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CNN Student News

Aired April 25, 2002 - 04:30   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN STUDENT NEWS seen in schools around the world because learning never stops and neither does the news.

SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: Time to check in with CNN STUDENT NEWS. Drought in the Northeast U.S. is today's "Top Story." The political climate of France is also making "Headlines." We'll have that coming up. We'll also check in with the giant panda as it continues its struggle for survival. And Student Bureau visits a Colorado campus kicking off a conservation campaign.

And welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Shelley Walcott.

Wildfire season begins early this year in the United States. Hundreds of families and two schools in Bailey, Colorado were evacuated yesterday as a fast-moving wildfire raged nearby. Tinder dry conditions aren't helping firefighters contain the fires. Colorado's governor wants the federal government to declare a drought emergency. Many states across the U.S. are feeling the effects of a winter drought. In the Northeast, acres upon acres of forest, farms and ranges are bone dry.

Our Joel Hochmuth brings us some perspective on the droughts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The situation has gotten so bad even David Letterman is noticing.

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Thank God we finally got a little bit of rain here in New York City. We're right in the middle of a drought, but the rain you know when you're in a drought does you no good, it is still very, very dry. Listen to this, yesterday, went into a restaurant and they gave me a glass of H2.

(LAUGHTER)

LETTERMAN: Had no O in it.

HOCHMUTH: But for millions of residents along the East Coast, the month's old drought is no laughing matter. Many reservoirs are critically low at a time when they should be filling up as winter snows melt. Experts warn of water shortages over the summer, especially if rainfall stays below normal.

JAMES ST. JOHN, METEOROLOGIST (ph): I don't think there's any need to panic, but certainly there are -- there are steps that can be taken to conserve water and that's something probably everybody should do.

HOCHMUTH: Almost 30 percent of the country is feeling the effects, mostly states in the West and along the East Coast, but it's the Northeast that seems to be getting much of the attention.

ST. JOHN: No. 1, it's probably the most heavily populated part of our country, you know, so it affects more people. It's probably rarer to have drought in that area than say in the Midwest or the South where you know they come a little more frequently.

HOCHMUTH: Pennsylvania is particularly hard hit. Philadelphia has had nearly 17 inches less rainfall than normal since last July. Experts blame persistent high pressure over the region for the last several months. The question is, is this a local phenomenon or part of a wider global events?

ST. JOHN: Typically what you find is that when somebody's having a dry period in one place, in another part of the world they're having a wet period because the amount of rainfall that falls globally doesn't change that much unless you're talking about climate change. Is this part of some climate change trend, well there's really no way to know that exactly.

HOCHMUTH: Meteorologists have made significant strides in predicting the weather short term, especially violent storms like hurricanes. But when it comes to predicting droughts, that's another story.

ST. JOHN: The reason that we haven't done a better job in predicting it is it's so complicated that it's very, very difficult to understand. What we don't know about the way our earth-ocean- atmosphere system works greatly outnumbers what we do know.

HOCHMUTH: Some have tried to link droughts to global warming and so-called greenhouse effect caused by things like emissions from cars and power plants. Others say that's jumping to conclusions.

ST. JOHN: We've got to be careful. We had tremendous droughts back in the 1930s when our population was much lower and we weren't burning as much fossil fuels as we are today. So droughts are something that have happened before. I mean they talk about them in the Bible. So we know they happen. They're part of the natural occurrence.

HOCHMUTH: So what about the current drought? Experts say there's no sign it will be nearly as bad as the dust bowl days of the 30s. Still, for many, that's small consolation.

For more on that we go to Natalie Pawelski.

(END VIDEOTAPE) (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN ENVIRONMENTAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a backyard in Pennsylvania, Mike Cochran drills another dry hole. He's trying to find a new source of water for a family whose well has run dry.

MIKE COCHRAN, A.C. REIDER DRILLING: Normally, we get one to two wells per day, somebody either has run out of water or a low-yielding well. This year so far, we've had as many as 16 in a single day.

PAWELSKI: Usually, Cochran says, he hits water on the first try. But with the Northeast suffering its worst drought in decades, finding water is getting harder. At a nearby lake, the drought has left acres of mud where water should be.

