Environmental challenges plaguing Earth

Summary

CBS Mornings takes viewers on a global journey to explore severe environmental issues. From the excessive plastic pollution in Texas' waters, the alarming decline in Antarctica's penguin populations, to the relentless sargassum seaweed invasion in Mexico, each problem highlights the urgency of climate change and pollution. In Norfolk, Virginia, sea level rise poses a continual threat, as communities find innovative ways to monitor and protect their neighborhoods from flooding. Meanwhile, the delicate balance between conservation and logging in the Pacific Northwest sparks debate. These stories underscore the pressing need for awareness and action. 🌎

Highlights

• Diane Wilson's activism against Formosa Plastics led to a record $50 million settlement addressing the pollution issue. 💪
• Chinstrap penguin populations in Antarctica have seen dramatic declines, with some colonies reducing by 75%. 😢
• Sargassum seaweed invasion in the Yucatan Peninsula is linked to pollution and climate factors, causing tourism and health impacts. 🏖️
• Residents in Norfolk are experiencing frequent sunny-day flooding, and community projects are harnessing citizen science to monitor tides. 🏄‍♂️
• Logging practices in the Pacific Northwest remain controversial, with debate over the balance between economic and environmental needs. 🌳

Key Takeaways

• Plastic pollution from nurdles is a serious issue affecting ecosystems globally. 😟
• Antarctic penguin populations are declining due to climate change impacts on their habitat. 🐧
• Sargassum seaweed is washing up on beaches, posing ecological and economic challenges. 🏝️
• Sea level rise is causing regular flooding in Norfolk, Virginia, impacting residents directly. 🌊
• The debate over forest management practices in the Pacific Northwest highlights conservation challenges. 🌲

Overview

The segment starts in Texas, where Diane Wilson, a former fisherwoman turned environmental activist, challenges the plastics industry. Her battle against Formosa Plastics for releasing billions of nurdles into the ocean highlights a significant global pollution issue. The settlement reached is a victory, but the environmental and legal battles continue. 😤

The program then shifts to Antarctica, where climate change threatens the survival of chinstrap penguins. Scientists, working with Greenpeace, are mapping population declines and exploring impacts on food sources like krill. The warming trends in one of Earth's coldest regions reflect broader environmental changes. 🐧

In Mexico, the influx of sargassum seaweed onto beaches is creating ecological and health challenges. The problem, exacerbated by runoff pollution and climate change, affects tourism and the livelihoods tied to these beaches. Efforts to convert this issue into an opportunity include innovative uses like building materials. 🏝️

