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Quick Guide & Transcript: Travelers face snow and rain, 'Tis the season for ethical gifts Quick Guide Ethical Gift Giving - Shop for some gifts that are more meaningful than material. No Males Necessary - Find out what kind of reptile can apparently reproduce without mating. Transcript DANIELLE ELIAS, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome to our last CNN Student News broadcast of 2006! From CNN Center, I'm Danielle Elias. It's the first day of winter... And no one knows that better than travelers in Colorado. See how an entire airport got socked in. It's the season for giving and getting. But there are alternatives to ties and electronics. Venture to some places where some simple gifts could have complex benefits. And it's not exactly what you'd expect from the jolly bearded man in red. Then again, nothing from Off the Beaten Path is exactly what you'd expect! First Up: Snowed In ELIAS: During the hectic holiday travel season, airport delays are expected. But nothing on the scale of what's happened in Denver. A blizzard dropped down on Denver, Colorado, this week, shutting down the Mile High City's international airport, leaving thousands without a flight. It's expected to reopen today, but Stan Nurnberger gives us a glimpse of what some stranded travelers have gone through. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STAN NURNBERGER, CNN: Colorado is covered with snow. Denver's under two feet of it, some surrounding areas, more. The airport doubled as a hotel last night. Thousands of travelers bedded down because the airport is still closed. STEVE SNYDER, DENVER INT'L AIRPORT: We passed out about a little over 1,000 blankets. We have bottled water. The Red Cross came out and provided additional supplies as well. Your heart goes out to them. NURNBERGER: This is only the third time Denver international airport has shut down in its 11 year history. The storm forced the closing of long stretches of three interstates. The National Guard was mobilized to help stranded motorists. Many schools are closed and even mail service has been halted for the day, from Colorado Springs to the Wyoming border. NURNBERGER: Down South, drivers had to navigate through flooded roads in New Orleans and neighboring Jefferson Parish. EMERGENCY OFFICIAL: We do have problems with water out here on the roadway. NURNBERGER: After heavy rain soaked the area with a foot of water or more. Pumping stations had a hard time keeping up. I'm Stan Nurnberger reporting from Atlanta. (END VIDEO CLIP) Shoutout DEANNA MORAWSKI, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Time for the Shoutout! Of these states, which receives the most annual snowfall on average? You know what to do! Is it: A) Colorado B) North Dakota C) Nevada D) Michigan? You've got three seconds--GO! Colorado gets the most here! Its snowiest one-day record was 63 inches back in 1913! That's your answer and that's your Shoutout! Ethical Gift Giving ELIAS: MP 3 players, video games, clothes, cell phones -- They're on holiday lists across the country this year, maybe yours. But for the person who already has everything, how about a goat or a toilet? May sound funny to you, but it could make a world of difference for someone a world away. Mallika Kapur looks at a shopping list that's more meaningful than material. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN: $3500 can get you a class room in Kenya. A fraction of that -- $48 -- Means you can give a goat to a family in Rwanda. $20 gets you fishing boats and nets for Sri Lanka. These are called "ethical gifts." Instead of giving your loved one say, a sweater for Christmas, you tell them you're giving money -- on their behalf -- to build a toilet in Angola. The group Oxfam works to try and end poverty in the world. It has sold 700,000 of these kind of gifts since 2004. SALVATORE LASPADA, CEO, INSTITUTE FOR PHILANTHROPY: There's a kind of gift fatigue or token gift fatigue out there. typically, we have so many things that people are wondering, what else can I give someone? What can I give someone that is meaningful. They already have a tie, an iPod, whatever, what could l give that could be special, and many people are turning to ethical gift giving. KAPUR: The most popular gifts, says Oxfam, are animals. The group says it sold more than 12,000 donkeys last year. That's as many as 80 Eiffel Towers stacked atop one another. But there are questions about just how ethical ethical giving is. Some critics say giving animals can make a poor community poorer. ANDREW TYLER, ANIMAL AID: You have to give them water, give them land, or they will die and they are dying in large numbers. It's an inefficient way of producing food for people. KAPUR: But Oxfam disagrees. RACHEL BROWN, OXFAM: I don't think I grasped how important an animal could be to the life of people