Running worldwide for water

You can follow the June 1 to September run of 20 runners who will cover 20 countries to raise awareness about the need for clean drinking water worldwide. From the website Blue Planet Run:

The Blue Planet Run will cover 15,200 miles, across 16 countries and 4 continents, 24 hours a day for 95 days to deliver an extremely urgent and important message: we can and must begin today to alleviate the catastrophic burden placed on over a billion people who, every day, must drink unsafe local water, or travel long distances on foot to search for safe water for themselves and their families.

Starting in New York City on June 1, 2007, a team of "20 ordinary male and female athletes doing extraordinary things" will run around the clock along a route that includes the U.S., Ireland, the U.K., France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Mongolia, China, Japan and Canada. Each runner will sprint 10 miles a day. Batons will be passed at over 1,500 exchange points. The Run will end back in New York City, on September 4, 2007. Each exchange point and heartfelt moment will be captured in the media, fueled by well-organized events in major cities and an international PR campaign.

The event will spare no expense to be Earth- and people -friendly. We imagine an event that comes to be known as "The Race without a Trace." We are committed to partnering with corporations that have similar beliefs and goals.

We run like water. We run FOR water.

We run to bring news to every person in every town we pass through—urgent news of a crisis that affects one in five of all of us on this earth.

We run to remember the sons and daughters, the mothers and fathers, the 6,000 human beings who die every day because they lack safe drinking water.

We run because time - and water, essential to our existence - is running out for all of us.

We run to tell a story that begins with suffering but ends with hope.

We run to include you in the story. You are the solution. Commitment is our only obstacle.

We run to tell a story that ends like this: twenty years from now we will have joined together to bring water – to bring life – to 200 million people around the world.

We run because, in the words of the Iroquois thanksgiving prayer printed on the baton we carry with us: "Water is life."


"We give thanks to all the Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms - waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of water.

Now our minds are one."