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Connect the World
SK: NK has Launched Three more Short-Range Ballistic Missiles; Kremlin-Backed Official in Kherson: "Most Likely" Russian Troops will Leave for East Bank of Dnipro River; Netanyahu Poised to Lead Israel's most Right-Wing Government ever; Bank of England Unveils Biggest Rate Hike in Three Decades; School Programs Teaching Students to protect our water. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired November 03, 2022 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well, it is 7 pm; here in Abu Dhabi 3 pm in London, I'm Becky Anderson. Hello and welcome to "Connect the
World". And we start with a developing story out of Pakistan where Former Prime Minister Imran Khan was shot earlier in a political rally.
A spokesman says he was hit in the foot during what they described as an assassination attempt. Well, Khan is being treated in Lahore. Several other
people were also shot and we are told that one of them has died. Police say they now have a suspect in custody.
Meantime, Pro-Khan Protests have broken out across Pakistan. He's been rallying in a bid to return to power after losing a parliamentary vote no
confidence in April. And we get you to Sophia Saifi who is in Islamabad, in Pakistan. Firstly, what do we know about Khan at this point? And is there
any further information on the shooter?
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Becky, we know about Khan. I've just spoken to - Chaudry who is the close aide of Imran Khan. He was down the container
with him. He's just told me that Imran Khan is all right, he will be OK. He is undergoing a surgery at the moment in the City of Lahore.
He was taken a street by road by car to Lahore from - District. It took them about two hours and 15 minutes to get there. He obviously sounded very
concerned. We don't know much more about the suspect. We know from the Minister of Information by - that the suspect is currently in jail that an
investigation is undergoing.
But there's not much more that's been shared regarding this investigation and not much more that's been shared about the motive behind this shooting
Becky.
ANDERSON: Just explain what it is that that Imran Khan has been doing of late? This is what they describe as the long march isn't it? Just describe
the atmosphere within which this "Attempted Assassination" happened Sophia?
SAIFI: Becky, there has been continuous polarization after this vote of no confidence - back to happened way back in April. Khan has been holding
rallies across the country. He's been calling for early elections. He started off by saying that it's a U.S. conspiracy that led to us outstand
right after the war in Ukraine started when he visited Russia.
Ever since then he's been more blatantly criticizing the powerful military in this country. And just take this past week for example, there was a high
level journalist and extremely popular journalist was critical of the establishment and the government who had left the country his associate
says that he had to flee.
He was shot dead in Kenya under mysterious circumstances. We then had the Director of the PSI Pakistan's Intelligence Agency, which who has never
even been photographed, come out and do this bombastic press conference less than a week ago speaking out against Imran Khan and dispelling
according to him any theories behind what Khan has said that it was the army and the U.S. that was behind his ousting?
Khan had started this long march exactly a week ago. He said he's going to take all of the supporters thousands of them and they are thousands of
supporters of Imran Khan. And they've been increasing in number at the rallies he's been holding for months in the lead up to what's just
happened. He wanted early elections. I spoke to him at a press conference just a couple of days ago when he said he wanted all of this to be peaceful
but he did say that he feared for his life Becky.
ANDERSON: Imran Khan, currently undergoing surgery in Lahore. And of course, these images that we've seen today will I'm sure remind some people
of the situation some 15 years ago in December, Benazir Bhutto assassinated at a political rally 27th of December 2007 in Rawalpindi, of course. As you
get more Sophia we'll get back to you thank you very much indeed!
Well, to the fresh round of missiles in deepening tensions on the Korean peninsula now. Seoul claiming a short time ago that North Korea has
launched three more short range ballistic missiles into the waters of its East Coast earlier Thursday, the Pyongyang regime reportedly launched an
intercontinental ballistic missile once seen here in March Thursday's - although the latest test is said to be a failure.
[11:05:00]
ANDERSON: The launches came shortly after Kim Jong-Un's regime condemned American and South Korean joint military drills. Now Washington and Seoul
have responded by extending those drills indefinitely. CNN's Will Ripley has the very latest for you from Seoul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTPAE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For the second time this year, a rare North Korean missile alert in Japan triggered
by a presumed long range ballistic missile fired from Pyongyang disappearing from radar just before reaching Japanese airspace. One of
several missiles test fired by North Korea Thursday morning local time, possibly to demonstrate its tactical nuclear strike capability against
South Korea, Japan and Guam.
