The 2009 NYC Marathon may be over, but that isn’t stopping Edward Norton from continuing to fundraise as much as possible. The actor has clearly found Twitter to be an lucrative conduit for donations — and numerous contests through his account continue pulling in cash for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.

When the marathon finished on November 3rd, Norton and his team of runners had successfully raised over $750,000. Not content to leave the final total in the six digits, the new goal is an even $1 million or more; something he hopes to achieve by next week. “So far -$ raised from people giving $37 in last 5 hrs will pay the salary of a teacher for 1 month,” he wrote earlier today. “You guys are making a huge difference.”

According to the official donations page, Norton and company have raised just north of $864,000. Want to help them get the rest of the way there? Check out the official page — or hit up Ed’s twitter page for more details here.

“I met him first in the winter of 2005-06. I’m involved very heavily with an organization that is one of the biggest developers of affordable housing, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, and it’s an organization that has contributed a lot to developing housing policy. So we often will have sessions with new senators and stuff like that, and I helped orchestrate a meeting with him and his housing staff and this organization, so that was the first time I met him. Which was nice, because we got to engage on a subject that was interesting to both of us, and I think he was able to meet me in a context not having to do with wanting to make a film about him.”

– Edward Norton speaking in an interview on AintitCoolNews.com about his new documentary By The People: The Election of Barack Obama. The film premieres tonight on HBO.

In the pool of celebrity runners for the 2009 NYC Marathon yesterday, Edward Norton finished on top. The 40-year-old actor completed the grueling 26.2 mile race in three hours, 48 minutes and one second. “You know you are going to hit tough spots,” he said post-marathon, “in a weird way mine came early in the race, but then I got my second wind around mile 18 and felt great the rest of the way.”

Norton was running the race to help raise funds for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust; with the normally shy web-user lighting up the social networking scene with fundraising on Twitter. Taking a look at rough totals this morning, I added up that the entire Maasai team running the marathon raised around $763,000. Norton himself raised an impressive $301,000. He wrote on Twitter after the race, “Many supporters in the crowd yelling encouragement. Totally inspiring. Highlight was hearing roar of city crowd from 59th St Bridge. Chills.”

While I’m sure the final fundraising numbers will be a bit higher, it’s wonderful to know that the Maasai will have some much-needed cash to help preserve their ecosystem and way of life. “If it seems like a project in a far off place that doesn’t connect to your world or your life, consider the fact that the ecosystem these people are trying to preserve is one of the last refuges of the lions and giraffes and rhinos and elephants that are the wildlife of our primitive imaginations and memories,” Norton wrote in his running bio. “There is a genuine threat to the future of that wildness if we don’t collectively value it and engage with the people who live alongside it.”

Mission accomplished. Now how about doing this again next year?

The documentary will appear on HBO this coming November 3rd. Watch the trailer below:

Edward Norton is really driving support for his marathon run to benefit the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. The actor is taking on the 26.2 mile challenge to raise awareness and cash for the organization — which promotes sustainable development while protecting the east African grasslands that the Maasai tribe calls home. Using a slick website — and giving people the option to sponsor individual runners on his team, Norton has already raised over $305,000! His many twitter updates (his follower count has rocketed to 100K +) and contest promotions have also brought in the donations.

Yesterday, Norton announced that singer Alanis Morissette was joining the team — which also includes magician David Blaine. “i was and am committed,” she writes on her sponsor page. “for the maasai conservation wilderness trust. for edward. for shauna. for myself. and for the collective idea of tenacity, perseverance and loving/prevailing in the face of fear and pain. yay, can’t wait. jumping in last minute, please contribute whatever you feel called to…super grateful.”

The NYC Marathon kicks off on November 1st. To learn all about the Maasai — or help sponsor a runner — check out the official website here.

