captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, august 31: southeastern states prepare as hurricane dorian charts a coursr towards the u.s.; threats toen suparliament weeks before the brexit deadline sparksn backlashe u.k.; and in our ongoing series "the future of food," what france is doing to curb excess food waste..ho next on pbs ne weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. seton melvin. the cheryl and philip milstein family.

the j.p.b. foundation. rosalind p. walter, in memory of georg obarbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual ctand group retirement pro that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided b and by the corporation for b publadcasting. a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at rk lincoln center in new hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening, and thks for joining us. forecasters now say hurricane strian may head north and in the next few days, skirtingir along the co warnings are still in place and heading toward coastal georgia and the carolinas.th hurricane is now a category four and is projected to hit the northwestern bahamas sometime in the next 24 hours with windsho approaching 150 miles per hour.s floridtill in dorian's potential path, and it may bring strong winds and life-

threatening storm surge to georgia and south carolina early next week. but before the hurricane reaches e u.s. mainland, it isfo cast to slow down and drop as much as four feet of rain over the bahamas this weekend. the prime minister there urged residents in the storm's path to evacuate. >> what i can say is 73,000 residents would be impacted by this storm, and 21,000 homes would be impacted. we are moving as many as possible. still, there are many reside who are refusing to move. and we send this final plea, asking them to kindly move themselves to safer grounds. s enivasan: despite the new forecast, florida's governor ron desantis asked residentso continue to prepare for a serious storm with an unpredictable path. >> if it bumps further east, that obviously is posi if it bumps just a little west,h you're looking at really,'r really significant impacts.

and so, don't make any assumptions. remain vigilant and be prepared. >> sreenivasan: police in hong kong used tear gas and wateron catoday to battle protesters who set blazes and hurled fire bombs. authorities banned today's march, but tens of thousands of demonstratorgogathered at rnment headquarters. the protesters armed themselves with makeshift weapo shields as they confronted police who fired blue tinted water from cannons tntmark the protesters. this weekend marks the 13th week of unrest and falls on the five- year anniversary of a decision by china to limit democracy in the semi-autonomous territory. that announcement launched a 79- day cupation of hong kong's streets by pro-democracy demonstrators known as the umbrella movement. in moscow today, thousands marched to protest rules that bar some opposition candidates from running for cy council. marchers at the unauthorized rally held up pro-democracy signs and chanted "russia will be free." n otests over the september 8 election began id-july, including a permitted rally that attracted about 60,000

demonstrators. the recent protests over the city council vote are the largest showing of dissent in russia in more than five years. thousands gathered throughout the united kingdom today to protest new prime minister boris johnson's ve to suspend parliament. several thousand protester gathered near the prime minister's 10 downinet residence in central london. other demonstrations were planned in 30 locations throughout england, scotland, wales and northern ireland. the protesters are trying to stop a "no deal" brexit beforeop an october 3deadline. they say johnson's decision to suspend parliament for several weeks will prevent debate over the u.k.'s departure from the european union. the shutdown of parliament is currently being challenged in three separate court cases. prime minister johnson, who helped lead the successful brexit referendum campaign, says his government is actively .upursuing a new deal with leaders. th >> sreenivasane latest projections of hurricaneis dorian's path, pbs.org/newshour.

>> sreenivasan: the united kingdom is counting down to brex, their exit from the european union. with parliament facing suspensioncourt cases in the works and protests like today's likely to continue, national public radio correspondent frank langfitt joins us now via skype from london for more on this developing story. the protests that weeing seem to be growing, and they seem to be not just limited to londonnymore. >> no, we saw them in glasgow, in oxford, liverpool, other cities around the country. they weren't that big today, a i think as we get closer to the october 31st date when there could be... the country could crash out of the e.u. with no deal at all, i think you'll see them grow. >> sreenivasan: this isn't just the people who are, well, i guess, in the opposition party who are pushing back at whatin boris johnson did. ysover the past couple of we've seen members, current members of the conservative party as well as previous ones. >> you do, and you... i think you have rebel mbers of the tory party who also object to this. and then, lot of t is to the principal.

