The Big Day!!!

Hey Party People! I just wanted to post a quick intro to anyone new to Climbing for Clean Water now that I have linked this blog to my Facebook and shared with my professors and friends!

So here's the scoop! I am raising money to sponsor a project to build lasting infrastructure to deliver clean drinking water to a community in Africa! I have decided to work with The Water Project and more info can be found at

http://thewaterproject.org/sponsor-a-water-project

Upon making our donation, I will receive (and disseminate) a report on the full project, GPS data and a community profile for the village that we were able to help! How cool is that!?

I want to raise $5,000 dollars to fund this project and additional money to fund my climb of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness for the water crisis in East/Sub-Saharan Africa!

I will also be taking pledges as I reach different levels (and then summit) the mountain!

And here's the cool part, if I am able to make it to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kili, I will be bringing back souvenirs and different incentives based on people's level of donation!

Check out all these details and share with ANYONE you think might be interested, I'm really excited about this and I hope to make a lasting change. Here's the link!!!

http://www.gofundme.com/climb4cleanwater

Peace, Water, and Climbing,

Chris

Catch-up

Whoa! Scary how fast time flies when you are actually studying for your classes and not hectically planning your fundraising charity adventure 9,000 miles away!

Since last week's episode:

I was able to contact The Water Project, Water.org, and the Dig Deep Challenge (a really cool organization located in England - fun note, they have a group of Harvard students working on a similar project. The representative suggested I do a quick drive over to their campus to talk to them about their progress. Upon telling her it would be a 16 hour drive, she said, "Boy, you just can't go anywhere in the states!")

A representative from The Water Project (Rhys Searles) really wowed me with his help. We talked for an hour after I got out from my independent study lab and he couldn't have been more enthralled and supportive. Thanks Rhys!! Also, the rep. from Water.org (a company founded through the Skoll Foundation) was extremely excited for me, as well, and linked me to some additional contacts.

What I am finding -- SO many groups, in addition to Charity: Water, are enthusiastic about getting my project out there! I have a lot to consider before my tentative fundraising start-date of March 16th but will definitely continue to gauge organization's interest into my final consideration on who to give my donations.

I received my package of climbing gear from Patagonia!! I have yet to open it (seeing that it sent to my home instead of school) but I am grateful for their support. REI was not able to help me but linked me to a water purification company that supplies their stores. I will be emailing them soon.

Finally, Upper Limits Rock Gym here in Bloomington was able to give me a bunch of free passes for use in my fundraiser! Be prepared to see those go quickly! Soon I will be contacting other local businesses for more incentives!

Before I sign off and get back to my day of Organic Chemistry and Earth System Science notes, I figured I'd provide a very fitting cross-curricular joke I heard from one of my professors:

Two men walk into a bar. The first orders H2O.

The bartender asks the second man, "Anything for you?"

The second man: "That sounds good! I'll have H20 too!"

He died.

Thankfully, the second man's death allowed legislators to springboard into a new push for policy prohibiting bars from offering H202 (hydrogen peroxide).

Peace, Water, Climbing, and precise bar orders,

Chris

For those with a THIRST for knowledge - Part III

"Now we're cookin' with sauce!"

I adopted this phrase from one of my foreign friends who had a slight mishap in his translation of the english idiom, one day. It was funny because, at that moment, we had just switched our failed camp barbecue from charcoal over to a propane grill. We we literally cooking with gas!

Missed it by that much.

BUT! CCW was totally cooking with sauce today! I had my meeting today with the president of the Rotary Club here in Bloomington and we were able to work out some networking as we move forward in getting the word out for my fundraiser.

Also! A representative from The Water Project started an email conversation with me to learn more about my project and we have a scheduled call this upcoming Tuesday!

----------------------

So I wanted to present some final thoughts on the water crisis. This is the last part to my background series and I figured this could be my wrapping-it-all-up, last 10 minutes of The Sting, everything comes together, Harry kills Voldemort, summation-type post.

All in all, there are MANY reasons why Africa doesn't have clean water! (see Part I)

Despite being a simple human necessity, clean water access is a social/political/economic AND ecological issue. Everything from traditional farming habits and cultural norms, to industry standards and the exploitation of natural resources; from lack of sanitation utility and hygiene to community education, water justice requires a comprehensive agenda!

When there is not enough food to go around without farmers replanting every year, the land becomes desertified from lack of rest and rejuvenating processes. This then ruins any future crops and the dry soil erodes into the freshwater source and makes it too silty to drink safely. There needs to be a political/aid system set in place that remedies these cascades before they completely destroy the land and any chances of clean water and sustainable living,

Do I know the answers? No. Do I want to help find them? Yes, and installing a pump and reservoir so that a community can actually access clean ground water is a good start in my eyes.

