judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight. the investigations, the justice department says government documents were likely concealed in an attempt to obstruct the federal probe into whether former president trump mishandled classified material. then, after roe, south carolina's state house votes to impose an almost total ban on abortions. we discuss the move with a lawmaker who decided to support the measure after initially opposing it. and, climate crisis, historic drought followed by massive flooding threatens crops in vulnerable farming communities in east africa. >> less than 2% of climate finance goes to farmers.

it's just absolutely crazy that one of the most affected, one of the most vulnerable populations in the world and they don't even exist as part of the climate dialogue. judy: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years, bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> cfo, caregiver, eclipse

chaser. a raymond james financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at mac found.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

judy: the legal fight over the search of the trump home in florida has taken a new turn tonight. the u.s. justice department now says classified materials were removed and concealed at mar-a-lago, possibly amounting to obstruction of justice. for his part, former president trump insisted again today that he had de-classified the documents. we'll dig into the details, after the news summary. the food and drug administration authorized 2 updated covid-19 boosters today, the first to target the omicron strain. fda officials said they want to head off another winter surge, and cut down on repeated shots. >> the hope heres not to have to give lots of vaccines each year. it's hopefully to have this be the vaccine that hopefully holds us for as much of this or for the entire season. judy: pfizer's new booster will

be available to anyone over 12. moderna's is for adults, only. u.s. life expectancy dropped again last year, as the pandemic took its toll. the cdc reports the average american's life span fell to just over 76 years, downearly a year fm 2020. that compares with an average of nearly 79 years in 2019, before the pandemic hit. u.s. life expectancy has not been this low since 1996. in ukraine, u.n. inspectors arrived in zapper risha city, en route to an endangered nuclear power plant. there's been repeated shelling around the site, now under russian control. the inspectors left from kyiv today, saying they hope to avert a catastrophe. their leader said they should reach the plant tomorrow. >> my mission is a technical mission. it is a mission that seeks to prevent a nuclear accident and to preserve this important, the

largest, the biggest nuclear power plant in europe, in the whole of europe, not only in ukraine. judy: the inspectors say they want to establish an ongoing presence at the plant. in russia and around the world, mikhail gorbachev was remembered today. the last leader of the soviet union died tuesday at 91, and his passing brought sharply different reactions. nick: at moscow's gorbachev foundation today, his memory hangs larger than life. mikhail gorbachev oversaw the end of the soviet union, after trying to create the change he believed it needed to survive. >> despite the fact that it was not easy, there was hope. nick: the cold war's victors, today see it the same way. >> when history is written, he will be, i think, one of the authors of fantastic change for the better in the world. and what i worry about today is the current leadership in moscow is intent on undoing the good

that mikhail gorbachev did. nick: russian president vladimir putin calls the war in ukraine an attempt to restore russian influence over historic russian territory lost by gorbachev. putin has long argued gorbachev trusted the west too much. and today putin's spokesman dmitry peksov suggested gorbachev had been naive. >> he sincerely wanted to believe that the cold war would end and an eternal romantic period between the new soviet union and the world would arrive. that romanticism was not justified. the bloodthirstiness of our opponents showed itself. nick: the bloodthirstiness of our opponents showed itself. long ago, putin killed gorbechev's democratic changes. but outside of russia, gorbechev's legacy is still alive. president biden said he had the imagination to see a different

future, and the courage to risk his career to achieve it. for the judy: >> diana was 36 years old at her death. back in his country, california brace for another scorching heat wave that could last through labor day weekend. forecasters say temperatures in sacramento may reach 113 degrees, and coastal readings could hit 100. today's electrical grid operator is appealing for conservation to avoid blackouts. on wall street, stocks finish their worst august in seven years, withajor indexes down 4% or more for the month. the dow jones industrial average lost 281 points today to close at 31,005 hundred 10. the nasdaq fell 60 -- nasdaq fell 67 points and the s&p