we have a parliament that's sitting here. ris johnson is maybe going to give them five... as little as d fis to come back and try to mount a way of stopping him from taking the country out witi no deal. thmajority of the parliame is against this. they're on record being against this. so, the idea that boris johnson is trying to curtail their time in power really strikes at... it's a much bigger issue than just brexit. it really strikes at, manyny people feel, the representative nature of the democracy in the country. >> sreenivasan: now, similar to the united states, you've got people who support this, people... it's a very sort of divided or a divisive issue. you went out to kind of what's call the midlands, what we might think of as the red states, people who sport leaving the european union, right? >> absolutely. yeah, it was... it's reall brexit country, and i got to say, hari, it's like having a parallel conversation, like in a different country. when i was up in a town called boston, for which bostonss husettis named, what everybody was telling me, thisen has oing on for more than three years. "we feel that these anti-brexit

member parliament are ng to defy the results of the 2016 referendum," andy'hey say, "t the ones who are being anti democratic, not us." so, ople are looking at this issue right now through completely different lenses in this country. >> sreenivasan: so, frustration out in the midlandse agsnst their parliament, wh not getting anything done sounds a lot like some of the citizens of the united states have with congress not getting anything done. >> absolutely. re'si think at you see t a paralysis... there's been a some degree for quite some time. you're really seeing it in the last three years here in thegd united k. the other thing is people today who are going to london i talked to also make comparisons about prime minister is violating the norms in their opinion of u.k. vemocracy. and of course, ween hearing for the last two and a half years in the united states about donald trump doing the same thi in the united states, real affecting and not... no following the norms as they've been followed for many, many decades in thetates.

>> sreenivasan: so, if you have been a british citizen in favor of leaving t european union at this point, do you oveoothe tactics in which boris johnson is using? >> i think you're dead on. what i was hearing up in the midlands just a couple of days ago is people who were looking past those norms, and they were saying, "this is going on too long. i just want to see johnson end m this ae out and get the country out of the e.u." what's really interesting,ari, is to talk to business people who know that this is going to errt their business, particularly up they rely on agricultural workers from eastern europ they're already feeling the pain. but for them, they want out of... out of the european unionn and theysomeone to do it for them, and they think johnson is going to be their guy. >> sreenivasan: okay, while this all happens, what's actually happening on the sort of u.k. goonrnment to e.u. lev? boris johnson says he's working behind the scenes to try to get this going. is there any possibility that in five days of debate ty could come to some resolution, or even before that a deal could be made? >> i think there's great skepticism about that. while boris johnson has been t

saying ong, what we're hearing out of brussels is there's nothing new on the table. and remember what brussels has been saying all along is we have to preserve an open border on the island of irelan that does not work for the united kingdom. ey feel that they're... they're going to end up having northern ireland too closely aligned with the e.u. afteards. it would be like they're not even leaving the e.u. and that's just been sort of a gordian knot for both sides. so, the other thinis that what is the likelihood that johnson can get this done in six weeks when it took three yea theresa may fail. the former prime minister? so, i think people are veryep cal that he's going to be able to come out quickly, be able to turn this all around and do something that his predecessor wasn't able to. >> sreenivasan: n.p.r.an correspondent langfitt joining us via skype from london tonight. thanks so much. >> happy to it, hari. in >> sreenivasanur ongoing

series "the future of food," supported in part by the e thezer center, we expl problem of excess food waste and one country's potentiallu on. author and contributor mark bittman has more. >> bittman: one-third of the food produced in the world rots in the field, in transport or is simply thrown away. this is obviously not only a massive waste of food, it's also a big contributor to global warming because as it decomposes in landfills, it releases methane. one country is doing something about food waste. newshour weekend special correspochristopher livesay reports fr paris. >> reporr: the french take food seriously. the country is famous for its bread, pastries, pates and other delicaci. lunch is so sacred here that you'll find many stores closed between about noon and 2:00, so workers can enjoy a long, the french not onleciate food, they're committed to not wasting it. in fact, it's the law. ( scanner beeping )

since 2016, large grocery stores have been banned from throwing away unsold food that could be donated to charities. now, they must have systems in place to donate that food. we're behind the scenes at one of the country's biggest grocer chains to sew france's landmark food waste law works. a truck is loaded up wbeh tomatoes, rries, fruit, ioche and yogurt-- about $340 expiration date, fat inthe most countries would be thrown away. ey can't sl it any more, but they say it's still good to eat for five or six more days. the food is donated to non-governmental organations, n.g.o.s, and other charities who help feed the poor. >>. translated ): fruits and tvegetables, it's about 2 300 euros worth that we're giving away everyday. e >> reportec chabert, this supermarket'director, says the law has improved his store's food waste management. >> ( translat): it also has

an impact because if we were to throw away food, we would alsokl increase our wd with the trash bins, which would require additional scheduling ofitin removal on so, it's beneficial on several levels. >> reporter: another benefit ofe donating food: stores can take advantage of are-existing tax break on as much as 60% on the inveory value of t donated food. >> ( translated ): it's interesting to both be able to help n.g.o.s andet a small financial incentive to compensate for the fact that we're giving away food. >> reporter: guillaume garot is a member of france's parliament and the author of france's food he says the bill has substantially increased food donations from largeryon stores. where did the idea come from for this law? >> ( translated ): i had seen reports on french tv showing some big supermarkets were king out trash bins withy perfectlible food in them; seeing that food was being destroyed while, at the same time, there are people dying of hunger. so, how do you fight this? how do you fight against this scandalous way of producing to