Peace, Water, and Climbing,

Chris

For those with a THIRST for knowledge - Part II

What an awesome day! I was able to:

• schedule a meeting with a member of a local Rotary group that might be able to network me with some donations/campaign help
• starting an email conversation with a group based in the U.K. that deals with adventure trips tied to fundraising drives - possible discount?!
• worked out my incentive structure for different donor levels (get excited about that, I've got a bunch of cool ideas for a "giving back" program once my campaign gets going)
• sent a hard-copy of my project proposal (upon request) to REI headquarters! (Maybe they, too, can help me out with gear!

It's already like a second job to organize all this stuff but I sure am enjoying it! I am getting a bunch of positive feedback and am really looking forward to starting my fundraiser once I have all my ducks in a row.

Ducks...? Seriously? I'm going to the Serengeti and I can't think of a cooler animal than ducks!?

Once I get all my Crested Cranes in a row.

Ok! Time to jump into some water stats!

I did some research on improved water access and sanitation utilities. Here is some data that I was able to get off of the WHO/ UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation statistics website. Sorry for the size (use command/control + to make it bigger)

I really wanted to copy and paste these tables so you can see how these levels changed over time. The gist of the matter is, compared to the universal water access and sanitation of the U.S., these two reference countries in Africa come up dismally short as the rest of the world progresses. Tanzania and Kenya finished 2012 with 53.2% and 61.7% national access to clean water, respectively. Sanitation utilities are even worse. Only 12.2% of Tanzania's population can access a toilet or a sink, and the statistic is only slightly higher in Kenya with 29.6% access.

The main driver for this disparity is the presence of sanitation facilities. Even if a country has clean water, it is immediately contaminated by open defecation and the lack of any waste management.

This is why I am starting to correspond with that group in the U.K. (through their Dig Deep Challenge) in which they work toward bettering the second half of the water crisis: keeping water clean. 

Solving this issue is such a holistic endeavor and I am loving learning about all the different facets.

More soon!

Peace, Water, and Climbing,

Chris

For those with a THIRST for knowledge - Part I

How to lose half of your growing blog following: transition from 13th century Franciscan philosophy to all-caps water puns...

Let's hope not.

But in all seriousness, I really wanted to write up a mini-series providing a little more background info for the water crisis in Africa. It's easy enough to acknowledge that "Africa needs drinking water": we see it all over the news all the time. But why? Why do so many countries within the continent continue to struggle with this fundamental necessity for survival while a majority of the world actively flushes the resource away?

It can be over simplified, and also analyzed to the point of reader-exhaustion, but I wanted to at least present my research on why Africa really labors to provide clean drinking water and sanitation to a large proportion of its populace.

It breaks down to 3 levels of deficiency within the water systems supplying these underprivileged communities.

•  No immediate access to clean drinking water - families either have to travel massive distances for clean water access or, in even worse scenarios, can only collect contaminated water that will make them sick

•  No lasting infrastructure to manage and distribute water once it is obtained - many initiatives will supply a quantity of drinking water but not a source, or delivery mechanism, to reach out to rural communities. This is a great start but, unfortunately, is like giving a travel-size toothpaste to a person with a history of dental problems. It is helpful, but very surface level

•  Improper sanitation that contaminates any water that is actually accessible - many times, policy work or charity intervention can alleviate the first two issues but the lack of integrated sanitation utilities (the other side of the issue; this component goes hand-in-hand with the drinking water crisis) ravages the newly provided water with human and animal contamination

As I progress in both my Ecology and Economics coursework, I am privileged to learn about a lot of the driving forces that cause and solve these obstacles... at least in theory. As I push forward in this research, and in my project, I am attempting to put this knowledge to work to make long-lasting change. That is why I chose Charity: Water. 

Until the next post in this series, check out their website! I am so excited to be working with them!

http://www.charitywater.org/

Peace, Water, and Climbing,

Chris

Why Kilimanjaro??

Hey everyone, short post today!

People have been super great with getting behind my cause and helping out with my goals! Thank you all!

But one of the main questions I get is, "How does Mt. Kili fit into this?"

I'm glad you asked!!

Most people I know think that climbing Kilimanjaro is either crazy or just plain stupid. But seriously, who doesn't like to contribute to this sort of adventure!? When it's for a great cause, why not send a small portion of the money to help a hyped-up college kid summit the highest point in Africa to get publicity for a great charity? Am I right :)

I have a lot of prepping to do, and will take every instance I can to keep my growing following updated. It ranges from below 0 to more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit; rainforest to Arctic tundra, and peaks at 19,341 feet as the highest free standing mountain in the world!!!

Yeah it's crazy!!

But I can't wait,

Peace, Water, and Climbing

Chris

"Follow your heart, Chris!"

As my good friend Jake tilts his head all the way back to watch me struggle up a 5.10-rated free climb at Upper Limits rock gym, he decides to yell out his favorite cheesy motivation:

"Follow your heart, Chris!"

