Press Releases

"Journey to Planet Earth" Continues to Receive Highest Praise

July 21, 1999 -- Producers Marilyn and Hal Weiner are pleased to announce that a recently completed formal evaluation of their environmental science series, "Journey To Planet Earth" was extremely positive.  In a study funded by the Kellogg Foundation and conducted by the Goodman Research Group of Cambridge, MA, 88% of viewers surveyed rated the three shows as either very good or excellent.  What is even more significant is that an extraordinarily high number of viewers (61%) said they were motivated to "take some sort of action" as a result of watching the shows.

In other news, the series continues to win top prizes at major film festivals.  The Council On Non-Theatrical Events just announced that all three shows in the series won CINE Golden Eagles and will now represent the United States in overseas film festivals.  The prize also makes each program eligible for next years Oscar Awards in the documentary category.

Superbly narrated by Kelly McGillis, this series [Journey To Planet Earth] illustrates the desperate need for a balance between the needs of people and the environment to ensure a healthy, productive society.  Three main themes are intertwined, dwindling farmland due to urban development, a shortage of water for the residents of huge cities, and the pollution of and human intervention in waterways.

Farming in Zimbabwe, France, China, and the mid-west United States is the focus of Land Of Plenty, Land Of Want.  Footage shows how healthy land is necessary to feed the ever increasing world population and how urbanization has taken thousands of acres of producing farmland.

In The Urban Explosion, the mega-cities of Mexico City, Shanghai, New York, and Istanbul are examined, with illustrations of each city's struggle to combat water shortages and pollution crises.

Rivers Of Destiny examines the Mississippi, Amazon, Jordan, and Mekong Rivers.  The positive and negative effects over time of human intervention are illustrated.  Pollution, flooding, and loss of wetlands are major causes of concern.

Employing live live-action, computer animation, satellite images, archival footage and an excellent script, this series enjoys excellent video and audio qualities, and far surpasses its teaching objectives.  Classes in economics, history, civics, geography, social studies will benefit from watching this extraordinary production. 

It leads the way for discussions about the pros and cons of responsible land and water use.  A must buy for libraries serving students in middle through high school to support a variety of curricular areas, as well as for libraries supporting home based education. -- Kathy Dummer, Newcastle Middle School, WY.

Season One's underwriters of JOURNEY TO PLANET EARTH are NASA, the Kellogg Foundation, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Continental Airlines, the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Honda Foundation and the Department of Agriculture.