VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE 47
AIR DATE 12 07 2018
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
From the Earth
((SOT))
It’s making the world fruitful. We want to be good stewards of the land. The environmental impact as far as preserving for our future generations.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
To the Trees
((SOT))
The really interesting thing about it is after we do it, there is no question that that was the right thing to do.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
To the Stars
((SOT))
I made up my mind in seventh grade that I was going to be an astronomer. My name is Nancy Grace Roman and I am known as the mother of the Hubble.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((Banner: Faith))
((PKG)) MORMON POTATO FARMER
((Banner: A Calling to Farm))
((Reporter/Camera: Arturo Martínez))
((Banner: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) 1.6%))
((Map: Glenns Ferry, Idaho))
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
I am Justin Wootan and I am a farmer, Idaho potato farmer. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
My brother, my dad and I kind of run the farm. It's definitely a family thing. Our farm is unique in that we only raise 660 acres (260 hectares) of potatoes on the 4000 acre (1600 hectares) farm and then we rotate it around and so it's a seven year rotation before we get back to potatoes.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
We are just out back, looking at the omnitrac. Thanks. Love you. Bye. My wife came up. She helps with the bills and helps keeping me organized in the office. She does a lot. A lot.
((Shannon Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
They need to be filed?
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
Well, they have to make copies and then be bound.
((Shannon Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
We both have our master's degree and 10 years ago he said, "I think I want a farm." Okay. So, we moved down here and his whole idea was that this was the best way to raise a family and teach them how to work hard and how to play hard.
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
And if you look way over there, that's Oregon. Over there.
((Shannon Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
We have five children, so I stay pretty busy at home. So, I come up and help him whenever he needs help and I try and come up a couple times a week at least.
((NATS))
((Julia Wootan, Daughter))
We are so thankful for this day. We are thankful that we could all have a good day today, that we could have a good day at school. Please bless our physical and spiritual safety. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
((Wootan family))
Amen.
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
We try to practice our religion in our daily life.
((Julia Wootan, Daughter))
"The Jews shall be scattered among all nations; yea, and also Babylon shall be destroyed; wherefore, the Jews shall be scattered by other nations."
((Shannon Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
Our religion we have, I think the two main differences is, well, three actually, that we have a living prophet on earth today that speaks to us just like Moses did in the olden times. We have the Book of Mormon, which is a testament of Christ when he visited the American continent after he was crucified in Jerusalem, and that was recorded in the book of scriptures, and the priest of authority has been brought back to the earth through Joseph Smith, when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was restored to the earth. So, I think those are the things that set us apart from other churches. But I believe all churches are good, and they all have good in them.
((NATS))
((Shannon Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
There’s steps that we have been taught in our church that we take such as getting baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and a final step that it says in the scriptures is to endure to the end.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
I served a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I was called to São Paulo, Brazil. I learned Portuguese and taught people about what we believe and taught them the gospel. These are some of the families that we’d go out and teach. So, we believe in baptism by immersion in the water. So, I baptized these two folks. The joy you see when you bring the Gospel to people that may not have that in their lives, it’s humbling to see how they can change their lives and how they find joy in that.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
So, the gospel of Jesus Christ provides the greatest perspective of truth and offers the richest blessings.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
I've just gone over a couple of crisis. Having that internal perspective kind of changes the way you look at it. My mother, father, sister and grandfather were in a car accident on the way to a family reunion in Arizona. My grandfather was killed. My mom, she lost the ability to walk and my dad has had multiple knee surgeries since and is tough for him to get around a little bit. When you get that phone call at two or three in the morning, knowing the eternal perspective that we'll be able to see our grandfather again, I think that helped calm my nerves and feeling that the spirit of Lord tell us, “this is what happened. It's going to be all right.”
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
How are you doing José?
((José, Black Mesa Farms))
Good, how are you doing?
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
Good.
((NATS))
((Shannon Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
We were talking to the kids and they said, “we don't practice our religion when we go up to work” and I said, yeah, you do. We make sure that we're honest in our dealings with everybody and we're telling the truth and we're doing what we know is right and we're respecting people from all different walks of life.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
And he's studying to be an engineer.
((Shannon Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
Nice.
((NATS))
((Banner: In the 1800s, the early years of their religion, Mormons often met with suspicion and violence))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
The LDS Latter-Day Saints, the early members of the church, they came into a city and pretty soon they're a majority of the population, and people are a little reluctant to change and so that created the persecution. And today, you're seeing large movements of migrants.