slipped 31. in spain, thousands gathered for the famed food fight, after a two-year pandemic hiatus, trucks loaded with 130 tons of tomatoes rolled the streets and people pelted each other with the overripe fruit. the event was inspired by a food fight among local children in 1945. what a mess. still to come on the newshour. hospitals receive threats for providing gender-affirming care unicef's representative for pakistan discusses the long road to recovery from catastrophic flooding. artists find inspiration by immersing themselves in the everglades national park. plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour, from w eta studios in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: a court filing from the

justice department late last night offers the clearest picture yet of the steps that led to the fbi search of former president donald trump's florida home earlier this month. in his 36 page filing, the doj writes that the classified documents were at one point " likely concealed and remov. and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government's investigation." the fbi search was the culmination of a months-long effort that began in may of last year when the national archives first quested missing records from the trump team. the first batch of 15 boxes was sent to washington in january and included 184 classified documents. four months later, a grand jury subpoena was given to the trump team requesting all other classified materials. in june, the fbi went to mar-a-lago and was given 38 additional classified documents. trump's lawyer said there were no other documents stored on site but would not allow fbi

investigators to verify that. when the fbi executed a search waant earlier this month, they found 76 classified documents in the storage room they were not allowed into in june and an additional three documents in trump's desk drawer. to help explain the new court filing, i'm joined by chuck rosenberg. he is a former federal prosecutor and fbi official. what is -- tell us about what the former president did with these documents. >> it tells us more about the documents than what the former president necessarily did with them. the search warrants -- search warrants were executed to recover the document's. that was done lawfully and with the authorization of a federal judge, but it doesn't necessarily tell you who did what, who understood that there were classified materials within those documents, and who may

have obstructed justice. it could've been the former president, it could have been people who work for him, they could've been doing it at his direction. a large portion of the fbi affidavit was redacted. a lot of answers to those questions are probably in those reactions. judy: and the question of content, will we ever know what was here? >> know it's a frustrating answer, but of charges are brought against the former president, likely you will see the details made public in a court filing or produced as evidence in a trial. but if the investigation closes without it being brought to trial, then probably not. judy: when we see the picture that the fbi released of the document spread out on the floor, we're looking at top-secret, clearly this is sensitive material. >> highly sensitive material. cover sheets that were on the

screen are easily detected. there is no mistaking you have a classied document because you have a classified coversheet marked secret or top secret, as the case may be. there are markings at the top and bottom of each page. there would not be a mistake about the nature of the document. judy: the doj is saying efforts were likely taken, and you just referred to this to obstruct the government's investigation. if that is proven, is that breaking the law? >> if it was done intentionally. let me explain. for instance, we know that mr. trump's lawyers had represented to the department of justice that they had done a thorough search and there were no more classified documents. that turned out not to be true. what -- was intentionally false? in other words, were they just bad lawyers?

being a bad lawyer is not a crime. or were they misled by someone else, where they told perhaps by the client that the search was thorough and they passed on that information? or did they know that there were documents there, but misrepresented it to the department of justice? the first two scenarios, it is not a crime. but the last one, joining in a conspiracy to hide documents and making misrepresentation to the department of justice, that would be. judy: deciding whether to try to get answers to those questions that you just described, who makes that decision? >> deciding to trying get answers would be to the prosecutors and agents. that's why they do lots of interviews, for instance they want to see surveillance footage from mar-a-lago. it would tell you who is coming and going and with what in their hands. by talking to people and getting their best recollection,

hopefully their truthful best recollection, you can begin to understand whether these things were done intentionally or negligently. intention is what is required to prove a crime. judy: the early reporting seems to be that doj is not expected to file charges. how should we read that? i know you are not inside the justice department right now, but what do you think we could expect here? >> to your point, there may not be charges before the midterm elections, but there is an ongoing investigation. the attorney general of e united states has told us that and he said they're going to follow the facts wherever they lead. there is a long-standing department of justice policy not to take charges or to take over investigative steps near the time of an election. it's not 60 or 90 days, there is no number in the policy. for the purpose of interfering

in that election. so they may go quiet for a time, but that doesn't mean the investigation has stopped. you can still do things covertly, quietly, secretly, to further your of exit -- investigation while you are in this pre-election white period. judy: do you think we can assume that the fbi has found what they thought to be in his possession? >> the executed a search warrant and they had authority to look in places where they might find them. and they spent hours. that is one reason why they went in with a lot of people. if they only went in with one person, it would take a lot longer. you bring a lot of agents, you do a thorough search pursuant to a lawfully authorized warrant signed by a federal judge, and that becomes part of the investigation. but that doesn't mean the investigation is over. it doesn't mean that they could not or would not execute another