throw away? that was the beginning for me. >> reporter: t french federation of food banks agrees the law is working. it's a major middleman ithe grocery store-to-charity food chain. every morning, more than 2,700 supermarkets send nearly out-of-date food to nearly 80 warehouses around the country,00 rescuing 46,0 tons a year that bauld otherwise be thrown away. donations to foos are up more than 20%, according to the government. s ae at the food bank, i mostly volunteer operation and a race against the clock to collect, sort and then distributeood while it's still good to the thousands of local n.g.o.s. some will use the fo to preparmeals-- 226 million a year, according to the food bank. others, like the salvation army, nasort and distribute the d food directly to the needy.ee >> the people who need some foor really happy to have some fresh... fresh product.

>> reporter: in france, one out of five people say they have a hard time eating enough food every day, according to a recent poll. for angela, the salvatn my is a life saver. she asked us not to use her last she has three kids at home, so she comes here once a we to get the fresh vegetables, meat, yogurts and cheese she says she can't afford otherwise. >> ( translated ): the children are young. they cannot be working. my husband and i are unemployed. it means a lot b when we didn't know about this place, we used to spend a lot to buy food in stores.bu th represents a lot becaus with this we are able to live, >> reporter: the law has had um awareness and helping inspire new start-ups and apps like too good to go.. the app tells me about a paris bakery where, close to closing time, i can get what they call a about $3.30, a sizle discount.r so, for three euros... three

euros, i got... all right, let's start with the.ain au chocol i've got some croissants in here, got a loaf of bread-- looks delicious-- and got what looks like a really good ham sandwich. the law is the first oits kind in the world, but, for all it's positive effects, it has been criticized for not ensuring that all stores are complying. it calls for stiff penalties-- about $4,000-- each time a store t caught throwing away donatable food, so far noha onbeen fined. some of the critics incle n.g.o.s themselves, who say ey sometimes get food they can't use. i'm not sure i would be comfortable eating a yellow broccoli. we saw for ourselves. broccoli sent by one grocery store was not fit to eat. aline chassagn is a social coordinator with the salvation army. >> they must be green, not yellow. >> reporter: okay, so what do you do with this?

>> normally, it must go toe. to the garbage. >> reporter: on this day, we sar threh bins of food thrown away. presumably, the supermarket that benefit regardlessreceived a tax so, the question is, how do you s make sure that supermarkd other participants aren't gaming the system? >> ( translated ): it's very clear that products arriving at the n.g.o. when the consumption date has expired-- fresh notducts, especially-- mus be donated. there is no ubt a need to intensify checks, public checks, on the wayarge supermarkets are donating. >> reporter: another problem,ys anon cuillé, coordinator of an n.g.o. called zero waste, is that the law fails address urces of food waste other than grocery stores. >> for us, there are many more solutions and measures to bete adto prevent this food waste. >> reporte according to france's national environmental agency, retail and distribution,

including grocery stores, only accounts for 14% of food waste in france. agriculture accounts for 32%, followed by food processing at 21 and consumers at 19%. restaurants contribute 14%. none of these other sources are dressed in the law. as such, cuille says she doubts the french government can meet reducing food waste. to >> they have a pretty ambitious goal, which is to reduce by 50% food waste before 2025. they're still lacking a lot of important obligations for agriculture and food industry. we find it also important to promote more education for the consumer or in schools. >> ( translated ): i do believe we need to widen the actors involvedn fighting food waste. >> reporter: it's a global problem, says garot, and france aspires to be a model r the world. >> ( translated ): today d

countries ferent as peru, finland and malaysia, but also some countries in africa, are closely looking at what we've been doing in france. so, what's important is to act together in the same direction. >> sreenivasan: the u.s. and china are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. if food waste were a country, io d be the third largest. to learn more about the impact of food waste on the environment anehow big the problem is h in the united states, newshour weekend's megan thompson zarecently sat down with eth balkan, the food waste director at the naturalesources defense council. >> reporter: paint the picture for me.ho much food do we waste here in the united states? >> in the u.s., up to 40% of the food that is produced every year goes wasted. that translates into an economic loss of $218 billion per year.

