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Could Bird Flu Kill Millions of People?; Trees in Need of Protection in Asia

Aired February 26, 2005 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DANIEL SIEBERG, HOST: Hi. I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN, new warnings that bird flu could become a pandemic that will kill millions of people. Experts discuss what it will take to avoid disaster.
Also, the FAA wants to close down some air control towers at times when no flights are scheduled. Could that leave towers unprepared for emergencies?

In Asia, the forests helped protect people from last year's tsunami, but the trees are in need of protection themselves. All that and more on NEXT.

Six days ago of torrential rains left southern Californians this week dealing with landslides, floods and homes sliding down hills. The storm was blamed for several deaths and an estimated $10 million in damage. Wolf Blitzer has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Southern California struggles to cope with what is now its wettest rain season in 115 years. Among the latest casualties, the runway of a small airport in Santa Paula, northwest of Los Angeles, shut down as it loses ground to the now raging river next-door. Also closed, dozens of roads across the region. In all, almost 100 homes across southern California have been deemed uninhabitable, and that number could grow, even as the rain stops.

BATT. CHIEF JOHN VIDOVICH, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPT: Our concern is once the sun does come out again, the threat has not subsided. The earth will continue to move for several weeks, so we're not out of the woods even after we get our sunshine back.

BLITZER: Lingering problems also for southern California beaches littered with debris. The water teaming with bacteria from storm runoff. People are advised to stay out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have never seen it quite this way. We've lived here for nine years. This is probably the dirtiest I've seen the ocean.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: It takes some powerful forces of nature to turn a hillside into a river of mud and debris. CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras explains what makes landslides happen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice over): They're fast, deadly and unstoppable, with enough power to wipe out a neighborhood in seconds. To put it simply, a landslide is a massive movement of earth, rock or debris down a slope, and even minor triggers can set a major slide in motion. Unrelenting rains in California can be blamed for the recent rash of them. Moisture equals weight. When the rain saturates the ground, it becomes unstable and gravity takes over.

The flow moves as fast as 200 miles per hour, dragging everything from mud, trees, boulders, even houses in its path. Or it can move so slowly it's not visible to the naked eye. Other factors can make the area more vulnerable to a slide erosion, snow melt, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and wildfires contribute. Man can cause problems too. Development and deforestation wipes out vegetation that helps hold the soil together, and construction blasts and traffic vibrate the earth.

So how do you know if your family and home are at risk? There are several warning signs to look for. Watch for tilting of your decks, patios, telephone poles and fences. Cracked or sunken floors, sidewalks, streets and foundations can indicate a problem, and so can sticking doors and windows. Unusually soaked, split or sunken ground or sudden changes in water levels could alert you to a possible slide. While the rains may come and go quickly, the danger can remain long after the weather event is over. Land, mud and rock slides can threaten months after a major event.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Of course it's not only the United States that's been having harsh weather lately. Asia is going through a terrible winter. Suhasini Haidar reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUHASINI HAIDAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): One man's relief as rescue workers dig him out of the snow, he's one of the lucky ones. The region blanketed by avalanches and record snowfalls. Hundreds more are missing, and the Indian military has been called in to look for them, but thousands across the mountainous regions of Kashmir, Pakistan and Iran aren't just freezing. They're also starving.

The roads and bridge have been engulfed, even washed away in what many here are calling an ocean of snow. In North Kashmir, basic provisions and water is in short supply. An Indian army military helicopters are air-dropping parcels to reach those that are stranded. In the western provinces of Afghanistan the U.S. army has been pressed into relief work, spending fuel and food to far-flung villages cutoff and inedited with snow.

Officials say many died here including more than 200 children because of the infections and illnesses brought on by the cold. In neighboring Iran, where more than 500 were killed in an earthquake Tuesday, homeless survivors are now battling freezing temperatures out in the open. Sleet on the roads and powerful winds also hampering earthquake relief efforts. Weather officials fear that worse may follow, as melting snow on these high mountain ranges may lead to more killer avalanches in the region.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Moving on now, scientists from around the world are warning that avian flu could kill millions of people if it mutates into a form that can be spread from person to person. Experts say the key to preventing that is controlling the disease in animals. Mike Chinoy reports from the bird flu conference in Vietnam.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They look like they're preparing to tour a bio-weapons facility, but in Vietnam these days, this is the only truly safe way to visit a poultry farm. So great is the danger from avian flu. We joined dozens of international experts on the disease as they inspected safety measures at this state-run chicken farm near Ho Chi Minh City. Avian flu has caused the deaths of tens of millions of birds here and killed dozens of people in recent weeks.