(on camera): A spring day at Codorus State Park, and this dock should be crowded with dozens of fishermen and boaters. But today, there's nobody here. Lake levels have dropped so low that the dock has been left high and dry.

(voice-over): The park's lake, which normally hosts more than a million visitors each summer, is down almost 15 feet.

ED KAUTZ, CODORUS STATE PARK: Basically, we haven't had any major rainfall since last June. And we're about halfway through the spring season when we normally are increasing our lake level, and we're still losing. So it's going to be a long summer if we don't get some major rainfall.

CHIEF DAVID GEMMILL, NEW BRIDGEVILLE FIRE COMPANY: This is our tank truck. What we do is this truck does nothing but haul water to the scene.

PAWELSKI: The drought is also a hot topic at the New Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Company. Firefighters here are responsible for a 64 square-mile territory that has only one fire hydrant. From the firefighters' point of view, the drought could be downright dangerous.

GEMMILL: We normally have to draw water from streams and ponds and things of that nature. And with the drought conditions, the water in those reservoirs, the ponds and the streams, have declined greatly.

PAWELSKI: The water is too low in some places for the firefighters' pumps to function.

GEMMILL: I've never seen it quite this bad. Some of the older people in the community have said that this is a drastic situation, that they've not seen anything like this since like the 1930s.

PAWELSKI: Government forecasters say, at least for now, there's little relief in sight.

Natalie Pawelski, CNN, York County, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WALCOTT: French youth took to the streets in the second day of protest against far right presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen. Le Pen finished second in France's election Sunday setting up a runoff with incumbent President Jacques Chirac next month. President Chirac, meanwhile, has refused to debate Le Pen drawing the ire of his challenger.

CNN's Chris Burns reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They stormed the Bastille. About 1,000 anti-Le Pen protesters rushed the square where their ancestors sparked the French Revolution. Across the street, Torchlight Theater on the steps of the Bastille Opera House, long live liberty, down with Jean-Marie Le Pen, says the banner.

(on camera): This monument at the Bastille is the alter to the French Revolution. This is where youth from around the country hope to make their voices heard, perhaps not every time in large numbers, but every day until the May 5 final round of the presidential election.

(voice-over): Le Pen's promise to fight immigration he blames for crime and unemployment has enraged students here.

(CROWD CHANTING)

BURNS: "We are all children of immigrants," they chant.

Referring to a comment Le Pen was fined for, this placard reads the Holocaust is a detail and what about us it asks?

Abstention equals collaboration refers to the low turnout in Sunday's first round, one reason analysts say Le Pen made it to the runoff.

HELENE ROUSSEL, STUDENT: Today I'm -- you're saying that my own (ph) country I mean they're saying. And I want to show as well everybody in the world, like Europe and U.S., everywhere, that not the whole French of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I mean -- I mean loads of people didn't vote and they're all there -- here today to say that they're really, really, really scared.

BURNS: Edouard (ph) Nguyen is of Vietnamese descent.

EDOUARD NGUYEN, STUDENT: I don't want that Le Pen access to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) power.

BURNS (on camera): And why is that? Why don't you want him in power?

NGUYEN: Because he is a fascist. It's fascism. It's racism. It's sexism -- everything that we don't need.

BURNS (voice-over): Meanwhile, President Jacques Chirac decided not to debate Le Pen, a first for a modern-day French election.

"I didn't accept in the past a coalition with a national front," he says. "Now I will not, no matter what the political price, debate with its representative."

Le Pen called that an attack on democracy.

"The fact that this attack is made by the man whose role as president is to protect democratic institutions is a real scandal," he says.

Though Chirac probably angered many Le Pen supporters, he could have paid a higher price. With a debate, Chirac could expose himself further to Le Pen's populous attacks and anger Le Pen opponents by giving a stage to the far right leader.

Chris Burns, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: As young people in France take to the streets to have their political voice heard, the Democratic Party in the U.S. is urging one group to continue to make their vote count. African- Americans represent a key voting block. Democrats courting the black vote held one of their big spring fund raisers last night at Harlem's famous Apollo Theater. Actor/comedian Chris Tucker was one of the event's co-hosts.

Judy Woodruff caught up with Chris to get his feelings on getting out to vote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Chris Tucker, you have quite a fan club here in New York City.

