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60 Minutes S58E31
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00:06What if we told you that after natural disasters, some of those who descend on
00:12hard-hit communities with offers to help are anti-government conspiracists and
00:19white nationalists? Their motive? Recruit, soften their image, and? Going to a
00:25disaster relief is directly helping our people. You're going to help white people?
00:31Yeah. Once in a while we get to travel so far off the beaten track there's hardly
00:40a track at all. For decades this pristine forest in western Colombia was a no-go
00:45area because of armed conflict. That allowed hundreds of species of birds to thrive.
00:54Some of which you can't find anywhere else on earth.
00:58Oh look at that! Oh my god! Look at that huge thing!
01:02This is the rose centifolia. Cultivated in row after pink row, it is a flower worthy of a serenade.
01:11Piano notes play over speakers. The vibrations are said to help the buds bloom evenly.
01:1812 of these roses go into a bottle of Chanel No. 5, all grown here in the French town of
01:25Grasse,
01:26where century-old traditions are used to develop scents for some of the world's most famous perfumes.
01:32How do you know when it's right? It's instinct. It's like music.
01:38I'm Leslie Stahl. I'm Scott Pelley. I'm Bill Whitaker. I'm Sharon Alfonsi. I'm John Wertheim. I'm Cecilia Vega.
01:47I'm Anderson Cooper. Those stories and in our last minute,
01:51a forgotten breakthrough in American history, tonight on 60 Minutes.
02:03A surge of tornadoes tore across a large swath of the country in April, carving a path of destruction.
02:10Over 200 tornadoes hit over 20 states, closely clustered in the last couple of weeks.
02:17And hurricane season is just around the corner.
02:21Our story tonight is about what happens after these natural disasters.
02:26A pattern has emerged in recent years in which militias, conspiracists and white supremacists
02:33show up to hard-hit communities, as they did last week in Texas, offering help.
02:38But they've been called disaster tourists who are out to sow doubt in government,
02:44soften their own image, and gain followers.
02:48MILES O' September 2024. Hurricane Helene barreled through North Carolina with forces so powerful,
02:58it nearly wiped the town of Batcave off the map, lifting homes and toppling trees.
03:05MILES O' Imagine taking in a box of toothpicks and dumping them on your kitchen counter.
03:11MILES O' Sheriff Lowell Griffin faced a daunting rescue task.
03:16MILES O' We had already experienced days of heavy rain.
03:20MILES O' And then the hurricane comes through.
03:24MILES O' Like a triple whammy.
03:25MILES O' Yes, yes.
03:27MILES O' Then another whammy.
03:29MILES O' Outsiders started pouring into North Carolina.
03:33MILES O' So we've got a lot of work to get done.
03:34MILES O' Including an influx of anti-government, far-right groups.
03:39MILES O' These folks that we're talking about, they were in the minority.
03:43However, that minority can create chaos, and that's what we ran into.
03:49MILES O' Did some of these outsiders launch their own rescue operations?
03:54MILES O' We had some folks wanting to act as a militia coming in to take over to,
04:00in their mind, bring some sort of self-deployed law and order to the area.
04:06MILES O' With weapons?
04:07MILES O' Yes, ma'am.
04:08MILES O' So that's like taking your time from the real rescue to deal with them?
04:13MILES O' It is. It is.
04:15MILES O' The sheriff himself didn't see all the groups.
04:18MILES O' But we know among those to show up were members of white nationalist
04:23group Active Club.
04:25MILES O' Going to a disaster relief is directly helping our people.
04:29MILES O' You go in to help white people?
04:31MILES O' Yeah.
04:32MILES O' Robert Rundo co-founded Active Club in 2020 as a place for disgruntled young white
04:39men to work out together while sharing their ideology.
04:43MILES O' With nearly 90 chapters, it's been described by watchdogs as one of the country's
04:49fastest-growing white supremacist networks that are anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant and anti-democracy.
04:56MILES O' They also hold mixed martial arts tournaments.
05:01MILES O' We get together with the boys, we box, we travel.
05:04MILES O' Do you think of it as fun?
05:05MILES O' Of course. You know, there's fun in fascism.
05:08MILES O' Fun in fascism?
05:10MILES O' I'm a nationalist.
05:11MILES O' What does that mean?
05:12MILES O' A nationalist?
05:13MILES O' Yeah.
05:13MILES O' It means I put my people first.
05:15MILES O' Would you say white supremacist?
05:18MILES O' No. I think that's a slanderish term.
05:21MILES O' But my people are white people. European white people.
05:25MILES O' Right. And there's plenty of organizations that are geared towards
05:28other ethnic groups, right? If we don't look out for ourselves, who is?
05:32MILES O' I know that your organization has gone to floods, fires, hurricanes. What if you came upon
05:40someone who wasn't white but is suffering because of the flood?
