Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Reopens To International Travelers; Multiple Lawsuit Claim Negligence At Astroworld; Obama Cites U.S. Progress Despite Trump's Inaction; Houston Festival Tragedy; Interview with Houston Chronicle Music Critic Joey Guerra; Cows and Climate Change. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 09, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:21]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead, families reunited. The U.S. is welcoming back international travelers after nearly two years as global COVID cases surge. New lawsuits are being filed are very deadly Music Festival in Houston.

Law enforcement says the warnings were clear and yet no contingency plan was in place before the tragic event. Plus, a powerful message from COP26. I'll speak to Tuvalu's foreign minister who gave his speech knee deep in the sea.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thank you so much for joining us. Well, a staggering new number in the COVID-19 pandemic. 250 million, that's how many cases have now been reported around the world. It comes nearly two years after the World Health Organization first declared COVID a pandemic. Since then, the virus has impacted almost every corner of the globe, and more than five million people have lost their lives.

Three countries, the United States, India and Brazil account for more than 14 percent of all known cases. That's according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. alone accounts for about one out of every five infections. Right now though it's Europe that seeing a COVID surge. I want you to take a look at this map, nations in dark orange there are averaging more than 20,000 cases a day.

And on Monday, Germany recorded its highest infection rates since the pandemic began. Countries have started putting up new restrictions to contain the outbreaks. CNNs Nina dos Santos has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Record new infections reported in Germany, Greece and Slovakia. Hospital beds filling up fast and the death toll on the rise. In Austria those not fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID were barred from bars, hotels and other indoor public spaces under a new rule that took effect this week. In Iceland, where the health ministry recently loosened COVID restrictions. masks were made compulsory once more.

This is what today's epicenter of the pandemic looks like. The reason the World Health Organization says is stuttering uptake of the vaccine.

STEFAN WAGNER, WAITING TO GET SECOND VACCINATION: This is when I was this is my way to work. And this vaccination point had been deserted for a long time. Now you can see how in recent days, and especially over the weekend, it's very popular, and I welcome that.

DOS SANTOS: From Spain where coverage stands at 80 percent to Slovakia at around 42 percent, coupled with the recent loosening of social distancing requirements over the summer, and for the result, a massive campaign for boosters across Europe. In the U.K., 10 million have already had a third COVID shot. But those without American citizenship but fully vaccinated, a trip to the United States is finally possible as the country reopened its borders to travelers from much of Europe for the first time in 20 months. Relief airlines and travelers alike just ahead of Thanksgiving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's even better today to know that we are flying with a full plane and that we can finally bring these continents and cultures together again.

DOS SANTOS: Across Russia it was back to work despite transmission rates so high authorities imposed a week long holiday last week. With winter on its way, health experts are warning there's no time to lose and the race to once again contain COVID-19. Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Despite all of that, as Nina just mentioned, the U.S. has reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers. That vaccine requirement only applies to visitors 18 or older but anyone two or older will still need to test negative for COVID within three days of departure. Also only FDA and WHO approved vaccines will be accepted. As for who enforces the rules, well, that is up to the airlines which could face hefty fines for any violations. For families separated by the pandemic though, the new rules are a welcome relief.

[02:05:03]

CHURCH: This was the scene as some of the first passengers arrived in New York on Monday. Many preparing to reunite with loved ones for the first time in months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX HUTCHISON,PASSENGER: I'm visiting family and friends here in New York. That's it. No longer on a screen. It's going to be hugs, it's going to be in person, catching up, a lot of stories to tell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, things are growing increasingly tense along the border between Belarus and Poland and the situation might soon get even worse. Thousands of migrants are gathered along the border hoping to cross into the European Union. The government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says, these people are refugees who pose no security risk, but Poland wants no part of the influx and says it's ready to handle any situation.

And as our Fred Pleittgen reports the situation has the potential to turn violent.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The European Union is certainly saying that they consider this to be hybrid warfare on the part of Belarusian strongman, Alexander Lukashenko. And certainly the polls are saying that they believe that they are under attack, essentially what the E.U. and Poland they're saying is they believe that Lukashenko is weaponizing migration.

Weaponizing the fact that there's a lot of people who are very desperate and want to come to the European Union. They say that his regime is enriching itself. And they're also saying that a lot of airlines who are flying some of these people to Belarus are also getting rich as well. And the E.U. certainly wants to take some measures to that extent. Basically, what's been going on over the past couple of weeks, really over the past couple of months, is that more and more people from -- especially Middle Eastern countries like Iraq, Syria, but also out of Lebanon have been flying into Belarus.