In South Korea, where North Korean nuclear threats often feel like background noise, this startling sound the first air raid sirens in six
years, urging - residents to seek shelter in underground bunkers.
A North Korean missile came dangerously close to the island, crossing the Northern Limit Line, a de facto maritime buffer zone between the North and
the South. Pyongyang never officially recognized that line. Until Wednesday they never fired a missile over it either.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol holding to his hawkish stance on North Korea, calling the launch an effective territorial the missile actually
fell just shy of the South's territorial waters. Infuriated North Korea this week forging ahead with Operation Vigilant Storm, South Korea's
largest combined military air drills with the U.S. five days of war games 240 aircraft thousands of service members from both countries Pyongyang's
Foreign Ministry promising powerful follow up measures.
For the Korean Peninsula a day of unnerving firsts the first time North Korea launched at least 23 missiles in a single day, skyrocketing tensions
to levels unseen and half a decade. The first time South Korea and the U.S. responded by firing surface to air missiles near the North's territorial
waters.
CNN counts 30 North Korean missile launch events this year, including this week's unprecedented barrage. Japan strongly condemning the latest
launches, calling the blitz utterly unacceptable violating UN Security Council resolutions at an unprecedentedly high frequency.
Tokyo's solemn protests via diplomatic channels in Beijing apparently falling on deaf ears, China and Russia have veto power at the UN Security
Council, both in no mood to work with the West on punishing Pyongyang as they bolster their authoritarian alliance. Raising fears North Korea's
seven underground nuclear tests could be next, Will Ripley, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Germany at this hour and at the top of their agenda how to provide further support to Kyiv as Russia
continues attacking energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine?
Well, this comes amid mixed messages in the country's southern region, social media video from this Kherson City shows that the Russian flag is no
longer flying at the main administration building there. And a Kremlin backed official says Russian troops will most likely leave for the East
Bank of the Dnipro River, but a local authority told CNN he hasn't seen any mass withdrawal of Moscow's forces.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins me now live from Kyiv. And let's just explain why it is that what is going on in Kherson and it is it seems slightly
confused? But what is going on that is so significant to the kind of wider Russian assault on Ukraine?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Becky, for weeks now, we've been expecting that Kherson is really the next chapter rather, in Ukraine's
counter offensive. Ukrainian troops there have been fortifying their positions gearing up for a big battle.
You know, we had reporters on the front lines just a few days ago in both sides just a few kilometers away. Now we're hearing these reports of
Russian backed official from Kherson on Russian state media saying that potentially most likely Russian troops withdraw from the City of Kherson.
Now again take this with a grain of salt there is no indication that there are troop movements that's according to Ukrainian officials.
[11:10:00]
ABDELAZIZ: But we also saw social media video of the main administrative building in Kherson where the Russian flag appears to be taken down. So
signs there, but I'm going to tell you this, Becky, straight out, President Putin will not back down from Kherson easily.
And I'll tell you why? If you look, take a look at one of those maps Kherson is an absolutely critical bridge that connects Crimea, Russian
occupied Crimea on the Black Sea, of course, to those other Russian occupied areas. Mariupol, the Donbas all the way up to the Russian border
so very strategic corridor there.
And then there's the symbolic part of this, of course, Becky, Kherson was the only administrative capital that Russian forces were able to take by
force. They declared that victory seven days into Russia's invasion, a major PR push. So absolutely, President Putin is not going to back down
easily but all eyes on that battle gearing up there in Kherson.
ANDERSON: Yes, absolutely. Thank you Salma! Just ahead, the Bank of England making history and offering an ominous warning, what its saying and why
it's important is coming up? And we'll bring you an inspiring look at the efforts to reverse the damage that we have done to our oceans, and our
waterways. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Final results of Israel's election could be announced anytime now. And with nearly all the votes counted, it does seem clear that Former
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have enough support to form a coalition government.
His Likud Party boosted by a block of far right ultra-nationalists, including Jewish Power Party Leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, who wants to be Public
Security Minister, now, we just fill you in here. He's been convicted of inciting racism against Arabs and supporting a terrorist organization.
