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U.S. Federal Reserve`s Decision to Cut Interest Rates for the First Time in Years; Traveling Billions of Miles into Space; How Voyager 1 Has Spent Decades Traveling Further Into Space Than Any Other Object Made By Man; 4Ocean on a Mission to Protect Our Waterways From Plastic. Aired 4- 4:10a ET
Aired September 19, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I`m Coy Wire, happy to be here with you this Friday eve. It`s Thursday, September 19th, and I`ve got 10
minutes to get you caught up on your news for the day right here on CNN 10.
First up, the Federal Reserve announced it`s cutting interest rates for the first time in more than four years. It`s a sign of confidence from the Fed
officials that inflation is starting to come under control. The Federal Reserve sets monetary policy and has been taking steps to make interest
rates go down. And we`ve talked a lot about inflation here over the last year.
Inflation, remember, is an increase in the price of goods and services. After the pandemic, surging prices reached a peak of 9.1% inflation in
2022. Those high prices came down a bit, but have stayed high since then, especially in food and housing.
And high inflation means high interest rates. It makes borrowing money from banks more expensive. So the announcement is big news for borrowers who`ve
been waiting for those interest rates to come down.
The Fed has kept borrowing costs at their highest level in more than two decades, making it more expensive and difficult to finance a car, a house,
or business loan, or even carry a balance on some credit cards. The Fed hopes this policy move will stimulate the economy and get folks spending
more again. But hanging in the balance is the American job market, which has shown signs of weakness lately.
Still, unemployment rates have stayed historically low. Overall, the decision could mark a crucial turning point for the U.S. economy for
consumers who are fed up with the highest costs in decades.
Ten-second trivia.
Voyager 1 is the first spacecraft to make it past what boundary in outer space?
Earth`s exosphere, Van Allen radiation belt, heliosphere, or Kuiper belt?
Your answer here is heliosphere.
In 2012, Voyager 1 was the first spacecraft to reach beyond the region of space made up of charged particles from the sun`s upper atmosphere. The
Voyager 1 has proved it`s the little spacecraft that could. It lifted off into space September 5th in 1977, and it`s still journeying into parts of
space humans have only dreamed of going.
Engineers at NASA have successfully fired up a set of thrusters Voyager 1 hasn`t used in decades. When they ran into an issue that could have
prevented the 47-year-old spacecraft from communicating with Earth, they had to get creative with ways to keep the aging craft going. As the
farthest spacecraft from Earth, NASA hopes Voyager 1 will keep sending back incredible new data from billions of miles away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUZANNE DODD, VOYAGER PROJECT MANAGER, NASA JET PROPULSION LAB: For aging spacecraft, 46 years now, they`re actually very healthy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have liftoff of the Titan Centaur carrying the first of two Voyager spacecraft to extend man`s senses farther into the solar
system than ever before.
DODD: From a scientific standpoint, what`s critical about Voyager today is the record of data that it`s taking from Earth, right? Out through the
outer heliosheath, across a heliopause, and as far into interstellar space as we can make that data last. Because we can see the changes in the data,
changes in the environment as we travel further and further away.
They were identical at launch. Different things have failed on the spacecraft differently. So if you think of twins, one has lost its hearing
and needs some hearing aids and another one has lost a bit of some sense of touch. But for aging spacecraft, 46 years now, they`re actually very
healthy.
LINDA SPILKER, VOYAGER SCIENTIST, NASA JET PROPULSION LAB: Voyager has instruments remaining on and operating that can measure things like the
magnetic field, the electrons, protons, and the particles that are around the spacecraft. A lot going on in a place where you can`t really see the
particles, but still a lot that we can measure and learn about the environment outside this bubble that`s generated by the solar wind.
DODD: We`ve turned off many instruments, most obviously the instruments that were designed to really look at the planets. Those we turned off after
the Neptune encounter in order to repurpose the memory for the interstellar mission.
SPILKER: When we turned the instrument heaters off and they got much colder, they had to recalibrate. But detectors often like being colder,
that their seal to noise improves. And so in a certain sense, we got a benefit out of turning off the heaters, that the instruments were actually,
in some cases, slightly more sensitive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Plastic pollution is a growing threat to the future of our planet, especially in the ocean where much of the waste ends up harming animals and
possibly even human health. Today on Call to Earth, we hit the water with an organization that`s on an ambitious mission to clean up the world`s
oceans, rivers, and coastlines.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is the mouth of Guatemala`s Motagua River. Topping the list as the country`s longest river, it`s also one of
Central America`s most polluted. A tangible reminder of a much larger global crisis.
