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The AIH Transcript for February 5, 2019

Hosts: Carol Off and Saroja Coelho

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello I'm Carol Off.

SAROJA COELHO: Good evening I'm Saroja Coelho, sitting in for Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

SC: Tonight...

CO: Spinning out of control. Three rail workers are dead after a train derailed in B.C. on Monday -- now the Transportation Safety Board says it just started rolling on its own.

SC: All in the same boat. Amid political and economic chaos in Venezuela, more and more ships that usually transport oil to and from that country are just floating in the Gulf of Mexico.

CO: Misery repeats itself. Yazidi women who were used as sex slaves by Islamic extremists are now reliving their nightmare -- targeted in Canada, with threatening text messages and phone calls.

SC: It never rains, then it pours. A drought in Townsville, Australia ends dramatically and disastrously when more than a metre of rain falls in just 10 days -- and there's more in the forecast.

CO: Protruder alert. Years after he saw an island form after a volcanic eruption via satellite -- our guest pays an actual visit to the formation and reflects on its rise to prominence.

SC: And...down memory-stick lane. Researchers in New Zealand are looking for the owner of a USB drive that somehow wound up inside a seal and made its way out in the usual fashion. As It Happens. The Tuesday Edition. Radio that apologizes for the information dump.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Yazidi women who escaped ISIS now facing threats, harassment in Canada

Train accident

Guest: Harry Gow

SC: There's a lot we still don't know about what led to the fatal train derailment on a pass through the Rocky Mountains near Field, B.C. early Monday morning. In an update earlier today the Transportation Safety Board explained that the parked train began to move on its own, killing three crew members. But its investigation is only beginning. Harry Gow has studied other horrific train accidents. He's the president emeritus of the consumer advocacy group Transportation Action Canada. We reached him in Saint Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.

CO: Mr. Gow what do we know at this point about how this train accident happened?

HARRY GOW: What we know is that it apparently got away from the crew. No fault of theirs according to the Transportation Safety Board. And according to the members of the union that they belong to, the three crew members, they believe the train was doing twice the speed limit -- which would be 32 kilometre or 20 miles per hour -- so it would have probably been doing 40 miles an hour, which is a bad idea when you're coming onto a curve and going over a bridge.

CO: And how did they lose control of the train?

HG: Brakes seemed to fail. That can happen to the best of trains and the best of cars and trucks. And you know they were sitting there for two hours at the top of the hill waiting for a new crew to come in and replace a crew that had worked enough hours that they couldn't work anymore legally. So it sat and waited and possibly, this is just a guess, the air pressure in the brake line could have been lost for some reason -- whether condensation on the line or blocking or some mechanical defect perhaps -- althought I doubt it -- and the train gradually began to move just like Lac-Megantic, and the crew couldn't do anything about it really.

CO: We are just going to say that so much like Lac-Megantic and that those air brakes failed, they had been on for too long, the train had been sitting on a grade, and again in that situation no handbrake supplied on this train?

HG: They had hand brakes but the problem is you have to go out in 20 below weather and set maybe, I don't know for that train, probably a couple of score breaks [chuckles] -- it takes a long long time, more than an hour for a train like that -- even with three people working away -- and then it's another hour to take the brakes off before you go down the hill. So not only do you spend all that time that your train is sitting there, you can't do it during that two hours while the crew is being replaced because we have to remember the crew had work its hours.

CO: And you know that region, that stretch of track, that rail -- what's it like? What would have happened as they were going at that speed?

HG: In a more gentle way, it is something like a roller coaster. What would happen is you're going at that speed and you hit a curve -- the curves in the mountain are often tighter than they might be say on the flats here in central Quebec, so that means that the centrifugal force of the locomotive -- so that cars can mean that some of them come off the track and this is apparently what happened.

CO: And this is an area called Kicking Horse Pass which is well known isn't it? It's quite famous. What's it like there?

HG: Mountainous. Listen if I said that cathedral Mountain is the terrain that most of the track is on -- as it comes over the lip of the land divide between Alberta and B.C. it goes down a long way and into a very deep valley, Kicking Horse Valley. And takes quite a while to work your way down into it. There are three spiral tunnels on the way down and they only made it through the first spiral tunnel and then the train went crazy.

CO: But from a transportation point of view, this is one of the most dangerous passes in North America isn't it?

HG: I guess so yeah.

CO: This train after it lost control, went off the tracks, derailed, went 60 metres from a bridge that fell with these three men. And I just want to name them: the conductor was Dylan Paradis, the engineer was Andrew Dockrell, and there was a trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer. They had just begun their shift, right, because as you were saying that the crew that had been there who had set the brake they'd been already working too many hours or close to too many hours -- they were leaving. So had the train even started up? As far as you know, had they even begun their stretch of the journey?

HG: No I believe the train started moving before the people were ready to engage the throttle and get it going. I don't think -- from what I hear -- that they had made it move at all -- it moved on its own.

CO: Which is again so much like Lac-Megantic. And so what are the lessons that need to be learned or haven't been learned? Because there have been -- the numbers of fatalities and accidents are not huge but they've been bad. I mean there have been three dozen non-fatal CP rail derailments in the same area apparently -- and since 2004 -- and there was one just last month. So what's the safety score at this point in your view?

HG: It's very hard to say. I believe Canadian Pacific does due diligence on that line. I've often observed operations on that line and ridden trains through that area -- and I can't think of anything that CP would be doing currently that would be derelict of duty. I think what we have to look at is the future. There may be a future in something called Electronic Control Braking where electronically controlled braking sends a message to the braking system instantly rather than working its way through the train line which can take more than a few seconds I'll say that. But that particular improvement has been looked at by the Canadian railways and so far not implemented because they think there are other things they should be doing that would be more beneficial to safety and less expensive. However it's there you know in people's minds that maybe they should go to the new braking control system. But I don't know if that would have helped in this particular case -- that's the sad part.

CO: We haven't got a lot of data from the train yet. There's still a lot of unanswered questions. But what you have been saying is what they have now released from the Transportation Safety Board. What, for you, is the most burning question you want answered?

HG: I think the most burning question would be what further measures can the railway take to mitigate the very high altitude-steep, relatively steep, grades and the curves. There doesn't seem to be a lot but for the moment I think all we can hope for is that braking systems be improved.

CO: All right we'll have to leave it there. And I appreciate you speaking with us Mr. Gow. Thank you.

HG: Well it's a pleasure. It's a sad time and my condolences to the people involved.

CO: It certainly is. Thank you.

HG: Thank you.

SC: Harry Gow is the president emeritus of Transport Action Canada. We reached him in Saint Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.