And then the European Union says being pushed across the border by the border guards of Belarus. Now, the Belarusians are denying this. Alexander Lukashenko is denying this as well. But really what was different about the incident that took place today is that the group that tried to push across the border was bigger than ever before. The polls say they say it was thousands of people that tried to push it across.

And the Polish government says it's not going to stand for that. They say that they are going to remain steadfast. There's more than 12,000 Polish forces at the border right now saying they are going to stop anybody wants to try and come across. Meanwhile, the conditions there on the ground by all accounts are absolutely appalling. We actually spoke to some people who made that trek and they say that they were in the forest between Poland and Belarus for several days.

Very often getting pushed back and forth between these two countries. Obviously, it's very cold, there's not enough food, there's not enough water. Certainly isn't much in the way of any sort of medical care that people might require. So a very, very dire situation as the standoff continues. Fred Pleithen CNN Berlin.

CHURCH: The COP26 climate meetings will focus on gender equality and science and innovation in the coming hours. Delegates are also hoping to finish up rules for implementing the Paris Agreement by the end of the conference. Many countries want to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. Former U.S. President Barack Obama says the world is nowhere near where it needs to be in fighting the climate crisis. CNN's Rene Marsh has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Former President Barack Obama back on the world stage speaking out in Glasgow, Scotland at an international gathering on climate change, COP26, trying to convince the world that America is still serious about fighting rising global temperatures.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The U.S. has to lead.

MARSH: In an urgent and very political speech, Obama expressed regret over the Trump administration's inaction on climate change.

OBAMA: Back in the United States of course, some of our progress stalled when my successor decided to unilaterally pull out of the Paris Agreement in his first year in office. I wasn't real happy about that.

MARSH: In an effort to shore up us credibility, Obama laid out progress made in the U.S. even without leadership from the White House.

OBAMA: In the U.S. alone, more than three million people now work in clean-energy related jobs. That is more than the number of people currently employed by the entire fossil fuel industry. So despite four years of active hostility toward climate science, coming from the very top of our federal government, the American people managed to still meet our original commitment under the Paris Agreement.

MARSH: World leaders at this summit are under pressure to outline specifics on how they will cut greenhouse emissions by 2050.

[02:10:07]

MARSH: A huge crowd waiting and cheering for Obama as he arrived for a roundtable discussion with young leaders who want to see more dramatic action.

OBAMA: The danger of our activism is is that we're typically talking to people who already agreed with us. We don't -- we're not oftentimes talking to big parts of our populations that either don't agree with us or at least have different priorities.

MARSH: Including from the largest emitters China and Russia whose leaders were absent from the conference. Obama echoing those concerns.

OBAMA: International plans so far reflect what appears to be a dangerous lack of urgency or willingness to maintain the status quo on the part of those governments. And that's a shame.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: CNN's Rene Marsh reporting from Scotland. Well, now we want to show you some incredible images of Tuvalu's Foreign Minister delivering a speech to the COP26 summit. Knee deep in seawater wearing a suit and tie. He made it clear how vulnerable his low lying Pacific Island is to rising sea levels and global warming. Tuvalu is situated midway between Hawaii and Australia. And here's part of his recorded message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON KOFE, TUVALUAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We are living the reality of climate change, sea level rise, as you stand watching me today at COP26. We cannot wait for speeches when the sea is rising around us all the time. Climate mobility must come to the forefront. We must take bold alternative action today to secure tomorrow (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joining me now is Tuvalu Foreign Minister Simon Kofe. Thank you so much, sir, for talking with us.

KOFE: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you.

CHURCH: Now you filmed your speech for the COP26 Climate Summit while standing knee deep in the ocean. And that image has already gone viral hammering home the impact of rising sea levels on your island nation of Tuvalu as well as other Pacific islands. What are you expecting out of this in terms of global action?

KOFE: Well, thank you for -- we -- Prime Minister delivered a very powerful message at COP highlighting the impacts of climate change in Tuvalu and the fact that we are sinking. So we thought that we would demonstrate that in a video so that people have an image to look at. So we've been very pleased with the reaction of the public and, you know, it is gone viral. We didn't expect it to go that far out but it has.

So we've been very pleased with the impact that it has. And we do hope that it, you know, it helps translate some of these commitments into actions and then we seeing leaders take a strong stance on climate change.