Hadas Gold back with us this hour from Jerusalem and just tell us more about these allies of Netanyahu who will effectively help him design a
government going forward?
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Becky, we're waiting for the final fighter results and it does seem as though Benjamin Netanyahu and his bloc
of allies will have somewhere around 64 seats once the less than that we thought originally of 65 seats, but still much of that surge, if not from
Benjamin Netanyahu's own Likud Party but from the new support for this far right block part of whom is led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, as you mentioned.
And this has been an astonishing rise for these far right figures. But when you look about what's happened in the past years, year and a half since
elections were tip took place in 2021?
[11:15:00]
GOLD: You have the war with the Hamas militants in Gaza. You have the riots there were clashes in mixed Arab and Jewish cities in Israel. You have the
increased violence we've seen across the West Bank and in Israel leading to the deadliest year for both Israelis and Palestinians since 2015.
All of those things put together as well as the fracturing of the left has in part led to the rise of this far right group led by one of their leaders
Itamar Ben Gvir, who just last year Benjamin Netanyahu himself was dismissing as a possible minister.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOLD (voice over): Until recently, this man Itamar Ben Gvir was considered a fringe far right activist settler lawyer, his signature white keeper
almost always askew on his head. Now a leader of the projected third largest bloc in the Israeli parliament, that to be a key component of
Benjamin Netanyahu's now likely come back as prime minister.
The 46 year old has been a provocateur since his youth. Once a supporter of the Jewish nationalist - party deemed a foreign terrorist organization by
the United States and ultimately outlawed by Israel.
He was once filmed holding a hood emblem he claimed was from the car, a former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, an architect of the Israeli
Palestinian peace process vowing, we got to his car and we'll get to him too.
A Jewish extremist assassinated Rabin three weeks later. Exempted from the military draft he says he was denied for his political views. Ben Gvir
became a lawyer often representing Jewish extremist settlers and famously hung a portrait in his home of Baruch Goldstein, an Israeli doctor who
massacred 29 Palestinians in a mosque in the West Bank in 1994 before being killed himself.
Ben Gvir later tweeted he would take the portrait down. In 2007 he told CNN, the holiest most contested site in Jerusalem, third holiest site in
Islam is for the Jews only.
ITAMAR BEN GVIR, JEWISH POWER PARTY LEADER: Temple Mount is for - for the Jewish people and not for the Islamic people. They have Mecca, Medina,
where the temple mounts.
GOLD (voice over): That same year he was convicted for inciting anti-Arab racism and supporting terrorism. In 2020 his sights turned to politics,
winning a seat in the Knesset in 2021 on a platform that included annexing the West Bank, relaxing the Israeli military open fire policy against
Palestinian rioters and pushed for the death penalty for terrorists.
He spent his time in parliament attracting the spotlight from stunts like pulling a gun during clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in East
Jerusalem, telling police to shoot Arabs who throw stones to being forcibly removed from the floor of the Israeli parliament for calling a fellow
member, the leader of the Arab movement party who's also an Israeli citizen, a terrorist saying he didn't belong in Israel.
Just last year, Netanyahu himself she missed the idea of Ben Gvir leaving a government ministry, saying minister no, not in my government. But this
year has tune changed asked again if Ben Gvir would be a minister, he answered, of course, he can be --to be put in charge of the police as a
minister Ben Gvir that could affect Israel's relationship with its most important ally, the United States.
NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: And we hope that all Israeli government officials will continue to share the values of an open
democratic society including tolerance and respect for all in civil society, particularly for minority groups.
GOLD (voice over): The extremists once shunned from Israeli politics now a top figure appearing on cooking shows and possibly soon, the Israeli
cabinet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLD: So now, Becky, the question will be how will Benjamin Netanyahu handle this right wing bloc in his new coalition and not only whether they
will have positions, but what really key positions they may get, Becky.
ANDERSON: And it will be fascinating to see how this new government is received in the region where I am, where a number of countries including
this one has normalized relations with the Israelis, of course through the Abraham Accords. Hadas, thank you and you have got a story up online on
Benjamin Netanyahu's extremist allies including a closer look at Ben Gvir who we've just been talking.
If you want a refresher that is cnn.com on your computer or your CNN app on your Smartphone, folks, well, a number, another jumbo rate hikes in the
battle against inflation.