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Introduction and Plastic Pollution The chapter begins with a focus on environmental issues, specifically plastic pollution, as presented by Jeff Glor, co-host of CBS This Morning Saturday. The discussion starts by highlighting the global journey, from Antarctica to the UK, to explore the environmental problems the world faces today. The chapter introduces the issue of plastic pollution, focusing on trillions of small plastic pellets called nurdles, which have been leaking from petrochemical plants into waterways and oceans in the United States for decades.
• 03:00 - 06:00: Diane Wilson's Activism Diane Wilson is a fisherwoman and environmental activist based in Texas.
• 06:00 - 09:00: Nurdles and Environmental Impact The chapter discusses the environmental impact of plastic pellets, often referred to as nurdles, entering water bodies. It highlights the massive scale of the problem, noting that 79 billion pellets were collected in two years. Diane Wilson, a former shrimp boat captain and fourth-generation fisherwoman, is now an environmental activist combating a major plastics industry in an effort to mitigate the environmental issues caused by these polyethylene pellets in the bay.
• 09:00 - 16:00: Penguin Research in Antarctica The chapter titled 'Penguin Research in Antarctica' discusses an individual's unexpected journey from being a fisherwoman to becoming an environmental activist. Despite her introverted nature, she was compelled to act when a Taiwanese conglomerate, Formosa Plastics, which established a factory in 1983, significantly expanded its footprint.
• 16:00 - 24:00: Sargassum Seaweed Issue The chapter discusses the Sargassum seaweed issue, focusing on the environmental impact of plastic pollution. In Port Lavaca, Texas, a significant amount of polyethylene plastic pellets, essential in manufacturing everyday items like bottles, bags, clothing, and electronics, are produced. However, billions of these pellets, also known as nurdles, are lost and end up in waterways and eventually the ocean, often washing back onto beaches, contributing to pollution. The narrative emphasizes the environmental challenge posed by this pollution and its link to larger ecological issues such as the Sargassum seaweed problem.
• 24:00 - 32:00: Rising Sea Levels in Norfolk This chapter introduces Jace Tunnel, founder of Nerdl Patrol, an organization that tracks plastic pellet spills impacting marine environments. Despite its whimsical name, 'Nerdl Patrol' addresses a significant issue—plastic pollution. The chapter notes the broad impact of these pellets, which have been ingested by over 200 species, posing environmental and ecological concerns. It highlights the organization's efforts and the gravity of the problem, drawing attention to the often-overlooked issue of plastic pellets in oceans.
• 32:00 - 43:00: Logging and Forest Management in Oregon The chapter discusses environmental concerns related to logging and forest management in Oregon, focusing on the issue of plastic pellets called 'nerdles.' These pellets are known to absorb harmful chemicals such as PCBs, PAHs, and DDTs from the environment, contributing to pollution in beaches and waterways. It is estimated that about 250,000 tons of these pellets enter the ocean annually, and their prolonged exposure to sunlight can indicate how long they have been present in the environment. This issue has been developing over several decades in North America.
• 43:00 - 44:30: Conclusion and CBS Information The chapter focuses on environmental pollution in the Gulf region, highlighting the severe problem of plastic pellet pollution spanning from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to the Florida Keys. It introduces Diane Wilson, who meticulously collected and documented plastic pellets in the waterways she used to fish. Her extensive efforts, involving over 30 plastic tubs of evidence, led to a significant legal settlement. Formosa Plastics agreed to a record-breaking settlement amounting to 50 million dollars, aimed at supporting local fishermen affected by the pollution.

