Earth Day 2001 Offers Chance to Reflect on the Global Challenge of
Balancing Rapid Population Growth with Environmental Leadership

New CD-ROM Provides Wealth of Information on the Global Challenge

BALTIMORE - Improving living standards in the developing world without
destroying the environment is a challenge explored in a new interac-
tive CD-ROM offered by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication
Programs (JHU/CCP). As Earth Day approaches, consider that the
world's natural resources are being threatened by a number of fac-
tors, including deforestation, air and water pollution, water short-
ages, coastal degradation and population growth.

"Population and the Environment: The Global Challenge" is the first
multimedia version of Population Reports, a respected journal which
has been published quarterly for the past 25 years. Interactive en-
hancements on the CD such as animated charts, streaming video and au-
dio interviews with renowned environmentalists help bring environ-
mental challenges to life.

"This CD paints a vivid picture of the relationship between popula-
tion growth, industrialization and environmental degradation," said
Phyllis Tilson Piotrow, director of JHU/CCP. "The big challenge we
face is how to help developed and developing countries manage their
natural resources without destroying them for future generations."

Policy makers, journalists, researchers, educators and planners
around the world can use this valuable new resource to help under-
stand how population and industrial growth impacts the environment.
For example, animated charts graphically illustrate how carbon diox-
ide emissions remained relatively stable for hundreds of years and
then sharply increased with the dawn of the Industrial Age.

Also, experts such as Tony McMichael, professor of epidemiology at
the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Steve Olsen,
director of the Coastal Resources Center at the Graduate School of
Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, speak about their
views on a variety of environmental threats.

"We have a chance to save big chunks of the planet's ecosystem and
save species - provided we recognize it is not just a big problem but
a stupendous opportunity," says Norman Myers in an audio interview on
the CD. Myers, a Fellow of Green College at Oxford University in the
United Kingdom, coined the term "biodiversity hotspots."

To sample a taste of what the new "e-Population Reports" offers,
check out:
http://www.jhuccp.org/popline/environment/index.stm

or to order the complete CD, contact:
Kim Martin
Tel: +1-410-659-6140
Fax: +1-410-659-6266

or go to:
http://www.jhuccp.org/popline/epoprpt.stm

Also, for all the environmental resources JHU/CCP has to offer, take
a look at:
http://www.jhuccp.org/popenviro/

The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) is a
pioneer in the field of strategic, research-based communication for
behavior change and health promotion that has helped transform the
theory and practice of public health. JHU/CCP has been a leader in
the development of projects based on systematic needs assessments and
clear strategies for positioning and presenting the benefits of
health interventions to appropriate audiences. With representatives
in more than 30 countries, JHU/CCP has developed and managed over 300
country-based projects and contracts in 50 countries involving more
than 200 local organizations and subcontractors. This CD-ROM project
is funded by the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID).

For more information contact:

Kim Martin
Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs
111 Market Place, Suite 310
Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA
Tel: +1-410-659-6140
Fax: +1-410-659-6266
http://www.jhuccp.org/