This time from the UK a day after the U.S. move the Bank of England is taking the wraps of its biggest rate hike in more than three decades up by
three quarters of one percentage point. There's also an ominous warning about recession from the Bank of England. We're also watching Wall Street
after the Federal Reserve signaled that rates will likely keep climbing.
[11:20:00]
ANDERSON: On Wednesday, the Fed also hike rates by three quarters of 1 percent. That's its sixth increase this year. Well, you probably know from
watching this program, the U.S. central bank is in a bit of a bind. The U.S. labor market isn't letting up.
And that's great for workers, of course, but if you're trying to call inflation as the authorities, it's tough. CNN's Marc Stewart is joining us
now from New York. And we've just been showing some of the markets, the currency market, the UK pound off a little bit against the dollar.
I did see the UK market is up. So look, some Investors are looking at what the central banks are doing both stateside and in the UK and saying, well,
maybe they've got their arms around what's going on and others not so convinced.
And it really depends on where you stand right, as far as investing is concerned. But just explain what we are seeing here, Marc?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think if you look at both the UK and the United States, I mean, there is this persistent problem of
inflation. And some of the normal tools well, the most go to tool. Interest rates are very difficult to control. And it's not clear exactly if they are
having the effect that people want and on a desired timetable.
As you mentioned earlier this morning, we heard from the Head of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, and I was listening to his news conference with
reporters today. And for lack of better words, it was pretty bleak, Becky.
And yet he really has no choice but to continue to raise interest rates. The other headline from that news conference was this fear of recession, he
said, well, at least a document for at least today by the Bank of England, said that it could continue into 2023 and into 2024.
And so there is no choice but to be aggressive. And I think that's probably some of what Investors are listening to. So a very difficult situation,
none of the economic norms of the past are really giving Investors a clear direction as for the future.
ANDERSON: Yes and the UK of course, playing catch up after what has been a disastrous period under Liz Truss and the sort of reckless fiscal budget
that she released. So you know, even more work to be done there. Well Marc, it's always good to have you, thank you.
Well, that's a look at your markets for you. And we've got a couple of minutes left a new survey from here in the UAE, revealing how residents
feel about the climate crisis. Key findings in that poll show that 70 percent believe that serious action should be taken in the next five years
to mitigate climate change.
68 percent believe that collective action towards the issue could help correct social imbalances and 73 percent. Nearly three quarters say they'd
be more inclined to make individual contributions to the government if the government implemented stricter rules such as limiting car usage and
plastics.
A very timely report here because of course the next two United Nations climate conferences will be held in this region, COP28 November next year
will be in the UAE, COP 27 coming up beginning in Egypt on Monday and we will be there for you.
We'll bring you "Connect the World" live from Sharm el-Sheikh next Monday and Tuesday as that important climate conference kicks off. We're taking a
break back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:25:00]
ANDERSON: Overfishing pollution climate change, mankind has not done a good job taking care of our oceans and waterways. But across the globe inspiring
men and women are fighting to prevent and even reverse the damage that could change our water forever.
Today, CNN is hosting our second annual Call to Earth Day focusing on these efforts and a major part of today is education. CNN is looking at programs
and lessons being taught in schools all across the planet, all of them aimed at preserving our water #calltoearth. Here's a look at some of the
highlights.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hundreds of schools around the world that are marking this Call to Earth Day a day of action to better protect the planet. And I
have to tell you, the community here is all is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Save the earth and save the future.
GBAGADA: Conservation is a careful maintenance of a natural resource to make sure it doesn't disappear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me what you're talking about here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking about climate change and how that affects our ocean and marine life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To create this artistic representation of endangered sea animals due to practical reserves--.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These fish are actually becoming toxic as you begin to heat the micro plastics are being dumped into the sea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right behind me, you see these volunteers every week for two hours. This is what they do a beach clean-up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to protect our oceans so that we can keep on living.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make the world better --away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Introducing a smart portable solar water pump system.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We pledged to turn off the water while brushing our teeth.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: And get involved, share your thoughts about raising awareness on environmental issues, head to our special page cnn.com/calltoearth. And the
hash tag to get involved is #calltoearth. That's it from us. The team working with me here in Abu Dhabi, it is a very good evening.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUTH CROFT, PROFESSIONAL TRAIL RUNNER: For me, escaping to nature is so important. Nowadays with travel getting more complicated, finding these
escapes is more important than ever. That's what I found when I moved to Taiwan in 2013. That outdoors is amazing in Taiwan.
