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World Welcoming 2022 Amid COVID-19 Explosion; Pediatric Hospital Admissions Hit Record High In U.S.; Thousands Flee Flames In Boulder County; Biden-Putin High-Stakes Phone Call; Opponents Hope For Bolsonaro's Reckoning In 2022; England's Hospitals Prepare "Surge Hubs"; Cities Scale Back New Year's Eve Celebrations; Climate Change's Impact On Cryosphere And Winter; Meme-Worthy Events Of 2021. Aired 1- 2a ET
Aired December 31, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, the world prepares to ring in the new year, much like the last, sky high COVID infections, celebrations scaled back or canceled and health officials urging a quiet night at home.
Also, this hour, that phone call, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden hold serious (INAUDIBLE) talks over Ukraine.
But is the Russian president trying to de-escalate this crisis or ratchet up tensions with the U.S.?
And this northern winter: it's not exactly cold outside, with record breaking heat in mid December. What happens when winter becomes a season of the past.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: Hello, everyone, and welcome to our viewers in the United States, joining us here on CNN International.
Around the world, the advice is mostly the same. The safest place to see in the new year will be at home, surrounded by a small number of people. In many cities, public celebrations have either been canceled, scaled back or now have tougher guidelines for revelers. Folks were partying like it was 2019, have been dashed by a surge in COVID infections, driven by Omicron and Delta.
Despite a record daily count of 74,000 new infections across New York state, the traditional ball drop in Times Square is still scheduled to take place. But now, there are new restrictions. Masks and proof of vaccination are both mandatory.
Attendance, capped at 15,000 and viewing areas are off limits until 3 pm. The 7-day average of global infections is almost 1.2 million, the highest ever since the pandemic began. Average daily cases in the U.S. have set a record for the third
straight day, more than 355,000 on Thursday. And children, once thought to be immune from the worst of the coronavirus, are now being admitted to hospitals in the U.S. at a record rate, close to 400 every day.
And right now, at least 10 U.S. states and the District of Columbia are reporting some of their highest patient numbers of the pandemic. And the peak of the Omicron wave is yet to come. CNN's Tom Foreman reports now from Washington.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the pandemic clocking unprecedented numbers of infections, the FDA is expected to OK booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine soon for 12- to 15-year olds.
The CDC has intensified its warning against cruise ship travel, amid dozens of outbreaks and health officials are advising caution onshore, too.
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I would not eat in a restaurant now without a mask. I would absolutely not go into a bar. If you go into a bar now, you are very likely to get COVID-19, whether you are vaccinated or not. If you are unvaccinated and you go into a bar, you will come out of it infected.
FOREMAN (voice-over): As predicted, the surge is not hitting everyone equally.
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: If you are unvaccinated, you are 10 times more likely to be a case and 20 times more likely to be a fatality.
DR. LEE SAVIO BEERS, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: We are still getting the data but what we are hearing from hospitals really across the nation and this is very consistent, is that the vast majority of the children who are being admitted are unvaccinated.
FOREMAN (voice-over): So many people are being affected, many states are reporting near record highs. Maryland hospital officials are calling for a limited emergency declaration.
In New York City, the fire department has so many out sick, they are reminding people to call 9-1-1 only in true emergencies. And everywhere, the drumbeat for more testing is growing louder, especially with schools reopening next week.
RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: Testing, testing, testing, testing all the time. So this is what I think we have to do and you are seeing this in New York, in D.C., you are seeing this in as many places as we can.
FOREMAN (voice-over): In the meantime, two new reports indicate a booster shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine significantly lowers the risk of severe illness from the Omicron variant. And health officials are pleading, no matter which vaccine you choose, make sure you follow through with all the recommended doses and then get a booster, too.
SYRA MADAD, NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS: That's where so many of us are echoing, go ahead and make sure that you get vaccinated if you haven't gotten your first or second dose and getting a booster dose. That's really what's going to protect you right now.
FOREMAN: Many health experts say the majority of Americans who have received their vaccinations are the very reason that there aren't more hospitalizations during this gigantic surge. And they've been relatively low.
