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Recovery Efforts Underway After Devastation Of Hurricane Ida Affects Gulf Coast and Northeast; So-Called QAnon Shaman Pleads Guilty To Charges Related To January 6th Capitol Riots; Experts Predict Increases In Extreme Weather Events Due To Climate Change; Senator Joe Manchin States Congressional Democrats Should Pause On $3.5 Trillion Budget Reconciliation Bill; U.S. Attempts To Pressure China On Reducing Carbon Emissions; Interview With Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ). Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 04, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But even though all these accolades sound absolutely incredible, we don't get paid very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Christine, I love that shot with her son helping her work out. That's just so sweet.

So talk to me about this path. It would seem like, OK, they should be able to get their way. Look at these amazing athletes and their determination. But this has been quite the fight. They're not getting their way.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: No, and it has been going on since the 99ers basically, the World Cup in 99. And this is the next generation. They're taking the lead from Billie Jean King and others, fighting for equal pay. It's a very important national conversation and international conversations.

They are, the women's soccer team, the most important women's sports team on earth, and the most popular. And that's why this is so riveting. And the documentary takes us inside, and we see that these women are playing and preparing for the Olympics, and also going to depositions. Fascinating look at true role models for our time.

WHITFIELD: Yes, true fighters. Christine Brennan, good to see you, thank you much. And of course, we'll all be watching, and we want you to as well. Tune in to the all new CNN film "LFG" premiers Monday, 9:00 p.m. eastern only on CNN.

Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Right now, desperation setting in as the Gulf coast deals with the aftermath of hurricane Ida. The storm death toll in Louisiana and Mississippi is 13, and many hard-hit communities are running short on food, fuel, and other supplies. Power outages are still reported for more than 700,000 in Louisiana amid scorching temperatures there. And the desperation in that state is turning deadly. A man was killed after reportedly cutting in line at a crowded gas station. The sheriff confirming to CNN moments ago that the suspected shooter has turned himself in.

Let's start our coverage with CNN's Nadia Romero in New Orleans. Nadia, what are you learning?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is so unfortunate to hear about that, Fredricka, because tensions are running high. People are frustrated. Obviously, pulling out a gun, shooting someone, not the answer, but it does speak to what people are dealing with. This many days after a storm, not having power, not having air- conditioning. All other food spoiling in their homes. And some people have said enough, and that's why they're here at the convention center, evacuating the city of New Orleans.

So this is day one of the evacuation from the city, helping 2,200 people a day, that's their limit, who can get on coach buses and go out of New Orleans to get help. So they start here at the convention center for 12 different locations, they all gather here, and they come to these tables behind me.

These are all stations where they're going to get signed up, get registered. They'll ask them questions. Who are you? Where did you come from? Are you traveling with anyone? You can bring your pet along with you, which is a big reason why some people do not initially evacuate because they don't want to leave their pets behind, and a lot of shelters don't allow that.

So they can bring their pets here and get evacuated to northern Louisiana or Texas where they have power and electricity and water and all of those vitals.

And I spoke with one woman who lived her whole life here in New Orleans, and she said this last storm, hurricane Ida, was the last straw for her. She said she is so upset by people who are looting and breaking in her neighborhood. She doesn't feel safe, and she wants out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY CARTER, GOING TO EVACUATION SHELTER: I need food and clothes and I need a place to stay. And I need to be safe. I need to get out of New Orleans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: So that is Miss Mary Carter, and she was nice enough to talk with us. She was leaving with her grandson who she says is mentally disabled. She's leaving with her daughter and other grandkids who all just need to leave. And her home, she said it was like a river flowing through her home because she had flooding. Now she's got mildew and mold all over her clothes, and she just couldn't take it anymore. So she's leaving. The good news here is that there are thousands of linemen here trying

to get the power back on, but for some people, it's not just the power. It's also access to food and clean clothes. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, just a horrible situation. And sad on top of all that is it's not going to be remedied overnight. It's going to be many more weeks of heartache, if not months. Nadia Romero, thank you so much.

