Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Freezing Migrants Used As Pawns?; U.S. Journalist Facing Years In Myanmar Prison; England Plans Vaccine Mandate For Health Care Workers. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 10, 2021 - 02:00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:22]

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, everyone. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. Fifth wave fears. Parts of Europe once basking in high vaccination rates and low COVID case counts now back to being the epicenter of the pandemic.

Thousands of people including children freezing in migrant camps at the Poland-Belarus border. Activists say they're being used as pawns.

Plus, new and troubling charges levied against an American journalist detained in Myanmar that could keep him in prison for decades.

Well, Europe's COVID surge appears to be going from bad to worse. According to a new report from the World Health Organization, Europe is now the only region where COVID cases and deaths are trending upward. Well, this map shows just how high case numbers jumped last week compared to the week before. The region now accounts for about 63 percent of all new cases. And more than half of all new deaths.

Well, situation has some countries considering new restrictions. In Denmark the government has proposed bringing back COVID health passes. Remember just two months ago, Denmark lifted the last of its restrictions, saying COVID was no longer a "critical threat." Well, meanwhile Austria has now banned unvaccinated people from restaurants, hotels and large events. And officials say the new rules will likely remain in place through Christmas.

In the U.K., England is planning to require vaccinations for National Health Service Workers starting in April. Anyone who refuses to get vaccinated would lose their job. The British Health Secretary made the announcement in Parliament on Tuesday. He says around 90 percent of NHS workers are already fully vaccinated. But he added that around 100,000 employees still have not gotten both shots. He says that puts their colleagues and certainly their patients at risk.

SAJID JAVID, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: I have concluded that all those working in the NHS and social care will have to be vaccinated. We must avoid preventable harm and protect patients in the NHS, protect colleagues in the NHS, and of course protect the NHS itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COREN: Well meanwhile, France is leaning on its health pass system and booster shots to help curb the outbreak. French President Emmanuel Macron outlined his plans in a national address on Tuesday. CNN's Cyril Vanier reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: As we head into winter and temperatures drop, France has seen a slow but steady rise in COVID infections in recent weeks. Prompting the president to address the nation on Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron warning that the pandemic isn't over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): We've not finished because short term, the WHO says that the fifth wave has started in Europe. 40 percent increase in a week of the incidence rate and an increase in hospitalizations are warning signs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: To limit the increase in infections. The President is betting on booster doses and a little bit of coercion. Over 65 will have to get a third dose of COVID vaccine by mid December or face losing their health pass. The past grants access to restaurants, cinemas, museums, entertainment venues, sports train stations, even airports. So life becomes a lot more difficult without one and over 65 find themselves highly incentivized to book their booster appointment soon.

Now boosters will also be made available to over 50s next month. Under 50s are for the moment not required to get a third dose. But that may be only a matter of time. The President is acknowledging in his speech that vaccine immunity wanes after a mere six months. Cyril Vanier, CNN Paris.

COREN: Well, joining us now is Dr. Scott Mickiewicz. The President and CEO of Premier Medical Group USA. He is also a national consultant in the U.S. for COVID-19 testing. Doctor, great to have you with us. The U.S. as we know has reopened to vaccinated international travelers just when we're seeing a surge of cases in at Europe. Is this a mistake in your opinion?

DR. SCOTT MISCOVICH, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PREMIER MEDICAL GROUP USA: I believe it is right now. And I think your piece that we just went through highlighted very well. One thing I would highlight is 50 percent of the immunity is waning after, you know, six months. So we're saying that people can get in with a vaccine but we're now seeing that even those individuals can be spreading COVID.

[02:05:10]

MISCOVICH: And look at the surge in Europe right now. It is just incredible what is happening is the WHO said that we could have 500,000 deaths between now and February. And at this point we're opening up, not the right time. COREN: Well, as you say, the World Health Organization saying that Europe could face half a million deaths by February. I mean, many European countries do have high vaccination rates. So, why, I guess this terrifying death toll?

MISCOVICH: Well, I think the biggest issue that we're talking about right now is similar to what we talked about in Denmark where they have a great vaccination rate, but then they let their guard down. They stopped the mitigation measures. And, you know, people who are going to large scale concerts are going back into the bars and pubs and restaurants. And it's a common mistake we're seeing across the world.

Where there's just this quick change at the leadership level to try to use the word normal. We're in a pandemic, you can't let the public feel that just in one month or two months, everything goes back to normal. We need to keep mitigation measures going. And that includes the masking indoors and in public transportations, and in restaurants. If you look at the examples of the successful countries, whether it's Portugal or Ireland, they've maintained even though they've had great vaccination rates.