The people there made me feel so welcomed and gave me that sense of belonging. I can't wait to go back to Taiwan and beyond those landscapes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVIA EARLE, MARINE BIOLOGIST AND EXPLORER: The biggest danger to the earth at this point, you could say, us humans. It's what we do or what we
fail to do. And the biggest hope is us. And we can look in the mirror every one of us and say what do you got? To be an explorer, you do something that
hasn't been done before. You take the knowledge that exists, plus what you're willing to put into it and make things happen.
Sylvia Earle leaves her car toting enough snacks and fruit for the crew she's about to meet. She exudes the caring spirit of her grandmother and
the excitement of a child. The 87 year old small stature and unassuming nature belies the fact that she is one of the world's fiercest fighters on
behalf of our oceans.
But maybe the biggest problem of all is ignorance. And with it, complacency, there are a lot of people who still think its OK to put into
the ocean, whatever we want to that it will be alright.
SARA SIDNER, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sylvia has been exploring the ocean for almost seven decades and is one of the most outspoken advocates
for protecting it. The heralded marine biologist and oceanographer has earned the moniker her deepness getting to meet her and her beautiful mind.
Was it thrill? The queen of the ocean, how lucky am I?
EARLE: Yes, good nice to see you.
SIDNER (on camera): So nice to meet you. I'm so glad you're here.
EARLE: I'm glad we're both here.
SIDNER (on camera): I cannot wait to do this.
SIDNER (voice over): We're in Crystal River on the west coast of Florida and heading out to the Gulf of Mexico. It's an area Sylvia has deep
connections to.
EARLE: I first started coming out here and exploring the 1950s and then a lot in the 60s. But from about lighting - onward until recently, there's
this big break. So it's like discovering all over again.
SIDNER (voice over): Sylvia spent much of her childhood in Florida and began her underwater explorations in this region then. Her passion to learn
about the ocean and what lives in it has taken her all over the world. But recently, the National Geographic Explorer at large has been spending a lot
of time back here. And she wanted to show me why.
EARLE: You'll see when we get out here and we can look back and if you look at a map, if you look at Google Earth, you can see that a lot of this is
still wild and much of it still unexplored. Florida is just a big limestone sponge with freshwater springs. And even all sure because this once was dry
land not so long ago. And here we are with some distance offshore. And we're - I mean, we--.
SIDNER (on camera): Yes. What is special about this stuff that we're standing in?
EARLE: Well, other than the fact that it generates the oxygen in the atmosphere and the ocean, that it's providing home and sustenance to many
forms of life. Probably find 20 different kinds of things, maybe more living on just this single blade of grass. The history of life is right
here in the ocean.
SIDNER (on camera): And we get to be in it.
EARLE: Here we are. We should dive in, got the urge to submerge right here.
SIDNER (on camera): I do too. Let's do it.
[11:35:00]
SIDNER (voice over): This part of the Gulf is filled with all sorts of marvelous creatures, fish, sea turtles, sting rays and Florida's treasured
manatees. Not too far from us, a pod of dolphins races by. But we don't notice because Sylvia demands my focus elsewhere. Here, the forest under
the sea that we often ignore, it produces a shocking amount of oxygen more than all of the trees on dry land in the world.
EARLE: There wouldn't be turtles and manatees are us but for photosynthesis, the green stuff, it's the phytoplankton in the sea, those
tiny, tiny forests of the sea that were just beginning to have the capacity to explore.
SIDNER (voice over): And the forest under the sea is being destroyed. You don't have to look far for a grim illustration of that, further north off
the coast of Texas and Louisiana. An excess of decaying algae has created a larger than average dead zone spanning more than 6000 square miles last
year.
Marine life dies in these zones since decomposed algae consumed the oxygen in the area. More than 1100 manatees died in Florida and 2021 the most
deaths in decades. About two thirds of the deaths were on Florida's east coast.