That has fueled fears that could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans. And possibly sparking a global pandemic.

(on camera): However the measure at this farm, experts say the avian flu virus is now so well-entrenched throughout Asia, it's no longer possible to talk about eradicating it and that makes the disease a time bomb.

DR. HANS TROEDSSIN, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We would see millions of people dying. We will have a pandemic that would shut down societies and communities, and conservative estimations says it's saying maybe 5 to 7 million deaths. That's conservative. We could be up to 50 or 100 million deaths.

CHINOY (voice over): Dr. Hans Troedssin is the W.H.O.'s man in Vietnam at an international conference here. He and his colleagues are trying to develop strategies to reduce the risk of avian flu, but also to prepare for the worst.

DR. SHIGERU OMI, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Hospitals in particular will come under great strength, and normal functions of society will be disrupted because so many people will be sick or too afraid to go to work. And obviously the economic cost will be enormous.

CHINOY: Controlling avian flu, though, means changing age-old patterns of behavior. Just down the road from that big chicken farm, we found families raising chickens with no precautions at all.

"I don't keep my chickens in cages," says Newintreti (ph). "I take good care of them. If they get sick, I just bring them to the vet."

No one wears protective clothing here. The kids play next to the chickens. It's a typical scene in rural Vietnam, and it is precisely the kind of setting where the virus could again jump the species barrier and set the stage for a potential global public health disaster.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up, can what happened to Paris Hilton happen to you? We're talking about getting all the info in your cell phone stolen. We'll tell you how to minimize the risk.

And later in the show, we'll take a look at the booming business in exotic animals, and how few laws there are to control it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Your cell phone may be giving away your secrets. We've been hearing for years about how to protect our computers from hackers and viruses and scams, but cell phones? Well, a celebrity cell phone invasion this week has people buzzing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (voice over): Paris Hilton is suffering from overexposure, again. The socialite turned reality TV star's digital details were stolen and posted on line after her T-mobile cell phone was compromised. It housed phone numbers for the likes of Christina Aguilera and others celebs, along with some revealing photos. Maybe it is easy to stop but what about your phone or PDA? Do you know where your data is right now?

DAVID STEINBERG, CEO, INPHONIC: It is really people being careless. I mean people have to understand that wireless phones, even regular wireless phones are like little laptops.

SIEBERG: When you sink user phone, your blackberry or your PDA with the computer, the information is sometimes sent to the web servers of your wireless provider. That way you can access the information on another computer, but any computer attached to the Internet is vulnerable. If you can access it, so can someone else. But there's also the idea of social engineering or tricking people into unwittingly handing over sensitive data. You might call that person a conman.

KEVIN MITNICK, AUTHOR, "THE ART OF INTRUSION:" Hackers go after the weakest link in the change, unfortunately it's the human factor, people like you and me.

SIEBERG: Former hacker Kevin Mitnick seen here during his release from federal prison five years ago is now a security consultant. He says an attacker is not always a shadowy figure crunching on keyboard somewhere.

MITNICK: Social engineer is basically putting themselves in this other role. They're either an actor or actress and they are creating a situation and the object is to get compliance, to get a trusted person or the target to comply with the request.

SIEBERG: Mitnick thinks Paris Hilton may have been tricked into resetting her password by someone impersonating T-mobiles customer service reps and asking her to reveal it, but there are even lower- tech means to get access, as in finders/keepers. In a recent survey by security form Pointec, tens of thousands of portable devices were apparently left in the back seats of cabs around the world.

STEINBERG: I would say more often than not people who are having information problems or losing their data to other people is because they just leave their phone or their smart device or their PDA, or their blackberry, leave it somewhere, and somebody else picks it up and has access to it.