President Biden is pledging his full support to areas impacted by Ida's wrath. On Friday he toured some of the devastation in Louisiana. He also is expected to visit New Jersey and New York on Tuesday. But some of the hundreds of thousands still facing the consequences of the storm say the federal response has been severely lacking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've got to sleep in the car. My kids are hot. We're hungry. We're going to die in here. Where's FEMA? Where's the Red Cross? We need help now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:05:06]

WHITFIELD: CNN's Arlette Saenz in Wilmington, Delaware, where President Biden is spending the weekend. So is the White House delivering on any answers, particularly to the woman we just heard?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Fred, President Biden is vowing that the federal government will continue to provide resources as these regions continue to recover from hurricane Ida, all the way from the Gulf coast to up here in the northeast. And on Tuesday, the president will see the damage that was caused by hurricane Ida in New York and New Jersey firsthand. He will be touring and meeting with state and local officials there on the ground.

And this comes after the president spent about seven hours on the ground in the Louisiana area just yesterday meeting with those local officials, seeing firsthand that damage that was caused by the storm. And right after he toured one of those neighborhoods that had been impacted by hurricane Ida, the president talked about and acknowledged the fact that people are growing frustrated with the situation, particularly when it comes to those hundreds and thousands of individuals who still are without power in the region. Take a listen to a bit of the promise the president made as he spoke yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're working 24/7 with the energy companies who we met with the heads of the day, and we deployed with more federal resources, including hundreds of generators, and there's more to come to restore power as fast as we possibly can.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SAENZ: Now, in addition to working with the power companies, the president said that they have also been talking with cell phone service companies to try to establish more steady and consistent service for people to communicate down there, along with trying to provide more gasoline.

We've heard of all of those gas shortages that people are experiencing, the long lines, the waits in the heat to try to fill up their tanks. The president already authorized the release of 1.5 million barrels of crude oil, tapping into this Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to get gas running a bit more faster.

Now, the president is also using these trips to both Louisiana and up north to New York and New Jersey as a way to promote his build back better agenda. The president is arguing that they need resilient infrastructure, and you've also heard lawmakers up in the northeast echoing that, saying that the bills that are before Capitol Hill must be passed in order to help lead to recovery in the future from devastating storms like this.

WHITFIELD: Arlette Saenz, thank you so much.

At least 50 people in the northeast have died after the remnants of hurricane Ida caused massive flooding in the region. In Cranford, New Jersey, stunning video showing water right there rushing into the home in the basement as the wall simply collapses. In Pennsylvania, clean- up could take weeks after several tornadoes ripped across that state, and many roads and homes are still underwater.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is in Philadelphia for us. So Polo, what is the latest on the recovery? And where are you?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, it was just a few days ago that Pennsylvania National Guardsmen were out navigating floodwaters around this city and helping with some of these rescues to make those happen. And now attention really focusing on some of those main water ways and getting water out of some of the roads that might still be flooding some of those roadways.

As we look here in Philadelphia over the river, there's actually rows over two feet above major flood states just days ago. It has dropped significantly, but nonetheless, you can see the water still raging here.

Now, Department of Transportation officials have been working around the clock to pump water out of the water ways and into this river, and that's one of the main reasons why authorities are recommending that people not get too close to it.

And then the other side of the things now is the clean-up process. And I think this picture really does give an idea of the kind of stuff that floods, when they basically just flooded this area, left behind. The trees, miscellaneous debris as well.

Once the water is gone, this is the kind of stuff that crews now have to clear out in order to allow for not just vehicle traffic but also even just pedestrians to be able to walk around these kinds of areas. In fact, there was some locals that told me a little while ago on a beautiful Saturday like today, you usually see people out and about fishing off this pier, but instead obviously areas like these are off limits.

I spent some time in New York, spent some time in New Jersey, which is where almost half of the fatalities were reported, and there are certainly neighborhoods that were devastated by this. Obviously, people losing their loved ones, but there are also others who just lost their homes altogether, and now tasked with having to clean out, rebuild, and that's what so many are re focusing on right now while other part of the city, like here in Philadelphia, it is business as usual.

