♪ >> good evening. geoff bennett is away. tonight on pbs news weekend. we look at how being a college athlete is paying off after last year's big ncaa rule change. a difficult choice. which animal should get priority to be safe from extension? and why the food we toss into our trash affects climate change. >> it rots when it is not exposed to oxygen. >> you are having a festering methane pile that is 25 times more potent than c2. >> all of that in the days headline's on tonight's pbs news weekend. ♪

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station from viewers like you. thank you. >> good evening. we begin tonight in ukraine where 6 million peoe remain in the cold and the dark. ukraine's national energy company says power across the country is coming back online slowly. water, heat and electricity were knocked out earlier this week by russian military strikes on key infrastructure sites as winter fast approaches. today several european leaders arrived foir a summit on food security that commemorates the 90 year anniversary of the devastating famine that killed millions at the direction of soviet leader joseph stalin. volodymyr zelenskyy urged leaders not to let history repeat itself. >> our nation remembers the horrible silence of 1932 to 1933. now we must do everything possible to save as many people

and to restore as many elements as possible of global food security. we need to rid russia of the weapon called hunger. >> torrential rains caused devastating lands lines across an island off the coast of naples, italy. cars and buses were washed into the sea. one person is confirmed dead as three emergency responders comb through debris. upwards of 100 people have been reported stranded. chinese officials in xinyun have a strict zero covid lockdown in the region's capital. many residents have not been able to leave their home since august. video that got past chinese censorship shows massive protests in the streets, many people shouting "open up." the anger was fueled in part by an apartment fire on thursday night that killed 10 people. some question whether zero covid

restrictions were created -- created too many ossicles r firefighters to save lives -- many obstacles for firefighters to save lives. in georgia early voting began in a runoff election to decide the final senate race of 2022. it will go on for the next week. rafael warnick and republican challenger herschel walker are in a last sprint to turn out voters ahead of the december 6 runoff. at stake is whether the democrats can win a 51 seat senate majority. and a passing of note. irene cara the actress and singer has died. her hits include " flashdance" and "flame." she played coco hernandez in the 1980 musical "fame" about new york's high school for the performing a >> ♪ i can catch the moon in my hands don't you know who i am remember my name

fame i'm going to live forever i'm going to learn how to fly >> high >> i feel it coming together people will see me and cry >> fame >> i'm going to make it to heaven light up the skies like a flame >> fame >> i'm going to live forever baby, remember my name ♪ ♪ >> her publicist said she died at her home in florida. she was 63 years old. still to come on pbs news weekend, as more animals face the threat of extension, how do we choose was once to -- which ones to save? how food waste is hurting the planet. >> this is pbs news weekend from weta studios in washington home of the pbs newshour week

nights on pbs. >> this week as many college football rivals have been facing off to wrap up the regular season, we thought it would be a good time to see how one of the biggest off field rule changes in years is playing out. it is called name-image-likeness and allows athletes to sign paid endorsement deals. dan matheson's director of the sport and recreation management program at the university of iowa, also a former ncaa director of enforcement. this rule change went into effect july 2021. we have had about a year and a half. how has it been going so far? >> it has been going quite well. student athletes have been signing deals to the tune of about $1 billion in the first year and it's opened up new rights that are, are benefiting student

athletes across the country in many different ways. >> there was some fear that it would create sort of haves and have nots. that the big name, big sport, bi spool athletes would wrap up all of the endorsement money and all the other athletes would be fighting over what was left. has not played out? >> certainly, football student athletes are number one in terms of nil earnings, but one of the great benefits of image and likeness is the opportunity to spreadhe wealth little bit amongst women student athletes and traditionally nonrevenue sports, olympic sports. so, among the top five to ten sports in terms of signing n.i.l. deals, you have women's

basketball, softball, women's gymnastics, and other sports that historically student athletes happen to have -- haven't had professional of opportunities in. these students have the opportunity to capitalize on their college athletics fame and notoriety while they are at the peak of their earning potential. >> and you make that point, many of them will not go on to professional careers. many of them won't be as well-known again. so, this is a prime opportunity for them? >> absolutely. you seen many exales of like i said women student athletes are earning a great deal in nam image and likeness and you have several examples, the twins at the university of miami and women's basketball and others that are quite successful in that space beyond what people