[Music]

Yazidi harassment

Guest: Majed el-Shafie

SC: They would be disturbing communications for anyone to receive. But the recipients in this case were Yazidi refugees -- women who were abused and sold as ISIS sex slaves before finding refuge in Canada. Last week five women and one 14-year-old girl filed reports with York Region police, north of Toronto. They detailed threatening text messages, phone calls, videos, and photographs they had received which referenced rape and Islamic State. Reverend Majed el-Shafie has been helping the women. He's th founder of One Free World International, a human rights organization that advocates for religious minorities. We reached him in Toronto. A warning: that parts of this interview are disturbing.

CO: Reverend el-Shafie, how did you learn that these Yazidi women had received these very disturbing messages and phone calls?

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: They reach out to me, and they reach out to our organization -- and the woman was so scared and terrified -- because we have a good relationship with them, and they trust us and we've been there for them for the beginning. So we immediately reach out to them and that's when we contacted the authorities.

CO: And the police -- their only statement about this, they're investigating it, they say they have six victims who have been threatened over the phone. So as disturbing as this is, can you give us a sense of what kinds of threats these women received?

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: They received pictures of ISIS fighters beheading some innocent person. They received pictures of ISIS fighters holding machine guns. They received very horrible messages, and voice messages -- threatening them, insulting them. In one of the messages, the criminal was saying you know we will rape as we did in Syria -- we'll rape you again in Canada. You know the ISIS fighter on the other line tell them we know that you are in Canada -- we know that you are in Toronto -- we are coming to get you.

CO: Oh my gosh.

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: Some of the swear words -- that I cannot obviously say on the radio, we will kill you! We'll crucify you! We'll rape you again -- these were the messages that was delivered to them.

CO: And these people who are calling, they were speaking and writing Arabic?

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: They were speaking in Arabic and writing in Arabic. I hear some of the messages -- and I spoke, who was one of the fighters -- I spoke with one of these criminals -- and I can tell you that that is three different voices. One is a Syrian Arabic accent. One is a Moroccan. And Algerian accent. So I'm Egyptian background so I know very well the Arabic language of course.

CO: I'm just curious what you're referring to when you say that you spoke with one of them, what happened?

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: He called one of the survivors, and immediately the survivors put me on the speaker and contact me by phone so he could hear me through the speaker. I immediately ask him if you are ISIS or not. I told him doesn't matter what you do -- you will never win this battle. Immediately when he hears my voice he ran away and he just close the phone.

CO: And have you told the police that you actually had a conversation with one of these men?

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: Yeah we have informed the authorities. We've been in very close range with the authorities -- with York Regional Police, with their intelligence units and so on. The policing community in general -- they are doing a great job. They're trying their best to answer two questions really: who's making these calls and from where? And who leaked this information? These calls is coming on Whatsapp -- that means that somebody leaked their private phone numbers to ISIS fighters. So I believe that the policing community are working on this two issues.

CO: It's extraordinary. And I understand one of these six victims of these calls is a 14-year-old girl.

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: That's correct yes.

CO: Just to finish with your conversation with one of these men, have the calls ceased since you intervened?

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: No. Some of the survivors -- we had to change their phone numbers because they couldn't take it. Some of them simply just blocked it. And as of this coming Sunday we are starting an emergency psychology session for the survivors that received the call and an order just to ensure them the recovery mentally health wise.

CO: We have, as all news agencies have done, is cover the story of these Yazidi women and what happened to them and the horrors they have already gone through. And you said that this is obviously re-traumatizing them. Remind people what these women went through before they came to Canada.

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: It is the most horrible genocide that we can even imagine in our modern history. From losing their family members -- father, son, daughters, being killed in front of them -- all the way to being captured by ISIS and used as a sex slave. (They) was raped, gang raped, sold in some cases --15-20 times in a very short period of time -- tortured. And basically even some of their family members are still in the hands of ISIS -- that they don't know what has happened to them. So they come here to Canada hoping for a new life, for healing from the trauma, and now these calls obviously is like opening an old wound and put salt on it. It definitely was very traumatic for them, and we are working on the recovery.

CO: You mentioned the 14-year-old would have been -- well she's a teenager now -- but a child when she suffered all of this. And how is she doing?

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: The whole community is shaking. Like some of them we have to remove them from their home immediately and relocate them in another place just to bring comfort to them. I witnessed that some of them stopped eating out of fear. Stopped sleeping out of fear. And we had to do something to heal this wound immediately.

CO: The concern that the calls might be coming locally or from Canada -- and some of the calls seemed to have come through Canadian numbers -- but there's ways of doing that. So any indication, any sense, of whether or not these men are here?

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: Every possibility is on the table and this is something that as I said the policing community have to respond. Some of the phone numbers came from Toronto. Some came from Calgary. With the technology of today you can have an app where you can call from anywhere to anywhere -- so the only way to figure that out is basically the intelligence-security system or York Regional Police have to use their technology in order to clarify that.

CO: I know you have been helping these Yazidi women. And I know you were involved with also with Nadia Murad, who is a Yazidi woman who shared the Nobel Peace Prize. And so you know so well just how difficult it is for these women to survive. Do they have a circle of support here?

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: I would tell you the trauma that this ladies has faced -- I don't believe that their support is enough here within the Canadian government per se. I don't think that the Canadian government was able or capable in understanding the trauma that they went through. But it's not only about the Canadian government -- it is the Canadian people. I witness a Canadian bus driver that picked them without taking money for their ticket. I witnessed a cab driver will take them up for free. A grocery store will deliver them food for free. We have psychologists that they're volunteering their time. We have one of the best lawyers you know helping them. Their support mainly coming from the Canadian people. But I wouldn't say from the Canadian government.

CO: Reverend el-Shafie we will continue to follow this story. And it's just so troubling. I appreciate you being with them and speaking with us. Thank you.

MAJED EL-SHAFIE: It's an honour. Thank you so much.

SC: Reverend Majed el-Shafie is the founder of One Free World International. We reached him in Toronto. For more details on this story go to our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

USB seal

Guest: Krista Hupman

SC: You expect a USB stick to come out of a computer. You expect something quite different to come out of a seal. But a team of researchers in New Zealand recently found those two things combined. A USB stick in the frozen feces of a leopard seal. And it still works. Krista Hupman is a marine mammal biologist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research who was working with the seal scat. We reached her in Auckland, New Zealand.

CO: Krista I'm sure you can find a lot of things in animal scat, but did you ever expect to find a USB stick?

KRISTA HUPMAN: No not at all. I mean to see plastic in scat samples is always disappointing. But yes something like a whole USB stick -- let alone getting it to work -- was definitely not expected.

CO: So how did you come to find it? Who found it?

