Given some of the horrendous events which have gone down since we planned this event and the immediate needs of these communities, I have not felt very motivated to push some of the fundraising events. We are all set for Thursday night and we are privileged to have Associate Professor David Paton volunteer to share some of his knowledge on the Coorong.

Bird numbers at the Coorong have fallen from 250,000 in the 1960s and 150,000 in the 1980s to an estimated 50,000.

Species under threat include the fairy tern and the curlew sandpiper. Pelicans have not bred at the Coorong for four years.

The rivers spokeswoman for the Australian Conservation Foundation, Arlene Buchan, called on the ministerial council to buy water entitlements as a short-term solution to revive the river.

“These areas can’t afford to wait another few years for the drought to break and infrastructure projects to come on line. They need water now,” she said.

Twestival has set up central payments for tickets to the events and for donations to Charity: Water. There are buttons on this page that take you there directly. Ticketing is handled by Amiando who are waiving all their fees so all your ticket money goes directly to Charity: Water. Tickets can be purchased by credit card or by Paypal. Additional donations are handled by Tipjoy, who use Paypal.

That way you can be sure that all of your money goes directly to the nominated charity and these companies take care of all the counting and converting of the money.

I just made a donation since I get a free ticket as the Adelaide organiser. It was very easy through Paypal.

River Murray near Swan Reach

We hear about water issues almost every day here in South Australia. Having just driven back to Adelaide along the Murray River, I was astonished how small the river was in so many sections of the river. This is the river that everyone talks about I thought. Seeing the contrast with the huge sections that are dammed was stark, where you could get the impression that there was enough water for the planet.

Local water issues aside, one billion people are without clean drinking water. That is one in six of us on the planet, and a statistic you’ll hear a lot over the next few weeks or so. Remember it, make a mental note of it. In fact, it’s probably unlikely that until recently, you’d heard of charity: water The very fact you’re here having a squiz, shows that what Twestival is setting out to achieve is already working.

If you buy a ticket to a Twestival event, all of the money goes to the projects that charity: water are working on. Twestival is an open, accountable and honest effort by volunteers all around the world which will raise money that is put towards building wells and clean water facilities in the places that most desperately need them.

The more money that is raised, the bigger the impact on the lives of people in places like Kenya, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. And what is that impact? The chance to get access to clean drinking water. Something you and I take for granted. Be it a well or a water pump, every new source of uncontaminated water makes more of a difference to these people’s lives than we can imagine.

Eighty percent of all sickness and disease is caused by drinking unclean water, and with your help we can minimise the chances of someone forced to drink contaminated water becoming ill. 4,500 children die each day from water related diseases, with charity: water’s work and our donations, we can reduce that number.

And even Baby Koalas need Clean Water. Thanks @firstdogonmoon

Click on the bright pink button above to donate and help to make a real difference. Do it for the cute little koalas and kangaroos that need clean water.

The Coorong January 2009 (No Diving)

Welcome to Twestival.

This is all very abrupt, but I was a bit drunk one night and signed up to host a Twestival here in Adelaide. People who know me, will not find that so strange, but having done it, I am on board and here we go. I went out for a few beers at lunch today due to work frustration and ended up at the Wheatsheaf.  I thought why not have it here and so it came to pass. I could have sworn that it was later in the month. So that said, we have the run of the place and the publicans are curious and open to whatever we have in mind. What do you have in mind.

My name is Colin Campbell and I am @clutterbells on twitter. I blog at Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe and you can email me at clutterbells@gmail.com.

Now that we have the twit linky love out of the way, at least I have been able to arrange a nice venue at the Wheatsheaf, 39 George St Thebarton from about 7pm. The plan is to have some fun, tweet and raise some funds for water. They have an Internode provided hotspot, so bring all your wireless enabled contraptions and have some human to human interaction (scary I know).  They also have really nice beer, wine and odd Scottish whiskey.

I am just winging this as we go. Really keen for some others to get involved or if you are shy, just turn up, tweet, talk if you want  and get drunk, discuss the weather, admire the nice photography exhibit, discuss whatever.

That is all I know when it comes to places that serve nice beer. The people at the Wheatsheaf are really nice and had never heard of twitter until I discussed it with them an hour ago.  So there we go.

Please retweet, share, suggest, enjoy, whatever. I have no real plan and hope that @you and @you  and @him and @her and @everyone has some ideas.

The major global focus is water. Perhaps we can also support something locally, like The Wheatsheaf. They are in the water business.
Thanks and have a nice day.