05:44MILES O' Like if there was like a guy on fire, would I give him water?
05:46Yeah, I'd probably give him water.
05:48MILES O' When you go into these areas, are you recruiting?
05:52MILES O' We hand out flyers.
05:53You know, if somebody wants to contact us later, that's fine.
05:57But just us showing up changes somebody's opinion, someone's mind.
06:02MILES O' So the next time when they put something out and they say these evil guys,
06:05they say, wait a second, that's the guy who came when my house was on fire and helped me out.
06:09MILES O' Many of these outside groups want to build,
06:13as one of their post states, a pro-white parallel system.
06:17MILES O' One of the more prominent white supremacist
06:22groups that showed up in North Carolina was Patriot Front. They cut down trees and handed out bread.
06:30MILES O' Are you sure just one life?
06:32MILES O' But Freddie Cruz from the Western
06:34State Center, a hate group watchdog, says these white nationalists go to disasters primarily
06:41to build a following.
06:43FREDDIE CRUZ, These people come in,
06:45they hand out water, they help clean up the debris. Whatever their ideology,
06:50they're doing something positive, aren't they?
06:53FREDDIE CRUZ, What we're seeing is actually these groups will show up
06:55and generate a whole bunch of social media content.
06:58MILES O' We're dubbing it disaster tourism.
07:01MILES O' And then they leave?
07:02FREDDIE CRUZ, That's generally what we see.
07:05MILES O' That's unlike veterans relief groups like Team Rubicon,
07:09or religious organizations like Samaritan's Purse,
07:13that come in after disasters, coordinate with authorities, and stay a while.
07:19MILES O' When you go into an area that's distressed,
07:22do you coordinate in any way with the local law enforcement, with the sheriff?
07:28FREDDIE CRUZ, Absolutely not.
07:29They would probably do everything they can to prevent us.
07:31MILES O' What do you say to people who argue that you go in,
07:36the purpose is to have some video shot of you handing out some water, and then you leave?
07:42And the whole point was to get that video so that you could post it.
07:48FREDDIE CRUZ, That kind of sounds like what everyone does, right?
07:50FREDDIE CRUZ, That's what a president does when he goes into a community.
07:52They have the cameras there.
07:54So is that bottle of water actually being handed out?
07:57Absolutely it is.
07:58Does our guys actually care and feel for the people that are helping out?
08:02Absolutely.
08:02Do we also video it and put it out there to show another side of us?
08:07Absolutely.
08:07MILES O' These extremist groups put out videos after floods.
08:12Patriot Front is here.
08:13Continuing efforts in Central Texas.
08:15MILES O' They put out videos during fires.
08:18We are here in Santa Monica Pier, watching donations for victims of the wildfires.
08:24MILES O' They figured out that videos about natural disasters
08:28can reach a whole new, large audience.
08:32FREDDIE CRUZ, I think white nationalists are interested in natural disasters
08:35because everybody is interested in natural disasters.
08:38MILES O' John Kelly heads Graphica, a firm analyzing how content spreads online.
08:45MILES O' There are very few things that bring the public's attention to focus on
08:49one thing in unison.
08:51And natural disasters is one of those.
08:53MILES O' These groups, through natural disasters,
08:56are trying to change their image.
08:58They're trying to say, we're wholesome.
09:01MILES O' That's one of the things that characterizes the current groups,
09:04is that they've kind of decided to leave the more triggering iconography in the closet
09:09and try to appeal to a more mainstream audience.
09:11MILES O' Not to do things that turn people off, the way that marching around with swastikas
09:16would turn people off.
09:17FREDDIE CRUZ, A lot of mainstream media, how they depict us, they like to show a guy who's
09:20in camo, trucker hat, maybe overweight, face tattoos, something like this.
09:25What I wanted to do was to create something positive for young guys like myself.
09:32MILES O' The more macho, wholesome image, Robert Rundo thinks,
09:36gives young men permission to adopt his fascist philosophy.
09:40MILES O' Another guy who appeals to young men
09:43is online influencer Dan Bilzerian, with nearly 30 million followers on Instagram.
09:50MILES O' He peddles anti-Semitism.
09:53DAN BILZERIAN I believe that Jewish supremacy
09:54is the greatest threat to America, and I think it's the greatest threat to the world today.
09:58MILES O' I truly believe that.
09:59MILES O' Some of these ideas are seeping into mainstream politics.
10:03MILES O' Bilzerian is running for Congress in Florida.
10:07MILES O' In a group chat, young Republican leaders praised Hitler.
10:12MILES O' And then there's Nick Fuentes,
10:14the online hate monger who's even more explicit.
10:19NICK FUENTIS, And I was thinking,
10:19what is it about Hitler that's cool? Why does it tickle?