Environmental challenges plaguing Earth Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] i'm jeff glor co-host of cbs this morning saturday from antarctica to the uk we're taking a journey across the globe to highlight some of the environmental issues our world is facing we begin stateside where trillions of small plastic pellets known as nurdles have been escaping from petrochemical plants into waterways and oceans for decades i spoke with a fourth generation
• 00:30 - 01:00 fisherwoman an environmental activist in texas who fought one of the largest plastic manufacturers in the world while there was a monumental settlement the problem is not shrinking picking up a shovel full of pellets and this is cox's creek take a trip up cox creek off the gulf of mexico and it's impossible to miss this gigantic petrol chemical factory that's a massive plant what's sometimes harder
• 01:00 - 01:30 to see is what's finding its way out of it countless plastic pellets sometimes called neurals how many pellets are going into the water on a daily basis they managed to scoop up 79 billion in two years diane wilson is a fourth generation fisherwoman who used to captain a shrimp boat this is the polyethylene powder that's all over the bay she is now an environmental activist fighting one of the largest plastics
• 01:30 - 02:00 manufacturers in the world this was never the plan to go from a fisherwoman to an environmental activist no people don't believe it but i am normally very quiet i'm an introvert so why this because it fell flat in my lap the taiwanese conglomerate formosa plastics first opened this factory in 1983. it now covers 2500 acres of land near
• 02:00 - 02:30 port lavaca texas trillions of polyethylene plastic pellets like these are made here the first step in making products that we use every day from plastic bottles to bags clothing and electronics but billions of plastic pellets are also lost and find their way into waterways and eventually oceans many washed back up onto the beach so this is thousands and thousands of nerdles from the most recent high tide line
• 02:30 - 03:00 jace tunnel is the founder of the nerdl patrol which began tracking pellets after a massive spill near corpus christi it is the weirdest name you've ever heard but it's a big problem right i think that's what draws a lot of people to it is they think nerdl i've never heard of a nerdle you know what is that and then you get into talking about well it's plastic and it shouldn't be in the environment we know for a fact that there's a laundry list of over 200 species that are eating these pellets and then there's also a concern about
• 03:00 - 03:30 what these pellets once they're in the environment they're absorbing pcbs pahs ddts you know all those acronyms we hear about harmful chemicals these absorb those chemicals accumulating on our beaches in our waterways as we speak exactly the hot spot over here it's estimated as much as 250 000 tons of nerdles enter the ocean each year we can tell based on the colors the period of time they've been out in the sun this has been happening over many decades in north america the
• 03:30 - 04:00 problem is worst in the gulf this is really painting as a picture of where the highest concentrations are all the way from mexico's yucatan peninsula to the florida keys diane wilson began collecting pellets on the waterways she used to fish meticulously documenting where and when they were found and now her work 30 plastic tubs filled with evidence has led to a record-breaking settlement formosa plastics agreed to pay 50 million dollars to help local fishermen
• 04:00 - 04:30 and environmental cleanup projects in the area when you first heard that formosa was going to settle what did you think i was just kind of i was in kind of state of shock about it one million of that 50 million settlement will go to fund tunnels nerdl patrol this isn't just one company that is the bad actor here it's probably industry-wide based on the data that we've accumulated through myrtle patrol do you think the company or companies who are responsible for doing this are committed to fixing it i don't think
• 04:30 - 05:00 that these companies want their pellets out into the environment i i think that it is cheaper to leave the product on the ground after it's spilled than it is to clean it up they don't want to spend the money to clean it up right how do you make them do that regulations both tunnel and diane wilson say the formosa settlement is not the end of their fight in fact just the opposites every accessible point in the gulf of mexico has been sampled tunnel gets new reports of pellets
• 05:00 - 05:30 washing ashore every day there are currently 46 companies in texas alone manufacturing plastics and tunnels map showing the size of the problem is only growing do you feel like people are getting the message about this well when i give presentations one of the key points that i make is you know why are we doing all this so i have a picture of my kids holding up a bottle of plastic pellets and i tell people this is for the next generation you know they shouldn't have to deal
• 05:30 - 06:00 with this they should be picking up seashells not picking up plastic pellets off the beach now we take you to antarctica where scientists say man-made climate change is threatening the survival of penguins our correspondent roxanna saberi traveled three days by ship from argentina to elephant island for a first-hand look antarctica is one of the most remote places on the planet but climate change is hitting it hard we're here with a group of scientists who want to know how the warming weather is
• 06:00 - 06:30 affecting this particular species of penguin the chin strap elephant island is so far flung few people have set foot on these rocky shores it took us three days of sailing with environmental activists from greenpeace crashing through waves and climbing across rubber rafts to join scientists counting penguins why count penguins they come back to the same place to nest
