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"SNL" Parody Imagines A World Without President Trump; Turn-out Down As "Yellow Vests" Demonstrate For Fifth Straight Weekend; An Overlooked Cause Of Global Warming: Beef. Aired 11-12p
Aired December 16, 2018 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:22] BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. With me, Becky Anderson, live from Abu
Dhabi where it is 7:00 on a Sunday evening.
We begin with the growing cloud of legal woes surrounding the U.S. President Donald Trump, nearly two years. Yes, just two years into his
presidency, he is surrounded by investigations on multiple fronts. The latest, targeting his inaugural committee for possible financial abuses.
That's at least, what sources say.
That adds to the staggering list of what else is being probed, including the Trump campaign. The Trump transition team, the Trump Foundation, the
Trump Organization, and of course, the Trump administration.
Also growing, the list of high-profile departures with the interior secretary, now the latest to join those exiting the administration. One
key vacancy has been filled. At least, temporarily, Mick Mulvaney will become acting chief of staff despite what he said about his boss just two
years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICK MULVANEY, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET: Yes, I'm supporting Donald Trump, I'm doing so as enthusiastically as I can, given
the fact that I think he's a terrible human being. But the choice on the other side is just as bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Sarah Westwood, joins me now from the White House. Nothing to see here says the White House, presenting all of this as a win. Is it a
win, that is?
SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, President Trump has certainly tried to present his administration as something that's under
siege from a biased media, from a flawed investigation despite the fact that he may be heading into what could be the most difficult period of his
presidency so far. Facing the challenges of a divided government with Democrats preparing to take over the House.
Facing the prospect of congressional investigations into various areas of his administration given that House Democrats have vowed to exercise
aggressive oversight over his administration. And facing as you mentioned a lot of these staffing shakeups that have left the White House in a state
of limbo, as his chief of staff searched really underscored a lot of the challenges that the president is facing right now.
In that, as people are leaving, hitting the two-year mark of his presidency, he's struggling to find qualified candidates to fill those
positions after his first choice to fill the chief of staff job Nick Ayers bowed out of contention.
Last week, the president was sent scrambling to find someone to take that job and a few of the key names that appeared as leading contenders for the
position quickly pulled themselves out of consideration. Because it is such a difficult job to do under the best of circumstances.
But in the Trump White House, with what's likely to come in the year ahead, it's a nearly impossible job. And now the president has Senate
confirmation battles on the horizon as well.
He'll need to get his new Attorney General confirmed. He'll need to get his new U.N. Ambassador confirmed. And once he picks an interior secretary
to replace outgoing secretary Zinke, he'll then have to get an interior secretary confirmed.
And all the while as the special counsel's Russia investigation is likely culminating in the months ahead. So, the president heading into a really
difficult time in his presidency with so much of his staff up in the air right now. Becky.
ANDERSON: Sarah's in Washington view. Thank you. My next guest is President Trump's new acting chief of staff, has his work cut out for him.
CNN political analyst and Princeton professor, Julian Zelizer, who's a regular guest on this show has penned a piece on cnn.com on the matter.
Writing in part, The Trump White House is in turmoil and under investigation. It is run by a president who refuses to listen to any
adviser and eventually turns on almost everyone around him, and is in conversation with a political party desperately trying to figure out why it
should stay loyal to its leader."
Julian, joining me now from New York. To that point, any real evidence the Republican Party has had enough of the 45th president. A man is the
incoming chief of staff. Well, I won't repeat what he said, but it's clear that he wasn't always a big fan.
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think in public, everything's the same. There is no indication other than a vote on a
policy regarding Saudi Arabia that the administration is going to turn -- are the Republicans are going to turn on the administration.
But privately, there's a lot of evidence Republicans are worried it's not whether they like or hate President Trump as a person, but they saw the
midterms. And the midterms really cost them a lot in terms of the House of Representatives, and state legislatures. And they're very scared about
2020. So, that will be the breaking point for the party if the costs are much higher than the benefits politically.
[10:05:13] ANDERSON: Much talk, Julian, about this incoming new U.S. government with a majority in the House. Taking a much more robust
position with regard oversight of this U.S. president.
A lot of people saying there is a -- an issue here. There is a potential for overkill. Is that something that Democrats need to be very, very
careful about?
ZELIZER: Absolutely. House Democrats, remember in the late 1990s when Republicans investigated President Clinton and moved forward with
impeachment that the public turned against the Republicans, not the president.