10:22Because kids love Hitler. Kids love Hitler. Young men.
10:27MILES O' While more people are advocating these ideas in the open,
10:31MILES O' The young men of Active Club hide their faces
10:34when they post pictures from natural disasters.
10:38MILES O' Our people come first.
10:39MILES O' Rundo is their spokesman, even though he himself hasn't gone to disasters.
10:45For the past few years, he was out of pocket, so to speak.
10:50MILES O' Why were you in prison?
10:52MILES O' Which time?
10:54MILES O' Oh, boy.
10:55MILES O' I was in prison twice.
10:57MILES O' The 36-year-old from New York was first incarcerated
11:00as a teen for a gang fight.
11:03MILES O' Did you stab somebody?
11:05MILES O' Allegedly.
11:07Well, yeah, you know.
11:08Well, he had a weapon, too.
11:09It wasn't like I just, you know, I just randomly showed up on somebody.
11:12MILES O' And the second time?
11:14MILES O' Second time is for what I'm most known for.
11:16MILES O' In 2017, he got into a series of fights
11:20with anti-Trump protesters at rallies.
11:24MILES O' That's him pounding and pounding.
11:27MILES O' He was on the lam when he got this idea to launch a more clean-cut white pride
11:33group.
11:34MILES O' But it's just a new image.
11:37MILES O' We're ultra-nationalist, far-right fascist, you know.
11:41I mean, this is, I'll lean a little bit into these terms, you know.
11:44MILES O' Is your ultimate goal to turn America into a completely white Christian nation?
11:53MILES O' I would also add like a more militant nation as well, you know.
11:59MILES O' Military rule.
12:00MILES O' Like having a military person run the country?
12:03MILES O' Well, just, you know, again, based more of democracy.
12:07MILES O' What did you mean, democracy?
12:10MILES O' Because it's just such a, it's such a scam democracy, I believe.
12:15MILES O' It's politicians that get lobbied.
12:17They never have the interest.
12:19MILES O' Anything that's important, do they ever ask us?
12:21MILES O' No.
12:22MILES O' But if you have a military, you'll never decide anything.
12:26MILES O' We don't decide anything right now.
12:29MILES O' Going to natural disasters like Hurricane Helene
12:32also gives these groups an opportunity to slam the government.
12:37MILES O' Government didn't help whatsoever.
12:39MILES O' Their videos claim the government did a lousy job in the rescue,
12:43saying it was chaotic, clueless, and corrupt.
12:47MILES O' And I am disgusted.
12:49MILES O' The criticisms got more outsider
12:51to descend.
12:53MILES O' These militiamen from Virginia came to clear houses.
12:57MILES O' When the government fails, the people come together.
13:00MILES O' This is a staging area that we have.
13:02MILES O' An Arizona vigilante conspiracist group, Veterans on Patrol,
13:06came to organize supplies.
13:09MILES O' But according to law enforcement,
13:11MILES O' They created chaos and did more harm than good.
13:15MILES O' Look at this car.
13:17MILES O' Sheriff Griffin in North Carolina says many of these disaster tourists
13:21spread conspiracies and misinformation to help their videos go viral.
13:27MILES O' The misinformation took a bad situation and actually complicated a bad situation.
13:36MILES O' But Sheriff, they're coming in because they think the government isn't doing anything.
13:41MILES O' So what I would say for all of these outside
13:44MILES O' There are people outside folks that are really wanting to help.
13:47MILES O' They need to get their information from official sources
13:51MILES O' And not from TikTok or Facebook or whatever the flavor of the day
13:57is with social media.
13:59MILES O' What was some of the misinformation that was being spread?
14:02MILES O' That there were people that were still stranded, that there were bodies
14:10floating in the river, that FEMA was rationing supplies and seizing supplies.
14:17MILES O' None of that was true.
14:20MILES O' FEMA, the federal agency on the ground in natural disasters,
14:24MILES O' is a main target of these outside groups.
14:28MILES O' During Helene, FEMA rescuers had to back away for a few days
14:32when there were fears that militias were coming to hunt them.
14:37MILES O' Also, a wild rumor spread that the government
14:40actually created Hurricane Helene using weather monitoring towers as a weather weapon.
14:48MILES O' Now, this is a directed energy weapon utilized to manipulate the weather.
14:52MILES O' These are weapons of mass destruction.
14:55MILES O' So, basically, the rumor was that, you know, the government controls the weather
15:02and that this was a direct attack on the area.
15:05MILES O' Is this usual now in disasters?
15:09MILES O' One, that there are these false rumors, conspiracies being spread,
15:13and two, that outside groups sort of stream in and make it more difficult for law enforcement.
15:21MILES O' So, what I'm afraid of is, from what I've seen, this will be the new normal.