• 06:30 - 07:00 every year which means we can really keep tabs on their population so by observing penguins we can get an idea of the health of this this whole area alex borowitz observes nesting areas like this where one parent babysits while another travels down a penguin highway to fish for krill then hikes back up to feed its chick the shrimp like food these scientists from stony brook and northeastern universities count each
• 07:00 - 07:30 chaotic colony on foot with mechanical clickers and scan them from above with high-tech drones all to see if this population of chinstrap penguins is dwindling like elsewhere in the region the researchers are traveling on greenpeace ships from island to island across the antarctic peninsula they're comparing different penguin populations to see how they're adapting to climate change here it may not look like it but this is one of the fastest warming areas
• 07:30 - 08:00 on earth one nearby island is actually called penguin island over the past four decades its chinstrap population has plunged by 75 percent the numbers have dropped across the region as temperatures have soared by more than five degrees over 50 years that's about five times the global average so when we see climate change impacting things down here
• 08:00 - 08:30 glacial melt warming oceans more acidic oceans penguins do really interact with with all of those things so do krill chinstrap's favorite food they depend on sea ice to survive sea ice is really what brings all of the ocean life here together so with less sea ice there's less krill so less food for the chinstrap penguins that's the idea after days of counting chin straps on
• 08:30 - 09:00 elephant island 21 22-22 the scientists invited us onto their ship 32 across watch them crunch numbers from one nesting site okay so they've lost already 50 percent since the early teens wow that's amazing that fits the pattern they're seeing on the island so far a decline of around 150 000 chin straps since the last major survey 50 years ago another sign the researchers say this penguin population
• 09:00 - 09:30 is collapsing across the region it's very dramatic to have a wildlife population decline by 50 percent an unexploited wildlife population they're not haunted and you think climate change is the main reason behind it i think climate change is driving almost all of the processes down here now in a way that they've never experienced before penguins are a lot like people they need food in a good environment to thrive these researchers say if the world continues to warm these birds can show us how other species even human beings
• 09:30 - 10:00 will be affected by climate change last year we traveled to the yucatan peninsula in mexico where scientists are trying to figure out why massive waves of seaweed are washing up on beaches researchers say it's proving to be an ecological and economical problem with no end in sight it is the biggest algae bloom in the world massive waves of seaweed called sargassum washing up on shore
• 10:00 - 10:30 day after day this beach was just clean today yes a couple of hours and the seaweed will be on the beach again jose escalante has owned a small hotel in tulum mexico for eight years every day workers here and up and down the yucatan peninsula remove tons and tons of decomposing sargassum from beaches every night it comes back rosa rodriguez martinez from mexico's
• 10:30 - 11:00 national university is trying to figure out why we are getting sargassum almost from march to october so basically more than half of the year we receive maximum amounts whereas before it was how long before maybe two or three weeks during the summer that's a huge difference yes it's impressive impressive is one word for it a problem big problem is another it's a problem economical problem ecological and probably human
• 11:00 - 11:30 health problem also since 2011 the amount of sargassum in the atlantic has increased dramatically it currently forms a 5 000 mile mass from africa to the caribbean it is estimated to weigh 22 million tons why is it so bad right now i think it's because we have polluted the sea too much so now we have a lot of nutrients and the algae are taking advantage of it fertilizer runoff from brazil increased by deforestation is believed to be the
• 11:30 - 12:00 largest fuel source for the sargassum that combined with warming ocean water and changing ocean currents has put the yucatan squarely in the crosshairs it has gotten so bad the mexican navy has just been put in charge of dealing with this problem they took us up on a reconnaissance mission to locate the largest sargassum waves we are fully aware that we're only addressing the effects of sargassum rear admiral enrique flores morado told us
• 12:00 - 12:30 the navy will build new sargassum busting ships to reel in as much as they can but that does not solve any problem in reality the causes have to be addressed but given the lack of research we're now implementing immediate actions right now many towns and resort owners are using floating barriers to corral and collect sargassum including in puerto morelos half an hour south of cancun we can say for sure that we are the first destination in the whole
• 12:30 - 13:00 mexican caribbean with already a control above this organization there's a lot of it though yeah yeah because this area we are it doesn't look controlled no no hector tamayo is in charge of tourism here how many trucks go in and out each day more than 50. more than 50 trucks just of sargassum every day carted in and out of here and then we just start mixing that with the sargasso some are developing novel ways to use
• 13:00 - 13:30 sargassum including omar vasquez who's building homes with it they're better than the other brakes the sargassum is mixed with clay and compost by foot and then compressed into bricks i mean it's ironic because i grew up without a house without a home we crossed the border to the states when i was eight years old and then came back i came back to live my mexican dream your mexican dream yes it does have not even a gram of cement everything is organic even though vasquez says his
