MTV will scale the highest altitudes on earth and show fans a never-before seen side of today’s most influential artists and activists in a 90-minute documentary to raise awareness of the global clean water crisis.

Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro, airing on March 14 at 9pm ET/PT, will present the expedition and the dramatic final ascent of Grammy-nominated musician, philanthropist, and “actionist” Kenna, the mastermind behind the expedition, along with a group of his friends, including Jessica Biel, Emile Hirsch, Lupe Fiasco, Santigold, Isabel Lucas, Elizabeth Gore, Alexandra Cousteau, Kick Kennedy and more as they attempt to reach the top of Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro.

“MTV has a long history of educating its audience to raise awareness on issues that are important to them. More than 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to safe, clean drinking water. By airing this documentary, MTV hopes to mobilize a new generation of young people who may not be aware of this global cause and take action to get involved in helping find solutions to the water crisis,” said Dave Sirulnick, Executive Vice President MTV Multiplatform, News and Docs.

The event will give viewers a rare look at some of major cultural influencers as they push their bodies and minds to the limit to raise awareness of this critical, global issue.

Each participant battled numerous physical and natural elements over the arduous journey from coping with intense weather conditions including rain, hail, and snow to the effects of increased altitude, including headaches, dizziness and fatigue, among other ailments.

The documentary will also showcase the group spending time in local communities and a UNHCR refugee camp learning how the water issue affects the everyday lives of the people in this part of the world.

The documentary was filmed in January 2010.

For Kenna, the vision behind “Kilimanjaro” has personal meaning as his father was deeply affected by water-borne illness as a child in Ethiopia.

Said Kenna: “When I was younger, my dad pointed out Kilimanjaro on a huge atlas. It stood in my mind as one of the wonders of the world. This climb is dedicated to my father. As a child in Ethiopia, he lost his brother and lost his friends and family to water borne diseases. A billion people in the world don’t have clean water. I had to do something about it. For me it’s personal. I could have been one of those kids. I needed to come up with something that would command attention. And the only thing I could think of that was that massive was climbing Kilimanjaro.”

The climb helped to raise awareness of the global clean water crisis, as well as raise funds for P&G’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Water For People’s PlayPumps Technology.

Participants in the “Kilimanjaro” summit include:

* Kenna, Grammy-Nominated musician, philanthropist, actionist
* Jessica Biel, Actress
* Lupe Fiasco, Grammy Award Winning Musician
* Isabel Lucas, Actress
* Santigold, Musician
* Emile Hirsch, Actor
* Alexandra Cousteau, National Geographic Emerging Explorer and grand-daughter of famed explorer and filmmaker Jacques-Yves Cousteau
* Elizabeth Gore, Executive Director for Global Partnerships for the United Nations Foundation
* Simon Isaacs, International Development and Water Expert,
* Michael Muller, Award Winning Photographer
* Jimmy Chin, Award Winning Photographer
* Kick Kennedy, Environmental Activist and Granddaughter of Robert Kennedy,
* Bernise Ang, Social Entrepreneur and Recipient of the YouthActionNet Award & Fellowship from the International Youth Foundation
* Dr. Greg Allgood, Director of the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program at Procter & Gamble
* Melissa Arnot, Mountaineering Expert
* Jason Walsh, Renowned Trainer and Movement Specialist

Source: Monsters and Critics

“It’s pretty gnarly,” Elizabeth Gore, an executive with the United Nations Foundation, and one of the participants of the trek to raise awareness of global water issues, tells PEOPLE by satellite phone. “The visibility is only 10 feet in front of you. And it’s cold. I’ve got six layers on.”

With just a day left of climbing before hitting the summit of the Tanzanian mountain, the group reached 16,000 feet, causing many to experience headaches and stomach problems due to the high altitude.

“We’re on the hardest route at the fastest pace, but no one has turned back,” she says. “It’s pretty kick ass that all of the climbers have made it all the way. We’re all trying to help each other get to the top.”

To keep spirits high during the down time, Biel has taught the climbers a game called Mafia, in which participants draw a picture of a character on a piece of paper, then ask other players to guess the identity.

“Jess is doing awesome,” says Gore. “She continues to bring levity yet seriousness at the same time. … We’ve played every game you can imagine – travel Scrabble, word games. And there is a lot of free-style rapping going on.”

One of the biggest challenges for the group, which includes photographer Michael Muller, and Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of ocean explorer, Jacques Cousteau, is getting enough sleep due to the altitude. Ethiopian-born musician, Kenna, who organized the climb up Africa’s tallest peak has only slept seven or eight hours in total throughout the past five days.

To keep their energy high for the last leg of the strenuous hike, the climbers are advised to consume between 5,000 and 10,000 calories. “We’re going to be eating, eating and eating,” says Gore.

Source: People

The stars are going on The Summit on the Summit expedition, which begins Thursday, to help raise awareness about the need for clean water worldwide.

Hirsch sounds ready for the more than 19,000-foot challenge, saying, “Put this on the books: I’m making it to the top.”

