Two-time Oscar nominated actor Edward Norton has wowed audiences not only with his acting chops but you can also see him dance and sing in the Woody Allen musical, Everyone Says I Love You.
It seems this guy can do it all and so I wasn’t too surprised to find out Norton is a conservation and social activist too. It seems that as Norton moves up in life, he’s bringing thousands of the world’s less fortunate people right along with him.
His most recent project is called Crowdrise, a self described “social fundraising, online giving and volunteer community”. I particularly like the website’s slogan which says: “If you don’t give back, no one will like you”. Ha! I guess there are all kinds of ways to create motivation!
According to Norton, "We wanted to give people a platform to say, these are the causes I care about, I am volunteering and sponsor me. We wanted it to be something with the substance of activism and engagement but the fun, ease and dynamism of social networking”. The web site is free to join and also gives points and prizes to people for their online participation.
These days a lot of celebrities are using Crowdrise in promotion of their favorite causes. Recently, comedian Russell Brand created a Crowdrise web forum to raise funds for the, non-profit, David Lynch Foundation and their joint efforts to teach the Transcendental Meditation technique to at-risk children in Africa.
Norton is a social and environmental activist not only in the tradition of Paul Newman but his father and grandfather as well. Norton’s dad, who bears the same name as his son, is a well known conservation advocate and Norton’s grandfather was a real estate developer who moved impoverished families into affordable housing through his, non-profit, Enterprise Foundation.
"Technology has allowed for a kind of engagement between people with a public life and the people who are interested in them which is entirely new and potentially very powerful" says Norton.
So whether it’s the Crowdrise web site or the Maharishi Channel, the technologically savvy are using the Internet to help people to communicate, grow and help others, in ways they never imagined.
This TM blog article was written by Dr. Keith DeBoer http://AdventuresInTranscendentalMeditation.blogspot.com
® Transcendental Meditation, TM and Maharishi are registered or common law trademarks licensed to Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation and are used under sublicense. Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation, is a non-profit, educational organization.
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