Approximately 7,000 visitors toured our exhibit to learn about global warming: what it is, how it impacts us, and how we contribute to the problem. Our goal was to create a positive upbeat exhibit, all the while presenting a balanced discussion of the issue. Visitors also learned about the innovative ways that schools, nonprofit groups, companies (Dupont, Coca-Cola, and Pacificorp), the Olympics, and governments are working to solve the problem. A special take-away, souvenir postcard featured some simple ways individuals can take action.

WRI’s two press conferences on global warming attracted approximately 45 journalists. Press kits were accompanied by a special WRI CD-ROM which included a summary of climate change impacts on the United States, a glossary of climate change terms and an interactive calculator which estimates the carbon dioxide released from an athlete, visitor or journalist’s round trip air or car travel to Salt Lake. Other CD-ROM contents include web-based resources and projects that offer solutions for governments, communities, companies and individuals to reduce their impact on the Earth’s climate. (Please let us know if you would like a copy of this CD-ROM.)

A variety of news services covered the press conferences, including the AP, Cox News Service, Agence France-Presse (France’s largest), Deutsche Press-Agentur (Germany’s largest), and the Xinhua General News Service (the largest news and information gathering and release center in China). Stories ran in newspapers in Atlanta, Calgary, Dallas, Denver, Milwaukee, New York, Salt Lake City, and Washington. CNN featured two 90-second pieces from the press conference in both the morning and evening of February 19. CNN Radio and Cumulus Radio covered the events. ESPN2 and the Outdoor Channel filmed pieces of the conference for programs to air in April and May about sports and the environment.

The Los Angeles-based Earth Communications Office unveiled its new three-year public service global warming awareness ad campaign using Olympic athletes Eric Bergoust and Picabo Street and Hollywood celebrities. Jean-Michel Costeau and Hollywood celebrities Mimi Rogers (actress, Austin Powers and X-Files), Sharon Lawrence (actress, NYPD Blue), Esai Morales (actor, NYPD Blue) and Michael T. Weiss (actor, The Pretender) joined us at the press conferences and at special events to help increase public awareness of global warming. Michael T. Weiss talked about global warming and the Climatestar campaign over the Coca-Cola radio network. WRI received a lot of publicity for its work. Partnering with Hollywood and working within such a huge popular event was a first for WRI. In addition to education and media coverage, we established a variety of new corporate and communications relationships, which we hope will translate into more substantial partnerships around climate issues.

For more information, visit http://multimedia.wri.org/winterolympics2002/index.html.