I think everybody deserves a safe place to live and practice a religion in a way that's beneficial to society. You can't judge a religion by the extremists out there.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
The guys are out there right now hooking up the solid set lines.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
We hire laborers that come up on the H2 program and they're hired for a certain period and then they go back. These are jobs that we advertise a couple months here in the States and in the last five years, we've never had somebody come and interview for the job, and so then we go and pick these folks up from, in this case, Mexico and bring them in and they help us in the fall. As far as faith, I think it's important that people have a way to provide for themselves and I think that this H2 program does that.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
Aren't you going to eat a little? It’s midday. Are you going to eat?
((Laborer))
You mean lunch?
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
Yes, lunch.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
As a farmer, I do feel like I'm a good steward of the land. We go to great lengths to keep the weeds down. We go to great lengths to keep the soil biology active and growing. It's making the world fruitful.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
We want to be good stewards of the land for the environmental impact as far as preserving for our future generations. We look to build the soil, create a vegetative culture that's beneficial to the land.
((NATS))
((Justin Wootan, Black Mesa Farms))
When the Lord and Heavenly Father gave Adam and Eve the garden he said, “Go forth, till, work this ground, make it beautiful.”
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Farming and Rising Seas
((SOT))
Up till about 1914 that was a village and people lived there and there was a big graveyard over here.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((Banner: Our Changing Climate))
((PKG)) FRAMING SALINITY
((Banner: Adapting to the Sea))
((Reporter/Camera: Steve Baragona))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Dorchester County, Maryland))
((Banner: As sea levels rise, farmland on Maryland’s Eastern Shore is being overrun by salt water))
((Bob Fitzgerald, Farmer))
All this, you can see where I planted this with soybeans, and they just died. I can show you big swaths of land that 25, 30 years ago were being farmed and now they’re just marsh.
((Kate Tully, Professor of Agroecology, University of Maryland))
So, all along the Eastern Seaboard, sea level rise rates are increasing. They’re about two to three times the global average here. And so, with sea level rise comes salt water intrusion which is the landward movement of sea salts. And when that happens, you start to see plants that are not adapted to salt, dying off. The tides are rising higher and higher and you actually start to get that salt water basically dumping onto the fields or coming up through the groundwater. And you just get these swaths of big portions of the field that are super, super salty, way saltier than corn can handle, soy or wheat, and the plants die. Some farmers will try to switch crops, so actually sorghum, which we see here, is a crop that does very well, as you can see, in saline environments. So, we are looking at alternative crops. So, they might try to switch or adapt.
((NATS))
((Bob Fitzgerald, Farmer))
When they grew up, they didn’t die immediately upon emergence, but later on, the salt got to them and they died. You can see the skinny little soy bean that he just got beat back. The problem on the Eastern Shore also is if you dig a ditch, you’re subject to let in as much salt water as you let out fresh water. Because, while you want fresh water to go out so it doesn’t drown out your crop, the salt water’s right there waiting to come in when the tide gets high. If the tide’s up when you have a big flood of rain, the rain is not going to run off until the tide goes down. And if you have a mixture of salt water in here, that’s just going to hold it, you know, hold the whole mess.
((NATS))
((Bob Fitzgerald, Farmer))
Basically, this all I’ve lost on this farm, which is enough on this farm. Another farm down the road that basically they gave up farming, and the guy who is quite well off and is a hunter, he bought the whole farm. And he’s put berms around, and pumping in fresh water, so he has a wildlife refuge and a place to hunt.
((NATS))
((PKG)) FORESTS FROM MINES
((Banner: Forests from Mines))
((Reporter/Camera: Steve Baragona))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Elkins, West Virginia))
((Banner: Appalachia has lost 90% of its native red spruce forests. But reforestation presents challenges.))
((Chris Barton, University of Kentucky))
So, my name is Chris Barton. I’m a Professor of Forest Hydrology and Watershed Management at the University of Kentucky. Most of the areas that were mined in this region were forests prior to the mining. If you went out and planted trees on these sites, they just didn’t grow. The original topsoil that was here is usually buried, you know, tens to hundreds of feet deep. And the material that ends up becoming the topsoil is blasted-up rock. And so, the amount of organic matter or organic carbon in these soils is very, very limited, basically none. The ground was way too, you know, compacted. Water didn’t infiltrate. Roots can’t penetrate. Oxygen can’t circulate in those environments, and one of the things that we recognized was if we could get rid of the compaction, then that was probably the biggest attribute to getting the forest back.
((NATS))
((Chris Barton, University of Kentucky))
So, when we come in and we rip this up, we’re allowing not only those roots to get down deep, but they’re going to die, they’re going to turn over, and you start building up the carbon in these soils.