They have thought they went too far, they thought they did too much. That said, it doesn't mean investigation will end up that way. The
investigations into Richard Nixon had a very positive effect on the Democrats who conducted the investigation because they were seen as
legitimate, the process was handled the right way, carefully, and with restraint.
So, it's not simply is investigation good or bad, but it's about what kinds of investigations and how they are done by the House.
ANDERSON: Let's somewhat look at the issues, shall we? I think it was Rahm Emanuel and former chief of staff for President Obama, who said and I
quote, or I paraphrase him, at least, "The Democrats had no right given the economic environment at present to take 40 seats in these midterms." And
they did it by campaigning on issues, not by campaigning on a counter- ideology to the president. But really talking about the issues that count, and that is surely what the Democrats need to do going forward.
One of the big issues, of course, is health care. And President Trump praising the federal court ruling that undoes the Affordable Health Care
Act.
Now, he says Congress -- and this will be a new Congress, of course, come January can pass a better bipartisan law. Let's have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe we're going to get really good health care. Exciting things happened over the last 24 hours.
And if everybody's smart, because we have a lot of Democrats here tonight and I'm very happy about that, people don't realize it, I have a lot of
friends who are Democrats. And we have Democrats here. And if the Republicans and the Democrats get together, we are going to end up with
incredible health care, which is the way it should have been from day one. And it's going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: A more inclusive-sounding U.S. president. Do you see that happening, Julian? Democrats and Republicans working together, for
example, on a new healthcare law.
ZELIZER: Well, the only way it could happen is if the Supreme Court -- if this case that just knocked down the healthcare program in principle. If
it went to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court concurs, and all the sudden, this program that affects tens of millions of Americans is gone,
you would have a major, major domestic crisis in this country.
And I don't think Republicans and Democrats would have much choice because voters in red and blue states would be clamoring for some kind of a
response, some kind of relief. And so, that's the only way in which I think it's going to happen.
I don't think the courts are ultimately going to uphold this decision. Most legal experts really don't understand the logic of the decision. But
that's the only way. Otherwise, this bipartisanship is really a myth. We are in for a much more divisive period than what we already had.
ANDERSON: We started the show by talking about a slew of departures from the Trump administration over the past couple of years. Some will say
careless at best. Others will say look, you know, he is not the first U.S. president to lose staff in the first half of his first term because, of
course, this could be a president who does two terms.
But let's have a look at these investigations that are swirling around the U.S. president. Because this is almost unique, if not completely unique.
Perhaps, none more perilous, of course, to his presidency as Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation into Russian election interference
seems to be gathering steam. What comes next in the Mueller investigation?
ZELIZER: Well, just two things is one that the number of high-level officials who have now been convicted and are heading to jail, that is
pretty amazing compared to what we've seen with other presidents. That's not usual. And the number of people who have left is much higher than any
other administration in modern time.
So, we're talking about a pretty different situation than we have seen. We don't know when the Mueller investigation will end. What we are expecting
is some kind of report to come to the Justice Department where Mueller either lays out all the facts that he is discovered or as Ken started in
the 1990s lays out an actual case against the President.
And then, we really don't know will that be public? What will the House of Representatives do with that if there's a lot of damning evidence, but what
we're looking for next is some kind of report, some kind of conclusion, and a mountain of evidence about what this team of investigators has found.
And then there's other investigations going on in different parts of the government, as well, into the whole Trump Empire, political and business
which will run on its own track.
[10:10:50] ANDERSON: It's always a pleasure, sir. Thank you for joining us.
ZELIZER: Thank you.
ANDERSON: That's Julian Zelizer. And I want to add, we talked a lot about the new acting chief of staff's comments on Donald Trump. He has since
said that he didn't really know Donald Trump at the time. Make of that what you will.
The death of a Guatemalan girl taken into custody at the U.S. border. Here's the latest flashpoint for the debates in the U.S. over immigration
policies.
Critics blamed immigration authorities and the Trump administration. Others blame the girl's father for bringing her to the United States
illegally. Well, the family of seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin, isn't blaming anyone, but it is still asking for an investigation.
A family statement said, "Jakelin and her father came to the United States seeking something that thousands have been seeking for years. An escape
from the dangerous situation in their home country."
In Texas, demonstrators gathered at the border crossing to protest U.S. policy. CNN's Ed Lavandera has new details for you from El Paso.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are learning new details from the father of the young Guatemalan girl who died while in Border Patrol custody
shortly after crossing into the United States, a little more than a week ago.
