Awareness raising: first clown in space hosts show to save Earth’s water

Cirque du Soleil founder hosed a show from space linking events in 14 world cities to raise awareness about clean water.

Wearing a red clown nose, the Canadian founder of Cirque du Soleil hosted the show on 09 October 2009, saying he wanted to use his trip as a space tourist to highlight the scarcity of water on Earth.

Guy Laliberté’s two-hour performance event called Moving Stars and Earth for Water linked the International Space Station with singers, dancers and celebrity campaigners in 14 world cities. The show streamed on the Internet and broadcast on satellite TV in the United States, Canada and Latin America.

Celebrities who took part in the event included Irish singer Bono and former U.S. vice president Al Gore. Musician Peter Gabriel and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai were the hosts in South Africa, where a clip of children spinning around on a playpump was shown as Ladysmith Black Mambazo sang “Rain Rain Beautiful Rain”.

Billionaire Guy Laliberté launched his Montreal-based nonprofit One Drop Foundation in 2007 to increase access to clean water worldwide.

Watch the full webcast of two hour show on the One Drop web site.

Related news:

• Public opinion survey: water tops climate change as global priority, Source Weekly, 21 Sep 2009
• Charity: Cirque du Soleil founder launches ONE DROP Foundation, Source Weekly,08 Nov 2007

Web site: One Drop - Moving Stars and Earth for Water

Source: Jill Serjeant, Reuters, 09 Oct 2009

Keywords

• Information and communication
• Water resources management
• Water supply