aditionally think of as football and men's basketball, which definitely are at the top of the list, but so many others below those sports. >> has anyone been left out in this? >> i would not say anybody has been left out unless they have chosen to stay on the sidelines. now, there are some student athletes considered a distraction. they are focused on their playing careers and their classes and being a student and don't want the extra responsibility of pursuing deals and building their in many cases, building a social media following in order to get name-image and likeness deals. but that is the beauty of it, is it really is available for all student athletes if they can build a following. the majority of name-image-li

keness deals are for social media influencer work. and so, that really democratize us this -- space. there are stunt athletes at non-division 1 schools finding success in n.i.l. work thanks to their ability to build a following on.social media >> dan matheson from the university of iowa, thank you very much. >> thank you, john. ♪ >> t united nations wildlife conferencehis week targeted by poachers. there are roughly one million species around the world facing extension. with -- extinction.

difficult choices have to be made. geoff bennett spoke with rebecca nesbitt, an author for " tickets for the ark, how do we choose what to save?" >> give us a sense of some of the less popular species that are integral to an ecosystem but that aren't getting the funding and the resources and the research you think they deserve. >> there's all sorts of species that either we ignore or even we hate. i think of wasps. common yellowjackets, force,, that lots of people really despise -- but they are playing important roles such as they help with pest control. we have got lots of caterpillars that eat our crops, and various species of wasps will control those caterpillars. , we can release direct benefits from the species that we actively disliked. >> what is an ethical way to

make a decision about which species to save? >>t is a really complex decision that we need to make each time and sometimes we're talking about extinctions. sometimes we're just talking about what is happening in a local area. we're not necessarily going to lose a species to extinction but we're just going to ignore it and let the. population decline the kind of ways we can think about our, what is that species do? we could think about the species' role in the wider ecosystem, for example. i'm going to think of an ecosystem that stores carbon. we all know what problem we are facing with climate and how important it is to store carbon. so, if we were to think of wanting to use an area for forest to have a lot of trees to store carbon, then we could be taking that reasoning we want to prioritize species that will

create an ecosystem that stores carbon. but that's one possible way, and another way we could take this question is who decides?: at the moment a lot of conservation has been decided by a very small number of people. whereas we could bring far more people into this debate because we have, for example, around the world indigenous societies relying on nature, protecting nature, and not having their voices listen to to. so, part of how we decide is who to bring into the conversation. >> consider the panda, for instance, species that gets a lot of attention, a lot of funding. a few months ago, i spoke with melissa sander who works at the national zoo in washington, d.c., about the overall conservation effort. the panda conservationffort in many ways is helpful to other conservation efforts. >> absolutely. the research and the things we learn about their ecology and their ecosystems benefits the

species they are sharing the space with. so, when we work to conserve a large mammal like the giant panda we are also conserving habitat for a range of species. the new giant panda national park is estimated that 4000 species, known speci, so even more than that will be protected. that is one of the reasons we call it an umbrella species. >> what do make of that phenomenon? the sense that when you wer to preserve habitats for things like pandas, animals like pandas, their other species who benefit. >> i think that is absolutely true. and from saving a species like the panda, we're protecting the forest, which is not just amazing for all the other species by four all the things that a force -- but for all the things that a forest does, flood control and climate regulation and providing some goods for the local people livg there. forest is amazing for so many reasons and sometimes it is, it

takes a species like a panda to get us all behind that effort to save that forest. and i think the panda is so important as an icon, because the panda has shown us how successful conservation can be. that the conservationists turned around its fortunes and seeing those success stories is just a reminder of how valuable and successful conservation can be. >> as we wrap up this conversation, what are some best practices based on research to preserve global bio diversity? >> there are also some things that need to go into protecting wildlife. and this is everything from thinking about how we live our lives, our diets. do we waste lots of food? because that land was used to grow that food, and we throw it in the bin, that is land that could been used for wildlife that is now wasted. bringing more people into conversations, and all of us taking part in conversations about how to save wildlife, how

to prioritize is very important, and thinking of an environmental justice position when talking about how to make those decisions. >> dr. rebecca nesbitt is an ecologist and author of the book " tickets of the ark, how do we choose what to save." thanks for your time and insights. >> thank you. >> finally tonight, from moldy strawberries to thanksgiving leftovers. food waste is a part of daily life in america. according to the environmental protection agency, it is responsible for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissio. pbs weekly isabella ja billion reports on why so much food goes to waited efforts to stop -- to waste and efforts to stop it. >> in the pharmacy in