and at the individual level, a household of four spends on average $1,500 or more per year on food that never gets eaten. >> reporter: what are the connections between the amount of food that we waste and environmental impacts, climate change? >> the greenhouse gasses associated with food waste amount to roughly 37 million passenger vehicles othe road. not only do you have the contributions from methanehenti food waste rots in a landfill, but you have all these other resources that go into the production, the manufacturing, the transportation, the storage, rce distribution. all of those res are rather than eat itwe waste food of the top 100 most impactful things that we can do to address climate change, food waste prevention is number three.

it's not solar power, it's not wind power, it's food waste prevention. w >> reportet are the biggest contributors to food waste herebu >> overall, consumers and consumer-facing businesses-- restaurants, cafeterias-- e responsible for over 80% of the food waste in this country. for example, in restaunts, the vast majority of food waste comes from what is leftover on people's plates, or post-consumer waste.so if we want to really tackle the food waste that's happening in restaurants, for example, we need to start addressing the harder pt of the puzzle, which is customer behavior. >> reporter:o, it sounds like culture plays a role in some ofu this. >> culture plays a he role in it and is really part of the equation in the u.s. in... in a fundamental way. in this country, i think we have

certain expectations about the way that food is presented. we like abundance, and food is very cheap in thise ountry. so, st to businesses of wasting od is not so outsized when compared to either th consumer expectation or the business' expectation of what o e consumer expects to see when they wk into a hotel buffet, or they walk into a supermarket sle. >> reporter: what are steps that individual consumers can take? >> we don't want consumers to feel like they're the villains here. lot of the source reason for food waste is connected to things like date labels.di date label't really exist ufore the 1970s, and, before then, people wou their senses. they would use the smell test on milk.

they might try a little bit of yogurt. and if something tasted fine or smelled okay, it didn't smellel like it had gone off, they would t it. what you see when you look at a date label that says "best if used by" has nothing to do with food safety, but it's a manufacturer suggestioabout when this food item is at its peak freshness, which is inherently a subjective thing. in fact, besides baby formula, there is really no regulationar nd date labels. so, there's enormous opportunity to reform date labels to be consistent with publlth information and science, and, in doing so, prevent a ton of food from going to waste. >> reporter: elizabeth balkan, thank you so much. >> thank you. s

>> this is wshour weekend, saturday. s enivasan: and now to viewers like you, your chance to comment on stori you've seen here on pbs newshour weekend. this year, we kicked off our "future of food" series by exploring one company's efforts to produce genetically modified salmon as a way to meet the global demand for fish. fletcher patented his technology and started a company, which eventually became aquabounty. his invention is still the center of its work, a nnetically engineered sal that grows twice as fast as regular salmonhile actually consuming less feed. the difference is significant; these fish are both about two years old. it's really hard to believe that these salmon are the same age and there's such a huge size difference between the two of >> this fish is five kilos, ready for market. that fish is a long ways from enmarket. >> sasan: we received comments from across the country and across a wide range of perspectives. on our facebook page, michelle

renee wrote: "good. i'm here for this. our wild salmon populations arei critical tle ecosystems. they're being decimated by a triple threat of climate change, pollution and overfishing. i love salmon and will happily eat a more sustainable solutiona don't bed of science. after all, you have fish genes.i matt hutchins said: "i only eat wild-caught salmon and grass-fed beef. thanks." paul alan wheeler wrote: "the on twitter, laura gelezunas commented: "frankenfood. no thanks. to just quit eating fis and seafood. no factory farmed junk either." and on instagram, cathleen holtgreive wrote: "something has astronomical global population growth. our food productions needs to increase 70% by 2050. our waterways and soil are so pollut with toxins and over- fished, maybe this alternative makes sense for our survival. something to consider." as always we welcome your comments. visit us at pbs.org/newshour, on our facebook page, or tweet us @newshour. as

>> sen: finally tonight, the actress valerie harper-- best known for her role as rhoda morgenstern on the "mary ter moore show"-- has died. harper won three back-to-back emmys as a supporting actress in the early 1970s. she won another for outstanding lead actress for her performance in her spin-off series "rhoda." at a news conference with mary tyler moore years later, harper said the character rhoda taught her to "thank your lucky stars for a fabulous friend." harper was diagnosed with a rare brain cancer in 2013 and told she had as little as three. months to live valerie harper died yesterday in los angeles. she was 80 years old. that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. ve a good ni wt. wnettioning sponsored b captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz.su

and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family.j. thb. foundation. rosalind p. walter, in memory of george o'neil. ebarbara hope zucke corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products.' that's why your retirement company. additional support has been ovided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting. pthe american poration funded by and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. be more. pbs.

narrator: on this episode of "earth focus," two cities-- freetown, sierra leone, and san francisco, california continen apart, vastly different culturally and economically, yet facing the same struggle to adapt to rapid urbanization, all set against the backdrop of a dramatically changing climate. changing climate.