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American Morning

Utah Ablaze; On The Web; Feeling The Heat; Fight For Iraq; Minding Your Business

Aired July 09, 2007 - 06:00   ET

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

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Firestorm. Right now, fires burning in 14 western states.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had about 30 seconds to get out of here. Nothing is going to be salvageable except for memories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Hundreds of homes at risk. Hundreds of thousands of acres burned. And the flames far from under control.

Plus, extreme heat. Temperatures rising in the east. Power systems taxed, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

And good morning to you. It is Monday, the 9th of July. I'm John Roberts, along with Kiran Chetry.

Welcome back.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Great to be back on this Monday morning.

Boy, it's going to get hot today. Oppressive heat up and down the East Coast. We're going to take a live picture right now. This is New York City right now. Seventy-eight degrees already at 6:00 in the morning Eastern Time, heading up to 98 degrees today.

And then let's get a live look in Washington, D.C. There's the White House this morning, 75 degrees. But the White House is going to be sizzling, 99 or 100 this afternoon in the nation's capital, John. Reynolds Wolf is going to be live. We're going to be checking in with him a little bit later.

ROBERTS: I was down there yesterday. It was warm. It was very warm. But it was actually a dry heat. A very low dew point, like down around 50 degrees. So that means it wasn't the oppressive swamp like temperatures that are usually there.

CHETRY: It's the humidity that kills you in D.C.

ROBERTS: It really is.

CHETRY: And no wind.

ROBERTS: Yes.

Hey, out with the old and in with the new. The votes are in this morning. We've got the list of the new seven wonders of the world, like the Taj Mahal, but not the Egyptian Pyramids. I was really surprised about that. We'll take you on a world tour of the newly crowned sites, coming up on this AMERICAN MORNING.

CHETRY: The people picked them and we'll tell you what they picked coming up.

Meanwhile, we start off with our top story, and that is major fire. Fires burning across the West right now in 14 different states, including the Milford Flat Fire in Utah. That's the biggest fire in that state's history. Nearly 300,000 acres lost so far and containment, they say, is nowhere in sight. Kara Finnstrom is in Cove Fort -- it's about 140 miles from Salt Lake City -- with an update for us this morning.

Hi, Kara.

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning.

Well, we just spoke with fire officials and they expect today to be a major turning point in the battling of this wildfire. That's because we are going from state authorities managing this fire to federal authorities. And that's going to bring in a lot more resources.

We've had just over 100 firefighters on the front lines. That's going to increase to about 500. And more things like air tankers coming in to really attack this from the air and drench those hot spots. They say this will allow them to go from really just a defensive mode, where they were trying to keep these flames away from homes, away from families, to truly attacking this wildfire. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FINNSTROM, (voice over): A seemingly never ending fire line now stretching across Utah.

It is hot, it is dry, and this fire is continuing to find unburned areas to flare up in, charring acre after acre.

Utah's veteran firefighters tell us they've never seen wildfires as intense and swift as the six burning their state right now. They say forests parched by little rainfall and snow, a scorching summer sun, and violent wind gusts have created the perfect wildfire season.

And this isn't just happening in Utah. Fires are raging all across the American west. Major fires in Washington, Nevada, and California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we are witnessing here is just extreme fire conditions.

FINNSTROM: Evidence of that, the fire tornadoes popping up, spewing out and scattering fire. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So those are a very bad omens for firefighters.

FINNSTROM: It's disheartening for Utah families, like the Taylors, who took pictures just one week ago of a gift store, now nothing more than ash.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire came right over that hill with the wind blowing and we had about 30 seconds to get out of here.

FINNSTROM: Not enough time to save anything from this ravaging fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing is going to be salvageable except for memories, and I had a lot of good memories.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FINNSTROM: Now about 300 homes do remain threatened out here today. And so while they are extremely hopeful, they say this fire has been unpredictable so far, Kiran, so they're not taking any chances.

CHETRY: For sure.

All right, Kara Finnstrom, thank you.

ROBERTS: New this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, Iraqi citizens are being told to arm themselves because security forces can't stop extremist attacks. After more than 220 people died in attacks this weekend, some prominent Sunni and Shiite politicians called on civilians to defend themselves.