search warrant somewhere else. you follow the facts and follow the leads and go where they go. judy: what do you look for at this point next year? >> well, i am biased, judy. i come from the department of justice and i have great faith in their ability to do that work. i don't know when we will hear again from merrick garland, but typically the department of justice speaks in court through motions and written documents. i am looking for those. judy: chuck rosenberg, we are grateful to you. thank you. ♪ judy: in the absence of roe v. wade, a complicated and fast-changing patchwork of abortion laws has emerged state-by-state. many state lawmakers moved quickly to expand or restrict abortion access and both new and old laws have been tested and tied up in legal challenges.

currently, 14 states have total or near-total bans on abortions. and with a vote last night, south carolina is one step closer to joining them. lisa desjardins has more. lisa: last night in south carolina, as abortion rights protesters chanted outside, the state house representatives passed a near-total abortion ban. that bill allows abortions in a few situations. in cases of rape or incest, in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. those require a police report soon after the abortion. other exceptions, if the woman's life or a major body function is at risk from the pregnancy. that bill now heads to the state senate. the debate drew national attention this month after republican state representative neal collins openly reetted backing a law that was briefly in effect. it banned abortions when a heartbeat is detected. he then spoke of a 19-year-old woman who was miscarrying a second trimester pregnancy but because of that law, attorneys

told doctors not to treat her. >> she's going to pass this fetus in the toilet. she's going to have to deal with that on her own. there's a 50% chance, greater than 50% chance that she's going to lose her uterus. there's a 10% chance that she will develop sepsis and herself die. that weighs on me. i voted for that bill. these are affecting people. what we do matters. lisa: representative collins did not support the near-total ban in committee, but did support a version that passed last night. and he joins me now. representative collins, thank you for joining us. you have expressed real concern for abortion restrictions perhaps becoming too extreme. why did you vote for the bill last night that was more extreme than the bill that you seem to regret? rep. collins: thank you, lisa. that last little bit is where the national narrative is

incorrect. if we watch longer than that one nute, it was a two hour committee, and in that process, democrats were being cut off. my point was what we do in that comedic matters come that people should have the right to speak. so what i truly was saying is this is an important matter, everybody should have their chance to represent their constituents. if i do have a regret as far as the six week band, what i regret is that we weren't even more specific. i believe a six week ban that we passed should and would have protected this 19 year old that i mention. as an attney, i understand that hospitals in that first week or two one to be extremely careful and conservative on how they read the language, which was a good thing, because it led to how we improve this bill, we specifically listed 12-14 different situations where the

life of the mother would be protected. so hopefully, and this was i hope made clear, hopefully nothing like that would happen in south carolina. lisa: i just want to track back to what you said in committee, and we did watch a lot of that footage. you said you were not able to support that bill at that time. that bill is not very different from the bill that you supported last night. so what has changed? rep. collins: to me it was a significant difference. i axley voted against the bill as not, the original bill. it was a complete ban with no exceptions. we hadn't 8-9 our debate yesterday, and with that -- we had an 8-9 hour debate and we amended it to include rape and insets. i represent 42,000 people in

arguably the fourth most conservative district in all of the nation. i represent basically, easily south carolina. over eight weeks, i have been contacng hundreds of my constituents, and to probably about three fourths of my constituents wanted further restrictions, but they also wanted the excepons in these cases. lisa: you talk about rape, and you have written about your thoughts in extensive facebook post, you have expreed concern for the trauma of rape and said that you don't want to add to that trauma, but this bill requires a police report. whether or not a rape survivor feels safe doing that, why is that necessary to get an abortion if you're making a rape exception? rep. collins: i personally don't think that it is. i have voted for hundreds of bills, and i can tell you not one bill has been completely what i want.

