Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt, authors of highly acclaimed illustrated books including the New York Times bestselling Day in the Life and America 24/7 series, are releasing Blue Planet Run (Earth Aware Editions, December 2007). A powerful and disturbing visual journey, this book is aimed at sparking a global conversation about a problem that until now has received relatively little attention: the global water crisis.

Blue Planet Run provides readers with a fascinating and thought-provoking look at the water problems facing humanity on every continent, as well as some of the hopeful solutions and courageous "water heroes" focused on alleviating this crisis. By the end of the book, readers are left to form their own conclusions as to whether or how the human race is capable of taking the necessary steps to solve this global crisis before it's too late.

The large-format volume features more than 250 photographs by the world's top photojournalists, illustrations by leading infographic artist Nigel Holmes, and provocative essays by Diane Ackerman (A Natural History of the Senses), environmental leaders Paul Hawken and Bill McKibben, journalists Michael Specter and Jeffrey Rothfeder, Emmy Award-winning TV broadcaster Mike Cerre, Michael Malone, of ABC News and inventor Dean Kamen (the Segway scooter). Advisors and staff include Phillip Moffitt, former editor and owner of Esquire magazine and Stephen Petranek, former editor-in-chief of Discover magazine.

Blue Planet Run presents a series of daunting statistics as well as hopeful solutions:

  -- 1.1 billion human beings around the planet (one of every six people)
     currently lack access to clean drinking water
  -- Women and girls in Africa spend a staggering 40 billion hours a year
     finding and carrying water back to their families
  -- 50 percent of people on Earth today lack access to the quality of water
     available to the citizens of ancient Rome 2,000 years ago
  -- 1.8 million children (more than 6,000 a day, or one every 15 seconds)
     die from water-borne diseases
  -- 50 percent of the hospital beds on Earth are occupied by people with
     easily preventable water-borne diseases
  -- 66 percent of people on Earth will suffer from water shortages by the
     year 2025
  -- Humanity is sucking water out of the ground four times faster than it's
     being replenished by nature
  -- While global warming is unquestionably one of the most important issues
     facing the planet today, most experts believe that the water crisis is
     even more pressing

Climate change, globalization, overpopulation and booming economies in China and India are exacerbating the water problem. Despite the scale of this crisis, it has remained on the margins of the public conscience. Blue Planet Run is the first work in any medium to explain the safe drinking water crisis for a popular audience, and to show how we can all take part in solving it today.

The book also highlights the vital contributions of nonprofits around the world, including the groundbreaking work of the Blue Planet Run Foundation, which seeks to provide safe drinking water to 200 million people by 2027. The book includes coverage of the 2007 Blue Planet Run, an unprecedented, nonstop, around-the-world relay race designed as a wake-up call to the world. Twenty- one runners, representing 13 countries, began the race on June 1, 2007, at the United Nations and concluded in New York City on September 4, 2007, having circled the Earth in just 95 days while running over 15,000 miles across 16 countries in Europe, Asia and North America. The Blue Planet Run Foundation is just one of the many inspiring examples of people working together to solve the problems facing humanity. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.blueplanetrun.org.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Rick Smolan is a former Time, Life and National Geographic photographer best known as the creator of the Day in the Life and America 24/7 series. He and his partner, Jennifer Erwitt, are the principals of Against All Odds Productions, which specializes in the design and execution of large-scale global projects that combine compelling storytelling with state-of-the-art technology. Their projects have been featured on the covers of Time, Newsweek, Fortune and U.S. News and World Report and more than five million of their books adorn coffee tables around the world- many of them New York Times best- sellers. Their books include America at Home, UK at Home, 24 Hours in Cyberspace, The Power to Heal, Passage to Vietnam, One Digital Day, and From Alice to Ocean. Fortune magazine described Against All Odds as "one of the coolest companies in America."

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

SOURCE: Earth Aware Editions