SIEBERG: We all know they can help you stay connected and organize but they can easily come back to hurt you. Just because it's in your pocket or safely on your hip doesn't mean someone can't break in. Words to remember.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Well, the nation's power grid could be vulnerable to an attack by terrorists or hackers with potentially devastating consequences. Now, the government and the power industry are trying to fix the problem before it's too late. Casey Wian has the story as part of CNN's on going security watch coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The northeast power outage in August 2003 was just a preview of what security experts say could be coming soon, a large-scale attack on the computer systems that control the nation's electric power grid. The complicated network of generating plants, transmission stations and electric lines was developed before anyone imagined the Internet could cheaply hook them together. Yet provide access to a hacker and hack in sack or a terrorist in Tairan.

KENNETH WATTS, IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY: There is vulnerable to the electrical power grid, you know, from insider attacks, terrorists hackers, maybe even nation states who could attack these systems. I believe, yes, it could happen. I don't quite under why it hasn't happened yet.

WIAN: A government-funded program at the Idaho National Laboratory is working to plug the cyber holes in power grid computer systems. Researchers run tests using their own power plant and grid, then share results with the industry. The project is expected to take another seven years. While a temporary disruption of the power grid would be bad enough, security experts are most worried about a combination attack. Imagine a giant bomb blast in a big city, timed with a widespread power outage to disrupt emergency communication and rescue efforts. Bill Flint is the former director of the U.S. Army's Homeland Security threat office. BILL FLINT, U.S. ARMY HOMELAND SECURITY: The most dangerous threat would be a hybrid threat sophisticated enough to combine both physical attack with a cyber attack, and simultaneity against multiple targets. The government would be well served to initiate and continue and sustain programs that send, to figuratively quote Warren Zevon, lawyers, guns and money to the private sector in the system in these efforts.

WIAN: Several government and power industry groups are working on the problem, and federal funding for improvements to power grid cyber security and other critical infrastructure systems has increased sevenfold since 2001.

But time may be running short. According to a general accounting office report, a survey of security experts and industry executives found that most believe they'll be the target of a large-scale cyber attack before the middle of next year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Stay tuned to CNN, day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

ANNOUNCER: Coming up, a controversial proposal to shut down some air control towers in the pre-dawn hours. Sure, it would save money, but would it put planes in danger?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Well, good news for bored commuters in Atlanta. Starting later this spring, every subway car will be decked out with five 15-inch flat-screen televisions. Passengers will be able to watch local news or listen to a few preset music stations. They can choose their station using any portable FM device or any cell phone with an FM tuner. The information channel will also make announcements with travel delays and amber alerts. During the launch period, 230,000 portable FM radios will be distributed to commuters free of charge.

So how do you feel about your tax dollars going to pay air traffic controllers who have nothing to do? Sounds like a boondoggle, but the reality is not so simple. Kathleen Koch has the story in our "Getting There" segment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maintain at 6,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK 3-3 down to 6,000.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's 4:30 in the morning at Roanoke, Virginia regional airport, just it is second flight to land since midnight. The rest of the night, hour after hour, the control tower is quiet. The Federal Aviation administration says that is a waste of tax payer dollars.

MARION BLAKEY, FAA ADMINISTRATION: It doesn't make sense, of course, to have personnel sitting there like Maytag repairmen.

KOCH: So the FAA is considering closing towers between midnight and 5:00 a.m of 48 low traffic airports in 29 states. Planes could still use the airports during those hours, getting needed weather information and guidance instead from controllers at nearby FAA facilities.

BLAKEY: It simply means the service will be handled from some distance away. With all the avionics and the technology we have now, that's not a problem.

KOCH: But some in Congress oppose the plan, especially for airports that are near military bases, like two on the list in Texas.

SEN. KAY BAILEY HITCHISON, (R) TEXAS: They do use the run ways. And they like having an air traffic control tower so if there's something that comes out on the runway or something is blown out on the runway, they would have someone on the ground that could warn them.

KOCH: Airport managers and controllers insist closing towers in the wee hours of the morning hurts service and safety.

JACQUELINE SHUCK, ROANOKE REGIONAL AIRPORT: If someone gets in trouble at 2:00 in the morning, they'd like to know there are eyes watching them as they try to come in and not somebody a couple hundred dollars miles away.