Edward Norton has become the latest celebrity to tie up the laces and start training for the New York City Marathon. Beyond personal fitness, Norton is taking on the 26.2 mile-long challenge to benefit the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust — an organization working to promote sustainable development while protecting the east African grasslands that the Maasai tribe calls home. According to CNN, both the traditional tribe’s way of life and its environment have been threatened by rapid industrial development. From the article,

Norton discovered, and became a supporter of, the trust about 10 years ago during his first visit to Kenya, where he met founder Luca Belpietro. “I was impressed at the way he was really genuinely working with the community to create value out of being good stewards of the land,” Norton said.  The Maasai are at the heart of Kenya’s long tradition of distance running. Norton said one of the runners, safari guide Parashi Ntanin, is so fast he could probably leave the rest of the group behind and run the race in less than 2½ hours. Norton said he’s run as much as 15 miles twice during his training for the 26.2-mile marathon and that despite some leg and knee pains, he’s confident he’ll finish the endurance race.

You can get updates on Edward Norton’s training for the marathon by following him on Twitter @EdwardNorton. We wish him the best of luck in kicking up the pavement this November 1st. Check out the video below:

Photo credit: Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust

– Edward Norton speaking about the winners of the “Green Effect” — a contest where five winning green ideas received $20K in funding. To see the winners, please jump here.

Photo credit: PR Photos

As many other green sites are noting today, New York City’s newest park is celebrating its grand opening today. But this isn’t your normal piece of green set aside for public use — the High Line Park is actually set in the sky on top of the bones of an abandoned old rail line. What was once thought an impossible task has become a reality as the old rail line, when fully completely transformed, will end up being a mile-and-a-half-long elevated park; running through the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen. Right now, Section 1, which runs from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, is available to the public.

Naturally, many green-conscious celebrities flocked to help support the project over the past five years including Edward Norton Steve Carell, Kevin Bacon, Harvey Keitel, Glenn Close and designer Diane von Furstenberg.

If you’re in NYC, consider stopping by the park for the grand opening and taking in some of the beautiful designs courtesy of landscape architects James Corner Field Operations and architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

For a map of the project — including access points, jump here. Inhabitat has some fantastic images as well of the project over the years. The official site can be found here.

Edward Norton

Joining Norton in the judging are National Geographic’s Boyd Matson, eco-activist Jayni Chase (wife of Chevy Chase), Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green for All and Dave Haft, Group Vice President, Sustainability and Productivity, Frito-Lay. The contest is open to any green sustainable ideas you might have for your community until June 8th. On July 7th, the top 10 finalists will be announced and online voting will decide one of them. The judgs will have their say on the rest for the remaining four spots.

Want to enter — jump here for the official rules and entry guidelines!

Photo credit: Sylvain Gaboury / PR Photos

What previously we thought might only grace the small screens of those with HBO is now coming to a theater near you. Edward Norton’s Obama documentary — now officially titled: BY THE PEOPLE: The Election of Barack Obama — will be receiving a theatrical release from HBO Documentary Films. In addition, SONY Pictures has acquired from HBO all media rights internationally (excluding UK television) and domestic home entertainment rights.

As we write earlier, Norton was inspired by Barack Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention and felt moved to capture someone from his generation — and not his parent’s — inspiring so many and rising in leadership. Since 2006, starting with Obama’s trip to Africa, Norton and his Class 5 Films production company have had the cameras rolling every step of the way. The whole project was kept fairly secret — since neither the campaign nor Norton wanted it to fuel any criticism of Obama’s ‘celebrity’.

“Obama’s election was, clearly, a global event which people all over the world felt deeply about on both political and emotional levels. From the start, it was very important to us to share this film with as broad an international audience as possible and we’re really thrilled to be partnered with Sony in trying to achieve this because no company has more experience or reach in both the world markets and home video,” said Producer Edward Norton.

Regardless of what side of the political spectrum you fall into, this film will offer a really fascinating look at the behind-the-scenes of American politics — especially as it pertains to someone seeking the Presidency. I’m looking forward to it. Are you?

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