PRESS RELEASE 9/2/01

CYBER JUKEBOX BENEFIT FOR THE RAINFORESTS

Some of Australia's finest musicians have donated their songs to 
help save the rainforests. 

At www.rainforestjukebox.org, you can hear 40 tracks of music 
stream forth to benefit Ecuador's jungle: the monkeys, dolphins, 
jaguars, mighty trees & indigenous people. 

Over 60 Australian artists have contributed to the Rainforest 
Jukebox including Midnight Oil, Jebediah, Cruel Sea, Nancy 
Vandal, Powderfinger, Ruby Hunter, Archie Roach, The Red Eyed 
Frogs, Vince Jones, diana Ah naid, Superjesus, Skunk Hour, Stiff 
Gins, The Whitlams Penelope Swales. Environmental musicians 
from Northern NSW complete the concert with songs for the trees, 
animals and indigenous peoples and a shining future for the 
Earth.

Proceeds from this benefit support rainforest conservation 
projects in Ecuador initiated and run by Australian volunteers 
from the Lismore-based Rainforest Information Centre .

John Seed, OAM, who founded the Rainforest Information Centre 
in 1981 said:

"The rainforests are the womb of life. They are home to half of 
the world's ten million species of plants and animals. Authori
ties estimate that more than a million species will become 
extinct in the next 20 years - an average of perhaps 200 
species each day. Satellite photos show that unless we stem the 
relentless tide of destruction, less than a single human 
lifetime remains before we will see the utter annihilation of the 
rainforests - except for those areas that we manage to protect 
in the meantime. We are the last human generation to be able 
to do anything about this."

"Merely by visiting www.rainforestjukebox.org, web surfers at
tract a donation  which buys 2 square feet of 
threatened rainforest from each sponsor and protects monkeys, jaguars and the 
pink Amazon River dolphin."

The Rainforest Jukebox benefit is sponsored by Chaos Music, 
Juice Magazine, Thursday Plantations, Avant Card, Ozemail and Web 
Central.

A 1400 word article about this project is available at 
www.rainforestjukebox/network/media.html. This article goes 
into detail about the plight of the rainforests, the four 
conservation projects in Ecuador supported by this benefit 
and the history of the Rainforest Information Centre - the 
first organisation in the world to devote itself to rainforest 
conservation over 20 years ago. 

Stunning photos of Ecuadorian forests and wildlife are 
available from www.rainforestjukebox/network/media.html

Also at this url are short interviews with musicians Peter 
Garrett and  Diana Ah Naid  about musicians and 
the conservation of nature.

Contact John Seed or Ruth Rosenhek
61 2 66213294,  61 2 66218505, johnseed@ozemail.com.au