Source: USA Today

The entertainers have signed on to climb the continent’s highest peak — Mt. Kilimanjaro, at more than 19,000 feet — to raise awareness about the need for clean water worldwide.

The Summit on the Summit expedition, set for January, is the brainchild of singer and producer Kenna. His father suffered from waterborne diseases as a child in Ethiopia.

Biel, 27, said she was “astonished” to learn that more than a billion people across the globe have no access to clean water.

“This is a basic human necessity that needs to be addressed now,” Biel said in a statement, adding that she’s proud to climb Kilimanjaro with the celebrity team “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.”

Justin Timberlake — who’s been romantically linked with Biel — may also be joining the climbers: He told GQ magazine earlier this year that he was preparing for a major mountain climb.

Representatives for the climb declined to comment on the 28-year-old singer’s possible participation.

Kenna said more celebrity climbers will be announced in the coming months, and he urges fans to follow the climb online. A donation as small as a dollar can provide 1,000 liters of clean water to those who need it, he said.

“We wanted to make sure there was a way people knew this was an issue and a way for them to do something about it,” he said Wednesday. “This is a global issue. It’s not an Africa problem. It’s not a South America problem. It’s a world, global problem. In America, 11 million people go without clean water.”

Visit summitonthesummit.com for more information.

Source: The Associated Press

But the 22-year-old actor wisely opted not to disclose which kiss was better at a news conference for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in Tokyo on Tuesday.

“Oh Christ, thank you, I appreciate that question,” deadpanned LaBeouf, who was flanked on stage by the two beauties.

“It’s incomparable, they are both specimens cut out of stone.

“I’m the luckiest dude in the world clearly. Anything beyond these answers and I start getting in trouble.”

In the movie, which is out in Australia on June 24, LaBeouf reprises the role of Sam Witwicky, the human caught in the war between autobots and decepticons, and Fox returns as his girlfriend Mikaela.

Lucas plays Alice, a girl Sam meets at college.

The former Home and Away star said she always feels nervous filming a kissing scene but knowing the other person helps.

“Shia’s become a really good friend,” Lucas told the room full of media.

“It’s always kind of awkward doing kissing scenes, you’re nervous and you’ve got 200 people there.”

But there was no such awkwardness from sexy star Fox.

“I didn’t think it was awkward at all. I love kissing Shia,” she said playfully, causing LaBeouf to blush.

On Monday night, LaBeouf, Fox and Lucas helped director Michael Bay unveil the film at the world premiere in the Japanese capital.

It’s Lucas’ first trip back to Japan since she fled the country in November 2007 when her anti-whaling activities got her in trouble with the police.

She was part of a group of 30 people from Sea Shepherd Conservation Society who took part in a protest against the slaughter of pilot whales in the coastal town of Taiji in Japan, and a warrant was issued for her arrest.

At the time, Lucas admitted she could be arrested if she ever returned to Japan, but she told AAP she hadn’t had any trouble this time.

“There hasn’t been any negative repercussions here,” she said.

“I think it would just draw so much more attention to the issue and I personally think it would be a good thing because it is something I’m very passionate about still.

Lucas said she was enjoying being in Japan and wanted to be respectful of Japanese culture, but didn’t rule out taking part in future anti-whaling activity.

“We’re still considering different ideas and ways to approach it and to take further action, but at this stage I’m referring everyone to the Whaleman Foundation to go to www.socialvibe.com and we’re trying to get over a million signatures to present to the International Whaling Commission meeting at the end of June,” she said.

Source: NineMSN.com

The Transformers 2 star, who shot to fame on Australian soap drama Home and Away, is filming an Australian movie in Melbourne and decided to use a five day break in her schedule to come to Cairns and visit family.

But Lucas yesterday found time to return to St Monica’s College, the school where she spent most of her high school years, to personally thank students who earlier this year staged a fundraising dance to benefit an orphanage in India that she sponsors.

Lucas wrote to the school’s deputy principal Terry Power late last year asking for support and this year’s student council decided to act, raising $2000 for the orphanage, which cares for and educates children who have been affected by leprosy.

She yesterday spoke to the student council, thanking them for their support, before she was mobbed by excited students as she walked across the school grounds.

It was her second school visit in Cairns after thanking students at Redlynch State College on Thursday for their support.

Lucas is in Australia after filming the upcoming movie Transformers 2.

She said executive producer Steven Spielberg and director Michael Bay were strict about information from the movie not being leaked, but she did confirm she plays a character called Alice, opposite Shia LeBeouf’s character Sam Witwicky.

But she said the purpose of yesterday’s visit was to raise awareness of the orphanage, which she first became involved with while on-set in India.

“I was filming in India and in the storyline the parents adopt an orphan,” she said. “For me, it was important to meet with the children.”

She yesterday told The Cairns Post she had a busy few months ahead with an Australian film titled Kin, a movie titled Day Breakers and a small part in the HBO mini-series The Pacific, part of which was filmed at Port Douglas.

Lucas is scheduled to return to Melbourne today.

For more information about the orphanage, visit udayan.org

Source: Cairns.com.au