15:27MILES O' How China tries to exploit natural disasters in the U.S.
15:35MILES O' Taking narratives that portray the U.S. government
15:38as being ineffective and boosting those narratives.
15:41MILES O' At 60MinutesOvertime.com
15:43MILES O' Once in a while, we get to travel so far off the beaten track,
15:52there's hardly a track at all.
15:53That was the case last year when we went to the mountains of western Colombia.
15:57There's some 2,000 species of birds in that South American country,
16:01more than anywhere else on Earth, partly because of its diverse geography,
16:06MILES O' But also, surprisingly, because of war.
16:09Decades of fighting among the Colombian government, left-wing guerrillas,
16:13right-wing paramilitaries, and narco-traffickers,
16:16made some areas so dangerous few people could go there, preserving the birds' habitat.
16:21But since 2016, when Colombia's government signed a peace deal with the FARC,
16:26the largest left-wing guerrilla group, it's gotten safer to travel.
16:30MILES O' And all those species of birds in untouched forests have become an important part
16:35of a growing ecotourism industry. It brings in millions of dollars to Colombia's economy,
16:41and bird watchers, birders as they're known, are flocking there,
16:46hoping to catch even a fleeting glimpse of species you can't find anywhere else on Earth.
16:54On the western slope of the Andes Mountains, in an area with few roads in or out,
16:59lies Tatama National Park, a vast stretch of lush rainforest punctuated by powerful rivers.
17:09Delicate flowers blossom in the rain-soaked forest,
17:13and the sound of birds fills the humid air.
17:19This is one of the wettest places on Earth.
17:22We set off before dawn in a four-wheel-drive vehicle through untouched forest.
17:28MILES O' Hidden in the lush vegetation were all kinds of birds, some shy, others curious,
17:37their colors as vivid as their names. The blue-gray tanager, the cinnamon flycatcher,
17:43the purple-throated wood star.
17:46MILES O' Okay, check it out, check it out, this one, mate.
17:49MILES O' Diego Calderon Franco knows them all. He's one of Colombia's most famous birding guides.
17:55MILES O' Go above the light.
17:56MILES O' Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:58MILES O' Oh, the violet-tailed silk, this is the female.
18:00MILES O' It's the little one right there.
18:01MILES O' The little one, actually.
18:02MILES O' Oh, that's the silk.
18:04MILES O' Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, look at that.
18:04MILES O' That's the silk.
18:05MILES O' Look at the tail.
18:06MILES O' That tail is so beautiful.
18:07MILES O' Diego's enthusiasm is infectious.
18:10MILES O' And this is the star here, this thing, velvet, purple, coronet.
18:15MILES O' There you are.
18:16MILES O' Wow, this color is incredible.
18:19MILES O' Nearby, we spotted some drama between two hummingbirds.
18:22MILES O' Is that a family? One of them is just sitting there on a branch.
18:26MILES O' The others seem to be darting about.
18:27MILES O' Actually, they are both empress brilliance males.
18:30MILES O' So there are actually probably two males fighting a little bit about territory.
18:35MILES O' Hummingbirds, you know, they look cute, but they are real warriors.
18:39MILES O' They will fight for resources.
18:40MILES O' Really? Hummingbirds do?
18:41MILES O' All day long, all day long.
18:43MILES O' The pink right underneath the...
18:45MILES O' In the throat.
18:45MILES O' Like in the throat is incredible.
18:47MILES O' Birding may sound dull to some, but in the forest,
18:50there's always something to watch out for.
18:52MILES O' Whoa.
18:54MILES O' Watch out.
18:54MILES O' This is dangerous.
18:57MILES O' Diego has studied the species here so closely,
18:59he does their calls the way some people hum music.
19:03MILES O' Something like that, that I can...
19:06MILES O' That's a ram?
19:06MILES O' That would be like a wood ram in the forest.
19:09MILES O' There is one here where we are,
19:11that's called the munchique wood ram that lives in the highlands.
19:13MILES O' And it's like...
19:15MILES O' But it's much...
19:16MILES O' It's much happier.
19:17MILES O' It has a different tone so it's more like...
19:20MILES O' Much, much of a, yeah, cooler vibe.
19:25MILES O' You've said that being a bird guide in Colombia
19:27is like being an explorer during the Victorian age.
19:32MILES O' It is.
19:32MILES O' How so?
19:33MILES O' It is because all these explorers from the Victorian age,
19:36they were circumnavigating the globe and exploring and finding new species everywhere.
19:41And because our, you know, troubled past, you can still, you know,
19:44be in Colombia, look at the isolated mountain range, and you might find a new species for
19:50birth for science.
19:51MILES O' Are there still bird species out there that haven't been discovered?
19:54MILES O' Absolutely.