But there is still plenty of them and that's a big burden on hospital staffs everywhere, that have already been fighting this pandemic for a very long time -- Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: Dr. Jorge Rodriguez is a board certified internal medicine specialist and viral researcher. He is with us this hour from Los Angeles.
Good to see you.
DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE SPECIALIST AND VIRAL RESEARCHER: Thank you John, likewise.
VAUSE: Let's start with COVID in kids. In the United States, the secretary for Health and Human Services, he spoke about the record number of children who have not only been infected but are also being now treated in hospital. Here he is.
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XAVIER BECERRA, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY NOMINEE: We thought for the longest time our kids were safe, because they didn't seem to be catching the infection the same way.
Today, I think you're hearing the news. More and more of our children are not only contracting COVID but they're actually being hospitalized. This stuff is real.
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VAUSE: So is it real enough now to authorize booster shots for kids 5 and older, as well as those who are 12 to 15?
RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely it is. I think we need to stop differentiating between older humans and younger humans. The virus doesn't differentiate. They go after humans. So anybody that has the right DNA for the virus to attack will be attacked.
Therefore, everybody in the world, as far as I'm concerned, should eventually be vaccinated. We're just waiting to make sure that the vaccines are safe. But, in essence, my answer to your question is yes.
VAUSE: We know that New Year's Eve celebrations are being scaled back. But in New York City they will go on. But there are updated guidelines, one caught my eye in particular. Unvaccinated minors under the age of 5 must be accompanied by a vaccinated adult to enter the event.
What, because why, the coronavirus avoids unvaccinated toddlers if they're with a vaccinated parent?
What's the sense of this?
RODRIGUEZ: There is no sense to that. It's ridiculous. Sometimes you just sit back and say, who the heck came up with that dictum?
Sometimes, we are right now just sort of kowtowing to the lowest common denominator and we're trying to please everybody. And at the end of the day, we're helping nobody.
So I think that any parent, who has a young child that has not been vaccinated, should absolutely not go into such a large group of people.
VAUSE: At this point, should these celebrations be canceled?
RODRIGUEZ: You know, in my opinion, yes.
Have we not learned the lesson, John, over the last two years?
Every time we try to make an exception, every time we try to soften up the rules, we get bitten. We did it in July, when the CDC prematurely said that it was all right to take your masks off. There has to be a period of no progression of infections for us to feel safe. So, yes, I do think that those large celebrations should be canceled at this point.
VAUSE: We know that (INAUDIBLE) health officials in South Africa are confirming the worst of the Omicron wave is over. Also confirming it was less severe than Delta and was over in a shorter period of time. Most people hear that part of the equation and not a lot else.
But it's important to listen to what you're about to hear, listen to this.
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BEERS: We're actually at an all-time peak for COVID hospitalizations and about half of them are children under 5.
DR. JAMES PHILLIPS, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: I'll be honest with you, it's unlike anything we've ever seen, even at the peak of the prior surges of COVID. What we are experiencing right now is an absolute overwhelming of the emergency departments throughout Washington, D.C.
DR. CATHERINE O'NEAL, OUR LADY OF THE LAKE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: What we're seeing in the hospital today is the same thing we've seen at the beginning of every single surge. So to hear that Omicron is different and is not causing immense illness in people is not what we're seeing on the ground.
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VAUSE: That's just a small sample of what's happening across this country. And I get it, we are sick and tired of being sick and tired. But we have to confront reality. We cannot ignore the virus.
What's your advice here?
How do you convince people that this is, in fact, serious?
RODRIGUEZ: Well, John, I used to have sort of some gallows humor and say that people aren't really -- some people aren't going to believe it until they start having to jump over dead bodies to get to the grocery store. And that's still hyperbole.
But we're really not far from that. Sure, this Omicron may be milder but tens of times more people are getting infected. Therefore, 10 times more people are probably going to be going to the hospital.
Quite honestly, I sit here tonight with you, kind of dejected and hopeless and in shock for the first time in a long time. When I found out that, yesterday, there were almost half a million new cases in the United States, far surpassing anything -- and when you see the graphs, they're going straight up like a rocket.