KH: Yeah so I have research assistants which helped me with the scat analysis. And so we usually keep scat in the freezer until a time where we can process it. And so it's been in the freezer since 2017. And we only pulled it out just recently to do the scat analysis. And two my research assistants found the USB, and obviously were quite alarmed that you know they had found something like that in a scat. And they even thought, how did it get here? Did someone drop it in there? But then they said it was quite enmeshed in the scat sample. So I really don't think it was an accident. I think actually it's been ingested. So yeah it was a big surprise for all of us.

CO: And this was a leopard seal feces that you're looking at.

KH: Definitely. Yes leopard seal.

CO: Okay. This is first of all surprising, and also as you mentioned distressing to find a USB stick that has been passed through a leopard seal butt. In fact this USB stick actually works.

KH: Yes. Yeah we dried it out over a period of about three weeks. We used a hairdryer to bring it back to life. And luckily enough we were able to recover some photos. Yeah we had some photographs of New Zealand fur seal, and then a few videos of a kayaker who is observing these fur seals. So yeah the only clue to who owns it was that it's a blue kayak. So we're trying to find out who may be missing their photos.

CO: No images of people in those except for the seals?

KH: No. No images of people -- just very weirdly a kayak with some New Zealand fur seals. And that is our any clue as to who might own it.

CO: And are you trying to find out whose photos they are?

KH: Yeah definitely. I mean it would be great just for novelty I think to find out if somebody is missing their USB stick and find out how it got to be on the beach where the leopard seal was. I think that would be a neat story.

CO: Is there anything you could learn from those people that would help in your research?

KH: I guess just to solve the mystery is helpful. But as far as our research I think it speaks for itself that you know an animal like a leopard seal ingesting plastic I think yeah for our research that's something that's obviously of concern.

CO: How often do you find plastic in the innards and the scats of these animals?

KH: We find small micro-plastics quite often. But to actual find a whole piece like something like a USB is quite rare. So we do have a few other samples which were found to have plastic parts in, but not as common as you would think. But yes small micro-plastics unfortunately are found in most of the scat samples.

CO: Is there a chance that the person who maybe took those pictures does not want to fess up that they were in a way contributing to those plastic congestions of these seals?

KH: Yeah I mean I guess for something like a USB stick it's not your normal plastic item that you would discard. So I'd say you know it's obviously definitely accidental --someone wouldn't purposely just you know discard of that. So yeah that's sort of not my biggest concern. But I mean the other plastic items that we do find you know I guess it's a reminder to everybody that you know any plastic that you discard anywhere can end up in our sea and maybe even inside a leopard seal.

CO: Can you identify where the pictures were taken? Like part...

KH: Yes. Yes some the photos were named Porpoise Bay -- so we at least know the location that it was taken. But yeah we do have a mystery of who owns them.

CO: And is that where -- the feces that were collected -- was it close to Porpoise Bay?

KH: No it wasn't actually. No. So the place where the feces were collected is a place called Invercargill. So yeah not close but maybe someone was a keen seal watcher and maybe they had been observing fur seal somewhere else and had been observing this leopard seal in Invercargill. So I guess that's the story that they could only solve for us.

CO: So it doesn't tell you anything about the movements of leopard seals except the movement of a blue kayak.

KH: Exactly. Yep, the movement of the person.

CO: What are you doing to reunite the owner with the USB stick?

KH: Well we have put out a news release yesterday which has been picked up by quite a number of sources. So apparently this morning I have heard that there were four people that claim it's their USB, so we now have a fight of whose USB it actually is. The next step will be trying to identify the brand of the USB. I'm out of town at the moment, but yeah as soon as I'm back in the office we'll find out the brand and see if out of those four people, one of them can recognize the actual USB stick.

CO: And what do they have to do in order to get their stick back?

KH: Well we claim that want more scat samples, so we would like scat samples from all around the country. And there is something that is quite hard to come by, and people don't normally think that anybody would be interested in such a thing. So yes that's what we're claiming -- that whoever is involved is now going to become our new research assistant and must collect scat samples whenever they are observing seals.

CO: They have to trade some leopard seal poo for their stick?

KH: Exactly. That's the deal. [Laughter]

CO: It's quite a deal.

KH: Not many people would be excited by getting deliveries of poo, but for science it is quite cool.

CO: Krista it's good to talk to you. Thank you.

KH: No worries. Thank you for your time.

SC: Krista Hupman is a marine mammal biologist. We reached her in Auckland, New Zealand. And there's more on that story, including a video of a frolicking seal, on the As It Happens website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

French fires

SC: Climate change is apocalyptic. But as apocalypses go, it has some serious marketing problems. One of which is that it's such a gigantic phenomenon, it's hard to get a handle on. What will it take for people to realize the enormity of the catastrophe? Maybe something small, but vitally important. Something like French fries. The Climate Coalition -- a group made of 130 different organizations -- has just issued a report called "Recipe For Disaster." The subtitle: "How climate change is impacting British fruit and vegetables." The opening paragraph of the abstract points out a serious drop in the country's apple, carrot, onion, and potato crops. And concludes with the only sentence printed in bold, quote, "For consumers the lack of water and extreme heat of 2018 was reported to have cut more than one inch off the size of the average chip." And there it is...or maybe. The fact that might finally convince us all to take climate change seriously, because it's seriously shrinking our chips or French fries, translated from British. That's hardly the point of the Climate Coalition's report of course. But it does seem to be hoping that one simple fact will finally make the gravity of the situation sink in. That the way to humanity's brain is through its stomach.

[Music]

Part 2: This young volcanic island wasn't expected to last — but it may be around for years

Venezuela oil tankers

Guest: Scott Modell

SC: Oil tankers are backing up in the Gulf of Mexico. They would normally be hauling Venezuela's heavy crude for refining in the United States -- or returning with gasoline to keep the country's vehicles on the road. But as part of the international campaign to push Nicolas Maduro from power, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Venezuela's state oil company PdVSA -- and its U.S. subsidiary Citgo. That has oil executives putting business on hold. Scott Modell is the managing director of an oil consulting company called the Rapidan Energy Group. He's also a former CIA officer. We reached Mr. Modell in Washington, D.C.

CO: Mr. Modell what does the oil in those tanker -- what does it represent to Nicolas Maduro and his hold on power in Venezuela?

SCOTT MODELL: The oil in those tankers represents -- it's very symbolic, but it's also very painful -- it shows Nicolas Maduro that the walls are closing in, that he better figure out a way to find alternative buyers, that everybody who used to buy his crude is finding it very very scary to continue to do so. But it actually comes down to dollars and cents. Without being able to move those barrels, and he can't move them to the US anymore without actually freezing those funds, it's actually a call for emergency and he has to find alternatives. And that pile up is an alarm bell or it should be.

