Candlelight only, chez Gisele Bundchen

via babble.com

“Lights off, candles on.” Sounds romantic! Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen and her husband, New England Patriots QB Tom Brady, are among the recent supporters backing Earth Hour 2010. The beautiful couple welcomed the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) into their home to film some up close and personal PSAs to raise awareness about the March 27 energy conservation event.

Earth Hour was started by WWF, which works to spread the word about the earth’s very serious climate changes. This year’s Earth Hour is shaping up to be the biggest one yet, with the number of participants already surpassing last year’s number of 1 billion supporters worldwide. Wow! You can join in on the event by turning your lights out at 8:30 pm on March 27 and recruiting friends and family to do the same.

Looks like Gisele already has her candles ready!

Celebs climbing to the top... literally

via jaunted.com

What do Jessica Biel, Emile Hirsch, Lupe Fiasco, Isabel Lucas, Kenna, and Santigold have in common, other than their celeb status? These actors, musicians, and do-gooders all took part in a six day climb up Mount Kilimanjaro – the highest peak in Africa, and what is considered to be the tallest freestanding mountain in the world.

Can you imagine the trek up to the top? Now there’s no need to wonder. The documentary, Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro, follows the group on their charitable climb to call attention to the worldwide clean water crisis, and premieres this Sunday night, March 14, at 9/8c on MTV!

Over a billion people around the world do not have access to clean water. What can you do to help raise awareness about this global problem? Simple: you can host a viewing party on the film’s premiere night, or catch one of the re-runs that will be on MTV later next week! Check out the film’s cool website for more ideas. Watch as these celebs gone good attempt to make it to the top of Kilimanjaro… and what new experiences they encounter along the journey.

A day in Taylor Swift’s shoes

via People.com

Want to know what it’s like to spend a day (or more) in Taylor Swift’s shoes? Now you can… for real! Taylor is just one in a line of ladies who has put up a pair of her own pumps for auction as part of the Hero In Heels program.

Hero In Heels was created by the Wish Upon A Hero Foundation to help women who are affected by cancer. Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Samantha Harris, Emmy Rossum, Colbie Caillat, Estelle, and more have all donated signed pairs of their heels to contribute to the cause!

The auction will run online until April 8, 2010. Get the facts about cancer and how you can be involved in the initiative to find a cure. And let’s face it, we all have that one friend who is shoe-crazy… spread the word on how this spending on shoes could be a step towards making a difference in someone’s life!

Shaq wants you to do something big!

via fannation.com

When he’s not fighting to win on the courts, Shaquille O’Neal is fighting to save lives. The 4-time NBA champ has teamed up with Be The Match in its “Do Something Big” campaign to raise awareness about the bone marrow registry and encourage fans to become donors.

“There’s nothing bigger than life – not when someone you love is fighting to live,” Shaq urges. Be The Match registry helps match donors with patients suffering from leukemia and other serious diseases who are in need of bone marrow transplants. 70% of patients can’t find a matching donor within their families, and must rely on the generosity of donors. Donors of all races, especially African Americans, are needed, because matches are made more easily between people who share the same ethnicity.

Shaq filmed several PSAs to help spread Be The Match’s message. Check out one of them below, and find out how you can join other donors around the country to give hope to a patient in need. Do something big today!

Iman: refugee turned activist

Iman may be known for gracing the covers of countless magazines and working the catwalk as an international supermodel, but she is much more than just that. Originally from Somalia, Iman and her family fled their home country when revolution broke out in 1969, becoming refugees in Kenya.

On International Women's Day, Iman spoke out about the experience and told Enough Project founder John Prendergast, “…we left, my parents left with one picture of each of us. One picture. We left our families. We left our friends. We left our heritage, culture. So I've always tried to really make people understand what refugees are, you know? Because I am one."

As part of her charity initiatives, Iman is a global Ambassador for Keep a Child Alive, working to raise funds to help African families suffering with HIV/AIDS. She is also an avid supporter of the Enough Project’s “Raise Hope for Congo” campaign, helping to spread awareness about how “conflict minerals” fuel the war in the Congo.

Check out the video to see the entire intimate interview with Iman on how her experience being a refugee affected her and pushed her to be an activist.

