Tom: Hey everyone, it is Monday, April 18. I am Tom Hanson, and Channel One News starts right now.
First up today: two countries — two powerful earthquakes. The first one rocked the country of Ecuador, killing hundreds of people. The other one struck Japan, leaving the government desperately searching for survivors over the weekend.
The magnitude-7.8 quake struck Ecuador on Saturday.Today crews are still looking for survivors. The president of the country said at least 235 people died; another
1,500 were wounded. The quake buckled homes, knocked out power and even collapsed a bridge. The U.S.Geological Survey says it was the strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades.
Across the sea, over in Asia, the country of Japan is dealing with its own set of earthquakes. One struck last week on Thursday, another one on Saturday.At least
40people died, 1,500 more injured. Roads and homes were destroyed, and the search continues for missing people. Hundreds of thousands are without electricity and water, and Japan has deployed the military to assist in rescue efforts.
Over the weekend Pope Francis made an emotional trip to the Greek island of Lesbos, the main center in the refugee crisis in Europe. And he surprised many on his return to the Vatican because of what he brought back with him.
Pope Francis took 12Syrian refugees, including six kids, back to Italy on his private plane. After landing, the refugees were welcomed in a ceremony and appeared stunned.On the flight he explained he was inspired to do this just a week agoand did not choose between Christians and Muslims. He called the refugees "all children of God."
Nour: Thank you, thank you, thank you, and pray for us.
Tom: The pope visited the Greek island of Lesbos as some of Europe's borders have been closed to refugees. In some cases, refugees have even been deported back to Turkey. Many of the refugees are Syrians fleeing from the deadly civil war in their country. More than a million refugees have arrived in Europe since 2015.
Okay, after the break, the grades are in for schools and fitness, and many are getting an F.
Tom: A new report is out showing that many schools are falling behind in a pretty important category, and Azia is here with the details.
Azia: Yeah,Tom, the report card is out on how schools are doing when it comes to keeping kids in shape, and let's just say the results are pretty bad.
Students at this school get moving to start the day.
Tayler Dindyal: It makes us laugh, but it also gets us moving.
Azia: They exercise their bodies before exercising their brains. The children at Washington Yu Ying Charter School also get 45 minutes of physical education twice a week. But a new report shows that is not the case at schools across the country. The 2016 Shape of the Nation report shows most states get a failing grade in P.E.
Expert: Physical education has to be increased, that it has to be viewed as an important part of the daily curriculum.
Azia: Kids should get at least an hour a day of moderate to intense physical activity. The American Heart Association recommends states require 150 minutes of P.E. each week for elementary studentsand 225 minutes for middle and high school students. Only Washington,D.C., and Oregon meet this requirement.
Amy Delair: We're giving our children and our teachers an opportunity to create that avenue for learning in their brain and setting them up for success for the rest of the day.
Jaci Mason-Yates: They get you pumped up and ready for if we have a test that upcoming day or something.
Azia: Lessons that can keep these kids healthy for life.
The report also says that many states allow kids to substitute other activities instead of P.E., and it is the first thing to be withheld as a punishment.
Tom: Yikes. Thanks for that,Azia.
All right, after the break:one story on climate change that hasone in sevenin the world high and dry.
Tom: As climate change takes hold around the world, some parts are getting too much water — other parts, too little. Maggie Rulli heads right to the middle of a water crisis that is sweeping across the western U.S.
Brooke: I think a lot of people, their identity in the West is tied to water.
Brendan Boepple: Is scarcity a serious issue? Yes. With climate change, we’re not so sure of the future.
Jonah: I thought the energy problem was the big crisis, but this is really more fundamental than energy. You know, we could be living in sheds with sticks and rocks, but if we don’t have water — you can’t live.
Maggie: So it might be painfully obvious, but it is worth remembering: Every single one of the 7 billion humans on this planet needs water to survive. But right now 1 billion of us don’t have access to it.
How important is water?
Jonah: I’d put it above everything else.
Maggie: And now everyday water is becoming a valuable, fought-over resource. In less than 15 years, it is predicted that around half of the world will be living in areas of high water stress, meaning access to water will be limited — the U.S. included.
Expert: There is no reason why the United States is special in terms of how it will feel the strains of some of these climate change risks into the future.
Maggie: How much does climate change impact water scarcity?
Brooke: I think it plays a pretty huge role. Population growth in this area has placed a higher demand on the supply of water we have, but also that supply has been decreasing due to climate change.
Maggie: The basic difference between the droughts of today and the droughts of the past is that climate change is making the world hotter, meaning normal droughts are becoming bigger and badder.
Expert: Well, we’re already seeing it. Look at the droughts that we’ve experienced throughout the western states.
Maggie: Here, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, many areas are experiencing a prolonged “extreme” or “exceptional” drought.
Expert: The Colorado River is central to the Southwest,which, in terms of drying impact from climate change, is right in the bull’s-eye. Some of these places are persisting based on shipping water in to those locations, and the question is how long is that sustainable?
Maggie: These students at Colorado College have been monitoring the Colorado River as part of their State of the Rockies project.
Boepple: Forty million people rely on this river across seven states and then into Mexico. So we’re talking about an enormous amount of people. Agriculture that comes out of this region supplies any salad you might eat during the winter months and is likely being grown with Colorado River water.
Maggie: The Colorado starts as snow in the Rocky Mountains, makes its way through seven statesand flows all the way to Mexico. Along the way cities have built reservoirs —large, manmade lakes — that get filled with water.We head out on Lake Powell, the country’s second largest reservoir.
Jonah: As you can see over here,we're coming up on some bathtub rings.
Maggie: And it is here that we find ourselves literally surrounded by signs of the water crisis.
So what does it mean when we see that big, white stripe? What does that tell us?
Jonah: That stripe is the water level of Lake Powell at its full capacity, and that was in the 90s, so we've had about nearly two decades of drought since.
Maggie: So that is not a good thing.
Jonah: That is not good.
Maggie: And as that water level drops, millions of people feel the effect.
Brooke: People not only are seeing it in their daily lives but also how they manage their home and how much they pay for water at a household level.
Maggie: Lake Powell and the Colorado’s other biggest reservoir,Lake Mead, work kind of like credit cards for water. For decades cities throughout the Southwest have tapped into them whenever they needed it, but now both reservoirs hover around 50 percent capacity or less, making experts questionwhat is going to happen if the credit runs dry?
Expert: The West is built on water conflict and legal challenges over who owns rights to what water. There’s no reason to believe that as climate change reduces water throughout, particularly theWest, that these kinds of conflicts will only intensify.
Maggie: The threat of water-related conflicts has even gotten the attention of the U.S. government. A recent report from U.S. security forces warned of potential conflicts over water in many areas of the world that are important to American interests. And while it said a full-scale war over water remains unlikely in the immediate future, it did caution: “the use of water as a weapon or to further terrorist objectives will become more likely beyond 10 years."
Now, add to this threat of conflict the pressure of migration.
Expert: People need water to live, and in the locations where water is becoming more and more scarce, you can imagine scenarios in which people are forced to leave the places where they are currently living.
Maggie: And it is not just the West; it is the entire country that faces a huge problem.
Expert: Decision makers and planners really need to start digesting these kinds of projections that are being made of the future and asking the hard questions about how to actually manage their water more effectively so that we can make the water we do have go farther.
Maggie: Maggie Rulli, Channel One News.
Tom: And to find out how much water your community is using, just check out our interactive map over at ChannelOne.com.
All right, guys, that is going to do it for us. We will see you tomorrow.
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