According to a statement from the father's attorneys, the father is grateful for the efforts of first responders including those Border Patrol
agents and medical personnel who treated his daughter. We've also spoken with the consul -- the Guatemalan consul who has spent some time here in El
Paso, speaking extensively with the father.
He tells me that the father told him that he has "no complaints" about the way Border Patrol agents treated him and his daughter shortly after they
were picked up or they turned themselves into Border Patrol agents on the night of December 6th.
And he says that he believes that those Border Patrol agents after his daughter had fallen ill inside the bus that was taking them from the border
point entry, all the way to a border patrol station. Some 95 miles away.
That those agents and the medical personnel did everything they could to save his daughter's life. So, this is the first details that we've heard
from this young girl's father the family says they are devastated. He has been housed in a shelter here that helps migrants and migrate refugees here
in the city of El Paso.
The director of that shelter spoke a little bit about the condition that his father that the father is in, and how he's dealing with this ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBEN GARCIA, DIRECTOR, ANNUNCIATION HOUSE, EL PASO, TEXAS: He's very grateful with what he saw, the response and the attempts that were made to
save his daughter's life. At the hospital, his daughter are rested a couple of times, and they were able to revive her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: The family of the young girl, Jakelin Caal Maquin, also says that they're rather frustrated by the speculation of exactly how the young
girl died. The father in the statement also confirms that and confirms the timeline put out by the Department of Homeland Security that the first
signs that this young girl was in some sort of distress came at 5:00 in the morning, on the morning of December 7th while in the middle of that bus
ride from the border to the Border Patrol station, some 95 miles away.
But the family says that any speculation as to what the exact cause of death should not be discussed. That the official cause of death has not
been ruled on by the medical examiner here in El Paso. And they're urging everybody not to -- not to speculate as to what might have caused the death
of this young girl. Ed Lavandera, CNN, El Paso, Texas.
ANDERSON: All right. But it would be an understatement to say it's been a politically bruising week for President Trump. He is downplaying the
scandals. Instead, on Twitter, complaining about one of his favorite targets, the media.
"Writing a real scandal is the one-sided coverage hour-by-hour of networks like NBC and Democrat spin machines like "Saturday Night Live". It is all
nothing less than unfair news coverage and Democrat commercials."
Well, in the spirit of transparency, we'll show you what, at least, he is speaking to. "Saturday Night Live" parodied the Christmas movie, It's a
Wonderful Life by imagining a world where Donald Trump was never president. That was this weekend, have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[10:15:21] ALEC BALDWIN, CAST MEMBER, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: Michael Cohen, should you be in jail if you flipped on me flip on me?
BEN STILLER, CAST MEMBER, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: What? I would never ever flipped on you, you're my best friend. And since its Christmas, I just
want to say that you taught me everything I know.
BALDWIN: Oh come on, Michael.
STILLER: No, no, no, it's true. Every single thing I've done is because you've directed me to do it.
ROBERT DE NIRO, CAST MEMBER, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: I have something for you.
BALDWIN: Is this a subpoena or your final reports?
DE NIRO: No, report? No, no, it's a picture of my grandson. I miss spending so much more time with him since I don't have to investigate some
idiot for treason.
BALDWIN: Wow this night is put everything into perspective. I've had an epiphany. I guess the world does need me to be president after all.
KENAN THOMPSON, CAST MEMBER, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: Yes. That was not the lesson at all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: And that was "Saturday Night Live". Coming up, one of the promises U.S. President Donald Trump made when he took office was to leave
the Paris climate deal. Despite this, the U.N. summit has just agreed on important new rules to keep that climate deal alive. Is it though enough?
Details ahead.
Also, turnout may be down but grievances remain as yellow vest protesters clash with French police. The details on that are coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. It is 19 minutes past 7:00 in the evening here in the UAE. You
are most welcome protesters in Paris have gathered in the French capital for a fifth straight weekend.
This despite concessions by the president there, Emmanuel Macron, who has promised to increase the minimum wage, and scrap pension taxes. All those
efforts may have had an impact. Authorities say protest numbers are down considerably compared to last week. But as our Ben Wedeman reports some
still turned violent over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[10:19:59] BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Another day of pandemonium in the heart of Paris, it was thought this Saturday's
protest might be smaller after President Emmanuel Macron's latest concessions among them raising the minimum wage, and after the Strasbourg
terrorist attacks.
Yet several thousand yellow vest protesters braved at the bitter cold to return to the Champs Elysees. Jacques, 66 years old is protesting for the
first time in his life.