Nick Cannon and MTV visit an IYG school!

Tune in to MTV today to catch a piece on several boys from New York City’s Collegiate School who are doing something to increase their green! They are just one group of teens out of many that are taking action to create a more eco-efficient environment and competing to win $5,000 in Increase Your Green (IYG) funding.

The team has worked on greening up their school by taking steps to improve their recycling system, using 100% recyclable paper products, eliminating plastic trays from their cafeteria, cutting down on light consumption, and much more!

Check out our Q&A with the Collegiate boys to learn about their most creative, go-greening initiative yet, and get a sneak peek of Nick Cannon and MTV News' visit to their school. Encourage your peers to join you in an IYG mission and submit your projects by April 22 to compete in the contest!

Celebs can’t imagine school without music

Do Something caught up with a bunch of celebs including Kristen Bell, B.J. Novak, and Death Cab for Cutie on the red carpet at this year’s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards to chat about music education. Check out what they had to say about how music has been an integral part of their education and their lives.

Hundreds of bands battle to save music. You can get involved too by joining the ongoing Battle of the Bands campaign. Create a video or rate your favorites to help save the music today!

Young Hollywood: “enough is enough”

Some of Hollywood’s young stars such as Ken Baumann, Anna Lynne McCord, Carla Gugino, and Noureen Dewulf are teaming up to support The Enough Project’s "Raise Hope for Congo" campaign and to raise awareness about the ongoing genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Enough Project is an initiative by the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. It focuses on putting an end to crimes against humanity taking place in Sudan, Congo, Somalia, Uganda, and other areas of Africa. The "Raise Hope for Congo" campaign focuses on protecting and empowering the Congolese women.

Check out the video to hear the stars explain the link between our need for cell phones, laptops, and other electronics, and the armed groups fighting in the Congo over these “conflict minerals” – the materials needed to make the electronics. Millions of lives have been lost in the war, with sexual violence against women and young girls used as a common weapon to destroy communities and families.

So how can you help raise hope for Congo, raise awareness, and end the war? Be a responsible consumer. You can write a letter to your local officials, host a fundraiser, write an op-ed piece for your campus or town news outlet, and urge the top electronics companies to produce conflict-free electronics.

Celebs congregate in Capitol Hill

Do you know what day it is today? It’s International Women’s Day! Each year on March 8, events around the world are held to promote a better future for women and to celebrate their achievements. This year’s IWD theme is “Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all” and will see A-list ladies joining First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in celebrating women in various festivities throughout this week.

The First Lady will host a special reception on Wednesday night for the annual International Women of Courage Awards- Kerry Washington will emcee and Idol-alum Katharine McPhee will perform. Avon Global Ambassador Reese Witherspoon will be in town to host a summit on behalf of Avon’s partnership with Vital Voices, to fight the issues of domestic violence and human trafficking. Will & Grace’s Debra Messing is scheduled to attend a meeting to push for what can be done about HIV prevention efforts in Africa.

But the congregation of celebs in D.C. this week isn’t just limited to the ladies. Actor Emile Hirsch and hip hop musician Lupe Fiasco are expected to attend a screening of a documentary highlighting the clean water crisis around the world and rumored to be joined by Jessica Biel. The three stars all recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness about the issue!

You can join all the Hollywood beauties and beaus in celebrating women and the world we share by checking out IWD events going on near you and understanding the water crisis that affects us all.

Will.i.am does massive good

via PopEater

Black Eyed Peas member Will.i.am joined a team of celebs including Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Mary J Blige, and Susan Sarandon last week to help launch MASSIVEGOOD, a fundraising campaign that works to support global health initiatives.

The MASSIVEGOOD campaign was started by The Millennium Foundation in an effort to raise funds to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, and to improve maternal health.

How does it work? Each time a flight, hotel, rental car, and other travel arrangements are booked through certain websites, MASSIVEGOOD makes it easy to donate $2 to the cause. At last week’s launch event, former President Bill Clinton was the first to click and give his “micro-contribution!”

In the meantime, Will.i.am is also recording an original song for MASSIVEGOOD with South African singer, Yvonne Chaka Chaka. Check out the video for a sneak peek of their recording session!