under my own label in order that we could release it on one hundred percent recyclable biodegradable materials – the package is one hundred percent recyable material, the tray is corn plastic and we used soy wheat to print the images. Our first single is called Green Is The Color, so right there that was a way that I made my mark with my band to set a example. Yes it can be done in the end. It cost us a little bit more , but it can be done. And it’s worth it because we are making a statement that we are not going to keep taking the easier softer way.

What can we tell the people to look forward to and watch for in your up-coming projects?

Theres a couple of things. We’re doing a live premiere of our record release party in which I just mentioned. It’s call Technology Analogy. That event is planned at the Key Club on April 10th .

We are also talking to Weed Ware. They make materials out of weed instead of regular material. One of the things they focus on is they make all band materials out of weed. And we are now using all weed materials in our band (drum sticks and guitar picks).

Another thing we’re doing – I can’t say that this is done yet – but we are trying to have all of our musical performances completely green. It’s not one hundred percent yet , but we are trying.

On April 16 we are headlining an event at the Whiskey on Sunset which is going to be for the animal awareness week. So we basically have a series of events that are directed at raising awareness and financing efforts to stop animal testing. And on March 28, my wife Susie – who is also a huge animal and environmental activist (she is the one who got me involved) – will be presenting an award at the Genesis Awards at the Beverley Hilton.

Look To The Stars would like to thank Corey Feldman for taking the time to talk to us and share his thoughts on making the world a better place. To find out more about his efforts and upcoming events, visit Coreyfeldman.net or Myspace.com /technologyanalogy.

Sir Edmund Hillary's House On Display For Charity

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Thousands of New Zealanders flocked to a charity open home on Sunday, March 1, to raise money for the Himalayan Trust.

The Auckland home of Sir Edmund Hillary is going up for auction on March 15, and members of the public were yesterday invited to view the former dwelling of the mountaineering legend.

“The house itself breathed Ed and it breathed the Himalayas,” Hillary’s biographer Pat Booth told the Sunday Star Times. “It was full of precious things, of things that were precious to him, referencing the things he had done, and the people he had met.”

Hillary – known as Sir Ed to his fellow New Zealanders – was an adventurer famous for being the first person to ascend Mt Everest in Nepal and for his humanitarian work with the Nepalese Sherpas since the 1960s. He passed away in January 2007.

People who visited the home yesterday were asked to donate a gold coin ($1 or $2 in New Zealand) to the Himalayan Trust, a non-profit organization Hillary established in 1960 to provide the basic infrastructure needs that the Sherpas of Nepal really want (education, health, forests, monastery repairs and response to natural disasters).

To view the property and for auction details go to www.bayleys.co.nz and enter the property code #360901.

Stars Set To Shine At Global Green Pre-Oscar Party

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Environmental organization Global Green USA will hold their annual pre-Oscar party this week and have invited some stellar performers and hosts.

Entertainment at this year’s party will include Sheryl Crow and Gavin Rossdale and co-hosting the event are stars such as Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, Penelope Cruz , Rosario Dawson, Marisa Tomei, Kate Bosworth, Sebastian Copeland, Lyn & Norman Lear, Damien Rice, Heather Graham, Roland Emmerich, Dominic Monaghan, Matt Petersen, Neil Patrick Harris, Sharon Lawrence and Esai Morales.

Proceeds from the evening – which includes drinks and a gift bag – will go to Global Green USA’s Green Schools Initiative. Green Schools are community facilities that are designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner. Green schools protect occupant health, provide a productive learning environment, connect students to the natural world, increase average daily attendance, reduce operating costs, improve teacher satisfaction and retention, and reduce overall impact to the environment.

General tickets to the party – which will be held on Thursday, February 19, at Avalon in Hollywood – range from $125 – 250. VIP tickets are available for $1000 and give you access to exclusive VIP lounge with hosted bar, unreserved seat in VIP balcony area for the musical performance, an eco gift bag, & access to the after party.

More info and tickets are available from the Global Green USA website.

Katy Perry Performs While Stars Shoot Hoops For Charity

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:30:00 -0000

T-Mobile USA, Inc. launched the T-Mobile myFaves Shot of a Lifetime with an exclusive celebrity shoot-out in Phoenix to benefit charity. Eliza Dushku, Jermaine Dupri, Donald Faison, Bill Simmons and Zachary Levi joined Dwyane Wade in the challenge to benefit the charity of their choice during the weekend.

T-Mobile created the charity shoot-out to officially launch the Shot of a Lifetime national sweepstakes, which gives one lucky winner and their fave five the opportunity to play HORSE against Dwyane Wade during the Eastern Conference Finals for a chance at $50,000. More information on the sweepstakes can be found at www.t-mobile.com/nba or text “MYSHOT” to 72579 to enter.

Stars including Yao Ming and Gabrielle Union joined T-Mobile to witness Dwyane Wade, Eliza Dushku, Jermaine Dupri, Donald Faison, Bill Simmons and Zac Levi square off against each other on a custom myFaves half-court. Emcee Sal Masekela was on the mic, getting the crowd to cheer in support of each participant, who each stepped onto the court for three shots at the basket to win up to $50,000 for the charity of their choice. The charity challenge concluded with an astonishing $170,000 donated to Camp Hale Alumni Association, Global Exchange Uganda Trauma Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Atlanta, Global Green, The Jimmy Fund and Operation Smile.

Following the celebrity shoot-out, Katy Perry took to the stage to the delight of the crowd, which included stars such as Sarah Chalke and Chris Tucker.

Leonardo DiCaprio Honored By Cinema For Peace

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:30:00 -0000

Written by Delinda Lombardo

The charity gala event Cinema For Peace has attracted numerous politicians and celebrities in Berlin this week in support of the organization’s goal of promoting peace and international understanding through film.

Most notably, Leonardo DiCaprio received an award for his efforts in backing the documentary “The 11th Hour.” As a special honoree, DiCaprio was presented with the International Green Film Award presented by BMW by Mikhail Gorbachev. The award offers a platform for environmental activists to raise public awareness for environmental issues and comes with a $250,000 donation for an environmental foundation or film project.

DiCaprio has become known as one of the hardest working environmentalists in Hollywood. He’s is a board member of Global Green USA and the National Resources Defense Council, and also set up the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to help draw attention to environmental issues.

His support is both creative and financial; he’s financed and produced short films on the subject of environmental protection, including “Global Warming” and “Water Planet,” as well as, of course, the environmental documentary film “11th Hour.” He is also planning to develop an eco-friendly resort in Belize in Central America.

The Cinema for Peace award has previously been given to Catherine Deneuve, Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Liza Minnelli and Sir Peter Ustinov, Susan Sarandon, Richard Gere and Milla Jovovich.

Katy Perry Gets Busted For Charity

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

A plaster cast of chart-topping singer Katy Perry’s breasts has been sold for charity.

The plaster bust was made back in August 2008 to raise money for Keep-a-Breast, an organization that produces art events that increase breast cancer awareness among young people and benefit breast cancer education, prevention and treatment programs in communities around the world. They are famous for creating plaster forms of the female torso, which are then customized by fine artists and auctioned to raise funding for breast cancer.

“Someone paid US$3500 for a mould of my breasts,” said the 24-year-old singer. “That’s a lot in a recession.”

Last month, Perry donated handwritten song lyrics to Jewel’s auction to raise money for Project Clean Water.

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