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A Mass Bleaching Coral Event; Why Paris Spent $500 Million to Uncover Hidden Parts of Famous French Landmark. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired April 17, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Welcome to Times Square in New York. With up to 450,000 visitors each day on the busiest days, this is one of the most
visited tourist destinations in the world.
I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10. And it`s Your Word Wednesday, so listen up to see if the vocabulary word you submitted helped us write today`s show.
All right, let`s get to the news. A new warning this week from two scientific groups. They say record-breaking ocean temperatures are causing
a mass bleaching event that is damaging coral reefs around the world.
Coral bleaching is where coral loses its color and becomes completely white. That doesn`t mean the coral is dead, but it is under significant
stress and has a higher chance of dying. This is happening in large portions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, according to two
scientific bodies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, and the International Coral Reef Initiative.
This would mark the fourth time the world has seen a major bleaching event. But experts are warning this one could become the worst in recorded
history.
CNN`s Zain Asher met one man who noticed his local reef was dying, and he wanted to do something about it. Scientists and professors urged him to get
a degree to learn more about the issue, but he couldn`t wait.
At the age of 18, he found a few island brothers and sisters and started Coral Gardeners. Let`s travel to an island in French Polynesia to meet his
team.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This is Tahiti, one of three permanent ocean-based coral nurseries in Mo`orea. As Coral Gardeners, both
by company name and by profession, these sites are at the core of what they do on a daily basis.
TITOUAN BERNICOT, FOUNDER & CEO, CORAL GARDENERS: Coral gardening is the coolest thing on Earth. You are underwater. There is nobody talking. You
hear the sound of the parrotfish, like the noise of the waves. You have those thousands of little coral fragments, and you have the fish. They
become your co-workers. It`s something so tangible. It`s such a rewarding feeling to see your tiny coral fragment growing.
ASHER: First on the day`s to-do list is installing new underwater foundations, a task assigned to Gardeners Loic and Yohan (ph).
BERNICOT: I think that`s -- that`s the most physical part.
ASHER: Meanwhile, team members Hannah and Salome collect data from the nearly 6,000 pieces growing in this part of the nursery alone.
SALOME CHAUVELOT, IMPACT MANAGER AND CORAL GARDENER: We`re looking at the overall health of each fragment for any signs of predation or disease and
bleaching signs as well. And then the last part is out of all the corals that are growing, we have a subsample that we follow and monitor for
growth.
ASHER: Right now is also outplanting season, meaning there are healthy and heat-resilient coral ready to be relocated back onto the damaged reef.
BERNICOT: I was with my buddy Maurete (ph), and we were planting those beautiful Pocillopora verrucosa, so the pink coral. We were choosing the
right spots, removing the algaes, placing the big mother colony of coral from -- coming from our nurseries. And then using the coral clips to attach
them, then marine cement. And it`s really satisfying.
ASHER: And the cycle continues by refilling the nursery.
BERNICOT: Let`s go collect some corals. So right now we are at the donor site, that`s the place where we are collecting fragments of corals coming
from big mother colony that are more resilient. They survived to all the last bleaching events. And the plan right now is that we`re going to place
on ropes in the coral nursery.
ASHER: To preserve the health of the colony, they`ll take no more than 10%.
BERNICOT: Taino (ph) and I will create a coral rope. That`s the process of coral gardening. We have the tag, nursery number two, rope number one.
That`s how we do all the scientific monitoring behind.
ASHER: And they say on average it will take 12 to 18 months for those fragments to grow big and healthy enough to make it back onto the nearby
reef.
BERNICOT: And there you go.
It was our dream one day to have a job where you get paid to be on the water and taking care of the place we love the most.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Ten second trivia.
Which of these cities is known as the City of Light? Marseille, Paris, Strasbourg or Bordeaux?
If you chose Paris, then ooh-la-la, wee-wee, the capital of France is hailed as one of the world`s cultural and commercial centers and is often
referred to as the City of Light.
We are just 100 days away from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. I`m here in New York to interview some of the august athletes who will be repping Team
USA. You`ll hear from them soon.
But today we`re looking to Paris as it prepares for some 15 million visitors this summer to get ready. The city is restoring the Grand Palais,
one of its iconic monuments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Parisian skyline is filled with famous silhouettes. But this building, the one with the largest glass roof in Europe, leaves a
lasting impression, the Grand Palais.
DIDIER FUSILIER, PRESIDENT, GRAND PALAIS (through translator): The entire place of Versailles fits inside the Grand Palais. And the weight of the
complete steel here is heavier than the Eiffel Tower. It was meant to be a place of festivities, a palace where everything was possible. It`s made for
the imagination.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In its more than 120-year history, this landmarked behemoth of iron, steel and glass has hosted countless art exhibitions,
equestrian performances and fashion shows, including perhaps most famously Chanel.
But much of the building has been closed off to the public, and Paris now plans to restore and reveal some of the long-hidden halls of the Grand
Palais in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
In addition to reopening the galleries, the team is also restoring a view from the rotunda that no one has seen since 1939 by removing a wall which
separated the main nave from the Palais de la Decouverte. The final phase of the renovation will continue through 2025, but they hope to finish phase
one in time for the Olympic Games.
FUSILIER (through translator): We hope that everything will be finished on time, to host the grand fencing and taekwondo events that will be held
here.
It will be -- it will be just here, in the middle, in the center of the perspective to see that. and the public will be there on the right and on
the left. It will be something very beautiful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Today`s story getting a 10 out of 10. We have a near catastrophe that sent one feline flying through the air. A scaredy cat turned rocket ship is
perfection. Our Jeanne Moos has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We`ve done stories on an enormous cat and on a slap happy cat slapping a judge at a cat show, but this blur across
your screen.
JULIA AMIDEI, OWNER, "FLYING CAT": This is the flying cat.
MOOS: Meet Remy, a Chicago area Bengal cat. Two-year-old Remy went behind some hanging coats. His housemate, Lucy the Cat, decided to come play. But
when Lucy knocked a coat off the hook, Remy went bonkers.
The cat was fine.
AMIDEI: He landed on this.
MOOS: An interactive cat toy. Commenters were awestruck, saying --
AMIDEI: My cat has wings.
MOOS: They called him the Michael Jordan of cats.
AMIDEI: But I`ve never seen him get air like that in my life.
MOOS: The dog of the house, Maggie, was singled out online for her chill reaction.
AMIDEI: And just looks at my boyfriend like there they go again.
MOOS: The stratospheric leap went explosively viral and many labeled Remy the very definition of a scaredy cat. But Remy took being jumpy to a whole
new level. Like Rocky, he`s going to fly.
Jeanne Moos, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Thanks, Jeanne. And congrats to Ms. Amanda and the Olive Family Academy in Tomah, Wisconsin, for submitting the Your Word Wednesday winner,
"august," an adjective meaning respected and impressive. Well done.
All right. Today`s shout out is going to Chinook Trail Middle School in Colorado Springs. Rise up.
And we`re also showing some love to Queens Grant Community School in Mint Hill, North Carolina. Thank you for spending part of your day with us.
We`ll see you right back here tomorrow.
I`m Coy Wire. And we are CNN 10.
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