Three Is the Magic Number

Easy, peasy. Help out mothers who walk miles every day just to make sure their kids have clean water. Turn your lights off for just an hour to mark your awareness of global warming this month. Here are three upcoming events that make it easy to show you care.

1. World water day is on March 22nd. As our press whirs with news of pharmaceutical traces in municipal water supplies, it makes sense to channel our angst towards global water safety. As GoodyBlog 'splains,

World Water Day was started by the UN with the hope to cut in half the number of people who live without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation by 2015. It's inspired by the example of women in water stressed countries who often walk 6 miles each day just to get water for their family. And even though it's hard to image anyone living without the basic need of clean water, more than 1 billion people around the world lack safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion lack adequate sanitation services.

You don't need to live in a city with a participating march (NYC, LA, Seattle) to be involved. You don't even have to give money -- you just need to sign up online.

2. Another World Water Day action campaign called the Tap Project aims to fund UNICEF programs that will make sure kids have clean water to drink (via A Mighty Appetite). Did you know that more than 5,000 kids a day are dying from water-borne diseases?

The little known truth is that lack of clean and accessible drinking water is the second largest worldwide killer of children under five. To address this situation, a nationwide effort is launching during World Water Week called the Tap Project, a campaign that celebrates the clean and accessible tap water available as an every day privilege to millions, while helping UNICEF provide safe drinking water to children around the world.

Beginning Sunday, March 16 through Saturday, March 22, restaurants will invite their customers to donate a minimum of $1 for the tap water they would normally get for free. For every dollar raised, a child will have clean drinking water for 40 days.

3. Earth hour is on March 29th (hat tip to Grist). More than 100,000 people have signed up to turn off their lights and electrical equipment for one hour.

Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming. This simple act has captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world. As a result, at 8pm March 29, 2008 millions of people in some of the world’s major capital cities, including Copenhagen, Toronto, Chicago, Melbourne, Brisbane and Tel Aviv will unite and switch off for Earth Hour.

*Photo courtesy of xymonau at sxc.