massachusetts, it is harvest season. but ava knows that not all of this process will end up in the pharma stand -- farm stand. >> we will start growing the corn at different times but if we have a super hot summer sometimes all of it will be ready all the same time and the farmer does not have sufficient customers or grocery stores or whatever that can actually move that much corn that quickly. so they will just have more corn than they literally know what to do with. >> and that is not the only problem. >> sometimes a food that gets left in the field is a little too big or too small. if you're selling potatoes to a french fight factory they need those potatoesto be a certain size and shape a weight to work with them in the machinery. >> so, after months of tilling land and tending to crops, all this extra produce will alternate league on the vine. >> food waste is a very big

problem. >> we are talking about economics. don king, who lectures on the environment at brown universityknows this problem well. >> they also say pollution is a sign of ways. and that goes well beyond what we are putting into our landcas fi30usbef%e d f ooo wasted or lost before even -- it even gets to the retailer or distributor. >> why are we seeing waste happen on farms? >> we're very mechanized, so machines are specifically designed, many of them, to only harvest the top two thirds of a plant. >> that is because farmers do not want machines getting tangled in dirt. and farmers also leave behind proto's that is less attractive, what's known as grade b. >> once that becomes grade b, it loses almost all of its value. it is not like it trust 10%, it loses all most all the value so farmers are facing this, in a bad predicament. they want the food to go to others, but they have to pay people to pick it and package it

and i have to get it on a truck and get it to that donation site. all of this cost the farmer money. >> and king says the problem goes far beyond the farm. at every point in the supply chain, more food is lost. from manufacturing, restaurants, grocery stores, and the worst culprit -- consumers at home. added up one third of the food supply in the u.s. is lost or wasted. if food is exposed to air but it is breakin down, it at least has a chance of becoming compost. but when it breaks down in a landfill, something else happens. greenhouse gas. >> it rots when it is not exposed to oxygen . and when it rots -- >> because it is so piled up. >> exactly, your pilot on top of each other so none oft is exposed to air. so, it does the exact opposite, iturns into methane. you are having a festering methane pile that is 25 tes more potent than co2.

>> and that is what we are seeing when we see those -- pip es sticking on the landfill to let out the methane. >> yes. >> king says so much food is served away because it is relatively inexpensive in the u.s. and because use by dates are misleading. >> expiration dates are not set by the u.s. government. baby formula is the only food product that actually has a mandated best buy date. sometimes it says sell by. sometimes it just has the date. >> king says these dates describe how long the manufacture guarantees the quality of the food rather than how safe it is to eat. >> there is a labeling problem people throw away things they think are bad, and it is really not that way. >> the average person throws at anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 every day, and the food is from three days and weeks before the self by date -- the sell by date. >> he founder and ceo of flash

food. >> it is not just the story of the retailer, it is also consumers. if we buy a water miller and there is one on the shelf, we assume it is the worst one so the grocer has to over stock the shelves. >> to mingus came up with an idea, -- to mingus came up with an idea, save the food -- dominguez came up with an idea, saving food. he created an app or customers can buy today's deals and pick them up from special purple fridges. >> in terms of the volume, we have diverted 50 million pounds of food that would've likely end up in landfills. >> back at the form, ava has another way of rescuing food. her program gathers produce that remains after harvest. it is a process called gleaning. >> we are already past 400 pounds of corn. and we will probably get over 1000 pounds. >> last year, they saved up to

250,000 pounds of food and donated it to hunger relief. it is an old one solution to a modern problem. >> gleaning is in the book of ruth in the old testament. it goes back thousands of yeras. people like, how did you come up with this? i really did not. >> for pbs news weekend, i'm isabella in providence, rhode island. >> and online right now with the world cup underway, learn why host country qatar is so controversial and the history behind the decision to play the games there. all that and more on our website pbs.org/newshour. and that is pbs news weekend for this saturday.

on sunday, how waste water is helping uncover clues to the spread of covid and other viruses. i'm john yang. join us here tomorrow evening for all of us have pbs news weekend, thanks. see you tomorrow. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the cporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ >> - sng low, sweet chariot.

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