Scientists largely blamed the increase of a lack of sea grass on the East Coast, much of it killed by pollution and coastal development. That isn't
as much of an issue on this side of Florida. Here the manatees remain relatively abundant and so is their food source. That is partly why Sylvia
has partnered with this team to bring attention and protection to these waters.
KATIE BRYDEN, FILMMAKER, WILDPATH: At our company wild path, we tell stories and campaigns for the protection of land and water. And so this is
a really special area to us because of the sea grass meadows that are here. It's the largest contiguous sea grass meadow in the Gulf of Mexico and we
want to get more appreciation for the sea grass meadows.
CARLTON WARD JR., PHOTOGRAPHER AND FOUNDER, WILDPATH: We've been trying to celebrate and protect wildlife corridor on the land. We had big strides in
2021 over the Florida wildlife corridor acts and now we have this 18 million acre wildlife quarter.
10 million acres are protected lands a lot of these protected areas on this stretch of coastline Florida's nature coast, which Sylvia calls the
wilderness coast. It's where land conservation and ocean conservation meet. And the sea grass meadows are what's right there in between.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's legendary among wildlife photographers and does a lot of really cool things terrestrially, but he's also pretty handy
underwater very much so.
WARD: It's really changed the way I see these places to dive with Sylvia because I'm looking out for the big fish or for the turtle, but she's down
at the grass level beneath the grass and for her it's like reconnecting with old friends.
Because she did her Master's and PhD on the sea grass and algae is here in the Gulf, she was the first person to use scuba to explore and study these
60 years ago. And it's helped awaken my curiosity and get me excited about the unique to the world diversity of this plant life and all the different
animals depend on it.
SIDNER (voice over): In a very short period of time with her Sylvia changed the way I see marine life forever.
EARLE: We need to rethink the value of nature and they're not free goods just to be taken by anybody who can go out there armed with the capacity to
kill and market. And you see a giant grouper coming over and looking at you and you just think of it is dinner instead of who are you, who are you,
where did you come from?
SIDNER (voice over): Those simple words changed my perspective it's no longer sea food at first glance. Its sea life as it makes me want to get to
know more about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:40:00]
EARLE: So welcome to the home laboratory.
SIDNER (on camera): Can I see your equipment here?
EARLE: Well, a little bit anyway.
SIDNER (voice over): After our dive in the Gulf of Mexico, marine biologist Sylvia Earle invited me to her Florida home to show me some prized
possessions.
SIDNER (on camera): OK, is this how you press everything? Oh my God, Sylvia?
EARLE: Weight-lifting, oh no, that's squished down.
SIDNER (on camera): Very ingenious engineering Sylvia.
EARLE: Watch this once dry, amazing thing and water is life. You take the water away. You have these dried specimens if you will.
SIDNER (voice over): Sylvia collects and preserves sea grass each time she takes a dive.
SIDNER (on camera): Oh my god, I had this one yesterday.
EARLE: You did?
SIDNER (on camera): This was in my hands alive in the ocean. And now it's a painting or a specimen.
SIDNER (voice over): Sylvia's parents moved to this home in 1958. It's in the coastal town of Dunedin, Florida.
SIDNER (on camera): Why did you keep this place wild?
EARLE: That's why I am - wish that this would be maintained and natural states--
SIDNER (on camera): Like Jurassic Park and here, their treats are so big.
SIDNER (voice over): Dinesen is not just Sylvia's home; it's the home city of the Florida, Gulf Coast hope spot.
SIDNER (on camera): What is a hope spot?
EARLE: As defined by mission blue, a hope spot is a place, you think about the ocean that is either in really great condition that if protected can
continue to thrive or a place that needs to be restored. There's hope for it if it takes the pressure off.
SIDNER (voice over): There are 145 hope spots around the globe recognized by Sylvia's organization, Mission Blue, each one initiated by local
conservationist.
RAY BOUCHARD, FLORIDA GULF COAST HOPE SPOT CHAMPION: Anybody can nominate a hope spot; the number one thing to have is a lot of community support.
SIDNER (voice over): The need native Ray Bouchard says he was inspired to nominate this area as a hope spot after meeting Sylvia.
BOUCHARD: Right here in the Tampa Bay area, we host one of the largest research communities in the country.
SIDNER (voice over): He worked with the local scientific organizations to compile the data necessary for the application.