CO: But the United States can still [inaudible] that refiners can still buy oil from Venezuela, right? It's just that the money cannot go to the Maduro regime.

SM: Exactly. That's exactly right. They can still buy it for another 90 days -- they wanted to give them a wind down period and that's what they're doing. But that money is frozen in an account and it will not go back to the Maduro regime. The Trump administration, just like with Iran, has been very clear that their strategy is about revenue strangulation and they do not want the money to get back to Maduro and the ruling Chavista mafia establishment. And that's what they're doing.

CO: But now what's the endgame here? Is there a belief that that will be enough to push Nicolas Maduro from power?

SM: There is a belief that they will not stop at anything short of regime change. They feel like they've crossed the Rubicon and they're not looking back -- and that this pressure is the beginning. This may not be the last step they take. They're still weighing more you know additional pressure steps. It's sort of the ball is in Maduro's court. But they believe that this will lead to regime change. And I'll tell you what I think they're thinking more like days to weeks than months.

CO: When you say they you mean the U.S. administration?

SM: The administration yes.

CO: But when you say okay that they want to see this happen rapidly, so it's not just the oil, right? I mean there has been discussion of some kind of a military intervention or military support. Is that part of the game?

SM: When you talk to administration officials they say all options are on the table. I personally think we have several rungs on the escalation ladder before we get to any serious discussion of military intervention. I think that they're looking at the use of the military on Venezuelan borders -- maybe as a potential first step to help sending in humanitarian aid, helping refugee flows, you know border control and so forth. And actually if there is a future amnesty for members of the military who are afraid to raise their hand and actually volunteer to do that now, sort of an escape hatch -- a way for them to exit the country. I think there's several things to do, but a U.S. military invasion I think is much further down the road.

CO: But doesn't all of this play into the hands to some extent of Nicolas Maduro? Because if anything we've heard from all those who are critical of what's going on and the pressure on him and the support for Juan Guaido who has declared himself the interim president -- they're pointing out, look at this U.S. intervention, look at the Americans meddling in our affairs, look at how they're trying to get regime change. And you've just said that that's the end game, a regime change. So all of this speaks to American imperialism, and you know how that plays in Latin America. So doesn't this actually to some extent help Nicolas Maduro?

SM: If you would have asked me that two years ago or a year ago I would say it would have been perfect fodder for Maduro to say, see the Yankees up north are up to no good -- they're doing what they've always done and that is intervene in Latin American affairs, bullying us around. But I would say the difference now, and the administration took a while to get to this point -- I mean there was a lot of handwringing and discussion in the administration about going to this level of pressure for that very reason. But I think that the humanitarian crisis has gotten so bad, the idea of another five or six years of Maduro, which he basically said is going to happen when he reinvigorated himself on January 10th, was too much to take. And I think the Trump administration has been very clear -- get others in different places to do more. So he's had (Mauricio) Macri in Argentina. He now has (Jair) Bolsonaro in Brazil. There is a shift to the right in the region. He's going to take advantage of it. He's going to work with international organizations, regional organizations, and he's going to make a very big multilateral pressure campaign. This is part of it. I think he feels like he is on the right side of this. Even the European Union is behind it. So I think he felt like this was the right time to act. He had nothing to lose and that even if there is some internal use of this by Maduro and the remaining elements of the Bolivarian regime that it's far outweighed by just about everybody outside of Venezuela being on his side.

CO: What opportunities are there for U.S. oil companies in all of this?

SM: Massive opportunities. I would say that the administration is taking a very close look right now at sort of what an oil production recovery would look like. To give you an idea, they're producing about 1.1 to 1.2-million barrels a day. At their peak they were three times that. So there is tremendous potential but it's going to take a lot of investment, a lot of western expertise, a reintegration of western oil companies in a much deeper way. But there is tremendous upside in terms of getting those barrels back on line and getting back to traditional levels of production. And I think the administration is well aware of that. It's in our backyard -- we are the best suited to do it. And if anybody's going to come in, integrate, help rebuild the Venezuelan state -- The White House thinks that who better than the Chevrons of the world and those people who have worked in this sector and other U.S. companies that should be there.

CO: But how is that going to play? I mean that's exactly what was the issue with the invasion of Iraq -- the same argument, that well the United States isn't going there for regime change, well it's going there for regime change, but is looking after its oil interests. I mean aren't there going to be the same international accusations against United States here that what they're really after is their own corporate interests?

SM: I would think so. I would think so. But remember though I think the international oil companies that will be in there, oil service companies and the big oil majors, are from Europe, they're from the United States, Russian and Chinese companies are there as well -- I think they're going to have a more difficult time with a post-Maduro government that will be tilting toward the west I think -- it's fair to say -- so you won't have a total balance of foreign oil companies working there, and it will definitely be pro-western leaning. But I am not sure that the Trump administration is really concerned about that. I think they see this as the right play to do. And again I think they're willing to look beyond that.

CO: All right we'll leave it there. Mr. Modell thank you.

SM: Thank you very much for having me.

SC: Scott Modell is the managing director of an oil consulting company called the Rapidan Energy Group. He's also a former CIA officer. We reached Mr. Modell in Washington, D.C. Today, Canada updated its travel advisory for Venezuela. Canadians are now being advised to quote, "avoid all travel due to the significant level of violent crime, the unstable political and economic situations, and the decline in basic living conditions including shortages of medication, food staples, and water."

[Music]

Julie Adams

SC: Julie Adams skyrocketed to fame by swimming with a sea monster.

SOUNDCLIP

[Intense music]

VOICE 1: Hurry James!

VOICE 2: Almost got it.

[Woman screams]

SC: A clip there from the 1954 cult classic, "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" -- featuring the piercing screams of actress Julie Adams, emitted when she was seized by a sea creature, who later fell in love with her. Ms. Adams died on Sunday. She was 92. Over six decades, Julie Adams starred in more than 50 films. From low-budget westerns all the way to films like "Tickle Me" with Elvis Presley. But that one role in that one movie stuck with her, her whole life. She once said, "No matter what you do people will always say 'Oh Julie Adams -- Creature from the Black Lagoon.'" In 2013, Ms. Adams went back home to Little Rock for a film exhibit called "Lights! Camera! Arkansas!" Here she is at that event, talking about how she first got started in showbiz.