RUTH MARLIN, NATL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSN: What could happen is that a plane could crash and nobody's there to help them. That's what could happen.

KOCH: So far passenger airlines don't oppose the cuts since few fly into the smaller airports between midnight and 5:00 am. Cargo carriers though are hesitant to take the risk into flying into an airport with an unstaffed tower. The cuts could save the government $5 million a year. The FAA insists it will study each facility before cutting the night shift to make sure safety won't be compromised.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up in our next half hour, grizzlies are making a comeback in Yellow Stone National Park. And that may actually be bad news for the bears. We'll explain and tell you why some Hong Kong senior citizens love to swim in a harbor full of ships and chemicals. Those stories and more coming up after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. You know, most pet-owning Americans are happy with a dog or a cat or a goldfish, but some people would rather have a lion or a tiger or a chimp. John Zarrella reports on the fascination with exotic animals and what happens when it wears off.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Her name is Nikita. Four years ago, this lion was found at a home during a drug raid in Nashville, Tennessee. No one knows where she came from. Now she lives here at Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida.

SCOTT LOPE, BIG CAT RESCUE: Hey, Nik. Hey, big girl.

ZARRELLA: She may not know it, but Scott Lope is her best friend. Lope manages the facility with a couple paid staffers and several volunteers.

LOPE: I always had a passion for animals, so I started volunteer here, pretty soon you're hooked, quit the real job, move here, this becomes your life.

ZARRELLA: It has to be. There are 150 cats here. Nikita's next-door neighbor is another female lion, Sarabi. This is Toby, a cougar in heat, all owned by private citizens, who kept them, some legally, some illegally, as pets. Like Adonis, an ill-tempered black panther. Nearly every animal is here because their owners no longer wanted them.

LOPE: We found carriers at our front gate before, a bobcat, some of the civets.

ZARRELLA: And nearly every animal is a bi-product of a booming U.S. trade in exotic animals.

LOPE: The exotic animal trade is second only to the drug trade in raw dollars, it's literally billions of dollars.

ZARRELLA: On Internet sites you can click, point, and buy lions, tigers and bears. A chimpanzee for $65,000, or a giraffe to trim your back-yard trees, just 40 to $50,000, and that's the legal trade. What's impossible to calculate is how many animals are being bought and sold on the black market.

From the beautiful to the bizarre, there's nothing Americans don't seem to want. Tucked mercilessly in suitcases, inspectors at Miami International Airport have found Africa gray parrots. They bring $1,100 each at pet stores. How about this bird eating tarantula, and her 200 babies, or these poison arrow frogs from Venezuela -- 300 of them? The smuggling of big cats is less likely, experts say, simply because they don't carry their black-market weight.

LOPE: We have, sort of a running joke that you pay more for a pure red dog than you do for a lion or tiger.

ZARRELLA: They are easily and legally bought in the U.S., 200 bucks at an exotic pet auction.

EUSABIO VERRIER, BENGAL TIGER OWNER: And I'm still going to put a hotwire all the way over on top.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the way around. VERRIER: A hotwire just in case, in case.

ZARRELLA: Investigators from Florida's Fish and Wildlife Commission came to this Miami home to inspect the new backyard enclosure for his white Bengal tiger named Harry.

VERRIER: It's something neat to have a tiger, something different to have, and it's something that the average person can't have.

ZARRELLA: Maybe not, but Harry is one of nearly 1,500 tigers registered in Florida, which has some of the toughest regulations. It took Verrier two years to get his permit, but in some states there are no regulations at all against keeping exotic animals. And 29 states will allow you to keep them as pets. And Scott Lope says people find ways around the regulations.

LOPE: If you're going to buy this animal from me and I say well, $100 for the lion cub, but then it's $500 for me to say you worked for me for two years, and you have all the hours that you need to own one.

ZARRELLA: Eventually, Lope says, when that cute cuddly cub grows up, it's often no longer wanted. Last year, Big Cat Rescue was at capacity and turned away more than 300 cats. Some end up in the cross hairs of a gun.