BOUCHARD: I found that there were so many areas all along the Gulf Coast that were so important to the sustainability of the Gulf of Mexico and to
the entire oceans, that we expanded the size of the Gulf Coast hope spot, so it's a huge amount of area.
SIDNER (voice over): Sylvia announced the launch of her Mission Blue organization after winning the 2009 TED Prize.
EARLE: 50 years ago when I began exploring the ocean--
SIDNER (voice over): She received $100,000 to put towards a world changing goal.
EARLE: I wish you would use all means at your disposal, films, expeditions, the web, new submarines, a campaign to ignite public support for a global
network of marine protected areas. Hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet.
[11:45:00]
EARLE: We worked with National Geographic to designate a few hope spots to get this idea. Let us do something to get it going. We had 30 scientists
gathered from all over the world to work on making the concept of the ocean and Google Earth come together, including the U.S. Navy.
SIDNER (on camera): How did the Galapagos play into the back?
EARLE: Galapagos was almost number one was number one. If you can't save the Galapagos, what else can you do?
SIDNER (on camera): So you do that had to be a hope spot, that had to be.
EARLE: That's a little of it all.
SIDNER (on camera): All of it.
EARLE: All of it, not just the part that people go to most often, but, you know, go deep, go deep.
SIDNER (voice over): The Galapagos are 19 islands in the Pacific Ocean, west of Ecuador. Sylvia has a long history with the region.
EARLE: I first had a glimpse in 1966 during a research expedition of life, on the land and in the surrounding sea. We're among the first use scuba in
the Galapagos in 1966. I thought it was the sharpest, fishiest place on the planet when I first had an opportunity to be there, underwater. And I've
been going back frequently; I've been there dozens of times over the years.
SIDNER (on camera): So - to 60s, what have you see?
EARLE: A decline of sharks because it's a global market for shark fins, for shark fin soup, for sharks to eat, to use the cartilage to take it and turn
it into medical products.
SIDNER (on camera): You are responsible for alerting the world to this issue. And now there is a reserve. Are you proud of some of the work that
you've done?
EARLE: I was one of many who spoke on behalf of having a reserve. But the marine reserve when it was put in place 24 years ago, it still did not have
the same attitude that was obvious for the land, so only about 3 percent was protected. Rest was open for fishermen using traditional means or
Teasle of fishing. In the Galapagos 97 percent of the land is protected, no goes on. I mean, you can go there, but you can't hurt things in most of the
land. That's when the Galapagos National Park was formed in the 1960s, the ocean that's a relatively new idea.
MAX BELLO, POLICY ADVISOR, MISSION BLUE: Galapagos is a very special place in Sylvia's heart and in my heart too.
SIDNER (voice over): Max Bello has worked closely with Sylvia over the years to strengthen protections in hope spots like the Galapagos.
BELLO: We started a campaign a few years ago with a previous government and the next woman came that was critical to do what needed to be done. So then
you realize there's all information is been there for years. But you're waiting and campaigning, of course, to force someone to take it and do the
right thing.
SIDNER (voice over): Those efforts are starting to produce results.
SIDNER (on camera): At the beginning of 2022, Ecuador expanded the Galapagos marine reserve by 60,000 kilometers. What kind of impact might
that make?
EARLE: Every bit that we protect counts, nations around the world are now aiming, I mean, more than 80 have committed to taking 30 percent of the
land 30 percent of the ocean by 2030 to engage with full or high protection, letting nature thrive. And we have a long way to go and think
about on the land, we're only about halfway there.
In the ocean, the highly and fully protected, it's only about 3 percent, so just saying that we have a long way to go. But what happened in the
Galapagos cause for hope we're not there yet. But we're beginning to understand the importance. The value of really giving back to nature rather
taking the pressure off so nature can thrive.
SIDNER (voice over): Sylvia believes what's happening in the Galapagos is possible for the Florida Gulf Coast and many other hope spots. More people
just need to be convinced.
EARLE: They come to speak for the ocean.
SIDNER (voice over): And she is continuing efforts to do just that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Rolex started a journey over 50 years ago, supporting scientists and pioneers exploring the oceans and those who have
dedicated their lives to protecting our precious ecosystems.