ALEX SCHULZE, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, 4OCEAN: It`s estimated that every 60 seconds, a dump truck`s full of plastic is entering the ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Florida native Alex Schultz first came face to face with this issue on a surf trip to Bali with a fellow ocean-loving friend.
SCHULZE: And that`s where we saw a crazy amount of plastic pollution on the coastlines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2017, they launched 4ocean, two American surfers with an ambitious and what some called crazy dream to clean up the ocean.
SCHULZE: Most people say, ah, what`s even the point of even trying? But we believe that each step is a step in the right direction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cleanup started locally, like in the nearby Florida Keys, where Alex and the team worked to protect mangrove estuaries from a
constant threat.
TONY ERNST, DIRECTOR OF CLEANUPS, 4OCEAN: These type of derelict fishing gear and ghost nets pose a lot of dangers to the mangroves. Number one,
it`s going to inhibit the natural growth of the mangrove. And mangroves are important to our coastlines because it`s our first line of defense against
any extreme or increased weather systems that come through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But these days, a primary focus is put on their two international locations, Bali, Indonesia, where the idea was hatched, and
here in Guatemala, where it is the start of rainy season, a time of year when the country`s biggest river can grow much bigger.
KEVIN KUHLOW, COUNTRY MANAGER, GUATEMALA, 4OCEAN: The Rio Motagua is a huge river and in such a little country, the water levels can rise and fluctuate
even at 10 feet overnight, in which we experienced that the last year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a staggering amount of plastic that flows through this river each year. According to 4ocean, more than 18 million kilograms.
To help stem the flow of garbage, they built a containment boom system in 2023 and installed it further upstream. Eventually, the waste gets put into
what they call super sacks, loaded onto a barge.
KUHLOW: This is our second barge that the Quetzalito team has loaded this month.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And brought back to their facility in the seaport town of Puerto Barrios, where workers meticulously sort and weigh everything
they`ve collected. The highest quality of plastic is transformed into bracelets, which are sold to help finance their operations, while other
materials get made into different products or upcycled into building materials. They`ve even been able to turn some of the plastic waste into
energy. While an ocean free of plastic is the ultimate goal, there`s very much a human element to what they`re doing as well.
JOSH LIBERMAN, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, 4OCEAN: It`s extremely important that we engage and empower local communities to do these cleanups. In Java, in
Bali, in Guatemala. A lot of times these are fishermen, fisherwomen, whose livelihoods have been taken away because there`s so much plastic in the
water.
So what we`re doing is we`re giving them a new job that enables them to clean their local community while also making a fair living wage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To date, 4ocean has collected over 16 million kilograms of waste worldwide. A remarkable achievement born from a crazy idea. But a
solution they recognize is only a band aid for now.
SCHULZE: We`re trying to drive as much attention as possible to this issue so that we can drive change within the industries to cut down on the amount
of plastic that`s being consumed and ending up in the ocean in the first place. We say it a lot that cleaning the ocean alone will not solve the
ocean plastic crisis. We have to stop it at the source and turn off the tap.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Today`s story getting a 10 out of 10, turning a train into an underwater reef. There she goes. Look at this out of commission rail car
being dropped into the drink on purpose just off the coast of Ossabaw Island, about 20 miles south of Savannah, Georgia.
These old MARTA railcars are being sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in conjunction with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Reef
Project, which deploys large objects to the bottom of the ocean that over time develop into reef habitats for marine wildlife.
These MARTA railcars once moved thousands of people through Atlanta, but will now help to create a two-mile reef and home for thousands of fish and
all sorts of underwater creatures.
It is shout out time now. Let`s hear it for all of our friends in the volunteer state at Bradley Central High School in Cleveland, Tennessee.
Home of the Bears, rise up.
All right, superstars, we are breezing through this week into the best day of the week. Thank you for your hard work and positive attitudes. I`ll see
you right here tomorrow, Friday on CNN 10.
END