And there's a report in today's "New York Times" of a major development inside the White House. A debate is going on about a troop pullback in Iraq. A progress report due out on Sunday is going to say that the Iraqi government is not likely to meet any of the goals set by Congress. That's according to "The Washington Post."

The Senate begins debate on a new military spending bill today and "The Times" says the White House is worried about losing more Republican support. Two prominent GOP defectors spoke this weekend about why troops have to be scaled back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL, (R) NEBRASKA: The political support for this war is gone. It's eroding. It's eroding in the Republican Party. That's a reality. So we're going to have to move towards some new strategy, some new policy, that must be focused on political accommodation. And I don't see any other way out of it.

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR, (R) INDIANA: I would think the majority of our forces could redeploy by the midpoint of next year, and probably even before that time, but by then. And I've advocated a majority to come out of Iraq. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Six Republican senators are now backing plans that support a troop pullback.

A three-year-old British girl is back with her family this morning after being released by kidnappers in Nigeria. Margaret Hill had been held for four days. Her parents say she was covered in mosquito bites and very hungry, but otherwise she was doing well. Kidnappings of foreign oil workers are increasingly common in Nigeria. Police say no ransom was paid for Margaret's release.

Boeing is showing off the Dreamliner, its 787 passenger jet, rolling it out near Seattle on Sunday. It is Boeing's first new jet in 12 years. It's made of carbon composites, which are lighter than aluminum, which means that it burns less fuel. Inside, a promise of larger windows and a cabin that's pressurized to a lower altitude. More than 600 orders are already in from airlines around the world. The first 787 is set to fly commercially next May.

CHETRY: I'll bet you can't wait, John.

Well, it's time now to check in with what's new this morning with some of our correspondents. Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan making waves once again. This time she is issuing an ultimatum to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That's impeach President Bush or I'll run against you. Our Jacki Schechner is following this story for us to find out what the blogs are saying this morning.

Hey, Jacki, good to see you.

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran, good to see you back, too.

Yes, Cindy Sheehan said she was retiring at the end of May, but now she's back out of retirement, saying that she's going to challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if she doesn't introduce impeachment in the next two weeks.

You know, we're seeing more reaction this morning from conservative bloggers than liberal bloggers. The ones who we are seeing weigh in on the left have a little bit of sympathy. Say she's been through a lot. That, obviously, it's taken its toll on her. This isn't such a bright idea.

On the conservative side, saying she's back. They're that surprised it took so long. Others saying this is nothing more than a publicity stunt.

For her part, Speaker Pelosi's office says that she's focused right now on bringing the troops home from Iraq. Impeachment is not on the table at this point.

Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Jacki Schechner, thanks so much. Also, all that heat out West making it to the East today. Heat warnings in effect with temperatures and humidity rising near the 100- degree mark in some spots. Our meteorologist, Reynolds Wolf, is in Washington this morning, where it's nice now but it's going to get very hot a little later today.

Hi, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. No question about it, Kiran.

We currently have 80 degrees here in downtown Washington, D.C. We're right along the side of Pennsylvania Avenue. Later on today we're expecting a much warmer day with temperatures soaring up into the mid 90s to upper 90s. When you factor in the high humidity, it's going to feel like it's near the century point. So still very, very warm.

Still shy of the record high on this date, which was set back in 1936 of 104 degrees. But, still, very warm for anyone who happens to go out and about.

Now with that in mind, Washington, D.C., has already set up many cooling centers. One of those being in (INAUDIBLE) Judiciary (ph), another in Frank D. Reeves Center. That's on 14th Street Northwest. A few other places. The King Office Building on MLK Avenue Southeast, and the Public Center on M Street Southwest. All places where you can go and fight off the heat, get plenty of water, stay refreshed and, of course, enjoy the air conditioning.

Coming up throughout the morning, we're going to give you the very latest on the heat here in Washington, D.C., and what you can expect up and down the eastern seaboard.

Let's send it back to you.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks a lot, Reynolds.

Meantime, severe weather expert Chad Myers is keeping track of the temperatures for us, letting us know what we can expect throughout the day. Triple digit heat along the East Coast.