SOUNDCLIP

JULIE ADAMS: I was in a play in the third grade. It was Hansel and Gretel. And in the middle of the play, one of the kids forgot his lines. And there was this dreadful pause. And I ad-libbed and saved the day. And I felt this flush of power. [Chuckles] And I thought, oh I want to keep feeling like -- this is a great feeling. And I think that's the day the bug bit me. And then I had kind of an aunt who lived in Long Beach and she said if you ever want to come to California to have a go at being an actress I'll help you. And I went to some of the talent scouts around town and they said you'll have to lose your southern accent. And I said, what accent? [Laughs] And then I began to go and audition at studios and so on. And Sophie Rosenstein who was the head of talent at Universal, she liked me. I think I read for a role in Bright Victory -- a very good movie with Arthur Kennedy and Peggy Dow. They said to me, can you do a southern accent? I said I think I can -- [Laughter] all these years of working to lose a southern accent. At that time under contract you would finish one project and you'd say, well what's next? “Creature from the what?” You know. I'd been working with James Stewart and Arthur Kennedy and all these things -- and I thought, well gosh if I turn this thing down they'll put me on suspension, I won't get paid, and what the hey -- it might be fun. So I said okay. And it was fun. It was fun. It was well directed. And as we know it's become a classic, so I'm awfully glad I didn't turn it down. [Laughs]

SC: Julie Adams speaking about the film The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Ms. Adams died on Sunday. She was 92 years old.

[Music]

New island

Guest: Dan Slayback

SC: Nobody expected it to survive past a few months. The tiny Tongan island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai was formed in 2015 from a mass of ash and rock that settled after a huge underwater volcanic eruption. Normally those kinds of volcanic islands are quickly swallowed by the sea. But this one seems intent on sticking it out and continuing to stick out. After years of looking at the little island through satellite images, Dan Slayback recently got a chance to visit it in person. He's a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. We reached him in Greenbelt, Maryland.

CO: Dan what does it look like to be on this island?

DAN SLAYBACK: Well it's pretty variable, it's pretty stark, because basically when you first land it's black sand -- well it is not quite sand -- it's more like gravel beaches. So it's this kind of black and white landscape. But there are the older islands adjoining it and the one in particular has a rainforest on top of it. So there's this old island with dense greenery on it you know adjacent to this black and white new landscape.

CO: You take some students and go there. Did you just get lucky? Did you win a lottery in order to get there?

DS: I did win the lottery [chuckles]. They were planning to go -- so this is the Sea Educational Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts -- and they run these tall ships, these brigantine tall ships -- which are kind of crazy if you have never been on one before -- sailing ships around the South Pacific with 20 or so students, university students, who are doing a six week program looking at different either scientific or cultural aspects. And they wanted to stop at the island because they heard about an eruption -- they had seen some of the stuff we put out a couple of years ago, and so they got in touch with us and invited one of us to come along.

CO: What's unusual about it? I guess it is not just well that it is there because there's been volcanic islands before but they come and go pretty quickly, don't they?

DS: Typically yes. So this is a type of eruption called Surtseyan interruption where you have an eruption in shallow water. It's basically unconsolidated ash and that washes away quickly with the wave action. In this case it apparently appears to be big enough that there's some hydro chemical alteration going on with the seawater and the heated ash and that's kind of causing it to turn into a type of concrete and that's probably what's maintained it structure for this long.

CO: Any other kinds of life that have decided to inhabit this island?

DS: Yes. And that was also fairly surprising. We found this patch of -- probably 30 metres across -- varied vegetation, different plants, and a ton of birds nesting there -- sooty terns. So I suspect that that vegetation was brought in through seeds and bird droppings. But the fact that they're establishing on this new material that's three years old was pretty surprising -- I didn't really expect to see that much vegetation.

CO: But the terns are nesting?

DS: Yes they were nesting. There were tons of chicks. It was pretty crazy. And the chicks couldn't fly so as you walked by they were in a panic and terror, so we tried not to go too close to where they were. But there were probably thousands of birds. It was really remarkable.

CO: And just physically -- just maybe describe a bit more because you said that it's all solidified almost to this concrete. It's quite dramatic looking isn't it?

DS: Yes because you have these basically vertical cliffs that have heavily eroded so they're deeply channelled. They were you know ten feet deep -- deeper than I am tall -- 20 feet wide. So there's a lot of change going on of just erosion of the main cone downwards from rainfall as well as from the coast -- from the wave action from the coast.

CO: But it looks like there's a lake in the middle of it.

DS: And there's a crater lake in the middle of it yeah.

CO: I think that this island is expecting to stay around for a bit.

DS: We're hoping yeah. And we would like to look in that crater lake, so if we have a chance to go back we might try to put something in there and map the bottom of it.

CO: Now before people get this feeling that some beautiful pristine thing has been discovered, untouched by man, I guess you also discovered garbage.

DS: There was a surprising amount of garbage mostly in that crater lake. I think what happens is in stormy weather debris has washed over the sandbar into the crater lake and then it never gets out again. So it was mostly fishing floats -- these you know foot wide rounds floats -- but nets, and plastic bottles of course which you seem to find everywhere. But a ton of debris. And the students on the boat -- I mean they were great -- there was different teams doing different things on the island while we were on the island, and one team was the trash team so they went around and collected I think all the garbage -- I was really amazed -- including a fridge door that floated in.

CO: Now just finally this is also going to give you some insights hopefully into not just our planet but others.

DS: Yeah and that's why Jim Garvin the PI of this project here at NASA was so interested. He's a Mars guy. So they've seen on Mars similar structures that look like volcanic cones that have been partially eroded presumably by water. You know the water's obviously not there on the surface anymore but it's kind of another suggestion that you know there were large bodies of water on Mars at some point and probably coincident with volcanic activity. So he was quite excited that this is you know kind of an analogue to what we see on Mars and yet here we can watch it evolve in real time.

CO: So who needs to go to Mars -- you can just go to this island. [Laughter] Save yourself some money.

DS: And you know maybe someday this will help inform what they do on Mars. They're planning a rover in 2020. It's not going to go to these volcanic features on Mars but you know at some point maybe they'll get there or some future mission will check out those features on more Mars and more detail.

CO: And you'll be picking up trash there too you know.

DS: [Laughs] Let's hope not.

CO: Dan it's great to talk to you. Thank you.

DS: No problem. You're welcome.

CO: Bye bye.

DS: Bye bye.