that is the whole nature of the compromise. to me, it falls onto two more important issues within our society. i went viral nationally, none of my constituents saw that, because we are so divided, we are seeing completely different news sources, completely different intake of information. i had a grand total of three constituents of my 14,000 reach out to me and say they saw me going viral. what that tells me is, my constituents did not hear it. they do not receive the same information, and that is concerning for both my state and our nation. obviously if you scroll through any of the social media, our national dialogue and our ability to -- though situations are what we should really should be talking about. lisa: part of the conversation you been having and weighing in on wrestling with is who would

be affected byhe abortion ban that you hope to pass, and realizing that many people who have abortions became pregnant while using contraception. that is something you have expressed concn about. how do you wrestle with closing off abortions to women like that, even in the earliest pregnancy, who might have tried to avoid pregnancy but contraception failed? rep. collins: we want to protect life, and i believe it is of majority viewpoint that life begins at conception. so that is where this bill is coming from. lisa: wonder if you are sure that this law that you voted for will not harm women's lives, put women in jeopardy, as you thought that woman you talked about was in jeopardy from the previous law. rep. collins: i hope we cleared as many unintended consequences as we could. this is a process, it now goes to a whole separate chamber of

arsenate. hopefully they will digest the language we have come a they have something to work with. hopefully they will have medical expert testimony. i know that they already have. i hope that we are able to clear as many possibilities as we can. this a: south carolina state representative neil collins, thank you for talking with us. ♪ judy: in recent weeks, several children's hospitals have become targets of far right attacks and harassment over gender affirming medical care for transgender youth. stephanie sy has the story. stephanie: extremist anti transgender activists haveeen using social media to spread disinformation about gender affirming care. and now the staff at boston children's hospital is receiving violent threats. the hospital is one of dozens of facilities that offer trans health care.

they have become the target of far right influencers and politicians who want to ban these services outright. despite one one twitter account with more than a million followers posted boston , children's says it does not perform genital surgeries as parof gender affirming care on patients under the age of 18. for more on alof this, i'm joined by jay brown. he's the senior vice president of programs research and training at the human rights campaign and lgbtq plus advocacy organization. thank you so much for joining the newshour. what was your reaction to hearing about the threats to boston children's hospital? and what's your sense of how prevalent this hate mongering is around this issue? jay: yeah, well, thank you so much for having me and i wish i could say we're surprised by this. but unfortunately, we've seen a real rise in this kind of extremism, and this is really just the latest in a well-coordinated effort to divide people and turn people

against their lgbtq neighbors and friends. stephanie this harassment jay : reminds me of the targeting of abortion providers over the years which lead to real violence, even murder. we haven't seen that yet here. but now you have social media influencers who are reaching millions of people with misinformation. how do we begin to combat that? jay: yeah, we're we're really worried about what this means. -- what this means for their daily lives. i mean, we're already seeg proud boys and other extremists show up at events, pride parades and library story hours. and these providers have have real reasons for concern. we see really hardworking, well trained medical professionals just doing the job that they are called to do, follow their ethical duties. and seeing extremists really mobilized against them as extremely, it's very concerning. stephanie are you advocating : that social media platforms take some of these posts down? >> yes, we've called on social media platforms to be taking aggressive action against these and to be reminded of the real life consequences of these.

we may not have seen get a provider harmed physically, but we know that they are being threatened. we know that we're also seeing at the time that these threats are increasing. we're seeing an epidemic of violence against the trans community. that it continues to be historic year after year. so there is a direct tie to our daily lives to the ability for our community to thrive. and the signal that this sends to young people to their parents to their to their loved ones is extremely harmful and we have research showing that the vast majority of young people are being impacted by this this kind of vitriol online negative. so these companies need to do more. they need to do more to enforce the policies that they have against hate actions on the platforms. stephanie: jay, boston children's hospital just sent us a statement saying their focus right now is the safety and security of their staff and patients. they've received a large volume they say of these threats, and they say that people behind this harassment campaign have a specific agenda to discredit