"Macron," he says, "has not given us a crumb of what we demand. We can't live this way." Those demands include the introduction of Swiss-style
popular referendums, lower taxes, and dignity.
"We want to work to please ourselves, not just to survive," says Sylvan. The day's demonstrations began largely peacefully. By afternoon, however,
the boulevard was thick with tear gas and chants for the president to resign.
Some tearing up the cobblestones for the battle not eager for attention. 8,000 members of the security forces were deployed in Paris, Saturday. Far
outnumbering the demonstrators. Gil, protester, tells the riot police they should switch sides and done yellow vests.
"Today, they're here. But we have to ask where is this going," he says. "Will they hold? For how long? We can see they're tired, they shoot for
nothing." Maybe for nothing, but shoot as they did.
This is act 5, the 5th consecutive week of protests here. And it doesn't appear, even though, the numbers are smaller, that the protests are in any
sense coming to an end. That six very well be a re-run. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, over in the U.K. after a tough week for the British Prime Minister, Theresa May. Now she's also dealing with her predecessor Tony
Blair's calls for a second referendum on leaving the E.U.
Mrs. May blasted Blair's visit to Brussels. Accusing him of insulting the will of the British people and undermining her negotiations. Meanwhile,
Italy's new populist government is in deadlock with the E.U. over its proposed budget. A dispute that's raising fears that Italy could
eventually follow Britain out of the European Union. Atika Shubert, explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A grand entrance from Matteo Salvini, leader of La Lega, the league political party, and
Italy's Interior Minister. Though, the soaring score to this thank you rally six months after Italy's elections suggest bigger ambitions for the
man who has made Italians First, his rallying cry.
Now, this is a show of force by the league and its party leader Matteo Salvini. Remember they only won 17 percent in the national election.
They're actually in a coalition with the five-star movement. However, since then, under Salvini's leadership, they have surged in popularity
recent polls placed them at 34 percent. And this rally is a way of consolidating that power.
Salvini has made a name for himself by attacking the E.U. on immigration and defending Italy's troubled budget. "Italian nationalism," he says,
"will bring Europe back to its 'civilized Christian roots."
In his speech, he said, "Someone has betrayed the European dream. We will give blood and strength to the veins of a new Europe. Founded on respect,
work, economic, and social progress," he said.
After Brexit, Britain's imminent departure from the E.U. could we see an Italic set? Well, not yet, one of Lega's youth leaders told me. The
immediate goal is to gain more seats at European parliament to next year's elections to constrain the E.U. First.
DAVIDE QUADRI, YOUTH MOVEMENT, LEGA: We are very good to see on the society, a very good reading of the society. And then we understand that
the -- there is a new challenge. It's not only local against the state bureaucracy, but is the local against the globalism. It's the local
against globalization, and against the European super-state that they want to build.
SHUBERT: Not far away, the volunteers at Europe, now a tiny grassroots movement are trying to convince Roman residence that Italy needs more
Europe, not less. Alarmed at the precedent set by Brexit every weekend, they set up their stall and give out E.U. flags.
ERIC JOSEF, VOLUNTEER, EUROPE NOW: Its nationalist threats are real. And it's -- you know, for instance, we say. "Oh, is that just rhetoric." It's
not Brexit rhetoric, Brexit will have its real effect.
[10:25:11] SHUBERT: For some of Salvini supporters, leaving the E.U. is no longer unthinkable.
ELEONORA RAFAELI, SUPPORTER OF MATTEO SALVINI: It may be good, it depends. It depends what happened in the future, but maybe it could. I don't know.
I'm not against it, anyway. I'm not against if elected. I'm not against it.
SHUBERT: Yes?
RAFAELI: Yes, I was very happy about Brexit, as well.
SHUBERT: The nationalism that triggered Brexit is similar to the populist way that Salvini is now steering, but while his power is growing, Italy
exit, is not likely, yet. Atika Shubert, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Coming up, what -- want to do your part to reduce greenhouse gases? Well, it may take more than changing what you drive. You may -- we
all may need to change what we eat. That after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, you're watching CNN. This is CONNECT THE WORLD. With me, Becky Anderson. It's now past 7:00 in the UAE. Welcome back.
1.5 degrees. If the earth's temperature rises any more than that, the result could be disastrous, we are told. The global community has been
busy at U.N. talks in Poland. Trying to figure out just how to keep that from happening.
Negotiators celebrated after hammering out a plan to implement the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. Just hours after the end of the U.N. Climate Change
Conference in Poland. The results of the talks, while they are already facing skepticism.