SC: Dan Slayback is a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. We reached him in Greenbelt, Maryland. We have posted a photo of the little island that could on our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Snake in a bin

SC: If you're unsure what to put in your blue bin, there are plenty of websites that can help. But if you have to decide quickly, ask yourself: this thing -- can it be turned into something else? A pop can, for example: it's melted, rolled out, and turned into another product. Or let's say you're holding a paper pamphlet that explains how paper is recycled -- that gets turned into a kind of slurry, and then turned back into paper or cardboard. Here's a trickier one: a dead boa constrictor. Now my research indicates that snakes are living creatures -- not made in factories -- they are made by two snakes who love each other very very much. I don't have time to explain that. What I'm getting at is you can't recycle dead snakes. That's a helpful tip from the folks at Tricentris, a recycling depot in Gatineau, Quebec. They received a three-metre-long boa constrictor that wound up on the sorting line. As recyclers, there wasn't much they could do with it. What they did do was put a photo of the creature online along with a gentle reminder: don't do this please. Afterwards someone came forward to say the boa had died of natural causes and its owner had asked an employee to dispose of it. The employee did. Incorrectly. Ultimately, no harm done -- except for the horror and trauma. But keep this in mind: used paper and metal can be resurrected through recycling, but a used boa constrictor will never writhe again.

[Music]

Public transportation

SC: When Greyhound Canada pulled out of Western Canada last fall, it also put the brakes on public transit in the City of Thompson, Manitoba. Greyhound was the transit operator there. And since the company discontinued operations at the end of October, residents in Thompson have had no access to public buses. This week Thompson City Council signed a contract with Maple Bus Lines -- a Manitoba based private company -- but it's temporary, and it will only operate for five months until the city can come up with a better solution. To Stephanie Third-Vicker, a mother in Thompson, the announcement is too little, too late. This morning she spoke with Ramraajh Sharvendiran of CBC's "North Country.".

SOUNDCLIP

STEPHANIE THIRD VICKERS: It impacted my life mostly budgetary wise -- money wise -- financially: spending a lot of money on taxicabs sending my eldest child to and from school -- especially since he's in high school, he doesn't have the conventional 8:30 to 3:30 schedule just because of spares and things like that. So some days it was costing us over 60 dollars just getting him back and forth to school. And that was a lot more than we intended ever. We were usually paid 36 dollars a month for his bus pass so that was quite a big hit to our budget honestly.

RAMRAAJH SHARVENDIRAN: And what is the news today of a temporary five month plan being put into place -- what does that mean to you?

STEPHANIE THIRD VICKERS: I'm happy that they passed the resolution. I do agree with many of the councillors that obviously the budget does matter and we do have to find ways to be more fiscally responsible as a city -- but it is too late to though. By the time the bus gets up and running the polar vortex is gone and we're looking at Spring -- so too little, too late possibly.

RAMRAAJH SHARVENDIRAN: Are you worried about this repeating itself next year because it is only a temporary transit plan or is that not a concern right now?

STEPHANIE THIRD VICKERS: Yes as soon as I heard that this was only going until the end of June, my immediate thought was are they going to try to pass that off again? So now I'm kind of wondering what kind of excuses they may come up with now for, 'well we spent our whole budget to get it going till the end of June,' -- I can see that being a possible reason for not continuing it later on. Although we are a small city, we are a city. And public transportation for me has been a part of my life growing up. I've always chosen to take public transportation or walk because I feel it's environmentally friendly. And there is other places and cities in Manitoba besides Winnipeg or Brandon and that we have issues and we have children that need to get to school and sometimes I feel like we get forgotten about up here.

SC: That was Stephanie Third-Vickers, a mother in the city of Thompson, Manitoba, speaking to the host of CBC's "North Country" Ramraajh Sharvendiran.

[Music]

Part 3: Baby flamingos airlifted from drought-stricken breeding ground in South Africa

Australia flooding

Guest: Mike Kelly

SC: These days the people of northern Queensland, Australia are measuring the rain in metres. More than a year's worth of rain has fallen on the city of Townsville in a little over a week. And there's more in the forecast as a slow moving monsoon drenches the area. Volunteers have been out in force, rescuing neighbours and moving people to higher ground. Two men have died and thousands of homes are likely flooded, forcing people into emergency shelters. With the water beginning to recede in some areas today, locals are now starting to assess the damage. Mike Kelly is a pastor in Townsville. That's where we reached him.

CO: Pastor Mike, how are people in Townsville doing right now?

MIKE KELLY: Well there's a lot of uncertainty. People are you know grieving you know loss of property. The floodwaters are still up, but have gone down a little. But you know it's raining outside. There is forecast of you know kind of conflicting reports of little rain, thunderstorms, heavy rain warnings going out. It's a really unsettling and troublesome place right now to be honest.

CO: So people have never seen this kind of flooding in this region before?

MK: Not at all. I spoke to an elderly gentleman and he said in the 50 years he has lived in Townsville, he's never seen anything like it. The town is shut off to the north and south. [Inaudible] to the food and supply. I think now it's up to almost a third of the city -- can you imagine a third of the city you are living in, a third of those homes are destroyed. There have been crocodiles swimming down main streets of the town. I saw a photo of people who are fishing off their front patio or verandahs as we call them in Australia. It's just a crazy place.

CO: What about your own church? I understand it was damaged.

MK: Yeah. To be honest, completely damaged. So we had a little bit of rain damage through the roof. But without being gross, the floodwaters got into the sewer -- the sewer overflowed throughout our auditorium offices -- there are rooms that we help see poor people or disadvantaged people in our area. And so it's a complete rebuild.

CO: And I guess added to this is that well a bit of a controversy because this Ross River Dam was opened because it was about to burst and it was just so overwhelmed so over capacity that they had to release the water. And that has been the cause of about 2000 homes being flooded, is that right?

MK: Yes it is a little controversial. But if I can just state my opinion on it, not that it carries much weight, but I absolutely 100 percent support it. You know part of leadership is making difficult decisions. You know to not release that could have been absolutely catastrophic if there was a dam breakage. To not open it, it could have been an absolute wipe out of the city. So they opened it for I think 15 hours and the dam increased in height by 3 percent. You're talking about volumes of water. I read somewhere it was like 20 Olympic sized swimming pools being released from the dam every second. It's an immense amount of water that went through the town. I have not picked up any frustration from local people regarding the dam -- you know obviously sadness -- but in my contacts with people there's not been a frustration.

CO: You mentioned the crocodiles, and this has been an issue, right, that there are crocodiles and snakes in the floodwaters. Why is that? Why are there so many animals in this river water?

MK: In Australia we have a lot of wildlife. And you know there's marshland surrounding the area -- the floodwaters just literally came and picked them up and swept them into the city. And the strange thing to me -- you know I shake my head every time --you know I've gone for a drive and there are people still walking through those floodwaters. It's not a place I'd be walking. It's a different breed of people in Townsville.

CO: As the waters recede, and one believes they will eventually recede, do some of those crocodiles, snakes, whatever get stranded in town?