those they disagree with by spreading false information. what do you think the real agenda is behind what seems to be a very coordinated campaign? jay: yeah, i think that that's very true. and i would agree with that statement. i think, you know, honestly, they have political ambitions and they have seen that with a small extremist base that this kind of fear mongering works. but the reality is the vast majority of the public is against it, and it's not what theyanted their elected officials is not what they want of any healthcare provider to be interfering with what was best for a patient what's best for , their ability to thrive and medical care. so, you know, i think this is really an intent to win elections. stephanie: and yet, these violent threats -- does it make it harder for people that are seeking needed gender affirming medical care? does it make it harder for them to get that care? jay: these threats do interfere with care. when i talk to providers who are

working in hospitals who work at these clinics to do amazing work caring for young people and their families. they, you know, first of all, the vast majority of care they're providing is social, emotional, mental health care, which everybody should be able to agree and access, should that children and young people should be able to access. it doesn't have anything to do with surgeries at the young ages. and so that's disinformation, misinformation that continues to spread online intentionally. the reality is, instead of being able to talk to their patients about what their daily lives are, like, what their struggles are, they're actually having to talk to their patients about what they're seeing online about their lives. you know, threats from lawmakers and real actions from lawmakers like abbott in texas and desantis in florida, against their healthcare, interfering with care. so it really does impact lgbtq young people.

transgender and non binary people in dramatic ways. and these hospitals should be able to provide more resources to these families, not fewer and unfortunately, i think their resources are now tied up with trying to make sure that their providers are safe. stephanie: maybe not everybody understands what it's like for somebody to go through a transition like this. could you share with us a little bit about what it was likeor you personally, to face society, when you realize that you weren't living in a body that felt true to you and how important was getting care at that time? jay: yeah, i mean, i wish that i had had the kind of care that is available now. you know, ever since i was a very young, very young and i would i would go to bed at night praying that i would wake up a boy and i didn't have the language or didn't have the resources or access to the kind of care that is avaible now. it took years to be able to sort of recognize who i was. there was not a lot of visibility about trans people in public and today i'm extremely happy and very proud of who i am. the ability to sort of walk through the world authentically as yourself is something that

most people take for granted. i don't, and i think these young people and their families are really just trying to get that kind of freedom. and that kind of sense of authenticity, that everybody really deserves, i think that's a shared value. unfortunately, you know, i think this misinformation and disinformation campaign that are on that extremists are, are sort of, you know, really actioning against lgbtq young people, especially trans people is extremely harmful. and it it sort of takes away a lot of the progress that i think people have seen. stephanie: jay brown with the human rights campaign, thank you so much for joining the newshour with your important perspective. jay: thank you so much for having me and for bringing attention to this issue. ♪ judy: today the world health organization warned that millions of pakistanis affected by historic floods are now at

risk of waterborne disease. areas in central and southern pakistan are still underwater, from torrential rain and glacial melt. and the water keeps coming. in the last day, 70,000 more homes have been damaged, adding to the 1 million homes already damaged or destroyed. nick schifrin is back with more on the humanitarian crisis. nick: more than 6 million pakistanis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, and unicef says some 3 million children, are at risk. to discuss what they're facing, we turn to abdullah fadil, the unicef representative in pakistan. he's just back in islamabad from the flood-hit regions. thank you very much, welcome to the newshour. more than 1000 people have been killed by these floods, and more than one third of those have been children. our pakistani children particularly vulnerable? >> absolutely. they are vulnerable because they are more susceptible to

diseases, diarrhea, malnutrition. this is a devastating climate for entire communities. the most hardest hit provinces are the most deprived provinces in the country. and the ones who have the least infrastructure to withstand floods. their crops and animals have been decimated. millions are also impacted. nick: the scale is unprecedented. many victims have described receiving no assistance from the government or from ngos. is that what you are seeing? how difficult is it to reach people right now? >> assistance is coming but not in the sufficient quantity that the calamity requires. the government responded the first few days, but it is a big

country, pakistan. the vastness of the floods just makes it impossible to reach everyone. it's a logistics nightmare. roads have been washed completely out. 3000 kilometers of roads, bridges have been completely decimated. 7000 troops responding is the right approach. we are all trying to do all we can. unicef delivered water to communities in need, we've delivered medical supplies, hygiene kits, our warehouses are completely depleted. $160 million of military lifesaving appeal has been launched should come in as quick as possible. nick: what do people need most

right now? >> i saw people on the highways and the sides of the streets with makeshift camps. they are using plastic sheets, they're using their clothes, sometimes even boxes. people need shelter. they need food, they need water, medical supplies, medicines. they need clothes. children have not had cooked food for some days. they need hot meals. nick: unicef says some 18,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed. it would be the beginning of the school year right now. what is the prognosis for education for so many of these children who have had to evacuate their homes? >> disasters. remember we had two years of closures from covid.