CHURCH: And according to the World Bank, western Pacific Ocean levels have risen up to three times faster than the global average. Is that what you're seeing on your island as you assess your nation's vulnerability to global warming?

KOFE: Yes. And in fact, where I was standing in taking the -- my statement, that used to be land, many, many years ago. And behind me, you see a concrete slab, that concrete slab is actually the foundation of a world war two guns that was built by the U.S. military in 1942. I think it was. And that was actually on land. So, if you if you look into the video, it's now 20, 30 meters in the ocean, in the sea.

So, the impacts of climate change and sea level rises is something that is a reality for us in Tuvalu. And we wanted to convey that message to people that we -- although we are facing that challenge now, one day it will be other parts of the world as well. So that's the message that we've -- we try to convey through that statement.

CHURCH: Right and of course so your government tourism Web site warns that Tuvalu could be underwater by the end of the century and that many of your people have already immigrated to New Zealand. So, do you believe this can be turned around if immediate action is taken or is it too late for your island do you think?

KOFE: Well, I think there's technology that is available now to save our islands. Obviously we've seen in different parts of the world, nations building artificial islands. And that's a strategy and an approach that our government is taking in reclaiming land and building up our islands.

[02:15:08]

KOFE: So that's the primary strategy that we were adopting. But we're also taking steps and then looking at a worst case scenario where we are forced to relocate. And so some of the approaches that we've taken, we've looked at legal avenues where -- we can we're able to maintain our claims to our maritime zones, and also to maintain our statehood under international law.

So those are some of the, you know, the things that we're doing now and I guess, not waiting for, you know, for us to get to that stage where we are fully submerged by the sea.

CHURCH: And Foreign Minister, why did you feel the need to draw the world's attention to your Ireland's plight by standing knee deep in the sea wearing a suit and tie? And did you come up with that idea?

KOFE: Yes. I came up with the idea. I thought it'd be good to shoot a video and have the background as if I'm in a COP delivering a message. And then to zoom out and, you know, to show that I'm standing in the in the ocean. We released our photos before the video came out. So we probably did not have that effect. But I think the message is loud and clear judging from the response of the people.

CHURCH: It is certainly a powerful image there. Foreign Minister of Tuvalu, Simon, Kofe, thank you so much for talking with us.

KOFE: Thank you.

CHURCH: Nicaragua's election draws criticism from around the world after President Daniel Ortega stifles his competition and secures his fourth consecutive term. We will have reaction, that's next. And it's the second largest economy in the world. But being rich in China is no longer all it's cracked up to be. What a crackdown on wealth could mean for some of the country's biggest companies and smallest families.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Nicaragua's longtime president extended his grip on power with a fourth consecutive term after an election that drew sharp international criticism. Daniel Ortega celebrated the wind Monday alongside his wife who's also the Vice President. But Sunday's election has sparked global condemnation with countries calling it a sham after Mr. Ortega jailed political opponents ahead of the vote.

The U.S. Secretary of State said this "While Ortega and Murillo may remain entrenched in power, Nicaragua's undemocratic election does not and cannot provide them any Democratic mandate to govern. Colombia's president had this reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN DUGUE, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): In this you cannot get tangled, you have to call things by its name. What Nicaragua has done is not free elections, it was not a free election. This doesn't have to surprise us because this was a chronicle of an announced fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:20:11]

CHURCH: In a briefing to the U.N. on Monday, a top African Union envoy said a plan to ease the crisis in Ethiopia could be in hand by the end of the week. The escalating conflict has killed thousands In the past year and created famine like conditions in Tigray. And as a rebel alliance threatens the national capital witnesses say authorities are targeting ethnic to grants with a wave of arrests. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. called for an end to the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The conflict in Ethiopia has now been going on for a full year. And this is a tremendously sad milestone. And as my Irish colleagues stated, we really remained silent for too long. Over the past year, we have seen constant violence. We've witnessed widespread human rights abuses and atrocities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Ethiopia's U.N. Ambassador told the Security Council the conflict is not between two parties but between the government and a criminal group, referring to the Tigray people's Liberation Front.

In many parts of the world. Being rich is an aspirational goal. But in China, the view of wealth is changing as President Xi Jinping tightens the Communist Party's grip on capitalism. One key example of this shift is the property company Evergrande. Once a source of incredible wealth, its exponential growth could eventually prove costly for many Chinese households and the country's entire economy. Selina Wang has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Plenty on top celebrities disappear from China's internet. Chinese tech companies real from regulation. And now Evergrande, China's biggest property developer with $300 billion in unpaid bills teeters on the brink of collapse. For Chinese leader Xi Jinping, it's all part of the plan. She is rewriting the rules in the world's second largest economy.