I think, soon, we will be seeing millions of people getting infected on a daily basis. And the shame of it is, that we have at our disposal something that can prevent that or ameliorate it very quickly and those are vaccines.
And due to politics or due to stubbornness or due to whatever, we're not taking advantage of that. And hopefully, it won't happen. But when history is written, they will be laughing and saying, you know what, they had the cure and the treatment at their fingertips and they didn't use it.
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RODRIGUEZ: And that is a deadly shame.
VAUSE: Yes, at the very least. Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, as always, thank you so much and all the best for the new year. Thank you, sir.
RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, sir, likewise.
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VAUSE: One hard-learned lesson of this pandemic has been the crucial need to stockpile PPE; masks, gloves, other personal protective equipment were in critical short supply when the pandemic began and bidding wars erupted, trying to secure adequate supplies overseas. For years, the U.S. has relied on cheap manufacturing hubs in low-cost countries for medical grade gloves. But that could soon be about to change. CNN's Scott McLean has the story.
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Literally hot off the production line, the very first hand molds being dipped in nitrile.
The result?
A reliable stream of medical grade gloves made in America. This is a big deal because, for decades, the U.S. has imported these gloves from cheap suppliers almost entirely in Asia. It took a pandemic to start to change that.
Businessman Dylan Ratigan says he felt compelled to act.
DYLAN RATIGAN, CEO, U.S. MEDICAL GLOVE COMPANY: We have just watched hundreds of thousands more, than a half-a-million Americans die and many of them for no reason. I think bad decisions have been made in American manufacturing, specifically for critical assets like class one medical devices.
The decision has been made to make sure that never happens again.
MCLEAN: When the pandemic exploded, the nitrile glove industry was plagued by price-gouging, fraud and scams. A CNN investigation found counterfeit, substandard or even dirty, used medical gloves being imported to the U.S. by the tens of millions.
(on camera): Pre-pandemic, there was only one nitrile glove producer in the U.S. in Fayette, Alabama but the company says it struggled to get even the U.S. government to buy its gloves because they cost around twice the price.
That's because around 10 percent of the world's medical gloves are made in China, 20 percent in Thailand and 65 percent in Malaysia, where the U.S. government only recently lifted an import ban on the world's largest producer, after finding evidence of forced labor earlier this year.
How do you compete with slave labor?
RATIGAN: The technology allows me to do it in a way that I can compete with even the dirtiest user of slave labor.
You want to be a customer of a slave labor company?
I don't.
MCLEAN: And you couldn't do it 30 years ago?
RATIGAN: You could never have done this 30 years ago, because the technology didn't exist. But the most important thing that you need to see is this. MCLEAN (voice-over): Ratigan is a former cable news anchor and now CEO of the U.S. Medical Glove Company, committed to paying workers at least $25 per hour, plus health care coverage and plans for free on- site child care.
There are currently about 100 of them now assembling new lines and ovens using all American-made parts.
RATIGAN: And that is a critical distinction between this company and others.
MCLEAN: The start-up housed in a sprawling former Caterpillar factory is backed by a $63 million advanced purchase order from the U.S. government. All told, Washington is spending $1.7 billion to help American companies manufacture PPE at home, after the pandemic exposed how dependent the U.S. is on foreign sources, which is a vulnerability in public health emergencies.
Another American start-up, USA Gloves outside Houston, was created by former importers who found it almost impossible to buy gloves from abroad. They don't have any government investment yet. But once the machines are finally up and running next month, they hope to turn a profit from private sales, even with higher prices than Asian brands.
ZISHAN MOMIN, CEO, USA GLOVES: And hospitals and clinics and even end users are willing to pay that slight premium, so that we're prepared for a future pandemic.