almost 23 million children are out of school already. now those who return to school trying to recover from learning gaps, all of a sudden don't have access to learning facilities. were trying to issue tents to make sure children can go back to school as soon as possible. this will be really critical to ensure that children are able to go back to schoo nick: what about? ? the psychological impact on children how difficult is it on them when their parents, their caregivers are themselves so affected? >> children are moved in the middle of the night out of nowhere from their homes, not sure if they will survive the waters, perhaps even knowing people who died. so it is quite traumatizing. but also not eating for five or

six days. it's quite traumatic for children of any age, but these children particularly who were already vulnerable are really facing a daunting task ahead of them. nick: what are the conditions in the camps that so many people have had to flee to? >> one of the camps i visited today, it was really her indus. i saw a woman who had six children. her eldest son spoke a bit of english. he was saying for five days we've been away from home, i want to go back to school as soon apossible. we haven't had a hot meal since this morning and it was almost 5:00. nick: it was almost 100 degrees fahrenheit. >> exactly, and with the humidity. it's really difficult for families. they want to go back to normal life as soon as possible.

nick: the pakistani government said it is trying its best and argues this is an unprecedented crisis. do you believe the pakistani government has done enough in order torepare these communities for this kind of flooding, for example by installing early warning systems? >> they have learned from the 20 10 crisis, but again, it's not enough. pakistan is facing an economic crisis. there is a global economic crisis on top of that. enough is not done. more could be done, of course. but we need to act and save lives. nick: thank you very much. ♪ judy: leaders from african countries are meeting this week in gabon, trying to come up with strategies to combat climate

change. the toll from extreme weather has devastatedast regions of sub-saharan africa, suffering from the worst drought conditions on record and a severe food crisis. correspondent fred de sam lazaro looks at one effort to help farmers affected by changing weather patterns. this story is produced in partnership with the pulitzer center. fred: like much of east africa, south sudan has suffered scorching droughts. yet in an cruel twist, many parts of this country are actually still inundated from flooding late last year. >> what has happened in the last three years in south sudan has never been seen in living memory. fred: nhial tiitmamer is a climate scientist based in south sudan's capital, juba. this country has been ravaged by war before independence in 2011,

civil conflict since then, and erratic weather. flooding added hundreds of thousands of climate refugees to those fleeing conflict. about two million people live in squalid camps. the country faces an acute hunger crisis. >> so the fields, as you can see, are pretty water logged already and we're told that the rains have not really started in -- have not really arrive in earnest. fred: just outside the northern city of malakal we visited farmers laboring on and preparing their fields, investing as much in hope as any harvest. >> we grow okra, collard greens, maize and cassava but because of all the water, most of these things are not going to be planted. fred: nyanakim achuiel belongs to a women's garden group organized by the christian humanitarian group world vision. >> we've seen a lot of changes

in the weather compared to the years before. and our output has been very low. fred: scientists see a much longer trend. across east africa, average temperatures have risen a full celsius, 1.8 degrees fahrenheit, over the past 50 years, king for hotter dry seasons and wetter rainy ones, the drought-baked soil unable to absorb water fast enough to prevent flooding. >> much of the water that is, you know, received in east africa here in the region is from the indian ocean. and the indian ocean is one of the most warming oceans in the world. and because of this warming, there is a l of evaporation. that is bringing rain to east africa. >> from a global perspective, the intergovernmental panel on climate change has noted a one third reduction in yields as a result of climate change over the last 60 years.