Hi, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: A showdown between Congress and the White House tops your "Quick Hits." Democratic leaders have given the White House until the end of the day to explain why they're not handing over documents related to the firings of federal prosecutors.

Also on Capitol Hill, Democrats are pushing measures this week that would close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. The White House has said it is willing to close Gitmo if it can continue to hold its most dangerous detainees without charges or trials. Under pressure. The White House bracing for more Republican revolt over the Iraq War. Plus, a new progress report that's headed to Congress. Could it force the president to rewrite his war plan? A closer look next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Your "Quick Hits" now.

The state of Pennsylvania essentially closed for business this morning. Governor Ed Rendell ordering a shutdown of noncritical state services. Twenty-four thousand workers told, stay home. The governor says in a deal to resolve the budget fight could be reached, though, by the end of today.

Help wanted at the Department of Homeland Security. A congressional report says about a quarter of the top management positions are vacant right now creating a "gaping hole" in terrorism preparedness. A DHS spokesperson says the numbers are from newly created positions.

And a symbolic funeral in Detroit today for the "n" word. Leaders at the NAACP's annual convention say that it needs to be stricken from popular culture.

ROBERTS: We'll be talking with Roland Martin about that later on this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.

Breaking away on Iraq. How many more GOP defections can the White House handle? Last week, New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici joined a chorus of Republican war critics calling on President Bush to start reducing the U.S. military's role in Iraq. Joining us now from Rosslyn, Virginia, is Jim Vandehei. He's with politico.com.

Jim, when you look at all of the activity that's going to take place on Capitol Hill regarding the Iraq War this week, will this week mark, do you think, the beginning of the end of the Iraq War?

JIM VANDEHEI, POLITICO.COM: I think it will mark the beginning of a big shift for President Bush. You know, already talking to folks over in the White House, there's a big debate about how quickly do they have to react. They used to talk about waiting until September 15th to see how the surge is doing.

They know reality has set in. That when you lose someone like a Domenici and a Senator Lugar, very respected voices inside the Republican Party, that you have to react. And that when members get back here and start sharing stories with what they saw when they were back in their state, they know they've got a big problem coming ahead. So they're going to try to adjust their strategy and start to send signals to Republicans that they will make a shift.

ROBERTS: Yes, the last time that this debate came up in Congress, Democrats had to back off. They essentially lost. But since then, Lugar, Voinovich, John Warner and Domenici have all come out saying there needs to be a change in plan. The Democrats now seem to have the momentum and Republicans, it would appear, Jim, have to come up with some sort of viable alternative that goes down as somewhat similar road as the Democrats.

VANDEHEI: They do, John. But you also have to listen to the rhetoric that you hear from Lugar and Domenici in particular. They're not talking about cutting off funding or they're not talking about an immediate withdrawal. That gives Bush a lot of flexibility in what he can do.

Now he's going to have to work inside of that environment. No longer can he simply say, we're going to stay the course and wait till September 15th. But also he doesn't have to react right away and call for an immediate withdrawal because that's not what Republicans are looking for.

So the question for Democrats is, how far do you push it? Do you cut off funding? Because that is the one big tool in the Democrats' arsenal. They have not used it yet, but there are certainly more and more Democrats putting pressure on leadership to do that.

ROBERTS: If the president, in these discussions that were illuminated in "The New York Times" today, going on within the White House do lead to some sort of troop withdrawal, you know, that would be reversing everything that he has said for the past four years. But is he at a point now, politically, where there's so much pressure on him, he has to do something but he has to make it look like it was his idea?

VANDEHEI: It would be a total repudiation of everything that Bush has said. He's always said, you can't send signals and you can't set these firm deadlines. Clearly he's going to have to do something. He's going to have to show that we're going to start drawing down force levels.

And it's just, I think, a reflection of reality. He doesn't have the clout that he once had. People, conservatives, are ticked off at him about how he handled the Scooter Libby case. They're ticked off at him about immigration, teaming up with Ted Kennedy to do a bill that they feel is inviolate of what conservatives want to do.