MCLEAN: It's still early days but experts say it is essential for the U.S. to make more of its PPE at home. The question is:
PRASHANT YADAV, CENTER FOR GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT: Whether people will remember this and be willing to pay that premium in the medium term or is this just a very short-term memory and soon people will go back to thinking about, who's my lowest-cost supplier? MCLEAN: That may ultimately be what determines the success or failure of these new enterprises, whether they're expensive experiments or the beginning of a new era that reduces America's dependence on factories on the other side of the world -- Scott McLean, CNN, London.
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VAUSE: Two wildfires sweeping across Colorado have destroyed hundreds of homes, caused tens of thousands of residents to flee. Patients in two hospitals have been evacuated and flames are moving quickly, already burning 1,600 acres, driven by dry air and hurricane-force gusts.
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VAUSE: A truck driver sentenced to 110 years in prison for his role in the deaths of four people in a fiery vehicle crash has had that sentence dramatically reduced by 100 years. The governor of Colorado ordering him to be released in 10 years. The truck driver was found guilty of multiple charges after a 2019
accident in a vehicle pileup which killed those four people. He told investigators that the brakes of his tractor-trailer failed while traveling 85 miles per hour.
The case drew national attention with celebrities calling for a lesser penalty, millions signing a petition asking the governor for the sentence reduction.
Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin staked out their positions again in a lengthy phone call just weeks before both sides hold diplomatic talks in Geneva to try and solve the crisis over Ukraine. Those details just ahead.
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VAUSE: The Kremlin says it's satisfied with Thursday's conversation between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden. The White House says it was a serious and substantive conversation. During the 50-minute long phone call, President Biden again warned of dire economic consequences if Russia invades Ukraine.
President Putin fired back with his own warning, that would be a, quote, "colossal mistake."
For now, both sides have agreed to keep talking. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the latest.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the second time in a matter of weeks, President Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin, getting on the phone together for a one-on-one conversation, focused particularly on those rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
The prospect, of course, of a war between those two countries looming over the 50 minute conversation between the two leaders that took place on Thursday. President Biden phoning in from his Wilmington, Delaware, home. A senior administration official telling us that the tone of the conversation was substantive and serious.
And the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, making clear that President Biden urged Russia to de-escalate tensions with the Ukraine.
Quote, "He made clear that the United States and its allies and partners, will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine."
She goes on to say that President Biden reiterated that substantive progress in these dialogues can occur only in an environment of de- escalation, rather than escalation. Ultimately, President Biden's main objective in this call was to once again make clear the stark choice that Russian president Vladimir Putin faces. That is to say that if he decides to move forward with this invasion, the U.S. will impose serious costs, significant economic and financial sanctions, but also a stepped up NATO military presence and increased U.S. assistance to U.S. allies at Russia's doorstep if, indeed, Russia chooses to move forward with this invasion.
On the other, hand the U.S. making clear and the president doing so in this conversation, that the U.S. is committed to meaningful diplomacy. Talks are set to take place between U.S. and Russian officials, beginning on January 10th.
And lastly, one thing that that senior official was not able to say, was what Vladimir Putin's intentions are following this call; instead, the U.S., rather than listening to those words and trying to judge his intentions, focus on Russian actions.
That's why we've seen stepped up U.S. surveillance missions, two U.S. spy planes flying over Eastern Ukraine this week, in just a matter of days-- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, traveling with the president, in Wilmington, Delaware.
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VAUSE: For Brazil, 2021 has been a devastating year. The COVID pandemic left over 600,000 dead, the second highest death toll in the world. Parts of the Amazon have been ravaged by wildfires. And many blame President Jair Bolsonaro for both. CNN's Isa Soares reports now how 2022 will be the year of reckoning for Bolsonaro.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): Who's mommy's little girl?
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Little Sara Gois (ph) was born this January in Brazil, in the midst of a ravaging pandemic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Portuguese).
But even an abundance of love wasn't enough to stop her daughter from contracting COVID-19.
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SOARES (voice-over): And despite all her pleas, little Sara (ph) died. She was only 5 months old.
SAMEQUE GOIS, SARA'S (PH) MOTHER (through translator): When she died, when they give us the news, I was able to hold her. I was able to feel her one last time.