CHRIS TUCKER, ACTOR: Yes, I love it.

WOODRUFF: Now, you were just at this voter registration rally put on by the Democratic National Committee. Here you are a successful movie star, you're making movies, you're going to make more. Why do something like this?

TUCKER: Well, it is a great opportunity because I'm doing a new movie called "Mr. President." I'm playing the president of the United States in my new movie and I'm sort of going around voter registration helping them with getting out the vote thing, and then also promoting my movie and also learning a lot from my movie and filming from my movie. I filmed a lot of stuff today, so it is just a great, great opportunity to do a lot of things and it is just a great thing, you know.

WOODRUFF: But it is for the movie, but it is also for voter registration. Why do you care about getting people registered to vote? TUCKER: Oh, it is so important because I know I'm one of those kids who thought, why should I vote? What's the importance in that? And now, you know, that I'm doing all of these researches, I can talk to the former president Bill Clinton and he can tell me personally how important it is to vote and why my vote counts, and why I should get out and vote, so now I can go tell other young kids to vote because it does work.

WOODRUFF: Why does it matter? Why does it matter?

TUCKER: Because President Clinton said something very important today, I was listening. He said this is our country and we have to vote to have our voice heard. And wherever direction we want this country to go, we need to give our point of view and vote and put the people in office that we want to be in office (UNINTELLIGIBLE) something greater than what it is.

WOODRUFF: Are you a committed Democrat?

TUCKER: No, I not with any parties. I'm with the best person who can do the job. Whatever party can do the job. I'm really not -- I like a lot of stuff the Democratic party does and a lot of stuff the Republicans do.

But I'm mostly like whoever does the job and that is what I'm all about.

WOODRUFF: Tell me, you said you talked to president Clinton about this movie you're making about the first black person elected president. What advice was he giving you about that?

TUCKER: He just gave a lot of good things. You know, I've watched, gone out to dinner with him and talked to him and he's just knowledgeable about so many things and this character I'm going to play in this movie is so big because I have to be knowledgeable about the world, what is going on around the world.

It is not just a comedy like my other movies. It is bigger and a more challenging role. So it was incredible to sit down and talk with a former president about what's a day in the life of a president. And he could tell me and I said what's the funny part about it? And he was like, no, it's nothing but work. So it is great.

WOODRUFF: He said nothing fun about it, nothing fun about it?

TUCKER: He said there's great things with everything. And I could just see by the day he said being the president is great because you get to go places you never thought you would go and a lot of things.

WOODRUFF: Do you believe a black person could be elected president in your lifetime?

TUCKER: Yes, yes, I do. I think, you know, of a black man, a black woman comes up and is prepared and has innovative and new ideas and could take the country to another level, of course, the people will get out and vote for them and they will definitely be president.

This country is just that great that the opportunities are there for a Hispanic president, a black president or any other race for a president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: The Senate is expected to cast the final vote today on a pending energy bill. The House already has approved a much different version mirroring President Bush's energy agenda. Somehow the two will have to be merged. The biggest difference between the House and Senate bills is that the House would open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling while the Senate rejects disturbing the Alaskan refuge with development.

CNN's Brooks Jackson weighs both sides of the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKS JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR. Few humans ever go there, but they sure like to talk about it in Washington.

SPECTER ABRAHAM, ENERGY SECRETARY: Drilling in the wildlife refuge is going to scar and alter that beautiful land.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ANWR production could replace more than 35 years of Iraqi imports.

JACKSON: So how much damage would there be? And how much oil? Let's check some facts. As for damage, there's far less from today's Arctic drilling technologies, seen in this oil company footage.

Equipment travels over roads of ice that melt and disappear in the summer. Slant drilling now allows one six-acre site to tap underground oil from miles in any direction, without disturbing the surface. But drilling is drilling. Some damage is inevitable. Recent government studies conflict.

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey issued one study predicting the local caribou population would decline, then issued another saying it wouldn't. The first study made the unlikely assumption that drilling would take place everywhere. The second assumed, more plausibly, that drilling would occur only in a smaller area where 85 percent of the oil is thought to be.