WHITFIELD: The road to recovery is going to be a tough one. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

[14:10:00]

Coming up in the CNN Newsroom, he stormed Capitol Hill in a bearskin and wearing horns. Now the so-called QAnon Shaman makes an admission in court.

And from extreme weather to raging wildfires, our half-hour special on climate change is just minutes away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, CNN is learning the White House may have to scale back its rollout plan for coronavirus booster shots set for later on this month. According to one source, the initial rollout may only include the Pfizer booster vaccines. Moderna says it submitted its data on Friday, but it may take a few weeks longer to move forward with those shots.

This week, Dr. Anthony Fauci explained why he thinks a booster shot may be inevitable for most people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:15:00]

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER: But I must say, from my own experience as an immunologist, I would not at all be surprised that the adequate full regimen for vaccination will likely be three doses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The U.S. is now averaging 166,000 new COVID-19 cases each day, according to Johns Hopkins. That's a seven percent increase over last week's average. And with the holiday weekend upon us, the CDC is urging anyone who isn't vaccinated not to travel.

The U.S. Justice Department has now secured a guilty plea from one of the most recognizable faces from the Capitol riot. Jacob Chansley, or you might know him as the so-called QAnon Shaman, now facing up to 20 years in jail after storming the Capitol wearing a bearskin and horns. CNN's Paula Reid has details.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PAUL REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jacob Chansley was originally charged with six federal crimes, but as part of this deal he will plead guilty to just one of the most serious. He now faces the possibility of up to 20 years in prison, but because he has no prior criminal record and the Justice Department now says it will recommend about three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years, he is unlikely to face that maximum prison time.

He is also required to pay $2,000 in restitution for damage caused to the capitol, and he faces the possibility of up to a quarter-million dollar fine. He has remained detained since he was arrested in January, even though his attorney has repeatedly asked the court to release him pending the ultimate resolution of his case.

But the judge here found that he posed too great a risk of future violence to be released, and he continues to be one of the small group of rioters who didn't attack anyone directly during the insurrection but that a judge has found to be too dangerous, too great a threat of future violence to release.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 17th. The Justice Department has charged over 600 people related to the insurrection. They achieved their 50th plea deal this week, and they continue to look for hundreds more.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, up next, flash flooding, tornadoes, and widespread power outages. The intensity of hurricane Ida reigniting the climate change debate. We have experts standing by to explain what we can do and what we should learn from all of this extreme weather.

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[14:22:10]

WHITFIELD: Hurricane Ida crippled the south and northeast this week, flooding roads, destroying homes, knocking out power, and triggering hundreds of rescues. The monster storm is to blame for at least 63 deaths in the northeast and south. It slammed into Louisiana on Sunday and then kept on going, moving through the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky states before flooding out the northeast. Here's a closer look at what the storm left behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This extremely dangerous storm just made landfall only moments ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are literally scenes of my worst nightmares.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one of the strongest storms to make landfall here in modern times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ended up with search and rescue. We rescued 348 people, 48 deaths.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No electricity. People don't know what's their next move. So it's probably going to get rough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been like hell. I've never been through nothing like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A tremendous amount of rainfall in store for you throughout parts of the northeast here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This storm was of biblical proportion. It came fast and furious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dozens and dozens of cars marooned, stranded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Waters are still high enough to completely cover train tracks and to flood this stadium.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our house is gone. What do you mean? He said the tornado.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rescuers still looking for people in need of help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We always tried to stick together, but this is too much for us.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're all in this together. The nation is here to help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So as we begin to survey the damage, elected leaders are sounding alarms on a dangerous reality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL, (D) NEW YORK: Because of climate change, unfortunately, this is something we're going to have to deal with great regularity.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D-NY) SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Global warming is upon us, and it's going to get worse and worse and worse unless we do something about it.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, (D) NEW YORK CITY: We are in a whole new world now. Let's be blunt about it.

GOV. PHIL MURPHY, (D) NEW JERSEY: These storms are coming more frequently and with more intensity. So there's no denying it.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These extreme storms in the climate crisis are here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So for the next 30 minutes, we'll discuss the future of our planet and ask the key question, is this the moment that helps bring consensus on the climate crisis?