SOARES (voice-over): Loss and grief like the one experienced by Sameque Gois became an all-too common sight this year across Brazil, more so than many other countries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People have been dying more in Brazil since the original variant was here.
SOARES (voice-over): One research group says misconceptions about COVID's impact on children, as well as inequality in access to health care, make Brazil a COVID hot spot for the young.
But other age groups suffered as well. Almost two years since Matthew (ph) lost a son to the virus, the pain continues to bring him to his knees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
SOARES (voice-over): His 25-year-old son, Ul (ph), one in a sea of more than 600,000 lives lost in Brazil. His indignation and anger became harrowing testimony, one of many witnesses in forming a parliamentary report, on how the Brazilian government handled the pandemic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
SOARES (voice-over): The parliamentary committee blamed president Jair Bolsonaro directly for Brazil's massive death toll and recommended he be charged with crimes against humanity, as well as other charges for reckless leadership.
Bolsonaro dismissed the parliamentary report as politically motivated and having no credibility.
JAIR BOLSONARO, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT: (Speaking foreign language).
Throughout the pandemic, the Brazilian president continued to promote alternative treatments, refusing the vaccine and forging ahead.
BOLSONARO: (Speaking foreign language).
SOARES (voice-over): Bolsonaro was also criticized for his alleged attacks on the Amazon rain forest. CNN flew over some of this year's hardest hit areas to see the devastation for ourselves.
From above, our cameras captured the damage of these increasing fires, the demarcated lines a sign of human destruction at work as the forest is cleared for agriculture or mining.
There have been nearly 30,000 (ph) fires in this same area, roughly a 50 percent increase from 2020 to 2021.
Now compare these images with these, over a five-year period.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
SOARES (voice-over): Homul Batista (ph) is a spokesman for Greenpeace Brazil. He and other activists say the blame falls squarely on Bolsonaro.
Back in Brasilia, the president's policy also saw him lose of some of the key popular support that got him elected. Alecravi Raph (ph) thought the right wing leader would be Brazil's savior. But 2.5 years after Bolsonaro swept to power, this former fan is full of regret.
ALECRAVI RAPH (PH), BOLSONARO FAN (through translator): It was a mistake. It was the biggest mistake of my life.
SOARES (voice-over): Raph (ph) is one of many to lose faith in the country's leader, putting pressure on Bolsonaro ahead of presidential elections in 2022.
With less than a year into the presidential election, Bolsonaro, who's been called the Trump of the tropics, got a reelection boot from the man himself. In a recent statement, former U.S. president Donald Trump calls him "a great president, who will never let the people of his great country down."
And taking a cue from the Trump playbook --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bolsonaro will win unless it's stolen by, guess what, the machines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The machines.
SOARES (voice-over): Bolsonaro has been sowing doubt on the integrity of Brazil's entire electronic voting system, calling for printed ballots to supplement electronically cast votes. And in doing so, he has eyes fully on the presidential prize.
BOLSONARO (through translator): I have three alternatives for my future, being arrested, killed or victory.
SOARES (voice-over): A fight for political survival that may indeed continue into the new year -- Isa Soares, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still ahead, an unprecedented numbers of COVID infections reported across Europe as the Omicron variant continues a very rapid spread. We will look at the record-breaking highs after the break.
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VAUSE: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause, you are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
It was another day of record high COVID infections for many European countries. The U.K., Ireland, Greece, Spain, Italy are among the nations reporting their highest daily case count ever. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amid skyrocketing infection rates and record-breaking case counts, Britain's National Health Service says it is now on a war footing.
It is preparing plans for a potential wave of Omicron patients. The National Health Service officials saying there is no time to wait. Preparations must go into place now.
What are these preparations?
There are going to be surge hubs built, temporary stations at eight hospitals across England. Each station should be able to accommodate up to 100 more COVID patients. There are also more surge beds, potentially, as part of this plan, up to 4,000 additional beds, if the NHS needs it, out of an abundance of caution.
Of course, this comes as multiple European countries see massive, skyrocketing surges in their countries, causing New Year's Eve cancellations across the region.
