PROPOSAL OVERVIEW: For more than 50 years people have gone into planetariums to sit in the dark and gaze out at the Universe. Now, for the first time, we will turn their gaze back at our own planet Earth utilizing NASA's high-resolution digital data in a totally immersive visual environment. Environmental Media Fund is seeking funding on behalf of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to produce and distribute THE DYNAMIC EARTH PROJECT a global environmental science public education program.  

The Project consists of a suite of media projects and activity-based learning tools designed to reach diverse audiences across the nation and around the world. The goal is to empower individuals with knowledge of the world around them.

The Museum and its Partners NASA's Science Visualization Studio, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Thomas Lucas Productions (for detailed information see "Project Partners & Collaborators" below) will draw upon satellite images and sophisticated computer simulations in one of the largest Earth Science visualization efforts ever undertaken. Together, the Project's components provide a fascinating voyage of discovery to our Planet Earth.

The projects components include:

"SPHERE OF LIFE" - a 25-minute, full-motion digital planetarium show designed for national and international distribution. This program will take audiences on a never-before-seen exploration of Earths global systems at work. SPHERE OF LIFE will treat viewers to a dazzling "decade in the life" of Planet Earth as seen from space. By depicting the dynamic links between land, sea and air, it will raise one of the most important questions of our time can Earths natural systems sustain the accelerating pace of human activities?

Digital planetarium theaters offer a unique "immersive" experience and image resolution up to 30 times that of standard definition telev