Let's begin with meteorologist Gene Norman. Gene, so good to see you. So we've all seen the destructive images, but what made Ida so unique?

GENE NORMAN, METEOROLOGIST: Fred, Ida really underscores how weather patterns are changing in the climate crisis.

[14:25:01]

Take a look at the Gulf of Mexico. Just within the last three years, we've had three category four or five hurricanes. Michael in 2018, Laura last year, of course, and Ida this past week. What made Ida very unique is the impacts far from the coast, as we've mentioned. It made that landfall but lingered across southern Louisiana, traveling very slowly, dumping nearly a foot-and-a-half of rain.

Then it was propelled by an upper level system and went all the way up into the northeast, spawning 21 confirmed tornadoes because of the upper level energy that it interacted with along with a stationary cold front.

Now, we know because of our warmer atmosphere that the warmer atmosphere will hold more moisture, and that will lead to increased rainfall. In fact, take a look at this from climate central, showing the increasing number of what are called excessive rainfall events, in other words, high one-day amounts. It's going up year by year, and that's not good news, Fred, not just here in the United States but globally.

WHITFIELD: Gene Norman, thank you so much for that view.

Let's talk further. Joining me now to discuss, John Sutter, a CNN contributor and an award-winning documentary filmmaker. He's also the director of "Baseline," a documentary series that focuses on the world's climate crisis. John, so good to see you. So explain how climate change has evolved over time.

JOHN SUTTER, CNN COLUMNIST: Yes, I think it's kind of helpful to take a long view of this. It can seem like -- you just talked about a lot lately as it's happening now. We're now in the climate change era. The reality is we've known for a few decades the basics of the science and have seen human fingerprints showing up on storms across the last couple of decades as people couldn't to burn fossil fuels and fill up the atmosphere with heat-trapping pollution.

So this isn't something that just came upon us this summer or this hurricane season. It's something that we've been contributing to, really, since the industrial revolution, and that is I think finally coming to a head, and people are waking up and realizing that the way that we produce our energy, the way that we power the global economy is contributing to these disasters that are both deadly and incredibly expensive.

WHITFIELD: It's not just extreme weather, but we're talking about wildfires, drought, power and energy, as you just mentioned. Is the climate crisis beginning to have more of a tangible impact on our daily lives?

SUTTER: Yes, I think people are noticing that more and more, and I think that that has been true for a number of years now. There's this branch of climate science that's called climate attribution science, and there's this work that's been going on to sort of look for evidence of human fingerprints on these storms, right?

So were they bigger, wetter, essentially more dangerous because of us? And we know that that answer is yes. Heat waves are becoming more intense. That's problematic. You mentioned wildfires. I live out in the west, and if anyone out here knows that it's just a feature of the summer now that during wildfire season there are days where it's unsafe to go outside, and you essentially can't safely breathe the air.

And I think people are starting to realize that this is not a far away problem in terms of another part of the world, and it's not far away in terms of time. This is something that we are doing to ourselves now. And I think super importantly that we're baking in a lot of massive changes for our kids and for future generations.

And I think that's something that we need to really let sit on our shoulders as a moral responsibility we have to end the fossil fuel era, and therefore reduce the risks of these super dangerous storms and events.

WHITFIELD: It really is back to your first point when you said the long view. It was a couple of decades ago where the warning signs were there, and here we are now in that space. So who knows what's around the corner, but it doesn't sound good unless there is some real qualified change.

So you have traveled all around the country studying the climate crisis. You've seen the fires, you've seen the droughts, you've seen the storms. What is your message to those who, even today, even despite all of these images, still don't want to acknowledge that there's a problem?

SUTTER: I think this is incredibly difficult, and in the aftermath of a disaster like this, a hurricane like this, I think it's important to just sort of be there for each other, know that we're not alone, that people are all hopefully coming together facing the immediate safety risks of a crisis like this, of a disaster like this. I think there's a time that comes later to sort of step back and try to connect these dots.