VERRIER: There's places that people pay to shoot these animals. You know, that's were an animal like Cameron would end up, absolutely. An adult male lion, a nice big mane like that. He's going to end up in a canned hunt because some rich guy's going to pay to shoot him.

ZARRELLA: If anything, experts say the demand for exotic animals is still growing, no matter what species. If someone wants it, and will pay enough for it, someone will get it for them, one way or another.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: All right. Wildlife officials in California on Wednesday killed a tiger that had been wandering in the hills around the town of Moorpark near a subdivision and school playing fields. They're not sure what a 600 pound tiger was doing in the southern California suburbs and no one has admitted to being the owner. Authorities say it's unfortunate they had to kill the tiger, but it would have been too dangerous to try to tranquilize it.

Well, the grizzly bear population in Yellowstone National Park is growing. Experts are split on whether it's time to take them off the endangered species list or whether that would put them back in a bad situation, Gary Strieker reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY STRIEKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When they emerge from their dens, this spring, grizzly bear in Yellowstone Park may face growing conflict with people. People have moved into bear habitat, bears have expanded to the edge of the habitat. It's at that interface that we can anticipate bear/human conflict.

STRIEKER: Last year saw a sharp increase in the number of grizzlies killed by humans in the U.S, at least 50 bears, many searching for food in populated areas, victims of their own success under federal protection.

(on camera): When they were first added to the endanger species list, 30 years ago, there were only some 200 grizzlies in Yellowstone. Now they number about 600.

(voice-over): That's about half of all the grizzlies in the lower 48 states. Grizzlies are now found in places beyond the park where they haven't been seen in 100 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's getting to be more and more conflicts with livestock.

STRIEKER: For many local residents, especially ranchers, that's too many bears.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's just enough of them in the true back country, that there's just no more real room for them except to come out of those areas to more civilized, populated areas.

STRIEKER: That belief is now shared by officials in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who say grizzlies here have achieved recovery and this year they plan to start the process of removing Yellowstone grizzlies from the endangered species list, passing responsibility from the bears outside the park from the federal to the state level. Some say that's 3a bad idea.

LOUISA WILCOX, NAT. RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: Simply put, delisting means more dead bears.

STRIEKER: they say a healthy population of grizzlies cannot be contained inside these national park boundaries, that we need to allow bears more wilderness to roam outside the parks.

WILCOX: We can achieve recovery of the grizzly bear in our lifetime, and de-list the grizzly bear, but we're not there yet.

STRIEKER: The public debate on federal protection for Yellowstone's grizzlies will get more heated when conflicts between bears and humans start again in the spring.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Well, stepping back in time a little now, the group of dinosaurs that included the Velosaraptors, apparently covered more territory than scientists realized. Fossils from a new species, the Neuquenraptor, have been discovered in Argentina. Until the new find, scientists thought the creatures only existed in the northern hemisphere. Velosaraptors were made famous in non-scientific circles, you might remember by the film "Jurassic park." The new finding also suggests that this group of dinosaurs has been around for longer than scientist previously thought. When a type of animal is found all over the world, it generally means it existed before the land masses completely separated.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up, we'll check out some video games that are very different from the usual shoot 'em up gore fests.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: You have your standard PC games then you've got games that let you go on a journey, solve a mystery, and help you get in shape. Joining us now to talk about these is Marc Saltzman, our resident gaming guru. And with an e-mail address like "gameguy," you probably know a fair bit about games, but these ones are rather unique, in a way. And this one, no mouse involved?

MARC SALTZMAN, GAMING GURU: Actually you do use a mouse in order to navigate throughout the surreal world, but you also have to put on these biofeedback sensor rings on your fingers. The game is called "The Journey to the Wild Divine," and it's essentially designed to teach you how to relax and meditate and breathe. As you can see, it's quite attractive. You navigate through this virtual world and you comes across various guides who teach you different exercises, and you have to put them to the test. Things like breathing to build a bridge or making birds fly in a circular pattern by exhaling a certain way, and laughing to keep balls juggling. Just to give you a taste of how this works is this neat little pinwheel, here, and what it's telling you is the exercise is all about breathing and exhaling, so if this works correctly, if I exhale, you're going to see this pinwheel spin. It's kind of neat.

SIEBERG: Wow.