((Shane Jones, U.S. Forest Service))
From a big picture perspective, when you have red spruce growing in the over story, there are several things that happen. One, that canopy of that conifer tree, you have that canopy year-round. It keeps the temperatures down. It keeps it more cool and moist in the microclimate. And then also when red spruce is in the over story, there’s a complete different process going on with soil development, where the red spruce forest encourages development of a really deep organic horizon in the soil profile. That’s basically black dirt. It looks like potting soil, incredibly high in carbon, incredibly high in water retention, and you can go and look and see that organic horizon or that black soil that’s high in carbon, and you can pick it up and wring it out and actually see the water drain out of it.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: University of Kentucky))
((Chris Barton, University of Kentucky))
Here, in the temperate region of the world, in Appalachia, four hours away from Washington, DC, we have billions of trees that potentially we could be planting. So, here’s a great way for an individual to come out and actively do something about climate change. Not give money, not protest, but actively come out and do something to participate in improving the planet.
((NATS))
((PKG)) ALGAE SCRUBBER
((Banner: Algae Scrubber))
((Reporter/Camera: Steve Baragona))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Baltimore, Maryland))
((Banner: University of Maryland researchers are testing an algae-based system that can remove excess nutrients contained in runoff wastewater headed for the Chesapeake Bay))
((Peter May, University of Maryland))
This is an algal turf scrubber, a trade name. We’re calling it an algal flow way technology, and it is a technology that is ecologically engineered to use algae to strip nutrients and sediment out of the water body. This technology allows you to use the forces of nature, if you will, sunlight, photosynthesis, gravity flow. We’re pumping water from the river. And so that water, as it pulses down the flow way, stimulates algal attachment on the flow way, essentially creating a controlled algal bloom on land, which put the algae to work, pulling nutrients out of the water body and then creating algal biomass, which then needs to be harvested. In order to remove those nutrients and the sediment and carbon, you would need to harvest it. So, algae grows very fast. It’s the fastest growing organism on the planet. So, we harvest this about every week. That algae is collected on the flow way, and at the end, we have a large mass of algae that we’re producing every week. What do we do with that algae? You have to have an end use, otherwise you’re going to pile that algae up very quickly.
((NATS))
((Stephanie Lansing, University of Maryland))
So, this is algae that we took off the turf scrubber. And what we’re doing with this algae, this is biomass, that again, nutrients from the bay, there’s too much nutrients in the bay. The algae love it. The algae take up the nutrients in the biomass. But then, once you’ve harvested this algae, the question is what are you going to do with it. We actually put it into an anaerobic digestion system. In that digestion process, the bacteria break down this carbon material, and they produce methane biogas, methane-enriched biogas.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: Amro Hassanein))
((Stephanie Lansing, University of Maryland))
So, we collect this biogas, and then the biogas is used to run a fuel cell. The fuel cell is actually a very efficient way of using the energy. So, we use the biogas and that fuel cell can be used anywhere you need to put electricity in.
((NATS))
((Stephanie Lansing, University of Maryland))
But as you scale up, we have systems that are two megawatts, three megawatts, very large systems using this anaerobic digestion process. All you have to do is make the vessels bigger and put more materials inside.
((NATS))
((Peter May, University of Maryland))
Over wetlands, treatment wetlands, rain gardens, bio-swales, you name it, this will extract more nutrients per unit area when it’s running than any of those other systems. Very efficient at doing what it does.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Mother of the Hubble
((SOT))
I have no idea how I became interested in astronomy. Most children are interested in astronomy between the ages of 10 and 12 and I never outgrew it.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) NANCY GRACE ROMAN -- PIA
((Banner: An Eye in the Sky))
((Executive Producer: Marsha James))
((Camera: Kaveh Rezaei))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Nancy Grace Roman, Mother of the Hubble Telescope))
Well, I think science is very important in today's society. Much of our modern life depends on science and the background that science gives to engineering. The engineers trying to find out how. A scientist needs to find out why. We wouldn't have cell phones. We wouldn't even have refrigerators without basic science.
My name is Nancy Grace Roman and I'm known as the mother of a Hubble.
I have no idea how I became interested in astronomy. Most children are interested in astronomy between the ages of 10 and 12 and I never outgrew it. I wanted to know what stars were like, how they behaved and what astronomy was all about.
In my junior year, I went to my high school guidance teacher and asked for permission to take a second year of algebra instead of a fifth year of Latin. She looked down her nose at me and sneered, “what lady would take mathematics instead of Latin?” That was a general attitude towards women going into science. In spite of that, I made up my mind in seventh grade that I was going to be an astronomer.
