Next Sunday, October 9, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time / 7:00 p.m. Central time, CNN in Spanish together with the journalist María Celeste Arrarás will present the documentary “Planet in Danger: California in Crisis”, a wake-up call about the devastating effects of climate change, and how these are having implications of all kinds whose effects are already being felt on a daily basis.
In “Planet in Peril: California in Crisis,” María Celeste Arrarás, together with her team, entered the agricultural areas of the state of California to understand first-hand the effect of climate change on their production and the extreme measures they are undergoing to do their jobs to put food on tables across the United States and some neighboring countries.
Throughout this documentary, Maria Celeste Arraraswith concrete examples, shows how if we are not aware, we could experience endless hardships in the short term, as a result of the actions we are taking today.
We spoke with María Celeste Arrarás about “Planet in Danger: California in Crisis” and her experience working on this project. This is what she told us:
La Opinion: María Celeste, “Planet in Danger: California in Crisis”, the name could not be more appropriate, because what is happening in California is perfectly replicable in the rest of the world.
Maria Celeste Arraras: Absolutely, “California sneezes, and the rest of the United States catches pneumonia”, and this is because it is an extremely powerful state, rich in agriculture, which distributes a large part of the vegetables and vegetables for the rest of the nation. What is happening in California not only affects the United States, but several Latin American countries that receive their food from there.
For example, Mexico gets its rice largely from California, and the state has lowered production due to a drought, the worst in 1,200 years.
This is “the tip of the iceberg”, an announcement of what is coming, which is much worse. I was talking to experts on everything that has to do with water and they explained to me that in winter, if not enough snow falls in the Sierra Nevada, it would be lethal for California, there would not be enough water to supply the state, and this would obviously cause a domino effect for the country.
Making this documentary I had the opportunity to travel throughout the agricultural area of the state and witnessed the very difficult decisions that the workers are making, for example they are stopping farming on many of the lands because there is not enough water to irrigate, this is translates into a decrease in the variety of crops and food itself.
As long as we have less water, the situation will undoubtedly get worse. There is less variety of food that little by little will disappear, not to mention the price that is going through the roof because it costs much more to cultivate, and of course the decrease in employment in the fields, what is happening with the water has innumerable Negative effects.
La Opinion: In recent years, the news of global warming has been handled as “a lie” that our leaders have even politicized. In this documentary there is clear evidence that this is a reality. How important do you see raising your voice, especially now?
Maria Celeste Arraras: Very important. I have always focused on raising awareness about global warming even when it was not talked about, and Although I consider myself one of the most optimistic people in the world, this is an issue I feel pessimistic about.
We are already heading in a direction where what is coming is not at all positive, with very big challenges in a future that may be far or near, how far or how close? how severe and time will determine whether or not we change our conduct at this time, and for that to happen there are so many sectors that must agree.
The change that we have to achieve as soon as possible has to be individualbecoming aware of everything we can do to save water, not to pollute, and inform and educate ourselves so that we are not surprised by what is on the way.
La Opinion: In the fields of California the vast majority of these workers are Hispanic. What do you collect from them in the face of the crisis that is being experienced?
Maria Celeste Arraras: They feel very unstable, many told me that this keeps them up at night. Even the lucky ones who still have a job told me that at any moment they could lose it.
Every year the crop fields are shrinking due to lack of water. A farmer who at the moment is one of the most important in the state of California took me on a tour that impacted me; hectares of land without using it because they do not have to irrigate potential crops, they have to concentrate on fewer crops with the water they have.
“Planet in Peril: California in Crisis” It will air this Sunday, October 9 at 6pm Pacific Time, 9pm Eastern Time / 7pm Central Time, CNN en Español.