SALTZMAN: That's kind of wild, and it works with both PCs and Macs.

SIEBERG: OK, well gaming can be stressful, so maybe this is an alternative.

SALTZMAN: You got it.

SIEBERG: All right, what's the next one?

SALTZMAN: This next game is called "Missing Since January." It's a creepy game, it's rated "M" for mature, that -- I've chosen this as one of our unusual game collections, today, because it takes place outside the CD-ROM. Yes, there are puzzles, and there are video clips you must analyze in order to track down a serial killer that has kidnapped a photojournalist and his companion; however, what's neat about it is you begin to get e-mails outside of the game, like in your Outlook inbox, from other characters who are also an investigator on this case and eventually this serial killer, himself, who e-mails you and taunts you and gives you clues. You also have to scour the web for more than 100 web sites that -- some are real and you have to get real information from them to help solve the clues -- to look for clues to solve the case, and some fictitious web sites by the company.

SIEBERG: Wow, it sounds like it's really thinking outside the box.

SALTZMAN: Yeah, definitely.

SALTZMAN: I can feel my heart rate going up, I might have to go back to the last game. Now, let's move on to the next game.

SALTZMAN: OK Daniel, this next game may creep you out a little bit, and it may bug you if you're not a fan of cockroaches, because of all things, you are transformed into a cockroach. Now, we don't see that every day in computer games. Now, this is called "Bad Mojo Redux. It is a remake of a game that came out in '96 for the PC and the Mac, and amassed this cult following. This new verse is designed for newer operating systems with enhanced and some other extras like making-of documentaries and other videos and things like that.

So in this game there's a story at the beginning, a video clip with real actors that tells you why you're -- well, actually you don't know why, but you're transformed into a cockroach, but the point of the game is to navigate this sort of dilapidated San Francisco building. You have to crawl across pipes and over dead rodents and...

SIEBERG: So a lot of puzzle-solving is going on in the game?

SALTZMAN: Yeah. And here's an example of one of the puzzles. You can't get stuck on that flypaper, the bug paper, there. As you can see, other cockroaches and other insects have died, so the point is you have to get to the bottom of this screen, but there's a spider here that could eat you, so let's go forward, and you see that there's a lit cigarette here, you're actually near a sewer, and you've got to move the cigarette butt down and it burns the spider, and that way you can bypass him because he's now gone. See, there you go.

SIEBERG: I got to say, part of me is cheering for the spider.

SALTZMAN: Yeah. It's a pretty creepy game, lots of -- you know, vivid imagery, and it's very unusual.

SIEBERG: Well, we've learned that sometimes it's not a bad thing when your computer game is full of bugs.

SALTZMAN: There you go. Good one.

SIEBERG: All right, Marc, thanks for joining us.

SALTZMAN: Thanks, Daniel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: When we come back, we'll see how mangroves protect some areas from December's tsunamis. And a man's life work protecting mangroves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: It's been two months since that devastating tsunami swept across Asian beaches and towns. killing hundreds of thousands of people, but some coastal areas came through the tsunami fairly well, often because they were protected by mangrove forests. Aneesh Raman has the story of a man in southern Thailand who's dedicated his life to mangroves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These mangrove forests are the powerful gateway to the villages that lie behind. Their beauty is not easily apparent, their essential role, not easily understood, and their survival is in doubt, a plight that has defined the life of this 62-year-old, Pisit Charnsoh. The soft-spoken conservationist spends his days on the front lines of this struggle, keenly aware that what takes minutes to destroy can have generational impact.

PISIT CHARNSNOH, YADFON ASSOCIATION: In the past 30 year, in Thailand alone, about 50 percent of the mangrove forest has gone.

RAMAN: It was back in 1985 that Pisit and his wife founded the nonprofit Yadfun Association, their goal was to protect mangroves, not through government policy, but by educating local communities.

CHARNSNOH: Because the mangrove forest is a breeding ground, feeding ground for the small marine animal.

RAMAN: Like the man himself, the trees Pisit embodies are quietly powerful, not simply lumber, but entire ecosystems. Famous for their labyrinth of formidable roots, mangroves protect coastlines from erosion and filter water before it reaches coral reefs and sea grass.