((Photo Courtesy: Nancy Grace Roman))
It was about six months after NASA was formed that I was asked to set up the program in space astronomy or really I was not asked. I was asked if I knew anybody who would do it. I took that as an indication that they were asking me, and that was more than 50 years ago. And I think that parts of my program are still influencing astronomy.
One of the ways that astronomers study objects is to spread the light out into a rainbow. And that rainbow has lines which tell you what the object was made of, how hot it is, how dense it is. And it also tells you how fast the object is moving towards you or away from you. That was the main reason for the Hubble and why it was called the Hubble. However, it was used for all an awful lot of different purposes. It was used to study the planets, and particularly Jupiter and Saturn. It was used to study very distant objects such as galaxies, and it was used for studying almost everything in between. For the first 17 years I worked at NASA, I found out later that I was the highest woman in the organization. After that, NASA really made a major effort to hire women in senior positions. I'm not sure how I feel about being called the mother of the Hubble. I feel somewhat uncomfortable about it, I have to admit. I feel it's an honor and I'm not sure it isn’t justified. On the other hand, there were a lot of other people involved in getting the Hubble up and working also.
I will be remembered for the Hubble I'm sure. But I guess I would rather be remembered as a successful person and as a good human being.
NEXT WEEK / GOOD BYE ((VO/NAT))
((Banner: Coming soon))
((Popup Banner over video: The Damage Done: Allison))
((SOT: Allison Norland, Recovering Addict))
We're going to Jackson so I can pick up my prescriptions. Super Fun. It’s like the addict’s version of going to like the mall. I take Suboxone, I take two antidepressants, and then something to help me sleep. But I can't. I’m just so tired. I'm not living my best life. I'm living the life that is expected of me. And I'm so scared to step outside the lines because 'Oops Sawyer. We'll take Sawyer. You won't....You'll lose your daughter.'
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
BREAK THREE
Please note that this is the same video we used for Break Two
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
SHOW ENDS
((PKG)) PLOGGING
1st proofing done…..11 30 2018
((Banner: ))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry??))
((Camera: Adam Greenbaum & Mike Burke))
((Adapted by: ))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((BANNER: Plogging: A new fitness trend Originated in Sweden, Gains Popularity in America))
((NATS))
((JEFF HOROWITZ, PLOGGER AND PERSONAL TRAINER))
This is just my personal ethic, where I would go for a run, and if I happen to see a piece of garbage laying around and it's within my reach, it was a kind of a little test of mine to see if I can grab it and throw it in a nearby trash can without stopping. And then I come to find out this has actually become an international movement, that there are people all around the world now doing this.
As I understand, the name ‘Plogging’ originated in Sweden, using their language to combine picking up with jogging and you get plogging, I guess. And, it’s picked up now throughout the country and again around the world. Less of a sport than really just an approach to socialize with other people in a very positive, healthy way.
((NATS))
((DANA ALLEN, BLOGGER, SPORTS EVENT ORGANIZER))
I wouldn't say I do it all the time. Sometimes we get groups together on a Saturday or Sunday. We go for a run, we’ll pick up some garbage, then we’ll actually go for brunch after and we’ll kind of make a little bit of an event of it.
((NATS))
((JEFF HOROWITZ, PLOGGER AND PERSONAL TRAINER))
You can't just suddenly bend over in front of someone else. It’d become like a three stooges' event and everyone would fall over. You want to make sure that you kind of cover a little bit different territory. People kind of naturally fall into that role. So, if I'm a little bit more to the curb side, I'll look toward the gutter and someone else a little bit closer to the hedges, they fall into picking up there. So, you get a rhythm going between people.
((NATS))
MISSING SOME SOT TEXT HERE, PLEASE INSERT AND SEND ME AND I WILL ADD IT MYSELF, THANK YOU
((AZELL WASHINGTON, PLOGGER))
Big piece. Big piece. I feel much better. I'm rewarded myself, and then I'm looking out for everybody else that's going to be running in these streets as long as I will.
((NATS))
((DANA ALLEN, BLOGGER, SPORTS EVENT ORGANIZER))
I would just hope people would think twice before dropping their garbage on the ground. We have receptacles, seems like every block. So, it's easy to put your garbage in the trash, in the trashcans. I just think people should think about it a little bit more and be cognizant of, you know, keeping the city as beautiful as possible.
((NATS))
((JEFF HOROWITZ, PLOGGER AND PERSONAL TRAINER))
We didn't change the world, but we made it just a little bit better than it was.
((NATS))