(on camera): Getting rich is no longer glorious. Neither is growth at all costs. The days of unrestrained borrowing that turned Evergrande and so many companies into powerhouses are over.

LELAN MILLER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CHINA BEIGE BOOK INTERNATIONAL: There's been a decision at the very top that this buildup of reckless credit expansion is becoming a danger to China and presumably a threat to the party rule.

WANG: Evergrande wrote the boom of homebuyers rushing to urban cities as hundreds of millions across China were lifted out of poverty, building more than 1000 developments in hundreds of cities. Property supercharged the economy ballooning to account for as much as 30 percent of China's GDP.

By 2017, Evergrande's founder Xi Jiayin became Asia's richest person. Evergrande expanded into bottled water, electric cars, even pig farming. The strategy worked until China's economy cooled and Beijing started to crack down on excessive borrowing from property developers. Beijing stated goal to lessen economic inequality. As housing prices skyrocketed, and to create more sustainable growth.

The stakes are too high for Beijing to let Evergrande fail. Nearly three quarters of household wealth in China are estimated to be tied up in property. In September footage circulated of employees, contractors and home buyers protesting Evergrande across China. CNN spoke to multiple buyers of Evergrande properties. One provided CNN with these videos of people demanding their money back.

A buyer told CNN that more than 900 people have paid $340 million for this unfinished housing project that's been stalled since January. Anger citizens have flooded on government feedback forms. This homebuyer in Sichuan province asked for all of their hard earned money had went begging, please uphold justice for your people.

RANA MITTER, PROFESSOR OF POLITICS OF MODERN CHINA, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: If you talk to people about what might cause mass protests in China, the answer you'll almost always get is not democracy more and more its finance and its property.

WANG: Beijing says the situation is controllable. But fears grow of a crisis in China's real estate sector that ripples into the broader economy. In recent weeks, a slew of other developers have disclosed their own struggles.

MILLER: When you're decelerating are popping the property bubble you're destroying wealth, you're going to be putting people out of business, companies out of business. It's a big deal. It's why it's never happened before.

WANG: It marks the end of China's economic model as we know it. MILLER: We are going from an area of high to medium growth to an area of low growth in China.

WANG: But Beijing is betting its top down model will make its 1.4 billion people prosperous. The catch, ever more control in the hands of the party. Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.

[02:25:02]

CHURCH: For the first time rapper Drake is speaking out about the deadly concert in Houston. Details on that and the ignored warnings and lack of contingency plans that led to the tragedy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: At least 18 lawsuits have been filed so far in connection with the tragedy at the Astroworld Music Festival. Most of them are against live nation entertainment. And rapper Travis Scott whose concept turned deadly on Friday. He and rapstar Drake who was also named in at least one civil suit are accused of inciting the crowd. A short while ago, Drake issued his first public remarks about the incident on Instagram.

I hate resorting to this platform to express an emotion as delicate as grief. But this is where I find myself. My heart is broken for the families and friends of those who lost their lives and for anyone who's suffering. Eight people were killed and dozens injured when concert goers surged toward the stage. CNN's Ed Lavandera reports on the investigation.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Before Travis Scott took the stage at the Astroworld festival on Friday night, the rapper and his head of security met with Houston's police chief. The chief says he expressed concern about public safety and urged Scott and his team to be mindful of what they were posting on social media. But it didn't take long for chaos to unfold.

BAHEER KASHIF, ASTROWORLD FESTIVAL ATTENDEE: We were all just doing everything we could to just fight for our lives. It was a nightmare. It felt like -- it felt like hell on earth for those 15, 20 minutes I was there.

LAVANDERA: Baheer Kashif went to the show with three friends. This video from earlier in the day captured how packed in the crowds were the only got worse later in the night.

KASHIF: People were stepping on each other. I could feel that I probably stepped on a few people. I could feel people pinching my leg to get me off of them. And if -- we were just falling on top of each other. As people fall, well, people are going to start getting crammed all over on top of them. And now you're stuck at the bottom of a dog pile.

LAVANDERA: Houston Police have launched a criminal investigation into what happened at the concert that left eight people dead. As the mayhem in the crowd unfolded the show on stage kept going. Multiple civil lawsuits against Travis Scott and the entertainment company Live Nation have already been filed. Before the Astroworld festival, Scott had faced criminal charges twice for him citing his concert crowd.