And I think that's happening more and more, but it is incredibly frustrating, I think, to those of us who care a lot about climate change and climate policy, that there still remain these really intense political divisions in the U.S.

[14:30:07]

And I think it's a lack of willingness to connect those dots and realize that we are super charging these storms. We are making these wildfires more dangerous. And the effects of the pollution we put into the atmosphere now matters, again, not just for us today but for people hundreds if not 1,000 years from now.

So I think that that is getting through to people in a new way as these disasters get worse, but I also find that incredibly sad, to be honest, because we have the tools to fix this. It's a massive shift. It's getting off of fossil fuels. It's making the global economy carbon neutral by about mid-century. But we have the technology and wherewithal to do that.

And I think that if anything good can come out of these storms, and I don't think there's much that is, maybe it's that realization that we're out of time to deal with this. We have to make some major changes yesterday, and we do have the ability and technology to do that, and I hope that people can hold on to that hope and realize that any of those changes that we make, make all of these events less risky, especially over time.

WHITFIELD: That's a powerful statement right there. You said there is some hope. We do have the tools to make changes. It's the willingness, that's what we've got to find, right, collectively. John Sutter, thank you so much.

All right, coming up, a Democrat throws a major wrench in President Biden's climate agenda. Find out what Congress is doing to address natural disasters straight ahead.

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[14:36:18]

WHITFIELD: The remnants of Ida brought widespread flooding and devastation to the northeast, and we're seeing some stunning images like that one showing just how powerful and unpredictable flash floods can be. This is video from the basement of a home in Cranford, New Jersey.

And you can see the wall, well, earlier you see this young man walking through, and then that wall behind him just simply collapses just like that, water rushing into the home. The family was able to escape that frightening ordeal unharmed.

And we're now learning that President Biden will travel to New Jersey and New York on Tuesday to survey storm damage from hurricane Ida. This as the president is trying to move his agenda forward after a tough week. But there could be a new roadblock from a member of his own party. West Virginia senator Joe Manchin signaling he could threaten the razor thin Democratic majority on the $3.5 trillion spending bill. That bill contains much of Biden's agenda to tackle climate change.

Congressman Raul Grijalva is a Democratic representative from Arizona and is the chair of the House Natural Resources Committee. Congressman, so good to see you, glad you could be with us. So how concerned are you that Senator Manchin and other Democratic moderates could derail the president's agenda as he tries to take on climate change?

REP. RAUL GRIJALVA (D-AZ): Obviously, concerned. Concerned because of the urgency that's before us. The climate crisis is at an urgent state. Scientists, meteorologists, et cetera, have been telling us, world organizations, the U.N., our own academic and scientific studies, over and over again.

As this crisis is no longer looming, it is upon us. and I think that making a blanket statement about how much to include on reconciliation in the build back better agenda of Biden and Harris, I think is concerning. Yes, and I think you've got to accept this urgency and you've got to accept the fact that we are in a climate crisis no less.

WHITFIELD: And is it your feeling that this reconciliation bill, Biden's infrastructure bill, will indeed help address climate change?

GRIJALVA: It is a huge and historic down payment on beginning to deal with the issue of climate change and the climate crisis before us. On a domestic scale and the ramifications worldwide, because this is a worldwide issue. And you've gone from denial by my Republican colleagues to now delays, to minimize the investment that we have been asked to make going into the future, and to minimize the urgency or the speed that we need to undertake to make the transition to something sustainable and resilient in terms of our energy uses.

The effect that we're having from our public plans and waters is 25 percent of the problem. We want to make it 25 percent of the solution with conservation and respond to the crisis of climate change. Ida and the devastation both human and every form, the mega drought in the basin states and in the southwest and the west, the catastrophic wildfires, all those are not just symptoms.

They're a direct cause and effect of climate change. And there is, in that bill, to recover and provide relief and to do fire suppression and deal with the consequences of these catastrophes for human life and for the country in general.

[14:40:07]

But there also has to be, and that's what all the committees are working on, there has to be a look at the future, Fredricka, about what this country is going to be like and the investments that we're being asked to make. I hope my Republican colleagues don't decide that they can win this by attrition. The attrition that's going on is the climate crisis and the very deadly and ugly effects that we're seeing nationwide.

