Return to Transcripts main page
CNN 10
Population Size In India And China; Heavy Rain And Snowfall Revive A Dead Lake And Flood California Farmland; Latest News On SpaceX`s Starship. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired April 19, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: What`s up lovely people, hope you`re ready to make this a wonderful Wednesday. I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10. It`s also
your word Wednesday, follow me at Coy Wire on instant Snapchat and TikTok and put your unique vocabulary word in the comments section of my most
recent posts, and we`re going to choose one winner to work into tomorrow`s show.
Let`s go. We start with the soon to be most populated nation in the world. You know what it is? India. India and China each actually have more than
1.4 billion people making up more than a third of the world`s population. And while China currently sits in the top spot population, experts predict
that India will soon surpass them if it hasn`t already happened. China has been the most populous country since at least 1950. The year that the
United Nations began collecting population data. But families in China have been having fewer children and there have been more deaths there each year
than births. That could mean that in the coming years, China might face challenges supporting its aging population due to a declining working age
population.
In India, however, there is a younger population and there are higher national fertility rates and a decrease in infant mortality. These are some
of the factors that have contributed to population growth. Experts are having a difficult time making a clear projection on exactly when India`s
population might overtake China`s in part because China had a recent census in 2020 while India`s last census was 2011. Let`s learn more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: India`s birth rate has slowed, but the country is still quickly adding to its 1.4 billion strong population.
(On camera): According to UNICEF, more than 67,300 babies are born in India every day. That`s 1/6 of the world`s wealth counts daily.
(Voice-over): Already more than half of all Indians are under the age of 30. That means a huge potential to grow the national economy, but education
and investment need to keep up if there are going to be jobs for a new generation. India`s new global title will mean little if it doesn`t come
with fresh opportunity. Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Next, we`re headed to the west coast where Mother Nature has brought about the return of a massive lake which hadn`t existed for generations,
California`s Central Valley has been overwhelmed with rain which has flooded hundreds of square miles of farmland, ruining crops and
livelihoods. And the scary part is it could get worse. CNN`s Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir reminds us that water never forgets.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: In California Central Valley farmers have spent much of the last 20 years praying for rain. But then
came this winter of relentless rivers in the sky, enough to bring a long dead lake back to life and drought over 150 square miles of farmland and
counting. So now, they pray for the water to stop.
(On camera): It is mind blowing to realize that if you`d stood here for the last couple of generations, he`d be watching the sunset over dusty fields
of cotton or alfalfa or pistachio trees. And now it is waterfront property. I had no idea Tulare Lake was once the biggest freshwater body west of the
Mississippi, but it was dammed and dived and drained to build a $2 billion agriculture industry. And now it`s back. It`s proof that water never
forgets. And this may just be the beginning because behind those clouds over there, the Sierra Nevadas are so packed with snow, 260% above normal,
and sooner or later that`s going to melt which is only going to make this flooding worse and last longer. The last time it flooded this dramatically
here was 1983 and it took two years to dry out.
You were telling me about the effects in `83?
SIDONIO PALMERIN, COUNCIL MEMBER, CITY OF CORCORAN: Yes.
WEIR: The town hollowed out pretty much?
PALMERIN: Yes. I was in a school board at that time in 1983 and we lost half our school population. About 1/3 of our city`s population and a lot of
the people that were fewer workers lost their homes or cars.
WEIR: And this time, in addition to the dripping time bomb in the mountains, Corcoran has many feet lower in elevation. After years of over
pumping groundwater to grow thirstier crops, made this one of the fastest sinking areas in the nation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The levee that we`re standing on is called the Corcoran levee. It`s a 14.5-mile levee that protects the city of Corcoran, the two
state prisons. The residents here are about 22,000 residents and about 8000 inmates. And so, the work behind us that you`ll see over here with the
tractor work in the distance. They`re actually building the levee up another four to five feet. God willing, that`ll protect the city of
Corcoran.
WEIR: There`s a race against the melt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s exactly right.