COREN: But I guess the question is, doesn't the world need to learn to live with COVID-19?

MISCOVICH: Yes, thank you. I totally agree. But we have to understand we're still living in a pandemic. We're still living in a time of uncertainty. And I could ask this all the time, I have people all over the United States with my group that are vaccinating. And they're like, well, I got my shots. Like, why can't you know, isn't that all he needs to do? No, we're still learning. I can tell you right now, everybody in the United States or across the world will need a third booster.

But I can't predict, Anna. What we will be looking at eight months from now, or 12 months from now. So, you know, learning to live with it but learning to live with it means getting used to mitigation, getting used to having a mask indoors and in public transportation into the foreseeable future. That's how learning to live with it is right now. What will two years look like? We can't predict that.

But hopefully, we will be finding that will be added. And and I hate to say it, we have to make sure we vaccinate the world. That's how we're going to find it into this.

COREN: Well, as we know, and as you well know, much of the world is experiencing COVID fatigue. We've been at this now for almost two years. How do we prepare people for what is potentially ahead because as you say, we are still in the thick of this pandemic?

MISCOVICH: Well, I think the the key is right now, we know vaccinations save lives, we know the vaccinations work, we know they're safe. I've been saying to my colleagues, to my patients, and across the world where I lecture is getting used to an annual shot, you don't get used to this, just like you're getting a flu shot. It may go on into the foreseeable future. And for now, get used to just, you know, until we see that the rest of the world and the rest of the -- your country starts to get vaccinated and then gets the boosters, get used to your masks in doors.

Get used to protecting the elderly, just like I commend President Macron for his ability to say, at 65, you're at risk, you can die. That's the the message we need to have is protect the people at risk, but do your responsibility as a community.

COREN: I guess with fatigue also comes resistance. And you are seeing this in spades, certainly in the United States, as we are across much of of the world, these people who are against being told that they need to be vaccinated. What is your message to these people?

MISCOVICH: Wow. That is a tough one across the world. Exactly. It's a tough one here in the United States. And unfortunately, we're seeing a political divide. COVID is not political. You know, it's up to everyone. I look at my colleagues, I look at, you know, or England saying that the rest of the medical community has to get vaccinated. Yes. We all have to stand up and we all have to show it safe.

My message is, I just wish these people could spend a day in the emergency room or a day in the intensive care unit. We need to kind of really tell the truth a little more straightforward of how much suffering is occurring and how much suffering is preventable. How much life -- how much life we can save.

[02:10:03]

COREN: Yes. We all need to take responsibility, don't we? Dr. Scott Miscovich, great to to get your insight and thank you so much for joining us.

MISCOVICH: Thank you, Anna.

COREN: Well, Singapore will no longer be covering the medical costs of coronavirus patients who are unvaccinated by choice. The change will kick in next month. The government currently covers the cost of treatments for all infected citizens, but says the unvaccinated are disproportionately contributing to the strain on the healthcare resources. More than 86 percent of eligible residents have vaccinated so far.

On the border between Poland and Belarus, thousands of people are being used as political pawns in a move, some fear could lead to acts of violence. Over the past few weeks, thousands of migrants have set up makeshift camps at the Polish border hoping to cross into the European Union. Many of those are women and children who are camping out in freezing temperatures forced to sleep on the ground.

Poland and the E.U. accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of creating the crisis as a way to lash out against sanctions placed on Minsk a few months ago. Fred Pleitgen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A migrant crisis on NATO's eastern flank that's threatening to destabilize this region. The European Union accuses Putin ally Belarusian strong man Alexander Lukashenko of unleashing a massive rush on Poland's border. The country's Prime Minister calling on Polish troops to get ready. Lukashenko's regime uses civilians as weapons of a hybrid war he said.

What we can see today are new methods and you are a key bastion against them. Poland says Around 4000 people, mostly from Iraq and Syria have a mass of its border with Belarus. Squatting under inhumane conditions repeatedly trying to push across. The E.U. says the Belarusian regime has lured them here falsely promising they could enter E.U. territory. Poland calls it state sponsored human trafficking and says it will not allow the migrants to enter.

It's a matter of fulfilling our duties as member states of the European Union as well as ensuring the safety of Polish citizens and the Polish Republic. Poland's president said. Alexander Lukashenko denies the allegations and accuses Poland of escalating the situation. Lukashenko spoke to his biggest backer, Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone and later seem to indicate the situation could lead to war.