19:54MILES O' We tend to think that we have explored it all,
19:57that we know every corner of the planet, and it's not the case.
20:00MILES O' This area was a no-go area for a long time.
20:04MILES O' Indeed.
20:04The fact that there were illegal armed groups in this area, you know, like for so long,
20:08it prevented just people coming and slashing and burning the habitats.
20:13MILES O' No one could disturb the birds, but no one could go see them really either.
20:16MILES O' Yeah, exactly, exactly.
20:18MILES O' More than 450,000 people were killed,
20:21most of them unarmed civilians, during decades of fighting between armed groups and government
20:27forces in Colombia. 50,000 people were kidnapped. Diego Calderon Franco was one of them. In 2004,
20:35as a graduate student, he and two colleagues were on an expedition in the mountains of northern
20:40Colombia when they were seized by the FARC, Colombia's largest Marxist guerrilla group.
20:46Diego Calderon Franco, And they didn't believe that we were bird watchers, you know, like,
20:49that we were biologists. MILES O' While Diego and his colleagues were held hostage in this remote
20:54hideaway and others, birders around the world called for his release.
20:59Diego Calderon Franco, And like 99% of all the other kidnappings in Colombia,
21:03it became monetary. It became like, OK, let's ask for a ransom to your families.
21:07I was 88 days, three months up there.
21:10MILES O' How did you stay sane?
21:12MILES O' Birds, I would say.
21:14MILES O' You were being held prisoner.
21:16But we could see and hear nature.
21:18MILES O' He scribbled notes about what he saw
21:20on these scraps of cigarette paper.
21:23MILES O' I remember I saw for the first time
21:26one bird that is called slaty brosfinch, and I even made a little drawing and a little note,
21:30like, wow, this is my first slaty brosfinch, kidnapped up there in the Perihal Mountains.
21:35MILES O' His father finally scraped together about $30,000 to free him.
21:39And three years after his release, Diego started a business leading birding tours.
21:46This was one of his favorite places to stay,
21:48a farm at the entrance to Tatama National Park.
21:53It's owned by Michelle Tapasco and her family.
21:55MILES O' She says they moved here in the 1990s to escape violence
21:59by right-wing militias in eastern Colombia,
22:03not realizing the left-wing FARC was active here.
22:07MILES O' After we got here, we realized that it was the flip side of the coin.
22:13MILES O' The guerrilla strike started.
22:19MILES O' There were a lot of confrontations near here
22:22between the military, the police and the guerrillas.
22:26MILES O' In 2008, she says the FARC kidnapped and killed her partner.
22:29She had five daughters to support and thought about leaving,
22:33but decided to stay and build a business providing lodging for the occasional visitor.
22:38When you started this business, did some people tell you,
22:43oh, this is never going to work?
22:44MILES O' Oh, in fact, they would tell me I was crazy.
22:48MILES O' No one would give me a single peso for my project.
22:52MILES O' Now, thanks to birders, she's fixed the place up
22:56and rebranded it as the Montezuma Rainforest Eco Lodge.
23:01Much of the food for guests is grown on the premises.
23:05And Michelle makes sure there's plenty of nourishment for Tatama's hard-working hummingbirds.
23:11Colombia is home to more than 160 species of these fast-moving flyers.
23:16MILES O' These guys are the very only group of birds in the world that can fly
23:20not only forward, normal, but up, down and backwards.
23:24MILES O' How fast are they moving their wings?
23:26MILES O' How fast do you think?
23:27How many times per second?
23:29MILES O' Per second?
23:30MILES O' Ten?
23:30MILES O' Eighty times per second.
23:33You cannot wrap this idea on your brain.
23:36MILES O' Ten years ago, the Colombian government reached a peace agreement with the FARC,
23:41and nearly 10,000 fighters gave up their guns.
23:44MILES O' But for peace to work, they needed new ways to make a living.
23:48So Diego decided to introduce his former captors to birding,
23:53thinking some of them might make good forest guides.
23:56MILES O' What was it like to go birding with
23:58people who had been in FARC, who had been combatants?
24:01MILES O' We totally forgot who we were.
24:03They weren't thinking, oh, this is the guy we kidnapped, you know, 15 years ago.
24:06Birds connect you so much. And I think that's why they have this healing power.
24:11MILES O' Marcos Guevara was once a FARC guerrilla. Now he's a photographer.
24:16Diego helped him get his first job.
24:18MILES O' When he joined us at Tatama,
24:20he captured this video of a green and black fruit eater building a nest.
24:25Did you know anything about birding before you met Diego?
24:29No, I didn't know anything at all. That was really my introduction to birds.
24:37Diego gave us the chance to attend workshops and training sessions.
24:42Birdwatching became a doorway for us, not just into conservation and preservation,
24:47but also as a way to generate income for ourselves.
