CHRISTINE DESTREMPES

Christine Destrempes is an artist, in her words:

"I am drawn to water's capacity for transformation as well as its reflective stillness, seamless adaptability, and proclivity to follow the path of least resistance. Water is the perfect embodiment of permanence and impermanence. By observing it, there is much to learn about navigating life. Through my exploration and interpretation of water's myriad of characteristics and sublime beauty, I hope not only to engender an appreciation for, but also to promote preservation of one of our most precious natural resources. Several years ago I read that 5 million people die every year from water-related diseases and wondered why there is no alarm sounding. While the figure haunted me, it felt impossible to imagine. I got my calculator and figured out how many people die every day, every hour, and every minute. Then I realized I had to translate this visually. I have created an installation about the shrinking availability of clean water using recycled clear plastic water bottle caps to represent each person who dies every day because he or she does not have access to clean water. The installation, 13,699, was created to raise awareness of the number of people who die every day from water-related diseases because they do not have access to clean water. To symbolize these deaths, one clear plastic water bottle cap is used to represent each person. The object of this installation is to present the opportunity to experience physically the magnitude of this humanitarian crisis statistic."

Visit www.destrempes.com for more information.

GEORGIA STRAIT ALLIANCE

Georgia Strait Alliance (GSA) is a regional marine conservation organization with the mandate to protect and restore the marine environment and promote the sustainability of Georgia Strait, its adjoining waters and communities.

Through programs like Stewards of the Strait, ToxicSmart and Green Boating, we offer community members of all ages simple ways that they can make changes to keep our Strait healthy. GSA gives presentations to school and community groups, providing important solutions to the challenge our region faces.

Visit www.georgiastrait.org for more information.

THE BIG WILD

The vision of The Big Wild is to keep at least half of Canada's public land and water wild forever. They are realizing this vision by supporting wilderness conservation campaigns across Canada.

The Big Wild helps these campaigns by:

• educating people about the urgent need to protect one of the world’s last remaining wilderness areas – which amounts to 20% of all that’s left on the planet
• raising funds for wilderness protection
• enabling people to show decision-makers they support wilderness protection

Visit www.thebigwild.org for more information.

BIG CITY MOUNTAINEERS

The Mission of Big City Mountaineers, a 501 (c) 3 is to enhance the lives of under-resourced urban teens through transformative outdoor experiences. BCM provides opportunities to young adults unable to access the outdoors on their own.

The teens that go on BCM trips come from low income households and telling them they have a great opportunity but to participate they need to buy their own hiking boots and personal gear would be absurd. With the help of sponsors like INNATE, BCM was able to deliver over 2500 program days to inner city, urban teens in 2009.

Visit www.bigcitymountaineers.org for more information.

HYDRATE WITH INNATE! CONTEST

The Hydrate with Innate! contest was a wonderful way for the Innate community to share their inspiring photos and stories, and to help provide clean drinking water through the support of a great non-profit organization dedicated to providing clean drinking water in developing communities.

Contest entrants submitted photos on Facebook of themselves, their family or friends, and/or told us a great story on the subject of hydrating with clear blue water, preferably with an Innate container.

The contest ran July 1 - November 30 2009.

The winner selected from one of three charitable organizations, who are focused on delivering clean drinking water in developing communities, to receive a $1000 Canadian donation from Innate. The three organizations were: http://www.wateraid.org · http://www.watercan.com · http://www.mercycorps.org

WATERKEEPER ALLIANCE

Waterkeeper Alliance is an international grassroots advocacy organization with 182 Waterkeeper programs and growing. They are dedicated to preserving and protecting YOUR WATER from polluters.

Visit www.waterkeeper.org for more information.

INNATE donated 1050 Fresco bottles to the following 3 fundraising events:

• Deer Valley Celebrity Skifest (Dec 5-8 2008)
• Celebrity Sports Invitational (Jan 16-19 2008)
• Waterkeeper Annual Conference (June 2009)

CLEAR BLUE WATER CONTEST

The idea behind the Innate Clear Blue Water Contest was to name one of three new water bottle designs and help people who need clean, safe drinking water. Contestants entered online, the three winners were chosen by a judging panel and received 24 of the bottle shape named to share with family and friends. Plus, they selected one from a list of three charitable organizations working for clean safe water around the world.

One thousand dollars Canadian was donated to each of the nominated charities chosen by the contest winners.

STORMY TRAIL RACE

The STORMY 50 Mile Trail Ultramarathon & Relay and 100 Mile Trail Ultramarathon is located in an idyllic corner of the world in Squamish, BC. The area offers world-class climbing and windsurfing, outstanding river rafting, snowshoeing, mountain biking and awesome running trails. The terrain around Squamish is perfect for trail running.

The STORMY Trail Race is a 50-mile loop that showcases the most spectacular trails between Diamond Head and The Chief. About 10% is flat on dirt roads or pavement and about the same is on some of the best single track you can find. The rest is either angled up or down on trails or fire roads. Most would agree that it's a very "runable" course with a few bad-ass hills.

All proceeds from STORMY go to support local community groups including Squamish Trails Society, Squamish Off Road Cycling Association(SORCA), the Squamish Emergency Program Society and The Sam Project.

Visit www.stormytrailrace.ca for more information.

YANGSHUO CLIMBING FESTIVAL

The Yangshuo Climbing Festival's dual goals are to serve as an annual gathering for the climbing community throughout Mainland China and Asia and to preserve and promote rock climbing in Yangshuo. Consistent with last year the organisers will donate all money raised to crag preservation and development projects plus those that encourage long-term collaborative partnership between climbers and the local community.

The Yangshuo Climbing Festival will take place on October 29 – 31, 2010.
To learn more or purchase advance tickets visit the festival web site www.ysclimbfest.com.cn or ask at the Hong Kong Mountaineering Training Centre in Mong Kok, Hong Kong.