Here in London, the Trafalgar Square fireworks will not take place and Paris will not hold its fireworks over the Champs-Elysees; Rome, Berlin, multiple other European cities canceling big New Year's Eve celebrations.
And across regions, everyone being urged to be cautious about their plans on New Year's Eve -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Where you are on New Year's Eve in many ways will likely determine how you see in the new year. In cities like Bangkok and Dubai, they are still planning celebrations. Omicron and Delta be damned.
But for the most part, celebrations are being scaled back or canceled outright. There will be no fireworks, for example, in London. But Big Ben will still chime in the New Year.
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VAUSE: And CNN's Hala Gorani has more on how different cities around the world are planning to celebrate 2022.
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HALA GORANI, CNN HOST (voice-over): The quick spread of the Omicron variant is putting a damper on New Year's Eve celebrations around the world.
While some smaller events are still taking place, it will be a grim start to another year of the coronavirus pandemic.
London mayor Sadiq Khan announced in a tweet last week that the annual event in Trafalgar Square is canceled, saying, "The safety of Londoners must come first." Some 6,500 people were expected to attend. British prime minister
Boris Johnson decided against tougher COVID restrictions but cautioned that people should be smart about how they ring in the new year.
BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: I think everybody should enjoy the new year but in a cautious and sensible way. Take a test, ventilation, think about others but, above all, get a booster.
GORANI (voice-over): In Paris, the traditional fireworks display over the Champs-Elysees has been called off and officials have implemented a mask wearing policy in outdoor public spaces starting Friday.
And in Atlanta, the New Year's Eve Peach Drop has been canceled for the third year in a row as positive cases are on the rise in Georgia's capital city.
But to the delight of many, the fireworks in Sydney will go on as scheduled. Attendees are strongly encouraged to be fully vaccinated and boosted.
And an indoor mask mandate is also in effect for New South Wales for those over the age of 12.
In New York, workers are preparing the traditional Waterford crystal ball that will drop over Times Square. This year's event will be scaled back to about 15,000 people. There are usually about 60,000 revelers taking part.
After canceling its New Year's Eve celebrations earlier this month, Rio de Janeiro reversed course. There will be no outdoor concert this year but the world-famous fireworks on Copacabana Beach will go on. The city also announced precautionary measures to avoid mass gatherings.
And Dr. Anthony Fauci has some strong advice for those who do plan to attend large celebrations.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF COVID-19 MEDICAL ADVISER: If your plans are to go to a 40 percent to 50 person New Year's Eve party with all the bells and whistles and everybody hugging and kissing and wishing each other a Happy New Year, I would strongly recommend that this year we do not do that.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GORANI (voice-over): Many were hoping for a return to normalcy as we ring in the new year. But thanks to COVID, we will have to wait a little bit longer -- Hala Gorani, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, on a warming planet, snow is being melted and the coldest parts of the planet are getting warmer. One person, one author has now said winter is not coming; winter is going away. More on that in a moment.
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VAUSE: The northern winter has been unseasonably warm in many parts, with perhaps the most drastic temperature swing in Alaska. Kodiak Island saw record temperatures Sunday of 67 degrees Fahrenheit, just over 19 degrees Celsius.
Keep in mind this is the time of year when Alaska sees just six hours of sunlight a day.
In Greenland, the mountaintops should be white but this year the island has suffered a staggering loss of ice.
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PORTER FOX, AUTHOR (voice-over): I have spent most of my life in the frozen world, camping beneath sub-zero skies, walking through sundogs on 19,000-foot summits at dawn. But I had had no idea that the role the cryosphere played in our own evolution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That's a brief clip from the recently published book, "The Last Winter," which goes into great detail about the impact climate change is having not just on the cryosphere, the parts of the planet where water is frozen solid and not liquid, but on winter itself.
As the title suggests, winter as we know it is unlikely to survive if the planet continues to warm at its current rate, setting off a chain reaction of natural disasters so devastating the future of the planet will no longer be in our control. Life and civilization will be changed forever.
The author of "The Last Winter," Porter Fox, is with us now from upstate New York.