MK: Oh absolutely. And so there are already people coming in obviously you know to escort them out if that's the phrase. Others will go with the floodwater. Australia has some of the most poisonous snake in the world, and I am very mindful of that -- I have got two young kids -- and we're very mindful especially in floodwater just in regards to movement outside of our home.

CO: You know we cover a lot of stories from Australia whether it's fires, record high heat, floods -- so many extremes that people are dealing with. How are people reacting to all of that in Australia?

MK: You know as a church you know we're currently dealing with flooding in Townsville. We have another church campus in Tasmania that's currently facing fire. And most of Australia is in a really bad state of drought. Matter of fact as a church and community we've just recently have been praying that rain would come because you know there has been huge amount of farmers attempting suicide, crops dying, livestock in trouble. So the diversity of issues we are facing right now as a nation is is really troubling. You know we've got a number of people in our church -- there's a special forces soldier just returned from Afghanistan, his house was flooded not just once but three times in two days and he's lost everything. And so when I spoke with him you know obviously about how we can go in and clean his house out -- he just said, don't worry about me -- how are we going to help our city? And that's the kind of nature and the people that Townsville people are -- 'look we're fine. We need to help people who are really in trouble.'

CO: Without your church and people wanting to help each other -- to reach out to connect. Will you be able to hold any kind of service on Sunday?

MK: Yeah. We've just signed a contract with a hotel that has you know a venue that you do a wedding reception, and we will be running services as normal. But if I could be honest, a church building is a church building. Church is of people. What's most important is the damages of home -- and our priorities is just to make sure not only are our church people but city people are safe -- and looking at how we can get them back on their feet. You know obviously there's been issues that we started to work with in regards to you know anxiety and grief, people struggling, and we want to make sure that we're able to help those people where they're at.

CO: Pastor Mike I know you are suffering losses as well, so I admire your strength. And I hope that your community can pull together. Thank you so much for speaking with us.

MK: It's been my honour. Thank you very much.

SC: Mike Kelly is a pastor in Townsville, in the Queensland province of Australia. That's where we reached him.

[Music]

Patrick Laquerre

SC: The procedure defied doctor's expectations. After Patrick Laquerre got a tongue transplant in Quebec in 2017, doctors told him he'd be out of work for a few months and unable to speak for much longer. Luckily for a man who says he loves to talk, he came out of the 12 hour operation and was speaking just one week later. Yesterday he visited the CBC studios in Quebec to tell the show "Breakaway" his whole story. It started when doctors found cancer underneath Mr. Laquerre's tongue. They would need to remove most of it, and replace it with a "free flap" --meaning tissue and a large vein from part of Mr. Laquerre's forearm. Here's part of Patrick Laquerre's conversation with Alison Brunette.

SOUNDCLIP

PATRICK LAQUERRE: On the day before the last day -- because all the 22 days I stayed there I did not eat or drink because you know you can't. So on the day before I left, they tested me and brought me some food to see if I was able to use my own. And I actually cried not because of the food because of the coffee. I hadn't had coffee in 22 days. After I got out I thought that it was going to be a little bit hard you know to learn how to speak again. Well actually my brain did not see the difference. The operation went so well afterwards for the results that my brain still works as if it is my original tongue. Except the fact that it cannot come out of my mouth anymore.

ALISON BRUNETTE: Okay it's like you can't stick your tongue out anymore.

PATRICK LAQUERRE: Exactly.

ALISON BRUNETTE: What's your reaction to all of this? I mean you're...

PATRICK LAQUERRE: To me personally, I can't see any difference, I can't let it stop me or nothing, you know. It's like saying my body told me to slow it down a bit -- you know with your work because I used to work six days a week days and nights. And now I am down to four days. So that's pretty good. And yeah.

SC: That was Patrick Laquerre from Georgeville, Quebec, talking about what it was like having a tongue transplant after a battle with cancer. He spoke with CBC's Alison Brunette on the show "Breakaway."

[Music]

Flamingo rescue

Guest: Katta Ludynia

SC: In a good year, the Kamfers Dam in South Africa is a sea of hot pink. As many as 40,000 lesser flamingos descend on the spot annually to breed. But this year only a few thousand showed up. And then the dam dried out. The adult birds flew away to find food stranding thousands of flamingo chicks and unhatched eggs. That's when local humans leapt into action -- scooping up the baby birds and sending them across the country for treatment and support. About 500 were flown south to a bird conservation centre where people are hand-rearing the chicks back to health. Katta Ludynia is a research manager for the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. We reached her in Cape Town.

CO: Katta how are the chicks doing?

KATTA LUDYNIA: So the chicks that we got now about a week ago are doing quite well. We unfortunately had quite a few losses in the first 24 hours. So a lot of the birds were dehydrated and in very bad conditions when they arrived because they were tiny when they were removed from the dam. And I think the transport and the stress and everything over the removal just really did it to them. And we also had a lot of problems with infections.

CO: Now how did all these chicks come to be abandoned by their parents?

KL: So the dam has very low water levels. And the bird -- they were breeding in an area of the dam that actually fell dry, and these birds then abandoned the eggs and chicks.

CO: So the parents just had no choice but to abandon their babies?

KL: Yes. So basically the parents have to move to feed themselves. They move to an area where there is water and they leave the chicks behind.

CO: How is it decided and arranged that you would airlift so many of these chicks from this Kamfers Dam?

KL: So it was local organizations that decided to rescue these chicks. They were then housed in Kimberley and then I think the local organizations realized that the drought was a little bit too big for just a few volunteers on the ground. And they basically put a call out for help from any centre that could assist with hand-rearing these chicks. We hand-rear African penguin chicks every year. We also hand-rear gulls and tern chicks every year. So we have the experience, we have the staff, we have the facility to do so, so we offered our help.

CO: You say that a number of them died as they arrived -- and I guess the report is that a third of all those chicks died within the first 24 hours. So what can you tell us about the state that they were in and what you were able to do to try to revive those who did survive?

KL: I think one of the problems was that they were removed as very very small chicks. So some of them were basically taken out of the egg. So there's obviously the risk of infection. If we hand-rear penguin chicks, they hatch out of the egg often and if they hatch out into the hatch in a very hygienic environment. And the other problem seems to have been that these chicks might have been fed by volunteers too early when they were removed. And so these chicks actually usually still consume some of the egg yolk which they have to consume before they can actually start feeding properly. The birds that we have now are mostly strong, growing nicely. We have a few cases that are still struggling with infection -- are in our intensive care unit and they get individual medical treatment by our vet staff to hopefully pull through.

CO: And I understand people arranged -- there were private planes who were flying the chicks, so who arranged that? Do you know anything about how that was actually arranged or financed?