History may help here. Back in the 70s there were also dire predictions that drilling at Prudhoe Bay would hurt caribou herds, but it didn't happen. According to Alaska's Department of Fish and Game, the central Arctic herd around Prudhoe grew, from fewer than 5,000 in 1974 before drilling, to 27,000 most recently -- a five-fold increase.

(on camera): So the historic fact is the Prudhoe Bay herd has flourished, despite drilling, even with older technology. But is any damage worth it? How much oil is there? The truth is, nobody's sure. There's been no exploration allowed since 1985. (voice-over): Geological survey estimates are imprecise, at best. From a low estimate of 5.7 billion barrels that could theoretically be pumped out, to a high of 16 billion. Quite a range, but in either case, the biggest U.S. oil field in decades.

Using a middle estimate, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts ANWR could eventually produce about 800,000 of barrels of oil per day, maybe more, maybe less. In practical terms, that's a bit less than the U.S. would have saved had Congress imposed tighter mileage requirements on cars and SUVs. And it is just a bit more than the U.S. actually imported from Iraq last year.

But here's the kicker. There would be no oil at all from ANWR for at least seven years, according to government estimates, and maybe 12. And it would likely take until 2020 for ANWR to hit full production. By that time, U.S. oil consumption is expected to grow so much that ANWR would reduce dependence on oil imports very little.

Again, the Energy Information Administration's estimate is that in 2020, without ANWR, 62 percent of U.S. oil will be imported. With ANWR, 60 percent.

(on camera): So, probably not that much damage. And relatively speaking, not that much oil either. Cold facts in a hot debate. Brooks Jackson, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Exploring our world, here now is CNN STUDENT NEWS "Perspectives."

WALCOTT: They are some of the most beloved animals in the world and at zoos, which are lucky enough to host pandas, the black and white creatures are among the most popular exhibits. But in the wild, specifically in China, wildlife experts are warning the animals are running out of room and are going to have trouble surviving.

Gary Strieker looks into this looming problem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY STRIEKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's probably no other animal so widely identified with wildlife conservation, but the giant panda's future is still seriously threatened.

(on camera): The main reason is loss of habitat. The pandas need more large areas of forest so they can stabilize their numbers and multiply.

(voice-over): Only about 1,100 giant pandas still survive in the wild along the edge of the Tibetan Plateau in China, most of them in small fragments of mountain forest protected by a network of nature reserves. But there are large tracts of good habitat that are unprotected outside the reserves and these areas could be the key to the pandas' long-term survival. In a recent study published in "Science" magazine, researchers warned giant pandas could face extinction if confined to existing reserves.

COLBY LOUCKS, WORLD WILDLIFE FUND: They would be susceptible to inbreeding depression. Populations would be too small to withstand random natural events such as a forest fire. Their major food source, bamboo, could die off, which it does naturally. Small reserves just don't have room for populations to grow.

STRIEKER: China provides strong support for panda conservation, but experts say even more efforts are needed to protect panda habitat across wider landscapes, creating more reserves, making them larger and linking them together, allowing isolated populations of pandas to make contact with each other. Giant pandas do not breed easily in captivity, but in the wild, say the experts, pandas will thrive if we give them enough space to coexist with us.

Gary Strieker, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: The country of Iceland is a scenic wonderland. Mother Nature shines bright as the land, sea and sky come together to create a natural beauty not found in many places. People care about environmental issues and it shows in the country's leading efforts on clean, recyclable energy.

More from Natalie Pawelski in her second report on the environment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Giant waterfalls, glaciers, geysers, and more hot springs than any other nation on earth, the same geology that makes Iceland's landscapes so dramatic also provide a measure of energy independence.

THORSTEINN HILMARSSON, ELECTRIC COMPANY SPOKESMAN: Iceland is pretty unique in that we are producing all our electricity with renewable methods. We are already producing most electricity per capita in the world.

PAWELSKI: Iceland's power plants use no coal, oil, gas, or nuclear fuel. Instead, they rely on hydroelectric power from rivers roaring off glaciers, and on geothermal power from hot subterranean water.

At this geothermal plant near Reykjavik, steam from the hot water generates electricity, then the water flows on to keep the neighbors warm.