Porter, thank you for being with us, we appreciate your time.
FOX: Thanks for having me, John.
VAUSE: What are the really important points you make in this book?
It's about time, what appears from our perspective to be slow-moving, small, incremental changes in these colder regions of the planet are in fact happening in light speed, if you like, in terms of the planet's evolution. Unlike most, you have a very different perspective here, because of
how you grew up, your lifetime of association with this part of the world. So explain how this all ties together into this one book.
FOX: It is kind of crazy how fast this melting is happening, to be able to see it within someone's lifetime is kind of shocking. And in the history of the world, where there has been melting and refreezing and ice ages and whatnot, that typically play out over hundreds of thousands of years, it is nearly unprecedented.
And so, you know, I grew up in northern Maine. I grew up in very cold winters, deep snow. And on that island I grew up on, winter has shrunk by at least 2-3 weeks on either end. Sometimes it is a practically snow-less winter up there.
Right now there is hardly any ice on the lakes, which is really rare. And to see the magnitude of the melt, so much ice has melted just from the poles of the planet, that the rotational axis of our planet has shifted. Just think about that for a second. That's how much ice has disappeared from the poles. It's pretty shocking.
VAUSE: It's incredible to think about and it is shocking. Here's a small part from the book, about the impact from what's called the great melt.
"Things just don't happen in nature. Cascades happen as interrelated systems crash in the way that a single falling stone starts an avalanche, melting the cryosphere was like dropping a boulder into that avalanche field. Things start to fall with it."
And what the vast majority of people don't realize -- and you write about this -- is that right now, at this moment in time, we are on the verge of setting off a chain reaction of natural disasters that will alter life on this planet in a very fundamental way and not a good way.
FOX: It's pretty shocking and it's some very, even simple things that people can get their head around. About a third of the planet is covered in ice and snow in the middle of the winter and that is a white reflective surface.
[01:45:00]
FOX: And as winter shrinks and as that snow pack diminishes and that snow line moves north and disappears, you have this dark Earth and seawater beneath it that is suddenly revealed.
That icy shell would reflect back about 80 percent of the sun's heat back out into space. And when it is gone, it is all absorbed into the Arctic Sea, into Arctic Canada, Siberia, Antarctica. It is really making climate change move that much faster.
In Arctic Canada, as the permafrost melts, you are looking at billions of tons of greenhouse gases that are frozen into that permafrost and they have been safely stored that way for many hundreds of thousands of years. Excuse me. And now we are looking at the potential of that thawing and billions
of tons of greenhouse gases going up into the atmosphere, potentially warming the planet more than humans ever did.
So the end of winter is about a lot more than the end of snowmen and skiing and a nice wintry Christmas. It's really about disturbing the balance that has kept our climate fairly stable over the last 10,000 years.
VAUSE: And listening to this conversation now, many will have the impression that your book is filled with yet more depressing, ominous data points. But the "Boston Globe" reviewed it.
"Fox has amassed a truly anxiety-inducing blizzard of data, at one point facetiously likening his book to a flaming bag of apocalyptic dog feces."
But within that is a very engaging, compelling story about your journey across a planet facing an existential threat. And what you describe is this a-ha moment, of connecting all the dots together.
How did you get to that point?
FOX: I've skied my whole life; I've worked for ski magazine for 20 years, that sent me to five continents to document winter culture, alpine culture, all through Africa, Mexico, Japan, Canada, America, all through the Alps. And that was my life for a very long time.
And it was -- I started to see all of those mountains and all of that ice and snow, glaciers, even Arctic Sea ice, this giant, protective blanket that has protected our relatively stable climate for so long and allowed human civilization to blossom.
And as it diminishes, we are looking at everything from economic and political instability, to water scarcity -- I mean, I doubt that people realize that glaciers and ice melting, ice and melt water provides the primary source of fresh water for 2 billion people.
Things like that, I started to read about and bring together. And that was really the impetus for writing this book, was to talk about those planetary ramifications.