24:52MILES O' Colombia still has plenty of problems.
24:55While we were busy birding, bombs went off in Cali,
24:58and a presidential candidate was assassinated in Bogota. Eight days ago, 20 people were killed
25:04in an explosion officials blamed on a faction of the FARC that refused to disarm.
25:10Peace here remains fragile, but more tourists are coming than ever before.
25:16At Michelle's Lodge, we ran into Gary George and Joseph Brooks of Los Angeles.
25:21We bonded over a large bird that surprised us one morning.
25:25Look at that, oh my God, look at that huge thing.
25:28Do you see this? It's right there.
25:31Oh, that's a vulture, the black vulture.
25:34MILES O' Like many serious birders, they have what's called a life list,
25:37a count of how many of the roughly 11,000 species of birds in the world they've seen or heard.
25:44Some people collect salt and pepper shakers, but we collect bird sightings,
25:47so we go around the world to do that.
25:49MILES O' How many birds have you seen?
25:51We're very close to 8,000.
25:53MILES O' 8,000. So you've seen the majority of the birds?
25:56We've seen the majority of the birds.
25:57Like four-fifths of the world's birds.
25:59MILES O' If you didn't notice,
26:00those tattoos on Brooks' arms are some of his feathered favorites.
26:04He says there's about 50 birds tattooed all over his body.
26:08This is a satin bower bird from Australia.
26:11This is a red-crowned crane we saw in Japan death in the snow.
26:15MILES O' On this trip,
26:16they were searching for the ever-elusive Chami Antpita.
26:19In two prior trips here, they'd never gotten a glimpse of one.
26:23But this time, they finally heard its call.
26:27Let's try.
26:29MILES O' And then it darted right past them,
26:31so fast our camera couldn't catch it.
26:34It's like finding a jewel, like a prize.
26:36And being in that moment, everything else goes away.
26:40You're not worrying about anything else in your life.
26:42MILES O' You're only present in that moment.
26:45MILES O' Oh, great.
26:48MILES O' Most birds don't have it as good as those here at Tatama National Park.
26:54Worldwide, 60% of bird species are declining in population, victims of logging,
27:00agricultural expansion, and economic development.
27:03At Montezuma Lodge, Michelle Tapasco told us she's working to buy more land to preserve for the birds.
27:10MILES O' And now her daughters are pursuing careers in biology,
27:14forestry, birding, and conservation.
27:17MILES O' When you think about it, I mean, did the birds save you?
27:22Yes.
27:23They have given me everything I have, everything I am, everything my daughters are today.
27:29MILES O' Two of your daughters got married.
27:31Are they married to birders?
27:33I never thought of birds as matchmakers, but it seems like here maybe they are.
27:39MILES O' I believe so.
27:43MILES O' On our last day birding,
27:45we got to glimpse a species that only lives in this part of the Andes Mountains,
27:50the Gold Ring Tanager.
27:52MILES O' That's the bird of this place.
27:54That's what birders come to see.
27:56This type of bird is like a keystone for dispersing of seeds, you know.
28:00They will chew on the berries, they will travel away from the parental plants,
28:04and they will defecate, and they plant those seeds.
28:08MILES O' A little later, we got an even better look.
28:11The tanager may not be the most colorful bird in these forests,
28:14but just seeing it did feel like an accomplishment.
28:18We knew we'd probably never have the chance to see it again.
28:22MILES O' Oh, wow. That's great.
28:25MILES O' Now you belong to a higher cult of mortals,
28:27for you have seen the Gold Ring Tanager.
28:44In 15th century France, the medieval town of Grasse had a problem.
28:48It reeked of dead animals from its booming leather trade.
28:52Then came a clever idea to mask the stench.
28:55MILES O' A pair of gloves infused with the scent of local flowers.
28:59It sparked a new industry.
29:01Flowers were planted, techniques invented,
29:04and what began as a cover-up grew into an art form,
29:08establishing grass as the perfume capital of the world.
29:11In 1921, when Coco Chanel wanted to create a signature scent for her fashion house,
29:17she went to this town in the south of France,
29:19where fields once bloomed in abundance, but have faded over the decades.
29:23MILES O' Now a revival is underway.
29:26And that's where our story begins tonight.
29:29In Grasse, where flowers for the world's most famous perfume
29:32have been grown and gathered for more than 100 years.
29:38This is the Rose Centifolia, nicknamed the May Rose because it blooms in spring.
29:45Cultivated in row after pink row, it is a flower worthy of a serenade.
29:52MILES O' Piano notes play over speakers.
29:55Farmers say the vibrations help the buds bloom evenly.
30:03Twelve of these roses go into a bottle of Chanel No. 5.
30:07But the real star is this tiny white flower, jasmine.
