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How Inflation Is Slowing Down; Great Bear Rainforest In British Columbia, Canada. Aired 4-4:10a ET

Aired May 12, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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


COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello lovely people. Happy Friday, Friyay. We made it to the end of the week. Isn`t that sweet? I`m coming to you from

Orchard Park, New York, home of the Buffalo Bills, for a special project soon to come.

We start today with an update on inflation, which is actually lower now than it was a year ago. So, what does that mean? Well, prices across all

goods and services have not gone down, but the pace of price increases has slowed.

The latest Consumer Price Index, or CPI report is an indicator for the price of a weighted average of consumer goods and services purchased by

households. The report showed prices have been falling with appliances, health insurance and used cars.

But Americans are still feeling pain with their bills, especially when it comes to groceries, car insurance and even daycare and preschool prices.

So, with the latest reports, are we now trending out of the inflation woes? Our Matt Egan has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: The inflation fire hasn`t been put out, but it does increasingly look contained. Consumer prices jumping by 4.9%

year over year in April. That is the smallest increase in exactly two years. There have now been 10 consecutive months of cooling price gains.

Unfortunately, though, the pace of the improvement has slowed. It`s basically leveled out even though it`s currently at a level that is more

than twice what the Fed is targeting. Now, on a month over month basis, inflation actually heated up between March and April, though, a lot of that

was driven by a spike in used car prices and that spike is not expected to last.

I`m digging to the report, there were definitely some positives here, a record price drop on an annual basis for major appliances. And for health

insurance on an annual basis, used car prices are actually down. Grocery prices, they`re still going up rapidly, but even that has cooled off. On

the other hand, car insurance is up more than 15% over the last year.

So if you put it all together, inflation is clearly moving in the right direction. But the pace of the progress has slowed. And it`s still too

early to declare victory on inflation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Ten second trivia.

Which of these Canadian provinces is located along the Pacific coast?

Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia or Alberta?

The westernmost province of Canada is British Columbia, defined by its mountain ranges and Pacific coastline.

Let`s head to British Columbia now to the Great Bear Rainforest, where the indigenous First Nation community has taken steps to protect their land,

marine and wildlife, which includes an extraordinary sighting of a white bear or spirit bear. These protections have impacted the ecosystem and the

community`s livelihoods in just a few short years. Our Bill Weir gives us a tour from that stunning region.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Behold the Great Bear rainforest, stretching for 250 miles of beautiful solitude along the coast of British

Columbia as part of the largest intact coastal temperate rainforest in the world. It is a wilderness, the size of Ireland and home to one of the most

extraordinary creatures on the planet.

DOUGLAS DEASLOSS, CHIEF COUNCILOR, KITASOO/XAI`XAIS FIRST NATION: The spirit bear is something that`s really unique. When you get a pure white

bear coming out of a dark green forest, it just looks really magical. And so, we want to protect that.

WEIR: Spirit bears are actually a subspecies of black bear that due to double recessive gene aren`t black at all. But this rare species is just

one piece of a vital wilderness.

DEASLOSS: The Great Bear Rainforest is extremely special. I mean, I think it`s probably one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. You still

get wild things like bears and wolves and abundance of salmon and a bunch of different sea life. You still have old growth forests, and so we want to

keep it like that.

WEIR: In the heart of this remote expanse is the town of Klemtu, home to a community of the Kitasoo/Xai`xais First Nation, who`ve lived and thrived in

this region for thousands of years.

DEASLOSS: This river is right close to the community. We get three species of salmon that come up this river, and this is their spawning ground.

WEIR: According to a recent report published by the Kitasoo/Xai`xais, this rich ecosystem suffered from 100 years of unsustainable extraction fish,

wildlife and forests from outside interest.

DEASLOSS: So right now, we`re just getting ready to enter Kitasoo Bay, and that`s the area probably the most important area.

WEIR: In June of 2022, they announced the creation of a marine protected area to preserve the herring stalks that are so vital to both wildlife and

the community.

DEASLOSS: Kitasoo Bay was declared by the military chiefs. It was supported by the community, and it was launched so the rest of the world

knows about it. We`ve engaged provincial governments, federal governments. We`ve engaged stakeholders, letting everyone know that it`s closed. We`ve

left the document open to collaborating.

WEIR: But the push to reverse a century`s worth of degradation actually started more than two decades ago. In 2000, they released their own land

and resource protection and management plan aimed at building an economy based on conservation and non-extractive activities like ecotourism.

DEASLOSS: I think Indigenous knowledge is super important, and I think it needs to be integrated, whether it`s wildlife management, fisheries

management, ocean management.

You know, I think right now we are in a new era of collaboration. We`re in this era of reconciliation. And how do we work together? How do indigenous

people and non-indigenous people work together?

WEIR: Neighboring First Nations first came together in 2012 to issue a ban on trophy hunting of bears. And five years later, thanks to indigenous led

research and analysis, the British Columbian government banned the hunting of grizzly bears across the entire province.

DEASLOSS: That was huge, but we knew we weren`t quite finished yet.

WEIR: In July of 2022, just a month after the marine protected area was announced, the government agreed to put a stop to black bear hunting as

well. And First Nation leaders say they`ve now managed to protect half of their territory.

DEASLOSS: We`ve been working with different levels of government, different levels of stakeholders. It`s been a lot of negotiation, a lot of

debates, a lot of science, a lot of collaboration. And I would say, yeah, 2022 is probably the first high end that we`re able to see some significant

progress on some of these files. We have a belief that if you take care of the land, the land will take care of you. And so that`s ingrained in all of

our work here. It doesn`t matter if it`s in stewardship, if it`s in tourism, if it`s in economic development. We want to make sure that we`re

looking at long-term, sustainable industries, and we want to make sure that we have a place that the world can enjoy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: All right, for all you video game lovers out there, check this video out. As the U.S. Navy is actually training sea lions to play video games is

today`s story getting a 10 out of 10. Meet Spike, one of three sea lions learning cognitive enrichment training for the U.S. Navy marine mammal

program.

This avid gamer became the first Seal to complete this training as he uses his snout to press a button and maneuver a cursor through a maze. His eyes

track the cursor with laser-like focus. The U.S. Navy employs more than 120 mammals in this program, all of which are trained in reconnaissance and

recovery tasks.

All right, it`s time to seal the deal on this awesome week. We want to make sure that you wish all your mothers out there a Happy Mother`s Day this

week. And if you haven`t written a card or gotten a gift yet don`t forget.

Our special shout out is going to East Middle School in Butte, Montana. Rise up as we you out with some visuals from the stories we`ve learned

together this past week. Remember, shine bright this weekend. Wherever you go, you are more powerful than you know. I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10. It`s

been a blessing to spend this week with you.

END