Laurence Tubiana is CEO of the European Climate Foundation, the key architect of the Paris agreement, joining us live. An environmental groups
have criticized this deal, Greenpeace declaring, "Without immediate action, even the strongest rules will not get us anywhere. People expected action
and that is what governments did not deliver."
This is morally unacceptable. Do they have a point? Are these rules really enough to stop temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees, the
climate threshold scientists have set as to avoid catastrophe.
[10:30:40] LAURENCE TUBIANA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, EUROPEAN CLIMATE FOUNDATION: I think we should not confuse the rules and the action. We
need it to have clear rules, and these rules are as precise as it could be -- in a setting so big with 200 countries signing.
Which is very good is we have one framework for everyone and the necessity and the obligation to every two years to submit -- countries will submit
what they have done. And we have on the other side many, many more international capacity to really check if they are lying or not.
On the rest, of course, action doesn't -- this rule doesn't mean the desired action. And that's why we need now to use this to next year, which
are very crucial. Really to have all countries stepping up, revising their action plans on climate. Increasing them, so has having 2020 something
certain is really reasonable, which of course, it is not the case by now. So I think --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: It seems every month that new report comes out with warning. Sorry. It seems every month a new report comes out with warnings, a recent
one from the U.N. saying all of these things are a result of warming, temperatures, melting, polar ice caps, drought, wildfires, disappearing
coral reefs, increasing food prices, deforestation, endangered species, extreme weather.
Why has it been so hard to garner broad public support for action on climate change?
TUBIANA: My analysis on that is because it's all for striking. You see all what is happening already. And, of course, what the science is telling
us that will happen in the future. And, of course, we should -- we are very, very strongly, and it is not the case.
And public in some cases are not really willing to really transform really their way of lives or even if it's not a total transformation, just do
something more and more adequate to that -- to that challenge.
But my analysis is because it has been portrayed too much as a very global issue and not something people relate to. And when people have a sort of a
big fear, they can't address that. So, the anxiety, the fear on that big fear is just like try to ignore it.
So, I think the all effort of keys on understanding is to see that the solution are related to people's life. How's it can be to insulate their
home and better food and more health. And this is a way I think that people will progressively not be afraid of the size of the challenge, which
I think is the reason why people try to -- you know, in a way or deny, or put that on the side, and somebody else to think about that.
ANDERSON: Well, that's fascinating. We've got a report coming up which speaks exactly to your point. This is about people, you, and me. Making a
difference is sort of incrementalism not enough to meet this historic challenge. We all need to be involved.
Laurence, Tubiana is CEO of the European Climate Foundation, the key architect of the Paris agreement. Thank you for joining us. CNN has been
exploring the consequences of our everyday actions.
And CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, traveled to Texas to investigate a major and often overlooked cause of greenhouse gases. Have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What do you eat and what does it cost you? The planet, your children's future. How does
it affect our struggle to limit global warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius?
Texas is the beef capital of America, the world. Meat was once a luxury but now it's at the core of life here. It's a tribal symbol. Meet Bevo
the steer, the mascot. The grill out burger, sausage, steak, ribs. Excess is the point.
So beef and climate change, how are they related?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't ask me that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not today because this is delicious.
[10:34:51] WALSH: Beef and dairy agriculture are a key and often overlooked cause of the greenhouse gases, humankind must rapidly curtail if
we want to live like we do now.
This amphitheater of teenage dreams closed now, but it's for a generation who may see these excesses, these heights of everything being everywhere
and cheap, end in their lifetime.
WALSH: Well, think about it this way, half a pound of beef causes as much greenhouse gas to be emitted as driving 55 of these cars for one mile.
WALSH: If mankind were on this planet for the length of this football game, it would have this much time left of the game to fix it. We drive
out as the Sun rises over beef country, 12 million cattle in Texas, where the extraordinary toll of something so natural as beef on the planet
emerges.
We have to make drastic changes by 2030 to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees. If we don't, beef and dairy will cause 10 percent of greenhouse
gases. If we do meet other 2030 emissions targets, they'll cause much more, 30 percent. Either way, we must act. America's hunger has hit an
unnatural edge here, radically compressing the cattle's space to roam and time to fatten.
The first thing that hits you is just the smell. There's just so many, so tightly packed together. There are 19,000 here, on this feedlot, fed the
corn that gives their flesh the fatty taste that we're used to. And there are nearly 1.5 billion cattle on earth, one for every five people.