fred: andrew youn founded the kenya-based one acre fund, a nonprofit that helps farmers in several african nations produce more and adapt to the changing climate. small farmers make up the majority ofhe world's poor youn says, yet little is being , done to help them. >> less than 2% of climate finance goes to farmers. it's just absolutely crazy that one of the most affected, one of the most vulnerable populations in the world and they don't even exist as part of the climate dialogue. and there's lots of really actionable, scalable, cost effective things that we can do. fred: one acre fund serves about 1.4 million farmers who've signed up for its program. that size allows it to buy good quality seeds and fertilizers at bulk discounts, which are passed on to farmers along with credit to purchase these resources and, if a crop fails, there's limited insurance through loan forgiveness. and the group educates farmers providing critical expertise. hundreds of field agents, like marie claire mugeni in eastern

rwanda, advise on how to space seeds, the right doses of compost and fertilizer and the best time to plant. >> they taught us how to properly use fertilizers, and how to apply lime in the field for acidity. fred: 53 year old immaculee mukamana says her maize crop yields doubled when she first joined one acre fund two years ago. but after this year's drought she has very little food left in reserve. >> i was expecting more than 660 pounds of maize, i got just 88. fred: to help survive lean years, one acre funds is now pushing members to diversify; to grow more than one compatible crop in the same field, for example. or grow specialty crops like vegetables. protais barushwanubusa had a poor crop of maize and potatoes this year.

but with bumper harvests a year earlier, he had savings. he purchased a diesel pump, which now waters an abundant field of vegetables he'll sell in nearby markets insurance , against another sparse grain or potato crop. >> i'm currently growing tomatoes, green peppers, and eggplants. before i could grow these vegetables, but not at a large scale. but since i now have this pump i use it to irrigate even during dry season or when there is no rain. fred: another climate-driven initiative here is planting a billion trees on farmers' lands. other such campaigns have been difficult to sustain but one acre fund says its focus is on the economic benefits as much as environmental, using trees that can provide wood or fruit. at the edge of the tree nursery is a demonstrator model if you will, that should clinch the deal with any reluctant farmer.

this two-year-old avocado tree is already about 10 feet tall. it's already bearing fruit, and in one year will be considered full grown and at that stage is expected to bear something like 600 pounds of avocado each season. >> when farmers sell those avocados, if they're not able to find markets, they can eat them. and avocados are obviously wonderful for child nutrition. and then, of course, there's a modest carbon benefit because that tree is never cut down. fred: it sounds good in theory but -- >> the trees i got, they died. fred: the real world is where farmers like immaculee live. the drought forced her to take a job far from her field, she says, and water was scarce. it's -- milindi sibomana heads research and development for one acre in rwanda.

it's learning as you go, he says, with feedback from farmers and results from research plots like these. >> we test the product here before we scale it. fred: this maize plot was planted in late march--too late, it turns out because the rains came--and ended--earlier than usual. >> it didn't cob well, there's no grain on it. fred: a failed crop but that's how these test plots offer data on what to plant, where, and based on weather forecasts, when. >> we try and capture as many variations in conditions, so if you're talki about poor fertility soil, this is the kind of crop you're going to get from it. fred: the average yield on one acre fund farms has increased 40, a solid buffer that can help them cope with the changing climate, says andrew youn, a minnesota native who's lived in east africa since 2006. >> the solutions are there.

they're cost effective, they're scalable. it's not like you need to invent fusion or anything like that, you know, it's ultra simple. fred: a metaphor in policy terms, though for millions of drought stricken and flooded african farmers, a prayer: just add water. not too much. not too late. for the pbs newshour, i'm fred de sam lazaro near malakal south sudan judy: fred's reporting is in partnership with the undertold stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. judy: artists have long taken to the outdoors to do their work. now, an artist-in-residence program, organized by the national park service, puts a new emphasis on that important synergy. jeffrey brown visited the everglades national park in florida to see how artists in

residence are creating and sharing their work in nature. it's part of our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: the sights and sounds of florida's everglades national park, a vast wetlands preserve, that first opened in 1947. home to wondrous birds, like the great egret. insects, including the lubber grasshopper. and yes, alligators, though with the waters so high during our hot summer visit, none showed themselves. it's also home to something else: art. would you come out here every day looking for what? , cornelius: yeah, really just looking for anything in the environment that really inspired me. jeffrey not hard to find. :>> not at all, you know. and i think that's the beauty of being out here, is that you're in collaboration with nature. jeffrey: cornelius tulloch spent a month here in january as part of a program called artists in