So he doesn't have that big bulwark of support that he used to have in the House and the Senate. And you look at those polls, he's losing conservatives across the country as well.

ROBERTS: And this report that's coming out on the 15th, this is this interim report. Is there any way to make that look good, because the Iraqi government is going to miss every benchmark that was set by Congress.

VANDEHEI: No. I mean all you've got to do is look at the news every day of what's happening over in Baghdad and surrounding areas that whenever they leave an area that they've been able to bring security to, chaos follows. They've not been able to have those benchmark success that they wanted to have. Now you've talked to the generals on the ground. A lot of them are saying that, yes, you know, wait, wait, wait. We might be able to get there into the late fall. But they can't point to those successes right now and the Iraqi army simply has not stepped up like the Bush administration want it to. So I think it will be a mixed bag and they'll try to spin it as positively as they can. But they also know the reality is, that things are not going as they would wish in Iraq.

ROBERTS: Well, any way you cut it, going to be a big week in Iraq.

Jim Vandehei from the Politico, from Rosslyn, Virginia, this morning.

Jim, thanks. Good to see you.

VANDEHEI: Take care, John.

CHETRY: Gunfire in a mosque, standoff topping our "Quick Hits" now. Shots fired today at the mosque and girls school in Pakistan, where Islamic militants may be holding hundreds of hostages. Government troops blasted holes in the walls yesterday, hoping that hostages would use those holes to escape.

One million people stranded in India right now from flooding due to the monsoon rains. Thirty thousand are in shelters and more than 650 people were killed in the flooding. Monsoon season runs from June to September.

And a world tour with seven stops. We're taking you around the globe for a look at the newest seven wonders of the world. You picked them. Find out what they are coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: And there's a shot this morning of the sun coming up over Central Park in New York City. It's in the high 70s right now, going up to the mid to upper 90s today. It's going to be a steamy one in the city. And, of course, that's going to put a lot of demand on power as well. We hope to make it through the day without any brownouts here.

Twenty-one minutes after the hour, coming up to 22 after. Another blackmail attempt made on Miss New Jersey over the weekend. Time for your "Quick Hits" now. Amy Polumbo received a second threatening letter. The person sending the letters has threatened to publish personal pictures of hers if she doesn't step down.

Who says Brooklyn has to pay second fiddle to Miami? Why would it play second fiddle to Miami? Manhattan. Sorry. It's early Monday morning. Not New York. We're going to start this all over again. Why would Brooklyn ever play second fiddle to Manhattan? Well, not in New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's eyes, anyways. He's honor and 95 staffers have temporarily moved city hall to Brooklyn while their office in Lower Manhattan gets a facelift. That should take about two weeks. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are looking into the crash of a sightseeing helicopter. Eight people were on board when it went down into the Hudson River off of New York City on Saturday. Nobody was hurt. Passengers say they thought that they heard engine trouble right before the crash. The survivors, amazingly, rolled video on the way down. We'll talk with them and we'll see that home video only here on AMERICAN MORNING in our 7:30 half hour.

CHETRY: Can you just imagine how scary that must have been.

Well, more than 2,000 years after the Greeks named the seven wonders of the world, there's a new list of seven wonders to behold this morning. Nearly 100 million voters logged onto the website thenewsevenwonders.com and picked their favorites. So, drum roll, please. Let's show them to you.

First up, the Great Wall of China. It's the oldest of the new wonders. It was built in the second century B.C., in part to keep out invading mogul tribes.

At number two, the sandstone city of Petra, Jordan. Back in the first century, it was a key junction on the spice trade route. But in this past century, Hollywood came calling and Petra was featured in movies like "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

At number three, the Christ Redeemer statue in Brazil. It stands almost 2,300 feet above Rio de Janeiro and it welcomes visitors with open arm. It was completed in 1931, which makes it the newest of the new wonders.

Fourth on the list, Machu Picchu in Peru created by the Incas in the 15th century. A settlement deep in the South American Andes was lost for more than three centuries. Only rediscovered again in 1911.

And number five, the Chichen Itza pyramid in Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. At over 1,200 years old, served as the political and economic center of the ancient Mayan civilization. It certainly is beautiful.