• 13:30 - 14:00 homes are 100 organic there may be an issue with what accumulates in the sargassum at sea rosa rodriguez's latest research shows sargassum is high in heavy metals like lead and arsenic and disposal is a major issue this is one of the places we found where the sargassum is taken it's a dump site miles into the jungle far away from the ocean it's unclear if the sargassum left here seeps into the ground goes up into the
• 14:00 - 14:30 air or just sits here forever sargassum is either being dumped inland or buried under the beach which is illegal it is a crisis stretching across the caribbean with no end in sight for folks watching this who may not be familiar with this problem or what's happening here what do you say it's something that is happening to the world not not just to the region this is just a consequence of the entire planet being you know in trouble
• 14:30 - 15:00 researchers say an estimated 150 million people live on land that will be below the high tide line 30 years from now brook silva braga takes us to norfolk virginia where citizens are coming together with a unique effort to protect their community from rising seas the water comes up from cali bay into the street you see it just flowing right now it's flowing right into your yard and as the tide rose the water kept creeping toward john blumming's house
• 15:00 - 15:30 which now sits on stilts after i bought the house i realized it was a common occurrence after you bought that after i bought the house uh how much of a financial surprise was that uh about uh 90 000 to lift it up low-lying norfolk has always faced flooding from hurricanes like isabel back in 2003 but what we saw in john's front yard is something different when the tide comes up we get a little flooding seawater brought to
• 15:30 - 16:00 land by nothing more than a high tide it could be a sunny day like today sharon bean lives by the water here too she told us the house can still get flood insurance they just had to cut power to the outlets on the ground floor i think it's worse in the fall then she showed us videos of kayakers paddling down her street and her dog han solo floating in space above the same wall where we were sitting and in a year that happens how many times oh i would
• 16:00 - 16:30 say maybe 26 26 times yes it's up here all the time it's a lot the u.s government says globally the sea level has risen more than three inches in just the last 25 years and because of things like erosion and ocean currents some places have faced more rise than others norfolk has evidence of that thanks to a title gauge dating back to 1927. since sewell's point gauge in the city
• 16:30 - 17:00 of norfolk was installed there near the naval base it's raised by nearly a foot and a half derrick loftus a researcher from the virginia institute of marine science says that foot and a half of change comes not just from the water rising but also because over development of norfolk's marshy soil has been sinking the land we think this will get worse so we don't really know by the year 2050 i mean we're kind of expecting an increase of somewhere between 0.7 to 1 foot of water another foot higher yeah
• 17:00 - 17:30 you say that so calmly yeah we've been researching it for years so i feel like i've known this for a while but but resignation in norfolk may be as common as water in the streets you can see it's a continuation of the sidewalk at least that's how it felt to dave mayfield three years ago as he wrapped up a career as an environmental journalist for the local paper i was feeling a bit depressed we're seeing flooding more and more people are being inconvenienced and yet nothing happens yeah nothing happens i wanted to do something that
• 17:30 - 18:00 might make a difference you know at least in helping engage people so mayfield got an idea he knew each fall the alignment of the moon earth and sun caused what's known as a king tide in otherwise normal high tide that's especially strong and more importantly predictable we would get as many people as possible out on one day to measure an unusually high tide have their data crowdsourced into a model improving flood forecasting he partnered with a
• 18:00 - 18:30 group that had developed a tide mapping app and dubbed the event catch the king to his surprise more than 700 people turned out we've got high tide in about 30 minutes guinness certified it as the world's largest ever environmental survey i think what i underestimated was the innate desire of people to be part of something larger that might result in something good there have now been three annual catch
• 18:30 - 19:00 the king events and the idea has inundated other parts of the calendar if the tie charts call for flooding in coastal virginia you'll probably find a mapper at the high water mark so what we do is we walk along the water line at high tide and about every five feet we press a button and that records our exact location on the gps and here's what i've done today that's the outline of the water yes every place that i have stopped and and
• 19:00 - 19:30 pushed the app mappers like bill weary have now pushed the app tens of thousands of times yeah i'm going to take a look at the data that's coming in there their readings end up in the hands of researchers like derek loftis it tells us whether our model is right or wrong which scientists live and die by also what's particularly useful is it helps us find areas for potential improvement for example most the flooding you'll see today is due to storm drainage systems and as mayfield hoped more than anything it's given ordinary people a way to do something