In the modern world taking up arms is like death. It's suicide, you must agree, he said. And even more so here in the center of Europe and even more so with Belarus after all here on this piece of land in the center, all wars have always unfolded. From here everything began. Does history teach you nothing? Most of the migrants who have made it across want to go to Germany. German authorities say.

We were on hand as several new arrivals were being processed after arriving in Germany. The German police has drastically stepped up checks here at the border with Poland and they say they are increasingly coming across people looking to claim asylum in this country that the vast majority of those people came into the European Union via Belarus. Caught in the middle of this standoff the thousands of desperate people stranded at the border as winter fast approaches.

Fred Pleitgen, Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany.

COREN: The United Nations says 16 of its staff members are being detained by the Ethiopian government. The U.N. is demanding their immediate release along with access to the Tigray region to deliver humanitarian aid for millions of people. Well, meanwhile, the conflict is moving closer to Addis Ababa. Recent footage shows fighters from the Tigray. People's Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Army carrying guns and flags.

These images were taken in Kemissie, a town 325 kilometers from the capital. That's about 200 miles. The fighters are threatening to march on Addis Ababa. In the capital, Ethiopia's Human Rights Commission says the government is arresting hundreds of ethnic Tigrayans under the state of emergency. Well, diplomatic efforts to end the conflict are on going. Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is in Ethiopia working as an African Union envoy.

Well, meantime a press secretary for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is defending the arrests being made during the state of emergency. She spoke with CNN's Becky Anderson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLENE SEYOUM, PRESS SECRETARY, ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE: The enactments of the state of emergency is not to target any particular person based on the identity that's there aligned to.

[02:15:07]

SEYOUM: The state of emergency is put in place to put protect the Ethiopian people to protect the residents of Addis Ababa, who have been told with very, very fierce Wiktoria coming from the TPLF that we're going to see, or we're going to come into Addis Ababa. So it's important for the state of emergency to put in place a mechanism that anybody that is trying to threaten the stability or the peace that is within the capital city is thoroughly addressed as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: On the other side of the conflict, the spokesperson for the Tigray People's Liberation Front says the rebel fighters are not backing down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GETACHEW REDA, SPOKESMAN, TIGRAY PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT: Look, yes, we has been ratcheting up genocidal violence against the people of Tigray and in anyone who's -- who he thinks is standing in the way of his genocidal campaign. Abiy, from the get go has never been interested in this, has never been interested in democracy, has never been interested in reforms. He was mostly interested in making sure that the entire Ethiopian population cowed into submission.

Were cowed into submission. So, you know, the Tigrayans unfortunately for him stood in the way of his imperial ambitions. He wanted to be the king of kings of Ethiopia, but unfortunately, the Tigrayans stood in that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Well, transportation day at the COP26 Climate Summit is expected to bring global progress on electric vehicles. But reports say the U.S., China and Germany are resisting. A proposed deal would commit countries to work toward all sales of new cars and vans being zero emission by 2040. Well, meanwhile, a British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is urging COP 26 delegates to pull out all the stops on an agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

Well, a new analysis by the watchdog group Climate Action Tracker finds temperatures could rise 2.4 degrees Celsius in the years ahead. Scientists say that much warming would result in the worst consequences of the climate crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NIKLAS HOHNE, NEWCLIMATE INSTITUTE FOUNDING PARTNER: Now with the current pledges and all things that countries proposed, we see roughly stabilization of greenhouse gas emissions until 2030. So they're not going up anymore, which is good, because in the past, they have always been going up by one to two percent a year. I think with current action, they're flatlining until 2030, which is OK but not good enough. They need to be haft by 2030. So we are meeting still twice as much as we should.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Well, for more on this, let's bring in CNN Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. It's not a good future that is facing us. Is it a, Pedram?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: You know, we've seen it so many times too, Anna. We have these reports that essentially put these agreements in place, but then you see very little action and the numbers just keep increasing. So the agreements have been there for many years. They keep revising it. But of course, action has been limited. And that's the concern and that is precisely why climate action tracker here, this watchdog group kind of analyzed this and kind of broke down how things have played out.

We know the net zero goals of just the 40 -- top 40 countries, essentially are responsible for about 85 percent of our world's emissions. Now, this particular group looked at that and said that of these 85 percent of emission cuts that are slated over the next decade or so only six percent of those emissions actually have some sort of a concrete plan associated with them. The other remaining 79 percent are essentially just an agreement.