And coming in at number six, the Colosseum in Rome. Built in the first century. Gruesome gladiator contests were one of the more popular events held there. And now almost 2,000 years later, virtually every modern stadium bears the imprint of the Colosseum design.

And finally, the Taj Mahal in India. One of the world's most recognizable buildings. It was build in the 1600s. Took years and years to build, as an immense mausoleum to honor a late emperor's wife.

John.

ROBERTS: Well, I've seen three of those in person. Still got four more to go. Maybe, you know, by the time I die, I can see all four of them. Polly Labarre here, by the way, "Minding Your Business" this morning with more about the 787 Dreamliner. POLLY LABARRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The much anticipated premiere of it was yesterday at Boeing's Washington plant where it was assembled. And it was all the pomp and circumstance. They had 15,000 people in the plant. They filled the Seattle Seahawks stadium full of employees, (INAUDIBLE) employees. People are really excited about this.

ROBERTS: Is this going to be a great airplane to fly in?

LABARRE: Well, that's the question. So people really excited about the business story where they've already got orders for 677 of these planes. The point is, how does it feel when you're sitting in seat 39-F, right, for several hours at a time.

ROBERTS: In the middle seat, yes.

LABARRE: Exactly.

And some interesting things about this plane. So this is a plane that's composed mostly of carbon fiber composite, which makes it lighter, more durable, less prone to corrosion than the aluminum aircraft. It also makes it potentially much greener than most aircraft. So I think just from the idea of . . .

ROBERTS: Yes, fuel economy is, what, 20 percent greater?

LABARRE: Twenty percent greater than the rival airplane. But, more importantly, how does it feel inside the plane? Bigger windows, because of this carbon fiber composite shell that it's in. The feature that I really love is higher humidity and lower cabin pressure. So at the end of the flight, you actually don't feel so dehydrated and kind of exhausted after you've been flying for a long time.

And even better, lots of great technology integrated. Like infrared sensors so you don't have to lift the trash can yourself in the laboratory and the taps turn on themselves and the toilet flushes itself and all that kind of stuff.

ROBERTS: You know we had a story just last week, speaking of this idea of pressurization, on how people actually suffer from mild altitude sickness when they're flying long distances. So maybe this will help compensate for that.

LABARRE: Right. Because it will actually be a lower altitude in the plane.

ROBERTS: Great. Well, looking forward to it. When does it come out?

LABARRE: It's coming out in May. It will be commercialized in May. The first airline will be for Japan's All Nippon Airways.

ROBERTS: Well, I look forward to flying on it.

Polly, thanks very much. LABARRE: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Kiran.

CHETRY: Fugitives back in custody, topping your "Quick Hits." It's our top story on cnn.com right now. Alan Horowitz, a rabbi and convicted child molester, fled the country back in 2006 while on parole. Internet tipsters helped investigators track him down to a resort in India and he is now back in the U.S.

Well, what's worse than a punishing heat wave? How about not having electricity during a punishing heat wave. Is America's power grid ready for the record breaking heat we're going to see this week? Well, we have details coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back. Once again it is Monday, July 9th. I'm Kiran Chetry, along with John Roberts.

Going to be a scorcher today if you're living up and down the East Coast.

ROBERTS: It will be very hot. All of that heat from the West is now coming toward the East.

Welcome back, by the way.

CHETRY: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Hope you had a good few days off.

Stories "On Our Radar" this morning.

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: Well, the western heat wave is moving east, and with it comes new concern about the demand for power.

Jim Acosta is live in New York's Times Square with more on that.

And many of us remember, at least in recent history, that blackout that took place a few summers back and just how difficult that was to deal with.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kiran. It seems every year as the mercury rises so do worries about the nation's power supply. But the energy industry is all but guaranteeing the lights will not go out on Broadway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice over): Even though temperatures are predicted to hit the 90s in the Northeast this week, another big blackout is not just around the corner, so say the big energy companies who insist they can take the heat. FRANK KOZA, PJM: We think we're in good shape for this coming summer, and we don't expect to have problems in serving all of our customers.