WEIR: Basically happened, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, we`ve been fortunate with a very slow, mild spring so far, but we know the heats coming.
MARTINA SEALY, CORCORAN RESIDENT: All of the crops are completely flooded and ruined. So that it takes a lot of jobs from people. That`s a lot of
foods that provide -- we provide for, now California and all around the nation. It`s pretty scary.
WEIR: And unfortunately, this is just the beginning, right? Because --
SEALY: Very beginning.
WEIR: The big melt hasn`t even really begun?
SEALY: Yes, this is just from the rain. This no mounts, there`s nowhere for it to go besides, here, you know?
WEIR: So, Tulare Lake is back for a while?
SEALY: Yeah. It`s back and it may take over and put us out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: 10 second trivia.
What planet is closest to Earth when it passes by?
Mercury, Venus, Mars or Jupiter?
WIRE: It might not be the closest on average, but Venus`s orbit brings it closer to Earth than any other planet.
Next up, the launch of the most powerful rocket ever built, its name starship. SpaceX is now targeting Thursday for the next attempt to launch
the rocket. The first launch attempt scheduled for Monday was delayed due to a technical issue. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says the starship is key to his
mission of getting the first humans to Mars. CNN Senior National Correspondent Ed Lavandera has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The SpaceX starship is the most powerful rocket ever built. It`s 400 feet tall. The super heavy booster is
packed with 33 engines, and it will attempt to push the uncrewed starship spacecraft which sits on top of the rocket booster into space. If the
rocket launches properly, the spacecraft will separate less than three minutes into the flight and travel east from South Texas and go much of the
way around the earth before splashing into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. But hours before this scheduled launch SpaceX founder Elon Musk worked to
lower expectations to the point that he seemed to be bracing for catastrophic failure.
ELON MUSK, SPACEX FOUNDER & CEO: Success is not what should be expected. That would be insane. This vehicle could make it all the way to little bit
or it may blow up on the pad. There`s a million ways this rocker could fail.
LAVANDERA: SpaceX has waited more than a year for the final government clearance to launch this rocket. The starship rocket system is the
centerpiece of Musk goal of commercial space travel to the moon and beyond, to Mars. It comes two weeks after NASA unveiled the four astronauts who
will fly around the moon next year as part of the Space Agency`s Artemis Mission. NASA has awarded SpaceX contracts and options of more than $3
billion dollars to use starship to ferry future Artemis astronauts to the moon and NASA Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman spoke with CNN about the
importance of this partnership for humans to eventually reach Mars.
REID WISEMAN, NASA ASTRONAUT: I think we will get there. The amount of private-public partnerships going on SpaceX is building our lander for the
moon. They`re working on starship right now. We have commercial space is just doing amazing things right now. So, to think that humans will be
walking on Mars in 20 years is completely reasonable.
LAVANDERA: Testing on this rocket system started several years ago, and it`s resulted in many breakthroughs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two, one, ignition, abort.
LAVANDERA: But also, some explosive setbacks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Today`s story getting a 10 out of 10, some creative students from the Colorado School of Mines, a research university focused on science and
engineering. It`s the annual cardboard boat race in Golden Colorado where these creative students devise a master plan to build the fastest baldest
boat using only cardboard and some duct tape. It`s wild. It`s wacky, it`s slippery. Watch out lady.
Now, some of these boats are tricked out to check out the dragon head on this one. These students are competitive and as one of them says.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re nerds that like the party.
WIRE: Loads of spectators cheering them on as they race on their raft and hope to make it past the rapids. But when they don`t, it`s nothing to feel
bad a boat. This is the best cardboard sport I`ve seen since boxing.
Heyo, time for my favorite part of the day. Now, I want to give a special shout out to Wilmington, Delaware, Delaware Military Academy, we see you.
Fun fact, Delaware is the second smallest state but outranks five states in terms of population, including Alaska, which is the largest state in the
United States. Thanks for watching everyone. We hope you and everyone watching around the world have a wonderful one.
I`m Coy Wire, and we are CNN 10.
END