• 19:30 - 20:00 about a problem no one person can do much about although we can't stop the tides eventually some sort of uh preventative action is going to be well it is needed and the more and more data that scientists have i think the better we'll be able to prevent the tide from causing harm to the neighborhood may it all come out of what we're doing the unusually high tide that we might see on our annual project day for catch the king
• 20:00 - 20:30 is going to be a routine high tide not many decades from now so we provide i think a window into the future more than 25 years ago the northwest forest plan was put in place to protect more than 24 million acres of forest in the pacific northwest but the debate over who's in charge of america's ancient forests is under scrutiny november two one two two sierra runway two clear takeoff our trip began in a
• 20:30 - 21:00 small plane maybe the best way to see what's happening in western oregon you can see where there's a few trees left here and there that's required by oregon law our guide chandra laguie of the group oregon wild we're actually really in the heart of some serious logging right now the views from overhead can be jarring mountains teeming with towering trees followed by winding cutouts of nothing but stumps
• 21:00 - 21:30 this is what modern day clear cutting looks like giant machines handle massive trees like matchsticks this land has never been lost no it hasn't this is a place where none of that has happened a so-called old growth forest we only have about 15 percent of the forest that once screwed trees like this that are left areas like this were protected by the northwest forest plan which was signed
• 21:30 - 22:00 in 1994 and impacted more than 24 million acres of federal land in oregon california and washington was the northwest forest plan a success or failure from an environmental perspective it's a success but we're only 25 years in it's kind of a long term experiment logging on federal lands has dropped by as much as 90 percent but on state-owned and private land time lapse of satellite images over northwest oregon give a sense of just
• 22:00 - 22:30 how common clear cutting still is lague says it has a lasting impact forests capture carbon helping to cool the earth and slow climate change logging companies are required by law to replant new trees after clear cuts but it can take a decade or more before a young forest absorbs as much carbon as an old one not every company like yours is willing to talk about their story or take us to places like this why why do you do that i think we as an industry have not done a very good job
• 22:30 - 23:00 historically of telling our story todd payne is the ceo of seneca jones a timber giant in western oregon has the northwest forest plan been a success or failure in your estimation honestly speaking i think it was a failure payne believes the northwest forest plan is choking growth and the hands-off approach environmentalists advocate is leading to more wildfires because forests have been neglected he took us to one of seneca's expansive
• 23:00 - 23:30 tree farms an hour and a half outside eugene where they operate on 50-year cycles this area next to us was clear-cut about 55 years ago for the first time and then clear-cut again three or four years ago three years ago correct why clear-cut we're mimicking what mother nature's done for for billions of years but this looks traumatic for a lot of people when they see something like this um i actually look at it quite different i think it's it's somewhat aesthetically pleasing you think that looks aesthetically pleasing i do maybe it's uh somewhat biased but
• 23:30 - 24:00 i look at this and and i i see sustainability rejuvenation timber companies have also traditionally used a practice called aerial spraying chemicals dropped via helicopter to kill any vegetation other than trees used for lumber a lot of people are concerned about the spring well i think people are just not informed well on that subject we use it once or twice in a 50-year cycle it ultimately flows somewhere though no it
• 24:00 - 24:30 doesn't a lot of times this stuff doesn't flow off the landscape the product will adhere to the vegetation that it's targeted for and stay there nancy webster who lives up the coast in rockaway beach oregon is worried those chemicals seep into her drinking water the fight between environmentalists and logging companies is not new but this seems like the newest chapter right this affects the fish the wildlife and we are up against large corporations
• 24:30 - 25:00 and to even counter it you know you need science and legal help and it's it's really difficult for small communities today the situation may be reaching a critical point because the federal government wants to suspend a public review process which logging companies say needlessly ties them up in court should there be a public review process when logging takes place on public lands well we have professionals in place in in our federal agencies that are managing these lands and i think we need to let them do that work in other words
• 25:00 - 25:30 he wants groups like oregon wild to stay away the argument is from them that if they're not able to log people can't build homes yeah well no one's talking about shutting down logging we're talking about what i feel are common sense changes that do less damage to the environment that we all share ligue wants to see forests thin not clear-cut a far less invasive approach though she acknowledges it is more expensive and would produce less lumber
• 25:30 - 26:00 i think people do need to come to grips with the fact that the wood that they use to build houses or anything else comes from clear-cutting forests in places like oregon so what you're saying is there's a price to pay for a better world i think in order to make amends in some way that there is a price to pay for that and i think it's worth it you can find news and more stories like this on cbs this morning from 7 to 9 a.m and you can find news 24 7 right here on
• 26:00 - 26:30 cbsn featuring live anchored coverage available for free across all platforms thanks for joining us take care of each other