residence in everglades, or airie, that's brought more than 190 artists to the park since its creation in 2001. he grew up in miami, just about an hour, but in some ways light years away, and had been to the park only for a school field trip. now, he wanted to use his art, which includes painting, architecture and photography, to capture what he came to see as a hidden history. >> this idea that even within this natural environment, there's people who have lived through this space, that there's history. and although we may not see it now today in this kind of state of its ecology, but that history still lies here. jeffrey daily moments in : everglades national park today. transformed through color and lighting, into scenes meant to suggest a loss presence, especially a little-known black presence: of workers and settlemes in this area in the early part of the last century. and, what can't be shown, from an earlier time: the so-called saltwater railroad, a version of

the underground railroad, in which enslaved blacks fled south to florida, through these marshes, to boats that would take them to freedom in the british-held bahamas. tulloch, whose father is jamaican, was himself learning of this for the first time. >> that was something that surprised me. how did i not learn about this? you know, living in florida, being in these spaces so nearby and never hearing that my entire life. jeffrey they were going to the : caribbean. to places where you also have connections. cornelius: yes, yes. that trans-atlantic route backwards. i think that had a lot of power to me, especially as someone who's half jamaican. and you can only imagine, you know, we have the boardwalks to walk through and different things. what was this like for slaves or people moving through this landscape when you're in the pitch black dark? there's no, like, exact place for you to walk or go through. so i think in my images, i also tried to evoke this, a sense of, like, what it would feel like to traverse through this environment. jeffrey the american wilderness : has been a subject for artists since at least the early 19th

century. thomas cole's paintings of the hudson river valley. albert bierstadt's valley of the yosemite. thomas moran's grand canyon of the yellowstone. these and other iconic images presented the natural wonder of the land and, in some cases, helped lead to efforts to preserve it through the creation of national parks. but they also often left the indigenous and other inhabitants out of the picture, erasing part of history. today, the national park service itself oversees artist residency programs in parks all over the country. and many artists are finding ways to widen the lens. the newest artist in residence at everglades is maya freelon, who refers to herself as a found object scope door -- sculptor.

she lives in north carolina and was making her first ever visit to this park. >> i love working in a natural environment, one, because the wind plays with you, too. but i also love how people react to something seemingly so fragile. jeffrey: the something so fragile is tissue paper, which she uses to create her own version of a quilt always made , in collaboration with others. she recently held a workshop at the park's visitor center. it begins with tearing up strips and wetting them, letting the different colored papers bleed into each other. when they dry, the group comes together to glue their individual pieces into what becomes a 20-foot quilt. >> she told me the stories about making something out of nothing, and make a way out of no way. jeffrey: freelon says she learned from her grandmother, re-working the african-american quiltmaking tradition. >> she tell me that the seam side is the one that is down so you have one flat side.

i decided as a -- as an artist -- as a sculptor and an artist that the seam side out was much more interesting, delicate and beautiful. jeffrey for her, coming here was : an opportunity to help expand and diversify the residency program. >> i love that their initiative to reach out and connect with african-american artists, to diversify what's happening here, but also to help expand the knowledge of this area. jeffrey: her tissue paper quilt sculpture will, the winds allowing, hang in trees along long pine key lake. for his part, cornelius tulloch now has a new role, as the artists-in-residence program's head of culture and content. >> not only connecting the artists to the landscape, bu connecting the artists to the audience, to other people to show them, you know, all these great, amazing things that artists are doing in the park. this story needs to be told. artists are uncovering and finding this information, but

helping them to convey that through, whether it's social media or video or documentation of this experience that they are getting in the park, even like this, you know, these type of conversations to let people know that these are being had. jeffrey: new ways of bringing together nature and history, here and at national parks around the country. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in florida's everglades national park. judy: so uplifting. and online, black women in missouri are four times more likely to die in childbirth than other women in the state, so trained coaches called doulas are stepping in to address the issue and provide crucial health care for expectant and new parents. you may read about their efforts right now on pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe and we'll see you soon.

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