KL: Yeah so the chicks were flown down by a private mining company that is based in Kimberley -- Kimberley is a large mining city. So in 2006, they built an artificial island in the middle of Kamfers Dam to assist the birds to have a safe breeding space. And we actually had -- it might have been the CEO down at our centre visiting us the other day, and he just has a very soft spot for the flamingos so he just wanted help where he can and he offered his plane and flew these birds down to Cape Town.

CO: And who was on the plane with them? How did they manage to transport all these little birds?

KL: These chicks are tiny -- they're literally probably the size of a freshly hatched chicken chick, so they literally just put them in boxes -- obviously with ventilation and everything. So they just loaded the boxes into the plane and flew them down. But that was also one of the problems, some of the chicks were actually overheating on the plane because they were packed quite densely in these boxes.

CO: I understand you have a lot of volunteers who have come to try and help feed the little birds. Can you tell us about that?

KL: Yeah. SANCCOB always had a volunteer system -- so we receive local and international volunteers that help us with our rehabilitation of seabirds. So we already had quite a large number of volunteers on standby. But then we put out a call into the public, the local newspaper, and we were literally overrun by volunteers. We currently have to turn people away. We are now actually more asking for financial help because there is certain things that the public just can't buy like for example medication or very specialized equipment.

CO: Did it surprise you to see how many people wanted to take part of this chick rescue?

KL: It wasn't necessarily that surprising for us. Luckily we have a longstanding history of responding to disasters and having an amazing response from the public. So I guess SANCCOB got it's international fame in 2000 -- with the 'Treasure spill' where we de-oiled about 20,000 African penguins and that was only thanks to help of thousands of volunteers. In general people in Cape Town are very happy to help and pitch in in terms of disasters. So it is very nice but it wasn't necessarily a big surprise to us.

CO: We have covered a number of stories from South Africa about the drought there and about water shortages. You were just mentioning how you think there needs to be some lessons learned from this to see how you could do it better. Do you anticipate you're going to have more animal rescues, more bird rescues, in the future?

KL: Yes I think so, especially with wetland birds -- we do see a continuous drought in southern Africa that a lot of the wetlands are drying up so we will probably see more areas that usually have birds breeding -- we will see birds struggling because of the drought. We also are seeing more and more with the wildfires -- we see obviously birds that get displaced so for example animals that get displaced through the fires. So there is definitely an effect of the drought.

CO: And finally what will become of these baby chicks when there are no longer chicks?

KL: So we hope we can release them back into the wild. Whether they need to be transported back up to Kimberley to the dam or whether they can actually be released here in the Western Cape where we are located -- still needs another three or four months and there will be a group of some conservation agencies and ecologists and others looking into that.

CO: All right I wish you success with those birds. Katta I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

KL: Thank you very much.

SC: Katta Ludynia is the research manager for the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. We reached her in Cape Town, South Africa.

[Music]

Roll Up the eco-friendly Rim

SC: It's that time of year again when people across the country frantically pick at their coffee-cups, swear, and go back to the counter for another double double. The annual Tim Hortons "Roll Up The Rim" contest will roll out yet again tomorrow. But a couple of young Calgarians want the company to dispose of all those disposable cups. They want earth friendly cups instead. 12-year-olds Mya Chau and Eve Helman spoke with "Calgary Eyeopener" host David Gray about their campaign.

SOUNDCLIP

VOICE 1: We think that they could make it more eco-friendly or use some kind of cup that is recyclable or biodegradable.

DAVID GRAY: Okay. Do you have any suggestions on that front? Have you told Tim Hortons about what you think would be a better suggestion?

VOICE 2: We sent them a letter, but they haven't responded yet. We think that if they could make a better cup like the nextgen cup then that would be great because all their disposable cups are going into the landfills.

DAVID GRAY: Would you prefer people brought in their own cups?

VOICE 2: For now -- and then until -- hopefully Tim Hortons will make the nextgen cup.

DAVID GRAY: You see the issue with that though -- people bringing their own cup, there's no rim to roll up.

VOICE 1: Yeah. [Laughter] That's why...

DAVID GRAY: So you think that just a better design cup is the answer?

VOICE 2: Maybe in the meantime Tim Hortons can try to make it like digital for roll up the rim.

VOICE 1: Or something like stickers, so it's less waste. Or maybe something that you can like scan on the receipt in store, so you don't have to have a disposable cup.

DAVID GRAY: Scan up the virtual rim or such thing. Now you guys been down this road before, right? You've tried this with Starbucks. How did that go?

VOICE 2: That went good. By 2020 Starbucks is going to make the nextgen cup and they're investing 10 million dollars.

DAVID GRAY: Right. And you got a meeting with the big honcho there didn't you?

VOICE 2: Yeah.

DAVID GRAY: And how did that go?

VOICE 2: It was good. And we handed over our petition.

DAVID GRAY: And how many people had signed that petition?

VOICE 1: Over 347 people.

DAVID GRAY: Wow!

VOICE 1: I meant 347,000 [Laughter].

DAVID GRAY: Which has a little more impact than the other. And you gave that to Kevin Johnson, the CEO. And they pledged to make a difference. Okay. You're trying the same thing with Tim Hortons, but you're not getting a lot of response?

[Both say no]

DAVID GRAY: Like nothing?

VOICE 1: They contacted us once and we replied and they haven't replied.

SC: 12-year-olds Mya Chau and Eve Helman speaking to the host of the "Calgary Eyeopener" David Gray. Their petition for Tim Hortons has over 100,000 signatures.

[Music]

Spelling counts

SC: Back in the '70s, General Motors made a big mistake: it introduced the Chevy Nova in Mexico and in Venezuela -- apparently unaware that "no va" means "doesn't go" in Spanish. No one bought it. Which proves you should consider other languages when you name your vehicle. You've probably heard that story and found it hard to believe that a giant corporation would be so silly -- and you were right. It's not true. Yes, the Chevy Nova existed. But for one thing you wouldn't say "no va" in reference to a car -- you would say "no marcha" or "no camina." Also, a Spanish speaker can distinguish between the single word "nova" and the two words "no va." Also the car sold well in those countries. GM did fine everyone. Still you do need to be careful when you're naming a car. For example take Audi's electric SUV the "e-tron." During the Super Bowl, Audi ran an ad for that vehicle in the US after which people took to Twitter to point out that its name is French for "excrement" or pardon my English, "turd." That story is true. E-hyphen-T-R-O-N spells "e-tron" -- a made up name. E-T-R-O-N with the accent aigu over the "E" -- spells "étron" -- which means poop. Will anyone confuse the electric SUV with excrement? No, bien sûr. But even if it becomes the number one best-selling vehicle in France, it will always be number two.

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February 5, 2019 Episode Transcript

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