ACOSTA: PJM oversees a power grid for 13 East Coast states. Just one of the grids that took a nose dive in the country's worst- ever blackout of 2003. Leaving 40 million Americans in the dark, it caused a staggering $6 billion in economic losses.

Con Edison is also optimistic, but just last summer 175,000 people in the Queens area of New York sweltered without air conditioning for nine days, leading to protests and complaints of mishandling the outage.

MICHAEL CLENDENIN, CON EDISON SPOKESMAN: We've got a lot of new equipment in place, a lot of new cable that's in place since last summer to hopefully minimize and prevent what happened last summer.

STAN JOHNSON, NERC: We've learned a lot of lessons from what happened back in 2003. We've applied those lessons.

ACOSTA: Stan Johnson works for the nonprofit watchdog over the nation's energy supply that just last month gained the authority to fine power companies that violate industry standards. Johnson says that overall, U.S. grids fared well last summer.

JOHNSON: Well, if you use last summer as an indicator, we had 14, 15 sustained days of over 90 degrees in the Northeast, and the system held together very well. So we believe that we can survive 14 to 15 days, and the system is a bit stronger this summer than it was last summer.

ACOSTA: But the next crisis is looming. Unless the nation starts building new power plants within five to seven years, energy analysts fear the return of the blackout of '03.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And power company officials say there's no magic bullet for the nation's energy demands. They say it may sound old-fashioned, but it is up to consumers to use less by conserving energy, which I realize doesn't sound right saying that in Times Square -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes, exactly, where the neon lights never go off no matter what time of day or night it is.

Jim, thanks so much.

ACOSTA: You bet.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK) CHETRY: Well, if you're looking to go beat the heat this summer with a trip to the great outdoors, there may be some things you want to keep in mind. Thousands of people, according to the National Park Service, have to be rescued each year from their big summer adventures.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Greg Hunter is live in Chicago for us this morning with some tips on how you can make sure that your summer adventure turns into a safe one, not one where you end up needing help.

Hey, Greg.

GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran.

When it comes to the wilderness, wow, it's really unpredictable. From the terrain, to the weather, to even animals, you have to plan for the unexpected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTER (voice over): In the Utah wilderness last month a black bear dragged an 11-year-old boy from his family tent at night, killing him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to him was so far beyond anything that could have been expected.

HUNTER: Two other campgrounds in Utah were closed just last week after bears were spotted nearby. As people move into bear territory, or wildcat country, encounters are more and more common.

BRIAN BRAWDY, OUTDOOR SURVIVAL TEACHER: And they don't get found because they didn't tell anyone where they were headed.

HUNTER: Outdoor survival teacher Brian Brawdy says one way to protect yourself, don't sleep in the clothes you cook in. Put them far away from your tent, along with leftover food.

BRAWDY: But a lot of folks will forget the clothing that we use to cook the meal, it smells as good to a bear, a black bear, a visitor. It smells as good as if that cheeseburger were on the grill right then.

HUNTER: But bear attacks are rare. Only 59 deaths in North America in the last 100 years. A much more common hazard? Dehydration.

BRAWDY: Heatstroke, you forget where you are, your vision starts to go, you start to get the shivers, your skin can get clammy. And sometimes you can even stop sweating.

HUNTER: Take plenty of water, or a purification kit like this. This bottle can filter up to 29 gallons.

Brawdy says to keep in touch in the woods, don't rely only on high-tech devices like walkie-talkies. Take a whistle. And let someone know your itinerary so they'll send help if they don't hear from you.

BRAWDY: A lot of the stuff that you and I are talking about is a good emergency preparedness plan.

HUNTER: In an emergency, stay calm. Last month, this 5-year-old girl survived two nights alone in the Illinois woods after her grandfather drowned. We talked with her and her parents on AMERICAN MORNING.

HANNAH KLAMECKI, SURVIVED ALONE IN WOODS: Well, I don't really know what I did in the forest.

ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you picked up some berries, didn't you?

H. KLAMECKI: Yes.

CHO: Were you scared?

H. KLAMECKI: Yes.

MIKE KLAMECKI, HANNAH'S FATHER: She told us that the -- that the forest was really scary like a haunted House. So I don't know how she did it. I couldn't have done that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTER: And I've got a few things here that you should probably take along with you no matter where you're going, especially if you're camping.

