Planet in Peril, part 2

As I watched part 2 of Planet in Peril I kept wondering how I could summarize all that I was seeing, learning and absorbing. After hearing Anderson's summary I knew I couldn't even come close to putting it as succinctly and eloquently as he.

"Investigating our Planet in Peril has taken us to thirteen countries on four continents. We've meet literally hundreds of people along the way, some of whom you've been introduced to over the past two nights. Everywhere we've gone we've been told the same thing 'None of what's happening is occurring in a vacuum'. In all these places, all these problems are interconnected.
In the Amazon, along poachers trails, in the hidden villages, you can smell the smoke from the burning forests. From the air you really get a sense of just how much the rain forest has been destroyed. You can see the scars made my man. Plants and animals lost forever, gases released warm the world. In the icy expanse of Greenland, land and sky seem frozen forever. The danger is hard to see with the naked eye. The ice melts, the seas will rise, how much, how fast, a matter of debate. But tens of millions will be affected in this century.
Already polar bear's behavior is changing, already small islands slip beneath the sea. More people are born, economies boom, we consume and grow more each passing year. By 2050 there will be 50% more people on the planet than there are right now.
In America the discussion seems mired in politics. Sceptics, believers, liberals, conservatives, it all seems so theoretical. Environmentalism, the pet project of the rich, the cause for celebs.
But travel the world and the issues are real. Struggles for land, fights over resources. People drink from polluted rivers in China and die in broken villages, invisible from the gleaming towers of Beijing.
In Asia and Africa plants and animals are ripped from the forest, species disappearing at a thousand times the natural rate of extinction. What should be done, what can be done? That's where the real debate is now. We set out to report, not be advocates. No agenda. We've seen the front lines, the facts on the ground. Overpopulation. Deforestation. Species loss. Climate change. Nothing happens in a vacuum. What happens in one place now affects us all." ~ Anderson Cooper





CNN's great promotion of Planet in Peril paid off. Here are the overnight's. To read a more detailed interpretation check out All Things CNN.

CNN’s Worldwide Investigation Planet in Peril led the competition in P25-54 from 9-11pm. In addition, CNN delivered the most P25-54 viewers throughout the day and prime time.

TOTAL DAY P25-54 (3a-3a)
CNN: 297k
FNC: 282k
MSNBC: 150k

PRIME TIME P25-54 (8-11pm)
CNN: 540k
FNC: 518k
MSNBC: 311k

AC 360 on Wednesday was broadcast again from Southern California. It seemed like a better plan to see Anderson out in the field, rather than at Qualcomm Stadium. Those people behind him, on Tuesday night, talking on cell phones was very distracting. My TIVO didn't take well to CNN's scrambled schedule. I have no idea what went wrong, but I do not have much of a record of the California wildfire broadcasts, from Wednesday night. Here are a few screen grabs.




I'm not sure what to expect on Thursday night, will the 360 team and Anderson still be in California? At the time of my posting the CNN home page says "The fire, the fatique and the fight to save homes and lives. Watch 'AC 360°' for continuing coverage of the devastation. Thurs, 10 ET." I guess we'll just need to stay tuned.