Summit on the Summit

Today, a group of actors, musicians, photographers, explorers and humanitarians — including Jessica Biel, Emile Hirsch, Lupe Fiasco and Santigold all led by Grammy-nominated singer Kenna — will begin a week-long ascent of Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro.

The reason such big names are making such a dangerous journey? Not the adrenaline rush. Not the bragging rights.

They're doing it to turn a spotlight on the global water crisis.

Summit on the Summit is what they're calling the climb. And this wide-reaching program aimed at raising awareness of the fragile state of the planet's clean water supply — while simultaneously raising funds to aid in an array of clean-water efforts — may well go down in history as one of the boldest (and most adventurous) cause endorsements ever made in the celebrity world.

Fans and supporters can follow every step the climbers make at the Summit on the Summit website.

A Big Idea

The whole thing started with Grammy-nominated artist Kenna, the Virginia Beach-raised singer of Ethiopian decent who decided that no mountain was too big to tackle in order to battle this crisis. After all, his father nearly died of water-borne illnesses as a child in his native land, and a discussion of the issue between father and son sparked the idea for Summit on the Summit.

Shortly before leaving for the base camp in Tanzania on Monday, Kenna spoke to Tonic about the preparations, and what he and his fellow climbers hope to accomplish.

"I've never been more overwhelmed in my life," says Kenna. "I couldn't sleep last night. If I were just climbing the mountain it would be one thing, but coordinating it and making sure everybody's ready and everybody's okay — all the details are crazy, because a lot of people are going."

People such as Into the Wild actor Hirsch (pictured here en route to base camp this week), Alexandra Cousteau (granddaughter of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau), Elizabeth Gore (of the United Nations Foundation), photographer Jimmy Chin, and, perhaps most surprising, Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive 2005, Jessica Biel (who most people have probably never thought of as a mountain climber).

"She's not a mountain climber," Kenna confirms. "She's a snowboarder. You see her on a mountain snowboarding, but I don't think people see her climbing mountains in their heads."

"After this," he says, "they'll never doubt that she can do anything."

A Bold Move

Asked why he decided to take on such a risky — and massive — endeavor, Kenna responds with the passion of a man on a mission: "The main thing is that the global world water crisis is such an extreme thing, such a huge, multilayered, domino-affecting massive problem that we had to do something extreme to get everyone's attention," he says. "I've had such an interesting time learning about water and learning about what people need and why it's a problem, and after learning all of that, it's amazing how many of us really think water is just abundant and available and we have it forever, and it's not true."

"Water is the one major thing that we need to live," he says, "So that's why the mountain."

His excitement about bringing attention to the cause is almost as great as his admiration of his fellow climbers.

"Kilimanjaro means ‘mountain of greatness,' and I think it takes greatness and great human beings to be able to sacrifice their time, their commitment, their energy to go and do something as monumental as this, and do it at the exact same time for their fellow man and as a representation of mankind as a whole," Kenna says.

A Big Risk for a Big Cause

Every one of the climbers, actors and musicians included, are putting themselves at risk in order to accomplish the goal.

"There's so much insurance. It's insane what level of precaution and care [we've taken]," Kenna notes. "And yet everyone had to sign some level of a waiver saying ‘You're risking yourself to do this.' I think it's a testament to people's commitment to the issue."

Looking at the group he's assembled, he says, "It's amazing human beings on all levels. It's meant to be a ‘Summit on the Summit,' an incubator on great ideas on how to solve the problem, but at the same time just a moment when everyone can focus on the subject, and have everyone focusing on them focusing on the subject. So it might be a bridge between people's ignorance on the subject and the true knowledge of people wanting to figure it out for themselves."

As for whether or not the singer is nervous to make the climb himself?

"I would be a liar to say that I'm not," Kenna says. "I actually attempted to climb Kili five years ago," but ended his journey 1,000 feet short of the summit with severe stomache pains — a symptom, he thinks, of an allergic reaction to the anti-altitude sickness medication required to reach the top.

"This is a risk for me because I intend on pushing past 18,200-feet," he says, adding with a laugh: "Especially with Lupe Fiasco on the climb. He's such a freaking competitive dude, I've gotta be on top of this. I hope I have to carry him up there, like, ‘I got you man, I got you man!' He's razzing me all day long. ‘I'm gonna put the anti-altitude medicine in your soup!' What's that about? ‘You're gonna sabotage me?' Will I find red ants in my sleeping bag?"

A Serious Endeavor

All kidding aside, Kenna won't stop when the climb is done. He's spent time in Washington in recent weeks talking about the cause with US leaders in Congress, and at the State Department.

"Everyone is talking about water," he says. "2010 is the year of water, and we decided we'd kick it off."

He couldn't have kicked it off in a bigger way.

"People by the end of this year will realize how much more important their water at home is, and at the same time what other people are needing in the world," says Kenna, "and maybe they'll be able to reconcile the two."

For more information, or to make a donation, visit the Summit on the Summit website.

Kilimanjaro photo by Picture Taker2 via Flickr

Kenna photos, and Emile Hirsch photo by Michael Muller, courtesy Summit On The Summit

Jessica Biel photo by Steve Granitz/Getty Images