I sneer and reach for my chalk bag and a bead of sweat drips into my eye as I gaze at the elusive final rocks graced by an orangish halo of those old-type industrial lightbulbs that give this particular abandoned grain silo its distinctive glow. I've had these climbs before - the ones where you just. can't. seem. to. make. ANY progress!!

Luckily, the preceding 10 hours of my day did not resemble the angst I was currently facing! This was an awesome day for Climbing for Clean Water! (CCW as I am now calling it).

Here's the scoop:

Today was my dedicated "Call all the numbers you got off the internet last night and see if you can hurtle yourself through the insufferable Red Rover chain of intertwined Customer Service people" ...day.

Surprisingly enough everyone was totally on board and, with the exception of a few very tired and very glum receptionists who wanted nothing more than to transfer me to voicemail, I was able to elucidate all the contacts I could ever want!

Simultaneously (mostly on hold) I sent out a barrage of emails that, had it been the metaphorical arrow cloud of King Leonidas' 300 Spartans, would have blotted out the sun. SO many emails!

But! I contacted
Patagonia
Columbia
Northface
Camelbak
REI
GoPro
Redbull
Clif Bar
and so many others!

And I can happily say that soon I will soon be the proud recipient of 1 box of new and lightly used Patagonia climbing wear! Thanks Kim from the "Giving Back" program! You are the woman of the hour!

More news soon as my emails get processed and I can contact even more corporate people!

(on the ground after a long day of bouldering)

Peace, Water, and Climbing

Chris

Ockham's Razor

In the 13th century, a Franciscan friar from Ockham named William devised the philosophical argument that the most efficient way to solve any question or argument is to go with the solution that has the fewest assumptions.

Being a scientist, I decided to distill that down even further. And then re-distill it, and then extract the essential oil (shout-out to any of my fellow chem students who are literally doing this experiment this week in class!)

As I gathered the three viscous drops of pure philosophy from my collecting bulb (such nerd, I know) I came up with this: Basically, everything should be a yes or no question.

Well, that's where I am right now: Questions. And lots of them. As I figure out who to contact and which of them actually knows who makes the decisions and then when they will be available; I am getting a lot of "yes's" and "no's."

But also a lot of "I don't knows." Didn't see that in Ockham's dichotomy. Thanks a bunch William.

Today's main assignment is networking (as it will be for the rest of my quest.)

But, specifically, with my school resources and with outdoor gear suppliers. I am contacting the Communications and Alumni Relations people at my school and also the head of the Action Resource Center (a great organization here in Bloomington that does efficient social and town-betterment work all over the city) to see if they have any ideas.

Also, I did some research laaaate last night (still sweating from the Ultimate Frisbee game I left early to work on this) on different outdoor brands and their "Giving Back" programs. Patagonia and Columbia are looking good. More soon as I figure out who can actually help me within these organizations!

Peace, Water, and Climbing,

Chris

The Very First Day

Well here we go!! First blog post about the first step of the first day of my crusade for clean water in Tanzania and my quest for Mount Kilimanjaro!

For those out there who haven't been a part of this whirlwind of a day, here's the scoop:

My name is Chris Crown, from Springfield Illinois, and I'm a sophomore at Illinois Wesleyan University. As an Environmental Studies major, I have been learning so much about the degradation and deficiencies of the water systems in developing countries. I truly believe that clean drinking water is a basic human right and the lack of social justice in this area is staggering.

Upon further research, I got really excited about this great group that is growing rapidly in their success, called Charity: Water. Simple as that. They are a charity...that gives water. Done.

Well not THAT simple. They use donations not only to provide clean drinking water to underprivileged communities around the world but also install lasting infrastructure to actually solve long term problems.

I am all for this cause. We take clean water for granted here and I would love to help make it available to as many people in need as soon as possible. Enter: Tanzania.

Tanzania has a mostly semi-arid landscape and, anyone out of range of the mere three lakes that border the country cannot access sanitary water. They are left no choice but to drink surface water that is often polluted by bacteria and human waste. I need to be a part of this change.

I also want to GO to Tanzania and experience the lifestyle there, myself. Not only am I seeking this adventure, but experiencing the living conditions there will help me in my further water-rights pursuits.

Finally, I have been dreaming of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro my whole life. I see this campaign as a great way to provide lasting change to communities in need and also get me up that mountain!

So, in this very lengthy first post, I will walk anyone interested through my first day's push toward my goal.

After realizing that I might be able to catalyze this fundraiser, I contacted several professors and staff in my school that might be able to help me. I also wrote to Charity: Water and several fundraising campaign websites to get more information.

I also started walking through a game-plan with my two good friends who will be helping me on this journey and did research on Tanzania, their water crisis, and gear I might need down the road.

More news soon!

Peace, Water, and Climbing,
Chris