The United States and world will likely, this year, eat a record amount of beef. We're going the wrong way. But it is the bottom line, livelihoods
that understandably matter more, here.
Now, when I said global warming, you said, they say. Do you believe in it or do you think this is all just the better?
RAYMOND BUTLER, OWNER, NIXON LIVESTOCK COMMISSION: I don't believe in it.
WALSH: Why not?
BUTLER: I just don't.
WALSH: Why?
BUTLER: I just -- it's hard for me to believe that global warming has something to do with the rainfall.
WALSH: What would it take to change your mind about that?
BUTLER: There would have to be a drastic change in our weather because I don't feel that our drastic change. Yes, we have go through some draughts,
but that's just a normal period. We go through droughts, we have rainfall. We go through winter.
We don't have -- you know, here, the last couple of years, we haven't had much winter. I mean, it doesn't get that cold down here. And in year's
past, we used to go months and months of freezing weather, even down here in East Texas, but --
WALSH: So you're saying you are seeing it get warmer down here already, but you want it to get really bad before you believe the scientists.
BUTLER: Right.
WALSH: Yes?
BUTLER: Yes.
WALSH: Wherever you roam here, the land is inured to the love of beef. Dusk, and the endless acres here seem haunted by the corn that went before.
Nearly 100 million acres of corn are planted, grown, fertilized, processed, and transported around America, the biggest producer in the world.
Feeding cattle corn means clearing carbon-absorbing forests for fields, adding to the animal's emissions from burping, farting, and manure, that's
CO2. But also the more potent Nitrous Oxide in Methane.
It's not just cattle using up land, pigs, sheep, and chickens, all mean animal agriculture takes up as much of the planet, as the United States,
most of Europe, China, and Australia combined or put another way, the land mass of Africa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got the ribs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got pork loins. I got ribs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got brisket, I got sausage.
WALSH: So how do we change, or can we? There is hope and it is both distant and tiny.
Enter cultured meat. It's never seen a cow, doesn't-emit any gas and grows in a dish and it's developing fast.
DR. MARK POST, CHIEF SCIENTIST, MOSA MEAT: In 2013, it had -- this would be about $20,000. I mean, two, three years from now, it's $0.25 cents.
WALSH: What does it taste like?
POST: This tastes like meat.
WALSH: Mosa Meat's Mark Post is getting funding from food giants and even the co-founder of Google. By 2021, he hopes this might be served as
initial alternative and years later, become the mainstream.
The process is natural to a point, giving a single stem cell taken from a cow, all the nutrients it needs to divide again and again, but no
instruction as with the living cow, to stop.
10 billion cells are formed and woven with these fatty cells for flavor, into one burger, or even a steak, one day.
Are you vegan yourself?
POST: I'm not. I should be, but I'm not.
WALSH: You like meat?
POST: Yes, I do.
WALSH: And is any of this --
POST: It's kind of sinful, I think. But its, I do. We really -- we really need to do something about this to avert all of the environmental
effects of meat production, which is going to increase. In 2050, we will need 70 percent more meat, on this planet, than we currently have.
[10:40:06] WALSH: But it can't come soon enough. And however, naturally we make beef, we can't change soon enough either. Consider this, it's
never going to happen, but if we all went vegan tomorrow, we would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent. A huge change to cure part of the
problem. Are we even ready for that or more, to keep existing as we do now? Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Texas.
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ANDERSON: Well, a spokesman of the U.S. meat industry said they have made changes, and are leading the way in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. They said U.S. meat farming proportionately emitted less gas than other countries. And that a drastic reduction in meat consumption
would impact human health.
If you are thinking about cutting back on beef to help the environment, if indeed you eat beef at all, we have some possible alternatives listed on
the web site. You can go to cnn.com for details on that.
Right just time for you tonight on what is a slightly shortened show for your "PARTING SHOTS". Researchers in Egypt have opened an exceptionally
well-preserved to more than 4,000 years old just south of Cairo. Have a look at this.
Ministry of Antiquities, says this tomb once belonged to a royal high priest who lived during the fifth dynasty of Pharaohs. And the walls are
decorated with statues and colorful scenes depicting the priests and his families. Isn't this a remarkable? Other depiction show musical
performances, pottery, and furniture making, and sailing. The tomb also contained five burial shafts which will be the subject of further
excavations.
Amazing. I'm Becky Anderson. That was CONNECT THE WORLD from team here in Abu Dhabi, in London, and those working with us in Atlanta, in the U.S.
Thank you for watching. The news, of course, continues on CNN tonight. "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" is next.
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