Environmental Images A Treasure for Newsletter Editors
by Don Rittner

Environmental organizations often need a good assortment of illustrations to
use in their newsletters and other publications.  Artist Josepha Haveman has
compiled GAIA Environmental Resource,  a collection of hundreds of full color
and black & white illustrations with environmental themes - and more.

Haveman has scanned in more than 500 photographs/illustrations and created a
database of other useful environmental information and combined it all on one
CDROM disc.  CDROM, or Compact Disk - Read Only Memory,  is an excellent
storage medium for large amounts of data because it can store more than
250,000 pages of information, graphics, sound, or combination of all three on
a small plastic readable disc that is accessed by using a special reader.
Using Apple's Hypercard software program, Haveman has created a series of
Hypercard "stacks" that integrate the 500+ photographs as well as information
on more than 400 environmental organizations,  200 plus environmental
publications and educational material, and demos of environmental related
software, all in an easy 'point and click' format.

Access to the material is via GAIA's main menu, or home card, and
is arranged under four major categories: Graphics Tutorials, PICTure Preview,
Environmental Message, and Digital Resource Demos.

The PICTure Preview category contains the scanned color and black and white
images. The images are in 24-bit color and were scanned in from still and
motion video and saved in PICT (an Apple graphic standard), TIFF (Tagged
Image File Format) , and EPS (Encapsulated Postscript) formats. These are
graphic formats used for the Macintosh computer although TIFF files can be
converted and used with PC computers.  EPS (42 images) and TIFF (500+ images)
formats produce the best resolution when printed.
The images are arranged according to five themes: environmental (birds &
deer, logging, plastics, pollution, and recycling); foliage (flowers, leaves,
seaweed, and tree/shrub details); Landscapes (aerial views, forests,
mountains, seaside, wetlands); Marine (boats/fishing gear, seashells); and
Sky (fog, various, storms, sunset). These images are easily transported into
a desktop publishing program using the Macintosh's familiar 'cut and paste'
technique.  The images contain specific as well as general environmental
themes.  For example, while you can find nice images of wildflowers, you will
also find images of pulp mills, dead birds in oil, recycling plastics and
other elements of the negative impact on the environment, so this collection
should not be viewed as a typical collection of just pretty pictures.

If the pictures weren't enough, Haveman has also created a large database in
a section called "Environmental Message."   Contained within is a database of
more than 400 educational institutions, environmental organizations, federal
and state agencies, and museums and preserves with name, phone number,
address and summary. A second database contains more than 250 sources of
audio tapes, books, digital media, films, magazines and video tapes related
to the environment.  She also includes her reasons behind making the disc -
her environmental message,  and a discussion on GAIA theory.  GAIA is a
growing philosophy in the environmental movement that the Earth is one
interlinked living system and named after the Greek goddess GAIA, meaning
Mother of Earth.

The Graphics Tutorial category contains a tutorial on how the CDROM
was produced, notes about the author, graphics terminology,
definitions of the file formats used on the CDROM, and other useful technical
information.  

In  keeping with the digital nature of this product, the author's last
category "Digital Resource Demos" contains demo versions of several
commercial and free environmental related computer programs: Earthquest,
Global Warming, Simcity, Balance of the planet, Animated world, and Simearth
Explorer.

There is a great deal of useful environmental information packed on this one
CDROM Disc.  The scanned images are useful to editors who need good
illustrations to back their stories or to spruce up otherwise drab looking
newsletters.  The database of organizations and educational materials is a
good start to locate additional information for individuals, groups, or
anyone needing to locate general environmental material.

Requirements: Apple Macintosh Computer, Hypercard (comes with it), System
6.02 or better, CDROM Player.

Price: $249

Source:  GAIA Environmental Resource, by Josepha Haveman.  Wayzata
Technology, Inc.  P.O. Box 807, Grand Rapids, Michigan 55744.  (800) 735-7321

Rating: 4.3 (5 is the highest)
User Friendly: 4.5
Significant environmental value: 4.3
Educational value:  4.3

Copyright 1991 Don Rittner
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Don Rittner is the author of EcoLinking: Everyone's Guide to Online
Information (Peachpit Press), a columnist for Environment News Service, and
Host of America Online's Environmental Forum.