[11:50:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Today, Rolex champions people and projects in over 100 locations around the globe. People, who have leaped into the
unknown, inspired others and dared to imagine a better future, always moving and they will never stop so that our oceans can be perpetual.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIDNER (voice over): Marine Biologist Sylvia Earle likes to say the ocean is her laboratory. At age 87 she still spends a lot of time learning from
it and loving it.
EARLE: Every time I go into the water, I see things I've never seen before.
SIDNER (on camera): Every time.
EARLE: Anybody can do it. It's not just that things change all the time. It's like, ah, who are you? What are you doing? What are you doing now?
I've ever seen you do that before. It's just curiosity.
SIDNER (voice over): She says her curiosity for nature was instilled by her mother.
EARLE: She just had the sense of empathy, certainly for little kids but for all of life.
SIDNER (voice over): That love for nature has been passed down to Sylvia's children.
EARLE: I have three children and they all have their own power. And it's wonderful to see them go in their individual directions. And my eldest
lives, she's the one who would bring home whatever was damaged by the side of the road and welled up in her bathtub for a while.
She has worked with me as a part of the first company that I started to solve problems for access to the sea. And now she's running deep ocean
exploration and research. She's the boss.
SIDNER (on camera): What is this place?
LIZ TAYLOR, PRESIDENT AND CEO, DOER: So this is a building 41 and this is originally a hangar for the naval airbase here in Alameda.
SIDNER (voice over): Here in California's Bay Area, Liz Taylor runs deep ocean exploration and research or door.
TAYLOR: Is a remotely operated vehicle.
SIDNER (voice over): The Marine consulting firm, her mother started in 1992.
SIDNER (on camera): Only one person can fit in here.
TAYLOR: This submersible is just designed for one person at a time. So it's very compact.
SIDNER (voice over): This is a life sized model of the submersible Sylvia used in 1999 for her famed sustainable seas expeditions that explored
marine sanctuaries around the United States. This consulting firm helps equip these types of vessels for exploration.
EARLE: So one of the things I've been driven to do is working with engineers working with my daughter, my son in law and teams of people who
together have been building manipulator devices, including the one that went with James Cameron to the deepest part of the ocean and not just
underwater robots.
SIDNER (voice over): Sylvia's trailblazing history with submersibles goes back to 1979 when she went nearly 400 meters down into the ocean and an
armored diving suit called Jim.
TAYLOR: Her biggest goal I think, is to get these submersibles that she is been able to kind of coalesce from all of her different experiences in the
ocean, get them build, get them out there. And then she really wants to be able to, like, pluck individuals from all over the world and have them get
that experience with her in the South.
SIDNER (on camera): When you decided to do this, were you reluctant to take over and do this work?
TAYLOR: A bit, you know, in a bit because I mean, I was on this path to kind of do marine ornithology, you know I've always been a critter person.
She became chief scientist for NOAA she had to leave the company that she had founded at that point.
[11:55:00]
TAYLOR: And then she called me up. And she was like, you know, could you take a little break from school and you know come help out the business and
I got to do.
SIDNER (on camera): How many years later has that been?
TAYLOR: It's like 20 some odd years later, 30 years later.
SIDNER (voice over): After decades of building her network of advocates and inspiring others to join her mission, Sylvia still stands strong out in
front, leading the charge, even when her audience is dignitaries and world leaders. Her message is the same.
EARLE: As a witness personally with thousands of hours under the sea, years at sea on the surface, but it's getting down into the ocean that really has
made all the difference in terms of our understanding or comprehending.
TAYLOR: Over the years, I've just seen how, how hard she's had to fight to be heard.
SIDNER (on camera): Do you feel like your mom that the impact will be great from what she has done her whole life when she's gone?
TAYLOR: I certainly hope so. That we will see, you know, people carry on and they we'll have a hospitable planet.
SIDNER (on camera): And that's what she's been fighting for.
TAYLOR: Yes.
SIDNER (on camera): It's kind of simple, isn't it?
TAYLOR: Yes. It's not rocket science. It's harder.
EARLE: To protect the living ocean is if our lives depend on it because they do. Thank you. The key to recovery is right here. We have the best
chance right now with hope on the land, hope in the sea, hope in the skies above in the waters of the world connected because we're armed with
knowledge that did not and could not exist until right about now. Nature is resilient. That's cause for hope that we need to give nature a break.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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