WHITFIELD: And according to a Gallup poll from earlier this year, there's a huge partisan divide when it comes to considering climate change to be a critical threat to this country -- 86 percent of Democrats say yes, but only 27 percent of Republicans agree. So how do you get your message across so that there is a bipartisan consensus? GRIJALVA: I think step number one, and that is what the Resources

Committee and every committee in the House of Representatives under Democratic majorities that we have there, our job is to do the $3.5 billion that was the instructions that we got from the Senate, and that's what we're doing. And within that, responding to that climate crisis in a significant way, that's our job.

So what the Senate will get from the House is $3.5 billion because that is the urgency. Many of us felt there should have been more. It was instructed by the Senate, but that's not the case. So there is already a bipartisan agreement to move forward.

And I hope that the senators that are having second thoughts about that original bipartisan agreement reconsider, because this is an urgency, and it's not just climate change. The ramifications from not doing anything and the cost to the American people is going to pale next to what's being proposed in the reconciliation bill.

WHITFIELD: Congressman Raul Grijalva, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate you joining us.

GRIJALVA: Thank you very much. Appreciate it, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Meanwhile, on the world stage, John Kerry, Biden's presidential climate envoy, is pushing China to do more. But with relations between the U.S. and China at a low point, Beijing is pushing back. CNN's Selina Wang has the story.

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, U.S.-China relations have plunged to their lowest point in decades over human rights, security, and trade, and that has made it harder for the countries to cooperate on climate change. During John Kerry's visit to China, Chinese officials repeatedly said that climate cooperation cannot be separated from worsening geopolitical ties.

While Kerry pressed Chinese officials to be more ambitious in their plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions and to move away from coal, Chinese fishes officials pushed back by asking what could be done about U.S. sanctions. Two U.S. and China are the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, and John Kerry has hammered home to Chinese officials that climate is not an ideological or partisan issue.

Both countries are already seeing the effects of climate disruption. The U.S. and China have both dealt with catastrophic rain and flooding this summer. Kerry has told Chinese leaders that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the point at which scientists say the effects of climate change would be catastrophic and irreversible, requires a dramatic turnaround in China's coal trajectory.

But negotiating with China in the lead-up to the U.N. climate summit is a balancing act since China does not want to be seen as caving to the pressure of other countries. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much.

Straight ahead, what can we learn from hurricane Ida? And what can cities do to prepare? Our conversation continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:48:22]

WHITFIELD: Ski resorts in northern California were where the Caldor fire is burning are running their snow-making machines to support firefighters who are trying to get the fire fully under control. Some resorts have been forced to close for the season because of the fires, and this week, the White House approved California's request for an emergency declaration because of the Caldor fire.

As the clean-up and recovery from hurricane Ida continues, "The Washington Post" reporting today that one in three Americans live in a county affected by a weather disaster just in the last three months, and hurricane season isn't even over yet.

Joining us to talk about the storm and climate change is Alice Hill. She is the author of the new book "The Fight for Climate after COVID- 19" and she is also senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations. So good to see you. Also joining us, Mitch Landrieu is a CNN political commentator and the former Democratic mayor of New Orleans. So good to see you as well.

This week, Mitch Landrieu penning this opinion piece for CNN called "From Katrina to Ida, What has Louisiana Learned?" Welcome to both of you. Mayor, let me begin with you because here you are at an effort feeding some 60,000 people in New Orleans 16 years after Katrina devastated your city. And you were not mayor at the time of Katrina, but my goodness, is this eerily familiar, or is this a completely different scene post-Ida?

[14:50:00]

MITCH LANDRIEU, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was the lieutenant governor at the time Katrina hit. And then of course we had Ike and Gustav, we had the BP oil spill, we had a number of other hurricanes, and now we have Ida. And so we're here with World Central Kitchen. This is a team of chefs from around the world, Chef Andres and his team brought these chefs together and they're feeding people all across the southern part of Louisiana that are destitute and are just suffering tremendously from the effects of Ida as folks in the northeast are.