30:12It opens at night and is harvested as the sun comes up.
30:15MILES O' One thousand jasmine flowers go into a bottle of No. 5,
30:20giving it the floral scent that has sat on grandmother's dressers for generations.
30:26We all have a great nose.
30:27I don't know about that.
30:29MILES O' At Chanel's annual jasmine harvest, we met Olivier Polge,
30:33where he spends many of his working days in the fields of grass sourcing flowers.
30:38MILES O' He is Chanel's master perfumer. In the fragrance world, he's known simply as a nose.
30:44MILES O' What should I call you? A perfumer? A nose?
30:48MILES O' I prefer perfumer because people always think that my nose is very special.
30:55MILES O' Is it not?
30:55MILES O' And I don't smell things that you don't.
30:57The work of perfumer is not to smell things that nobody smells, but it is to identify the scents.
31:04MILES O' His job is to create new fragrances for Chanel,
31:07and make sure the classics smell as they always have. It is part art, part science.
31:14A sommelier of scent, Polge can detect thousands of smells with a sniff.
31:19MILES O' Do you have a favorite smell?
31:21MILES O' I love the scent of iris.
31:23MILES O' Mmm.
31:24MILES O' Violet, powder, slightly woody.
31:27MILES O' I have to tell you, I was very self-conscious getting ready this morning,
31:31putting my perfume on, thinking you were going to smell it immediately and judge it.
31:35Did you when we met?
31:36MILES O' No, but you forgot that we are surrounded with such strong scents of flowers.
31:42MILES O' This is overpowering. Phew. Okay, good.
31:45MILES O' According to Chanel, five bottles of number five are sold somewhere in the world
31:50every minute, fitting since it's named after Coco Chanel's lucky number.
31:55MILES O' The iconic designer came to grass during its golden age, searching for the world's finest and
32:01most expensive perfume ingredients. But over the decades, farms began to shut down as the French
32:08Riviera became a luxe real estate market, and cheaper flowers were grown abroad in places such as
32:14India and Egypt. Would Chanel number five really smell that differently if you sourced the jasmine
32:21from elsewhere?
32:22MILES O' Yes, it would definitely have an impact. Far from me, the idea to say one is better
32:28than the other, but you have to recognize their differences.
32:31MILES O' So what exactly does it smell like? Well, this is admittedly tough to convey on TV,
32:36since we're doing the smelling.
32:39MILES O' This is the jasmine from grass.
32:40MILES O' Okay. Oh, wow.
32:42MILES O' Grass jasmine is grassy and fruity with a note of green tea, delicate like the flower itself.
32:51In the early 1900s, grass had about 12,000 acres of flower fields. Today, only 124 acres remain.
33:00And where nearly 2,000 tons of jasmine were once harvested each year,
33:05MILES O' Now there are fewer than 15, grown mostly by one family. Since the 1800s,
33:12for six generations, the Mules have farmed this land.
33:16MILES O' What has it been like to watch the decline here in grass?
33:20MILES O' It's very sad. It was a pity to see this evolution, but we couldn't do anything about it.
33:28It's how it went. So we had to hang in there for many years.
33:32MILES O' Joseph Mule is the 87-year-old patriarch.
33:34MILES O' How often are you in the fields?
33:37MILES O' Every morning, 7 a.m.
33:39MILES O' Is he still the boss?
33:41MILES O' Yes.
33:43MILES O' He'll always be the boss.
33:45MILES O' Joseph's daughter, Colette, runs the office.
33:48Her husband, Fabrice, oversees the fields.
33:51MILES O' Who's done the most picking here?
33:53MILES O' We all picked jasmine.
33:57MILES O' We had to help.
33:59MILES O' In my case, it was my grandparents.
34:02MILES O' And they would tell us, if you wish to go and swim in the sea,
34:06first you have to help us pick flowers.
34:09MILES O' So every morning...
34:10MILES O' No fun, pick first.
34:12MILES O' That's exactly what we did.
34:14MILES O' They say their jasmine has a distinct scent,
34:17because like grapes used in wine, it matters where it's grown.
34:22MILES O' Here in the hills, where the Mediterranean meets the Southern Alps,
34:26in a cool climate and rich soil.
34:29MILES O' You can't put burgundy in a bottle of Bordeaux,
34:33because people will tell you, no, that's not Bordeaux.
34:37For the fragrances we do here for Chanel, it's exactly the same thing.
34:42MILES O' That's why, in 1987, Chanel offered the Moules a deal,
34:46MILES O' To grow and sell flowers exclusively to them.
34:50MILES O' The first time a luxury brand partnered directly with grass farmers.
34:55MILES O' They say even the birds smell good here in Grasse.
34:58MILES O' Thank you very much. I think so.