And number one, first and foremost, a first-aid kit. This is a pretty good first-aid kit. It comes with instructions, it comes with wipes, bandages, a little tool set, some of the stuff is sterile. So that's a good thing to have.

Another thing is a pocket survival kit. You have wire, you have, you know, duct tape. You have that whistle I was blowing. And, of course, a compass, because you never can tell.

And this is one of my favorite things. You know, we were talking about that water purification kit. Take a look at this.

Now, you talk about something that will purify. Let's say all you have is a lake to get water out of, right? Look at this thing right here. See this right here? See how dirty it is? Watch it, and then we're going to -- look at that dirty water becoming drinkable water.

Look at that. Look at that. Here is the -- here is the dirty water, and that's how it came out. A water purification kit always really handy, especially if you are in the stone-cold wilderness.

Back to you guys -- John, Kiran. CHETRY: I dare to you take a sip. Will you drink it, Greg?

Delicious?

HUNTER: It's good to you. It's good. It filtered it.

CHETRY: All right. I owe you breakfast.

ROBERTS: I hope he brought a port-a-potty with him, because he may need it in an hour.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: Really good -- really good tips, though, Greg. Thanks so much. We'll check in with you a little later.

HUNTER: Thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

ROBERTS: Well, the reviews are in for Saturday's Live Earth concert.

Lola Ogunnaike here with more of it.

Ratings weren't what they expected that they would be in some places. What happened?

LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You know what, John? I think it's called benefit fatigue.

I think people are just tired of seeing a group of celebrities get together and rally around a cause. You've had September 11th benefits, you've had tsunami benefits, you have Katrina benefits, last week you just had the Diana concert. And I think people were just like, enough. Enough already. Let's come up with something a little more novel.

At this point it's become hackneyed. And it's almost -- it's almost bordering on becoming a cliche.

ROBERTS: Yes, it was split between four or five networks as well, and how did technology play into all of that?

OGUNNAIKE: Well, I think people said, look, it's a great day -- at least in New York it was a great, sunny day. And they figured, I don't want to sight through this and watch 18 hours of this.

I'll go out. I'll TiVo it and fast forward through the acts I don't want to see and watch the acts I do want to see when I get home. Also, on YouTube. I'll catch the highlights on YouTube and things of that nature. Can't be bothered to sit through the whole thing at home. Not going to waste a day.

ROBERTS: So what -- so what did you think? What were the highlights?

OGUNNAIKE: I loved Madonna, actually. And that was a really great hit for them on that show.

Apparently, the London show only averaged about 900,000 viewers. But when Madonna came on, 4.5 million viewers. So that's a huge spike for them.

I love Bon Jovi. They did "Living on a Prayer". What are you going to do? You've got to tune in for that.

And I think Alicia Keyes and Kanye West were also fun. But again, Kanye West just performed at the Diana concert last week. Not novel. A little old.

I think people are at the point where they're saying, look, let's let the celebrities take some time off. And frankly, I don't want to hear about environmental causes from the Pussycat Dolls. I'm not really going to trust them to tell me what to do about recycling and driving a Prius.

ROBERTS: Right. Do these people really care about this, or do you think it's just there to boost their image? Some of the criticism of this whole thing was that these don't -- these people really aren't invested, they just want to make sure their name is attached to the cause.

OGUNNAIKE: A lot of people think it's a bit hypocritical. I mean, celebrities are some of the least eco-friendly people on the face of the planet.

They say that they are interested in the environment, but you also have tours that not only guzzle a huge amount of electricity, but the gas, the tour buses, the entourages, the private jets, that all contributes to, you know, the carbon consciousness that everyone is so obsessed with right now. And they are some of the least eco-friendly people on the planet.

So to have them say, "People, you know, recycle," use electricity -- you know, electricity-efficient light bulbs, people aren't really trying to hear that from Madonna when she's got a fleet of cars sitting in her driveway.

ROBERTS: Right. Well, we'll see if it makes a difference.

Lola Ogunnaike, thanks.

OGUNNAIKE: Thanks.

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