VAUSE: I should note, before we go, that the "Globe" also says that you are a seriously terrific writer, which is high praise and well deserved. So thank you so much for being with us, we appreciate it.
FOX: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: 2021, almost over, thank God. So when we come back, some of the top viral moments of a very bad year.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here live. That's not -- I'm not a cat.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (MUSIC PLAYING)
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[01:50:00]
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VAUSE: 2022 is now just hours away but before we say goodbye 2021, as awful as it was, here's a look back at some of the funniest, weirdest and meme-worthy moments of the year.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How time flies, not to mention seagulls. We all took it on the chin again in 2021. But no one more literally than this teenager, riding the slingshot on the Jersey Shore.
Still, there was plenty to celebrate. And Tom Brady did it by daring not to go deep underwater with the Lombardy Super Bowl trophy.
Another guy also known for his hands was Bernie Sanders, whose mittens at the inauguration became one of the first big memes of 2021.
In fashion, Balenciaga combined comfort and torture with $625 high- heel Crocs
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fashion is about a double take. You want people to look and look again.
MOOS (voice-over): A Massachusetts man looked and looked again for his missing AirPods after he fell asleep using them. Eventually an X- ray located it in his esophagus and it was extracted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The audio works perfectly but, sadly, yes, the microphone is a bit glitchy.
MOOS (voice-over): At least he didn't glue his eyes shut, like this Michigan woman, who meant to reach for eye drops but used fingernail glue instead. This contact lens may have saved her vision.
Maybe you think you are seeing double. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson fans were rocked by this Alabama patrol lieutenant, who even sounds like The Rock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you smell?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Rock is cooking.
And this Secret Service agent protecting the Bidens went viral just for being hot.
A dead ringer for Tom Cruise.
The pope needed no protection from Spider-man, an Italian guy who dresses up to entertain kids in hospitals.
Nicole Richie avoided the hospital, even though she managed to catch her hair on fire. Forget the candles, blow out Nicole.
A Burger King manager and eight staffers blew off steam by quitting very publicly with this sign.
While Rudy Giuliani wouldn't quit shaving in public at Delta's JFK lounge. The guy who shot the spectacle said:
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was delighted and horrified.
MOOS (voice-over): The same can be said of combination foods, from Froot Loops pizza to popcorn salad to candy corn bratwurst.
[01:55:00]
MOOS (voice-over): Of course, animals stole the show. Noodle, the pug prognosticator predicted good or bad days by his willingness to get up.
JONATHAN GRAZIANO, PET OWNER: Oh, my gosh, there are bones, there are bones today --
MOOS (voice-over): Decreeing either bones or no bones days.
GRAZIANO: Oh, a soft collapse.
MOOS (voice-over): Doggy makeover of the year goes to this guy, found wandering in Kansas City, Missouri. They removed 6.5 pounds of matted fur. He had to re-learn to walk and his new owners say all that hair even affected his tail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It basically wags one way.
MOOS (voice-over): Then there is the tale of a deer in Virginia, that leaped onto a school bus, landing on a sleeping student. They made an unscheduled stop to drop him off.
2021 saw some unusual Guinness records: biggest mouth, 5.7 inches; the most M&Ms stacked on each other, a measly five.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got to admit, I did eat them all.
MOOS (voice-over): The longest dog ears. Lou the coonhound's ears measure 13.38 inches each.
All through our interview, she kept staring off to the side --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is staring at herself.
MOOS (voice-over): -- in a glass door.
MOOS: Of course, the end of the year is a great time for self- reflection.
How do others see me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you hear me, Judge?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can hear you. I think it's a filter.
MOOS (voice-over): A Texas lawyer, using his assistant's computer during a hearing, heard himself coming out of a feline.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here live. That's not -- I'm not a cat.
MOOS (voice-over): At least the cat didn't get his tongue -- Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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VAUSE: "I am not a cat."
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
For viewers in North America, a CNN Special Report: "All the Best, All the Worst 2021" is up next. For everyone else, stay with us for "STANLEY TUCCI: SEARCHING FOR ITALY" after a short break.
Have a safe and Happy New Year. See you again in 2022.