You also have people in the west, as you know, with wildfires, you have tornadoes in the heartland, so they have tons of weather events. And so yes, it is eerily reminiscent of Katrina. It actually happened on Katrina's anniversary. So it was, as we like to say, deja vu all over again.

WHITFIELD: And Alice, you say that mitigation is no longer enough, that we now have to adapt because we're hearing from a lot of scientists who are saying the window is closed in terms of what we could have done 10, 15 years ago to avert what we're in right now. So what do you think needs to be done right now? How do we all need to be adapting? What do you mean? ALICE HILL, AUTHOR, "THE FIGHT FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AFTER COVID-19": Fred, we absolutely need to make sure that every decision, every investment that we make considers the future risk of climate change. And that is just not happening at any level or scale that's required. And that's what we're seeing right now unfold. Of course, we still need to cut the harmful carbon pollution to avoid the very worst of heating, which will be extremely difficult if not impossible to adapt to.

WHITFIELD: And so Mayor, when we talk about New Orleans, the levees largely throughout Ida. It was obviously quite the opposite for Katrina. But what do you think we would be seeing right now if they hadn't? There is still the calamity of no power, 700,000 people without power. Gas lines are just blocks and blocks long, they've run out of gas, people are in their cars to try to stay cool. So this is a kind of a parallel disaster, is it not? No, you don't have the flooding, but it's miserable for people.

LANDRIEU: Correct, it's an awful situation. And right now, as we talk about the long-term effects or the short-term effects of climate change and mitigation and what we have to do right now, people are in distress. The electricity needs to get back on. If it's not back on, we need to get food, water, medicine to folks. If the electricity gets back on, folks can help.

But the bigger picture is this. The levees did hold. It was a $14 billion infrastructure improvement. The Homeland Security response was much, much better because it was better coordinated. But as Alice said, we have all of these things that we know are coming our way, and mitigation is just not good enough. Now we have to prepare, and as we build back better, you have to build back stronger, you have to build back smarter, you have to be more resilient.

The one thing that is painfully obvious right now is the electric grid in this country is really, really weak. And notwithstanding the fact that this storm was a massive storm, it wasn't a big surprise that we had one. And we're going to have more of them, and we're not going to be able to stop that. So we actually have to get ready for what we know, quite frankly, is already here. And we're not really doing that as well as we should.

WHITFIELD: So Alice, how do you see it, not just as it pertains to the electric grid, but brick and mortar, how do we need to be building in anticipation for what is around the corner?

HILL: There are two series things we need to address. And the first is land use. More Americans have moved into areas at risk. Flooding, coastal flooding, river flooding, and wildfire risk. So we need to think, do we really want a lot of new development in these areas we know will be hit harder and more frequently in the future?

And the second, for all the development we have, we have to look at, can we strengthen it, can we make it resilient to what's ahead? How do we look at our building codes to have a better future? If we spend a dollar in enforcing stronger building codes, we save $11. But 65 percent of our counties do not have disaster resistant building codes today.

WHITFIELD: Alice, do you believe it's going to be wise to rebuild in the areas that we just saw devastated by flooding? Does it say something about the land, the topography, its fitness for graduating climate crises?

HILL: Well, that will be the challenge here. Of course, everyone wants to rebuild. And we understand everyone's desire to get right back on their feet and back at living their lives. But as we see these impacts come in, there has to be a larger discussion about continuing to invest in areas that will ultimately be lost.

That is a long-term plan that we need to talk about in this country, and that would require the federal government to develop an adaptation plan for the nation to help us identify those areas that are at greatest risks so we figure out how to help those people find a safer place to live and thrive.

[14:55:08]

WHITFIELD: "Adaptation," great word. Alice Hill, Mayor Mitch Landrieu, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

LANDRIEU: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And from global politics and business to sea levels and weather, our coverage of the climate crisis continues on CNN.com/Climate.

Thank you very much for being with me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The CNN Newsroom continues with Jim Acosta right after this.

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