Just someone's word, just documentation saying we're going to cut the numbers down. But when you look at the last couple of years, very little has changed globally speaking between nations and the top emitters specifically. And you notice, of course, the new target goals for China, for example, they've already said they're going to stop building coal power plants abroad, they've already committed to cutting coal use by 2026.

And even meeting the goal of carbon neutrality by about 2060. That's all been addition -- in addition here to the new targets that have been added for 2021. But look how things played out in China just in 2020. We know they contributed to about 26 percent of the world's emissions. They're home to about 75 percent of the world's coal factories. And in fact, in 2020, mind you, with all of this talk of cutting back they built three times more coal power plants than any other place around the world with additional plans to build more now.

We're not just isolating China if it's very similar across the United States when it comes to their goals, and then their actions much the same in India. And that's the concern moving forward here, Anna, with what's going on.

COREN: Yes. Stop the words, we need action. Pedram, great to see you. Appreciate the update.

[02:20:00]

COREN: Well, there are some new developments on the U.S.-China relations. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to meet virtually with Chinese President Xi Jinping as early as next week. That's according to a source familiar with the planning of the meeting, but specific details had not yet been released.

Well, Myanmar's military leaders pile on the charges. Coming up. A U.S. journalist faces new accusations as he awaits trial in the Yangon prison.

And in the U.S., House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot is now expanding its pro with a new batch of subpoenas. Who's on the latest list. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: A U.S. journalist is facing new charges from militaries -- from Myanmar's military leadership. Danny Fenster is now accused of sedition and terrorism. If convicted of sedition Fenster faces seven to 20 years in prison. The editor of the local Frontier Myanmar was arrested as he tried to leave the country back in May. He's been held in the notorious insane prison since then.

Well, CNNs Paula Hancocks joins us now from Seoul with the latest details. And Paula, it's obviously clear from these latest charges that the junta wants to make an example out of Danny. Tell us what he's facing.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anna. These are by far the most serious charges that have been brought against Danny Fenster since he was arrested back in May earlier this year. Now, according to his lawyer who we've spoken to. It's unclear at this point exactly what these charges relate to, exactly what Danny Fenster is accused of doing to warrant these charges against him.

And at this point, there is no clarity on that, according to the lawyer, but it is clear that it is a setback in trying to get Danny Fenster released. And we have been seeing that he has had a number of court appearances there are all close to the press. They're not open. Any information we have is through the lawyers themselves. In fact, Danny Fenster has very limited access to the family members and also to the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar.

Now, it does follow what we saw was somewhat of an amnesty of some journalists that had been arrested. They were released a hundreds of people admits them, some journalists were released recently, although we do have clarity that some were then rearrested. But Danny Fenster was not part of that group. We also saw the the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson in Myanmar just last week.

He met with the junta leader Min Aung Hlaing who heard spearheaded and led that that military takeover of Myanmar back in February. And there were hopes that there would be some kind of movement In the Danny Fenster case.

[02:25:02]

HANCOCKS: He was not able as we have made clear to be able to push this forward and now we do see two very serious charges being brought against the 37-year-old while he is still in prison. So clearly this is a setback in the efforts to try and release him. We've had many calls from the U.S. State Department to release Danny Fenster. And as I say, it's still really unclear what exactly the courts are accusing Danny Fenster of having done in order to warrant these two -- these two extra charges. Anna?

COREN: Paula Hancocks, we certainly appreciate that update. Many thanks.

Well, former former U.S. President Donald Trump has suffered a legal blow after a federal judge denied his attempt to withhold records from a House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. The judge said "Presidents are not kings and plaintiff is not president." In her ruling that now allows the House access to hundreds of pages of documents from Trump's presidency leading up to and about the Capitol riot.

Well, Trump's legal team says it will appeal but as of now, the National Archives is on tracks to turn over documents to the House on Friday.

Well ahead of that, the House Committee has expanded its probe and issued 10 more subpoenas to former Trump White House officials. Among the latest, Stephen Miller, Senior Adviser to the former president and Kayleigh McEnany, the former White House press secretary. The 10 named on Tuesday are being asked to turn over documents relevance to the Capitol right probe later this month, with lawmakers looking to hold depositions in December.

Well, it's been just over a month since the Pandora papers were released revealing the offshore financial dealings of the world's wealthy elites including Chile's President. Well, now those revelations have led to an impeachment procedure against Sebastian Pinera over tax evasion allegations related to the sale of a mining company in a tax haven. The Chilean Lower House voted in favor of impeachment advancing the procedure to the Senate. Mr. Pinera's lawyer called the action a political maneuver.

