The Daily Tell

Actresses Jessica Biel and Isabel Lucas along with musicians Lupe Fiasco and Kenna have decided that to make a difference, simply attending a chic fundraising gala is not enough – the celebrities will climb Mount Kilimanjaro in January to raise global awareness for the clean water crisis.

Kenna, whose father suffered from waterborne diseases as a child in Ethiopia, has organized the expedition called Summit on the Summit.

"We are ‘actionists’ who are going to assimilate and enlighten the world on a human rights issue that is long overdue for attention," he told TreeHugger.com. "We are living in a world where over a billion people are without clean and safe drinking water; it is unacceptable. My friends and I are taking a risk climbing Kili to stand at one of the highest points in the world and make the statement that we can stop the Global Clean Water Crisis if we take action now."

The campaign is highly web 2.0-optimized, using Facebook and Twitter to spread awareness. The interactive website links visitors to the United Nations Foundation to make donations – which will send clean, safe drinking water to countries in need – and will eventually feature videos about the clean water crisis as well as updates from the climbers.

The expedition – which includes 4 days of ascent, 2 days of descent, 19,340 feet, and subzero temperatures – will be outfitted by HP, which will provide Thin and Light notebooks to climbers so they can share blog posts, photos and videos. Other partners include PUR – which developed a water packet that converts dirty drinking water into clean water in 30 minutes – expedition outfitting from First Ascent by Eddie Bauer and charitable advising from the UN Foundation.

The safe drinking water cause is an important one – Summit on the Summit estimates that every 15 seconds a child dies from a waterborne disease.