In 2018 according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Scott pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.

[02:30:00]

Police say he encouraged the concert crowd to the rush in a 2017 show, in Rogers, Arkansas. And in 2015, the "Chicago Tribune" reported, Scott pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor reckless conduct charge for urging a lollapalooza crowd to climb over security barricades.

In an Instagram post, Travis Scott indicated, he wasn't aware of how bad the crowd situation had become in Houston.

TRAVIS SCOTT, RAPPER: Anytime I can make out, you know, anything that is going on, you know, I stop the show and hope they can get the help they need.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): Houston authorities released the names of all the victims who died in the crush people in the concert. John Hilgert was 14, and Brianna Rodriguez was 16. The other victims were in their twenties. Danish Baig, Rodolfo Pena, Madison Dubiski, Franco Patino, Jacob Jurinek and Axel Acosta Avila.

CNN has obtained the 56-page operation plan for the Astroworld Festival, the document does not include a specific plan for how to handle surging crowds. The plan said, when dealing with large crowds, the key improperly dealing with this type of scenario is proper management of the crowd from the minute that the doors open. That did not happen. This is video of crowds, pushing through a VIP entrance bypassing the security hours before the Travis concert started.

JARED KUKER, ASTROWORLD FESTIVAL ATTENDEE: Everyone is screaming. I mean, it's like an airplane crash type of situation. You know, people are screaming like bloody murder. It's kind of just like a matter of fact thought. It's like OK, this is going to be it. This is going to be how I go?

LAVANDERA (voiceover): Jared Kuker says, everyone around him was struggling to stay on their feet and breathe. At one point, he fell down and landed on someone that he thinks might be of the victims.

KUKER: I remember looking down and the person on the bottom was just lying there. And all I could do is I just slapped their face. I think there were unconscious. They might have passed by that point.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Houston.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joining me now is Joey Guerra, he is a music critic for the "Houston Chronicle" and was at the Astroworld Music Festival.

Thank you so much for talking with us. And I am so sorry that you had to witness this horrendous event.

JOEY GUERRA, MUSIC CRITIC, HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you for having me on your show.

CHURCH: Absolutely. So, what did you see these as you were trying to cover this festival?

GUERRA: This is the third year that this festival has happened in Houston. You know, there have been issues like this in the past. You know, the last time we had this festival was two years ago, pre-COVID. And the same thing that happened this year at the beginning, people stormed the gates, you know, broke through barricades and security and people had like some minor injuries. The same thing happening this time.

You know, so I think when that happened this year, most people didn't take it very seriously because they thought, you know, this has happened before and we kind of contained it. You know, throughout the day, people seemed in a good mood, you know, the music went on. But, you know, Travis Scott kind of -- he has this very unique kind of chemistry with his audience, you know. He calls them rangers. But I think as much as he amps them up, they amp him up. So, it's like this kind of -- it's a balance, you know.

And I think that this crowd, in particular, because this event was meant to celebrate Houston, because most people had not been to a concert, much less a big event like this in a long time and you put on top of that, people had been camped overnight to get in, people had been waiting at his stage for hours with no other performer throughout the day just waiting for him, there was so much pent-up energy, I think, excitement, you know.

And then when the show started, it really was over the top. It took it over the top. He brought Drake out. So, it was just a lot of stimulation, you know, from all ends. And I think a lot of that is what contributed to kind of this taking that turn, you know, unfortunately, into the horrible things that we've seen in these videos.

CHURCH: Was there a sense that there weren't enough security at the gates there? Because we did see that video of people rushing through the entrance there. There didn't appear to be anyone stopping them from going in. I mean, people getting trampled even at that particular point. Did you see enough security present with so many people there?

GUERRA: I did -- I mean, I did feel like walking through the festival during the day, I did notice presence. You know, I saw groups of police. You did see some mounted officers on horses, you know, at the entrance. There were kind of security guards, just by themselves, I could tell they were just kind of serving different areas.

But when Travis got on stage it was already very dark. And that crowd really was so thick with so many people that, you know, they would have had security, I think, right in the front, you know, where these railings are between the audience and the stage. But other than that, there's really nowhere else for security to be. So, when things started happening, they have to fight through this crowd, who, most of them probably have no clue what is going on or why security is trying to get through.