Well, humans have caused alarming changes to the climate but conservation education can help the next generation become better protectors of our planets. We'll look at a program underway in Shanghai.

Plus, Academy Award winner James Cameron takes us to the depths of the ocean to illuminate how climate change is impacting the sea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:04]

COREN: Welcome back. Planet. Over the past 10 days, we've been covering the environmental challenges facing our planet. These issues can sometimes feel vast and overwhelming, but we want to put the big focus right now on solutions in conservation and education.

Today, on our Call to Earth Day, CNN is celebrating those who are driving awareness and inspiring action. From Paris to New Delhi, New York to Beijing, CNN correspondents across the world will bring you stories all day long about extraordinary individuals protecting our planet and about young students who are learning to do the same.

Well, let's cross now to CNN's David Culver who's live at the Western International School of Shanghai.

And, Devin, I'm sure there is some, you know, future little scientists there with you who will definitely help save this planet.

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think, Anna, they are educating me more than they're learning here. I mean, this has been a whole day for me of kind of taking in new things.

The outdoor classroom and learning spaces that they have at WISS, as they call it, Western International School of Shanghai. It's incredible. They got more than 600 students here. They range from early years, which is where we are, to primary, to secondary. But early years from two and a half until six, they are really focused on environmental learning and sustainability, and even learning how to plant all sorts of different things.

In fact, I think the focus here has been peas and carrots today. That seems to be the popular choice as they have been given the options. But I want to bring in Fiona Morris here. She's the principle of the Early Years Program.

Why, Fiona, is this such an important part of your curriculum?

FIONA MORRIS, WESTERN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF SHANGHAI: It's really an important part because the children really need to take ownership for what they're doing. We want to develop responsibility. We want to develop a sense of ownership over what they're planting and growing. And to be honest, they're going to learn how to plant and how to grow, and that actually seeds -- start of a seed and grow into something worthwhile.

Right now, we've got the youngest children here. And so, this is a new discovery for them. So, this develops awe and wonder for the world around them. And hopefully, this builds a strong foundation for that to continue and for that responsibility and for that respect for the earth that we hope will come from this.

CULVER: And this idea of creating, of having your own creation of things, I mean, you see them, they're taking it in. But the other part of this that you are telling me that really stands out is the reality that kids don't really enjoy vegetables all that often except when they've grown the vegetables. What did you learn from there?

MORRIS: It seems to be that these vegetables are magical. They will not eat these vegetables normally, but when they have grown them on their own, they've invested all that time, they've now discovered that all that effort has come to something at the end. That carrot has grown over a long period of time. It took all that effort to look after it. And now, they really want to taste one that's like and they may not have tried a carat before, but this has given them the motivation to try.

And hopefully, developed that sense that actually they can grow these things themselves. They can be self-sustaining. And they can eat healthy as well. Perhaps that will replace some of the less well choices that they make.

CULVER: Yes. Definitely beats the French Fries.

MORRIS: Yes, yes.

CULVER: So, it's great to see all of this Thank you so much, Fiona. Appreciate it.

Yes. You've got all sorts of things coming into life here. It's really a cool setup that they've got. They've got this outside of pretty much every classroom. There's so much time spent outside at this school that you forget that there's actually an inside, Anna, But I guess that's what this is all about. It's pretty unique.

COREN: Magic vegetables. David, you have just given me an idea. That is the way that I'm going to get my boys to eat greens. David Culver, great to see. Thank you so much.

CULVER: There you go.

COREN: There you go.

Academy award-winner, James Cameron, is going to great depths to protect the ocean's twilight zone, an area hundreds of meters below the surface. The filmmaker spoke with CNN's Michael Holmes about his many underwater voyages and why it's so vital to protect this unique part of the ocean and the animals that dwell there. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CAMERON, FILMMAKER: The twilight zone is an amazing place. It's the largest biomass in the planet. And in my eight expeditions too deep ocean sites, I've gone back and forth through it. You have amazing fish and things like that. But suddenly, invertebrates are pretty darn spectacular. I mean, I saw a jellyfish almost two meters in diameter once, a very rear specimen that had never been captured. And you see amazing squid, the humbled squid, which is very aggressive pack hunters. Down to the tie tiniest bioluminescence animals.