living in poverty. but I met women who before they got animals from Oxfam, were earning 30p a day, working in fields when there was work. Since they've had an Oxfam donkey, transporting people and their belongings, they are now earning ￡2.50 a day. It's giving them dignity to earn their own living. KAPUR: And it's giving folks in developed countries an alternative to yet another sweater this holiday season. A chance to give the Christmas spirit of goodwill towards man new meaning. Mallika Kapur, CNN, London. (END VIDEO CLIP) Is This Legit? MORAWSKI: Is This Legit? Komodo dragons are native to Japan. Not Legit! You'd find these reptiles on Komodo Island and other islands in Indonesia. No Males Necessary ELIAS: Not to mention a few zoos here and there. Komodo dragons are now a protected species because they almost became extinct. But scientists are finding that their chances for survival may be better than previously thought: It seems these dragons are able to reproduce asexually, which means without mating. Rupert Evelyn is at the London Zoo with a perfect example. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUPERT EVELYN, ITN REPORTER: The idea of virgin birth at Christmas is nothing new. But while Mary is the usual name we associate it with, this year, Laura the Komodo Dragon from Chester is in on the act. Because of her highly adaptable ability to survive, it's possible that come Christmas day, her eggs will hatch with no help whatsoever from a father. A type of reproduction known as parthenogenesis. EVELYN: So while in Chester, they're waiting for eggs to hatch, here in London, there are four parthenogens that are fit and healthy. They were born back in April, just like those eggs up in Chester, there was no need for a man to help them into the world. EVELYN: Asexual reproduction is extremely rare. And the discovery that Komodo Dragons have the ability to do it took scientists by surprise. RICHARD GIBSON, REPTILE CURATOR: When it does turn up in an animal, like a Komodo dragon or in the past, a python or a rattlesnake, it's usually considered to be abnormal. But what we have here, and what we've reported in this paper is that we've got two female Komodo dragons, totally unrelated, one here in London, and one at the Chester Zoo, who've both reproduced with this asexual mechanism in the space of a year. And this suggests that maybe, just maybe, it's much more common or prevalent, than we might have previously thought. So we should be looking elsewhere. EVELYN: The Komodo is the world's largest lizard and has ancestors dating back millions of years. So it's possible their successful survival is all down to their highly developed means of reproducing. Rupert Evelyn, ITV News, at London Zoo. (END VIDEO CLIP) Promo ELIAS: Even though school will be out, you teachers won't want to miss taping the next two CNN Presents Classroom Editions. "We Were Warned: Tomorrow's Oil Crisis" airs Christmas Day. And a special linking health to happiness airs New Year's Day! For show times and classroom materials: CNN.com/EDUCATION! Off the Beaten Path ELIAS: Everybody has a different way of getting in the holiday spirit. Carl Azuz found some of the weirder ones on his latest trip Off the Beaten Path! (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: You know it's December when things look up...Santa's bulk up...And reindeer wind up in places they were never meant to be. Exhibit A: Looks like the big man's been doing a little training for his big night! The so-called "world's strongest Santa" flexed his holiday spirit by dragging a 50,000 pound big rig 30 feet in under 30 seconds. This isn't merely a manly manifestation of muscle massiveness. The former Marine used his talent to raise money for Toys for Tots. So if he asks you to contribute...you'd better. AZUZ: However much muscle he packs on, he'll never be this big. Children who aren't terrified by this 30-foot super Santa can actually make him move his limbs. That's more than you'll be doing after holiday turkey! Probably be a good idea keep Geppetto away from this puppet -- add a little magic, and you'll have a community-crushing Christmas crime scene instead of a silent night! And while we're being morbid...Sink your teeth into this. It's a real-life reindeer hotdog, which is why a popular song warns, "Run, run Rudolph!" This is what happens to the slower, non-magical reindeer. MAN: I think it tastes good. AZUZ: Well whatever you do, buddy, don't let Santa's sleigh team find out. Who knows what you'll find on your roof Christmas morning? This is Carl Azuz wishing all of you Happy Holidays from Off the Beaten Path! (END VIDEO CLIP) Goodbye ELIAS: And the rest of us here at CNN Student News also wish you all the best. Have a happy and safe holiday season, and be sure to join us January 3rd, when we return from the break! |
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