THORSTEINN VONNCE: In my house, I use the hot water for house heating, of course, and then as hot tap water. So, if I want to have instant coffee or tea, I can simply run the hot water, put the cup under it, put the tea bag in, ready for drinking. PAWELSKI: Also courtesy of leftover water from the geothermal plant, Iceland's biggest tourist attraction, the Blue Lagoon, a hint of the tropics in the world's northernmost capitol.

(on camera): Now Iceland is planning to tap a new source of clean renewable energy, hydrogen. An international consortium has announced a couple of pilot projects that will put hydrogen-powered fuel cells in remote homes and city busses.

(voice over): Transportation is the one part of Iceland's economy that still relies on fossil fuels, but Iceland's government is backing a plan to change that within the next half century by using Iceland's clean electricity and abundant water to produce hydrogen, hydrogen for fuel cells, which would power the country's vehicles and its fishing fleet, backbone of the country's biggest industry.

PROFESSOR BRAGI ARNASON, ICELAND UNIVERSITY: If our ideas can be realized, all the energy used in the country comes from clean, renewable (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sources. There would be no fossil energy used.

PAWELSKI: Comparing Iceland's energy situation to America's is one of those apples and oranges things. Iceland's geology is unique and its population is only one-thousandth that of the United States. But energy experts see Iceland as a laboratory and with the upcoming hydrogen initiative, possibly a window on the world's energy future.

Natalie Pawelski, CNN, Reykjavik, Iceland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Have you seen your gas or electric bill lately? Think they're high? Well chances are they are nothing compared to the energy bill at the University of Colorado, which runs into the millions of dollars.

Our Student Bureau looks at the strain this is putting not just on the school's budget but on the environment. Now student's energy is turning to saving energy as Alan Singer explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN SINGER, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Smoke rises off the powerhouse at the University of Colorado in Boulder, but that's not the only thing rising around here, the college's energy bill is $18 million per year.

PAUL TABOLT, VICE CHANCELLOR, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO-BOULDER: The energy bill just keeps going up.

GHITA CARROLL, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ENVIRONMENTAL (ph): Campus energy has been increasing by 5 percent every year, and we're going to have a load issue soon where we run out of capacity at the powerhouse to supply all energy needs on campus.

SINGER: That's why Vice Chancellor Paul Tabolt, Facilities Management and the CU Environmental Center have teamed up for Generation Green, a campaign to educate students, faculty and staff about energy use. In November, student volunteers put up posters with last year's energy use, cost and emissions in six campus buildings. Several projects, including the installation of more energy efficient lighting systems, are also underway. So far the campaign seems to be working.

CARROLL: Definitely in the first month I think in five out of the six buildings energy use went down.

SINGER: And students living in Kittredge Residence Hall, one of the six buildings, seem to be making some changes.

DAN LONG, STUDENT: When I go away for the weekend or at break, I turn off all my appliances, unplug the frig, stuff like that, turn off all the lights.

SINGER (on camera): Are you going to change your ways at all because of the campaign that's going on?

CHRISTINE FAZIO, STUDENT: Possibly. With the computers I'm not sure just because of stuff I've heard like it's better for the computer's memory not to get shut off continually and so -- so that I mean it might help a little bit I think, but with the lights, probably definitely.

SINGER (voice-over): Generation Green also encourages walking, taking the bus or carpooling. It also tries to dispel some common energy myths.

CARROLL: There's a lot of confusion I think about fluorescent lights. People heard that it takes more energy, and computers, actually to turn them on and off than to just leave them on which is incorrect. It's always better to turn things off.

SINGER (on camera): Another way you can conserve energy is by cutting down on the number of e-mails you print out. And instead of printing on two sheets of paper, try printing double-sided copies.

(voice-over): So why should we care so much about energy use?

TABOLT: For the tight budgets that we're faced with as a university, when we're spending dollars for energy consumption, those are dollars that we aren't using for other purposes.

SINGER: Tabolt says if energy use continues going up, we may see future tuition increases as well and that's why...

TABOLT: It's a good time for us to turn out the lights.

SINGER: Alan Singer, CNN Student Bureau, Boulder, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: And that wraps up today's show. We'll catch you back here tomorrow. Have a good one. Bye-bye. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com