They are also conduits of life, breeding grounds for small marine animals and feeding areas for larger ones. In short, mangrove forests of some of the most productive and diverse wetlands, vital not just for the environment, but for anyone living close by.

And recent events have showcased a more urgent implication. In the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, mangroves were identified as an impressive line of defense. Their sheer density mitigating the deadly force of the tsunami waves, saving lives and livelihoods.

Indonesia already plans to grow mangrove forests look some 600,000 hectares of vulnerable coastline. But for Pisit, while the new found interest is welcome, it must not miss the point that mangroves are not just for protection.

(on camera): Pisit's passion for this cause is infectious and it's a big reason why he's been so successful, whether here, teaching children how to plant mangroves, or dealing with lifelong fishermen. It is all part of his bottom-up philosophy to grassroots organizing.

(voice-over): His efforts are contained to a few dozen villages in southern Thailand, but their lessons, global. The majority of each day is spent helping locals to understand that while they may lose money at first, fishing with eco-friendly practices, they will sustain their way of life for generations for come.

It is beyond Pisit's to ensure that mangroves stand tall worldwide, safeguarding and empowering local communities. The future of what is in his reach, though, is firmly in mind.

CHARNSNOH: I'm thinking about next ten years, what's happening in this area. I imagine that there are many victories growing. I imagine that there are many crabs, many clams living in this area. I imagine that there are many young people can come and collect those crabs, fish for their -- earning their living, for their income.

RAMAN: A vision so vivid and a passion so powerful, there seems little doubt it will happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Just ahead, this busy harbor is called Sulfur Channel, and the water smells like diesel. So why are people so eager to swim in it?

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SIEBERG: How does this sound for a relaxing swim? Dive into one of the world's busiest shipping channels in the middle of winter, make your way though oily, smelly water, while dodging huge ships and bits of floating garbage. I got to tell you, it's not my idea of fun, but the senior swimmers of Hong Kong swear by it. Andrew Brown has the story.

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ANDREW BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These exercises are part of a daily routine for some of the Hong Kong's hardiest seniors. After a warm-up, they take a dip in the ocean, which in winter, means braving the chilly current every the South China Sea. The youngest swimmers, in their 50s, are outnumbered by others in their 60s and 70s, and veterans like Kong Seck, who's turned 82. You can't keep him out of the water.

KONG SECK, SWIMMER (through translator): It's so beautiful, why not swim here?

BROWN: Why not? Well, for a start, this stretch of water's called "Sulfur Channel," named after the chemicals locals say were once stored nearby. The channel's also near the world's busiest container port, and in this working harbor, you'll find vessels so large they can't fit through the Panama Canal. Fortunately the swimmers are unfazed by the swells generated by all the ocean traffic.

LUK MEI YONG, SWIMMER (through translator): These waves, when they watch over you, it's very relaxing. We're used to riding them up and down.

BROWN: The swimmers claim the water is quite clean, although they still have to dodge different kinds of trash and they're affected by more stubborn forms of pollution, especially fuel spills.

TAM FUNG KWAN, SWIMMER (through translator): We are used to it and jumping in the water we just have to do.

BROWN (on camera): The swimmers say about half the time they come here, they get covered in oil. I don't see any oil, but it does smell of diesel.

(voice-over): Despite the environmental hazards, and often choppy conditions, the seniors keep coming. As for a trip to the swimming pool, well, apparently that's not even worth contemplating.

SECK (through translator): Swimming in this ocean water is healthier than swimming in freshwater.

BROWN: Many people would disagree the sea here is actually healthy, but that's what makes this such a singular salute to Mother Nature.

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SIEBERG: Was that is Speedo that Andrew Brown was wearing?

All right, thanks for taking the plunge with us this week, that's all the time we have for now, but here's what's coming up next week.

Many people of his generation credit Paul Tibbits with winning World War II. He doesn't talk to reporters very much, but he did talk to us on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Find out what he had to say.

That's coming up on NEXT. Until then, let's hear from you. You can send us an e-mail at NEXT@CNN.com. And don't forget to check out our Web site, that's at cnn.com/next.

Thanks so much for joining us, for all of us, I'm Daniel Sieberg, we'll see you next time.

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