The following letter came from Miyuki Furusawa, the producer of an environmental TV program for Satellite TV Channel BS1 on NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. BS1 is the only Japanese broadcasting station supported through public utility charges. NHK is sponsoring a website called "Global Forum: Future of the Earth". Mr. Furusawa invites you to join the world citizens' debate on the Internet and share your opinions and ideas for the future of the Earth.

NHK sponsors the "Global Forum" an Internet project that has entered its fourth year. People from 20 countries have submitted opinions and postings to the debates on the homepage have exceeded 5,800. For the year 2000, NHK has opened "Global Forum: Future of the Earth", a homepage where world citizens can debate on the environment -- the essential prerequisite for human survival. The focus will be on the two themes of "global warming" and the "food crisis".

While the development of the world economy has brought affluence to a great number of people in many respects, it has caused a rapid deterioration in the natural environment of the earth. The solution has been sought through political negotiations and international conferences. However, although we share the understanding that "the earth is precious and invaluable", there are also strong economic pressures and interests. Thus, full agreement as to what to do for the preservation of the environment has yet to come. What can we do, and what can we change, to find a way out of the present environmental crisis? The "Global Forum", is hoping to bring the perspective of economy into environmental issues and thereby reexamine thoroughly how our society and our way of living should be. The course of the debate will be featured in a documentary program to be broadcast this fall on NHK's Satellite TV Channel BS1.

To add your voice to the debate, visit the homepage of "Global Forum: Future of the Earth" by linking through: Global Warming or Food Crisis.

Sayonara