It's very important because you've got the largest mass migration of animal life on the planet that goes up and down, every single day. They go up to the -- near the surface to feed at night and then they scurry back down into the depths, into the black depths, in the daytime so that they don't get seen by predators and eaten. And so, it acts as this giant carbon pump that's pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and taking it down into the deep ocean. It's like a giant sequestration process.

[02:35:00]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: That is extraordinary. What an experience. I mean, you mentioned the carbon sink aspect of this and how important that is for humans. What is the potential for this lay out? What could we learn or benefit from it?

CAMERON: The fisheries of the world are starting to turn their attention to the twilight zone because of all this biomass that is down there. They don't normally fish that deep. And so, as it starts to become exploited, we need to understand it. Understand its role in our greater global ecosystem and its role in controlling climate.

It is -- clearly, if it's sucking, let's say, gigaton of carbon out of the atmosphere a year, about the same as all the automobiles, all the transportation in the world, we need to protect it.

HOLMES: Do you think people understand enough about what the oceans made to our lives?

CAMERON: No. I don't think somebody, let's say a farmer in the Midwest, really understands the role of the ocean in their daily life. How it controls the climate in general, which is why I think it's important for us to do what we're doing right now, to try to share that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my gosh, look at that squid?

HOLMES: You're working on yet another movie and one that I'm sure everybody is going to be looking for to seeing.

CAMERON: I hope so.

HOLMES: I hope so too. How have you used your films to, you know, draw attention to climate change and the importance of our environment and the oceans?

CAMERON: If we could make a distinction on the documentary side, I've done a number of documentaries about the ocean and ocean conservation. A recent one with National Geographic was "Secrets of the Whales," which gets into the minds and emotions and culture of whales, so that if we love them and we respect them, will defend them. That sort of thing.

And then on the feature side, with the "Avatar" films, there's definitely an environmental message sort of between the lines, it has to be entertainment first, obviously, but it's definitely there if you're looking for it, if you're receptive to it.

HOLMES: I'm curious, you know, with all you've seen and done underwater and above, are you an optimist when it comes to climate change or given where the world stands now in terms of meaningful mitigation versus, you know, as Greta Thunberg would say, blah, blah, blah, are you optimistic or less than optimistic?

CAMERON: I tend to be pessimistic about political systems and about human systems in general, but I'm optimistic about human beings. We're resourceful. When our backs are against the wall, I believe we can team together to come up with the solutions necessary. And I believe we will be willing to make the changes to our lifestyle that we're going to need to make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: To find out more about the environmental challenges facing our planet and what's being done to address some of them, just head to our website at cnn.com/calltoearth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:00]

Welcome back. In Lebanon, farmers say agricultural conditions are ideal to produce an abundant cannabis crop to lift up the country's struggling economy. But they say the Lebanese government is getting in thjeir way. CNN's Ben Weiderman explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're bringing in the sheaves in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Sheaves and sheaves of cannabis or hashish as it's called here. The climate in this part of Lebanon is changing. It is getting hotter and it is getting drier. And perhaps, this crop, hashish, is the ideal thing to grow in this changing climate. It's drought resistant and doesn't need much in the way of pesticides and fertilizers.

Late October and the days are still warm, the harvest is delayed because the rains came late. Before there was more rain in the spring, says this farmer, who preferred to give his name simply as Abu Sarah. There's been much less rain in the last or three or four years.

Climate change they can handle. The biggest bummer for hashish farmers is politics. George Fakhri heads the Cannabis Growers Union founded after the Lebanese parliament passed a law last year legalizing the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal use. But the government, bankrupt and perpetually embroiled in the weeds of political paralysis, has failed to translate the new law into reality.

Unfortunately, Fakhri says, it's all talk, politics and campaign promises. The arguments in favor of hashish cultivation are cut and dry. The climate here, the soil here, is the best, Fakhri boasts. People say the best hashish comes from Bekaa Valley. The quality is better than Morocco or Afghanistan or any other country.

With Lebanon's economy in free fall, this could be a valuable source of hard currency. According to the U.N., Lebanon is the world's 4th largest producer of cannabis. Hashish consumption is a popular if illegal past time in Lebanon. And in a country where warlords have become politicians, where corruption is rampant, growing something that relieves the pain of Lebanon's mounting woes seems a minor sin, insists this farmer, who calls himself Abu Hannah.

Growing hashish, he says, is better than being a thief or a killer or stealing public funds or spying for foreign countries. Despite climate change, the grass could be so much greener here. Yet so far, politics threaten to send the promise of hashish up in smoke.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Well, thank you so much for your company and for watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. World Sports starts after the break. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)