[02:35:00]

So, I think it made it really difficult for them to even get near that section for the long time unfortunately. You know, the Houston police chief said that they had 300 police officers, 200 securities. So, there was a big presence. It's just -- I think it is about, you know, where they were placed and I also think, you know, the amount -- just the amount of people that they allowed into that area, I think that's one of the big things that needs to be looked at.

CHURCH: Yes. Absolutely. And there was also a suggestion that someone in the crowd injected an unknown substance into at least one person's neck. What more are you learning about that?

GUERRA: Yes. That's -- you know, we heard that very -- well, we heard it very early on, rumors about drug use, people being injected right after this happened and we've started hearing that. And then, the security guard who said he felt a prick in his neck that when was examined, it was consistent with a needle. So, those things are being investigated.

You know, I know they have just performed autopsies, but we're not going to get the results of that for several weeks. So, I think that is one of the things that this is going to hinge on. You know, was this just people, overcrowded, you know, dying because that they were essentially suffocated or was there something else going on?

CHURCH: Joey Guerra, thank you so much for talking with us.

GUERRA: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: And just ahead here on CNN, can beef cattle help mitigate the climate crisis? Why some say the answer is yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Calls for plant-based diets to save the planet from the climate crisis are growing louder. But there is another quieter revolution reshaping agriculture. Some experts say, what people eat is not as important is how they are farm. CNN's David McKenzie has that report.

[02:40:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Danie Slabbert likes to say, he's just a simple farmer. Like to say what he does is simply to understand.

DANIE SLABBERT, FARMER: So, this is so simple. This is what we want. Look at this soil.

MCKENZIE (on camera): The soil is alive, but the soil also is doing the job for you. You don't have to add all this.

SLABBERT: This soil is a natural system. It does the job for me.

MCKENZIE (voiceover): Healthy soil doesn't need additives like toxic and costly fertilizers, simple as that may sound, if you care about climate change, his is a story worth listening to. Livestock accounts for just over 14 percent of global emissions. But Slabbert says, we are missing the point when it comes to food, wants to save the planet, focused on how we farm, not what we eat.

[02:40:00]

MCKENZIE (on camera): People these days that meat and cattle is bad for nature or bad for the planet. Is that true? Do you is it that way?

SLABBERT: David, that can't be true. Animals are part of nature. It was in the bigger plan.

MCKENZIE (voiceover): He gives his cattle a chance to act the way nature as intended.

SLABBERT: 100 to 200 years back in this specific area of (INAUDIBLE) millions of animals migrating throughout summer in these areas.

MCKENZIE (voiceover): From above, it's easy to see. High intensity grazing mimics those great migrations. And with 30 to 40 percent of the earth surface covered by grassland, it is a method with global potential.

MCKENZIE (on camera): So, these cattle are actually replenishing your land?

SLABBERT: Exactly that. The microbial life in the stomach of cattle are the same system that often microbial life in soil. So, that two works together beautifully.

MCKENZIE (voiceover): Research done by Texas ANM shows even moderately effective grazing sequesters more carbon into the soil than the cattle we met. The healthier the soil, the more carbon is captured.

SLABBERT: In Africa, especially, it is feeling the heat. So, climate change is a real issue and we get all this blame as farmers but we have got the solutions in the palm of our hands.

MCKENZIE (voiceover): Healthy soil also retains moisture, plowing destroys that ability, which is why his corn fields look like this. Not like the perfect never-ending rows of industrial agriculture. And when winter comes, he will graze the cattle here too, to replenish the soil in time for the next growing season with four to six tons of fresh natural manure for free.

SLABBERT: And you can really get this biology going, then you don't have to buy something out of a bat.

MCKENZIE (voiceover): Letting nature work sounds simple enough. But then, what is simple is often ignored.

MCKENZIE (on camera): Have we forgotten the connection with the land?

SLABBERT: Yes, David. In a sense, I think we have. So, this old chemical revolution has gave us so much recipes to just put everything in synthetically, and it really disconnected us with nature and with the land. If you maybe can smell this, you will smell the life. And that is the beauty.

MCKENZIE (voiceover): David McKenzie, CNN, Bates, South Africa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And join us on Wednesday for the first ever Call to Earth Day. CNN is partnering with schools, individuals, and organizations around the world to raise awareness of environmental issues. It will be a day of action dedicated to conservation, environmentalism and sustainability. Followers online and on TV and follow the #CallToEarth on social media.

Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll back in 15 minutes. Until then, World Sport is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)