35:01MILES O' It's the kind of partnership Grasse Mayor Jérôme Viot
35:04says helped revive the region.
35:06MILES O' A lot of people thought the perfume industry here was over.
35:10MILES O' Yes, a lot of people say it's the end of the perfume.
35:13MILES O' Why did you think you could make a difference?
35:15MILES O' Because we have the knowledge, and we have the weather,
35:20and we have everything to get success. So we think it's possible,
35:25and we are working on it every day.
35:28MILES O' Since taking office in 2014,
35:31the mayor has filled the streets with thousands of pink umbrellas,
35:34a tribute to the rose, and a picture-perfect backdrop
35:38for the two million tourists who visit Grasse each year.
35:42MILES O' He also helped designate Grasse, a United Nations cultural heritage site,
35:47MILES O' Recognizing its centuries-old perfume-making traditions.
35:51MILES O' And he blocked development on 170 acres of land,
35:55so that new flower fields can be cultivated.
35:59MILES O' A lot of mayors want the development to come to their town.
36:03MILES O' What was your fear with that development?
36:06MILES O' We want development, but we want to choose our development.
36:09MILES O' You wanted to be specific to the perfume industry?
36:12MILES O' Definitely, yes.
36:13MILES O' Is there a renaissance in the perfume business underway right now?
36:16MILES O' I think so. You saw it.
36:18MILES O' We did. It's hard to miss.
36:20MILES O' Over the past decade, major luxury houses have invested in Grasse
36:25by tying their brand to its reputation. Lancôme built what looks like a Barbie dream house
36:32on a farm where it grows roses for its fragrances.
36:36Downtown, an abandoned perfumery became a workshop for Louis Vuitton.
36:41And Christian Dior's former estate was restored,
36:44preserving the gardens that inspired the designer's first scent.
36:48MILES O' It's nice to smell. Everywhere I go, I put my nose.
36:52MILES O' You do?
36:53MILES O' I smell everything.
36:55MILES O' Honorine Blanc is the master nose for one of the world's largest fragrance companies,
36:59creating perfumes for brands such as Valentino and Gucci.
37:03MILES O' Yes, and smell it.
37:05MILES O' It's patchouli.
37:07MILES O' People don't realize how much work
37:09there is behind creating a fragrance. Sometimes I need 20,000 trials.
37:16MILES O' 20,000 is how long it's taken you?
37:18MILES O' How do you know when it's right?
37:20MILES O' I would say there's two ways. Your clients, they stop,
37:25this is practical, or it's instinct. It's like music.
37:30MILES O' As part of the grass revival,
37:32her company, DSM Firminiche, opened Villa Botanica five years ago,
37:37a private retreat for its top perfumers to discover new smells, the good...
37:42MILES O' It's very clean.
37:44MILES O' ... and the bad.
37:45MILES O' What can you do with this?
37:46MILES O' It smells like feet, feet.
37:49MILES O' There's an undiscovered world of scent out there still?
37:52MILES O' I believe so. I think there are plenty
37:55of new orders to discover, plenty of new plants to discover.
37:58For a perfumer, it's heaven.
38:01MILES O' Does Gras still hold the same significance
38:04that it did to the perfume industry?
38:06MILES O' Yes, and I think even more than ever.
38:09You know why? Because we're going back to authenticity.
38:12MILES O' What does that mean when you're talking
38:14about perfume authenticity?
38:16MILES O' For me, when I come to Gras,
38:18it's a place where I can slow down and smell the value of an ingredient.
38:23Because, you know, everything is speed, speed, speed, speed.
38:26MILES O' Today, fine fragrance is a more than $20 billion a year industry,
38:31largely built on synthetics bottled in a lab.
38:34MILES O' Lonk says man-made scents are essential to modern perfumery.
38:39MILES O' You create perfection by balancing notes that are unpleasant
38:44with notes that are pleasant. If your apple is too perfect, you say,
38:49oh my God, it's not organic, it's not natural. So the imperfection and this off note
38:54are very important for your fragrance.
38:57MILES O' So it's kind of like baking. You have to put a little bit of salt in the cake
39:00mix.
39:01MILES O' Yes.
39:02MILES O' Chanel also uses synthetic scents
39:04MILES O' created in a lab. We can't tell you exactly what's in a bottle of number five.
39:09Olivier Polge told us the secret formula is kept in a safe in Paris.
39:14MILES O' I've heard that Chanel number five has more than 80 separate scents.
39:20How many of those roughly are from Gras?
39:24Which brings us back to the jasmine.
39:30MILES O' Starting at dawn, when the jasmine flowers are at their most fragrant,
39:35each one is picked by hand, too delicate for machines.
39:40The harvest ends before the midday heat can damage the petals, which are kept covered in wet cloth to
39:47stay cool. Workers line up to weigh what they've picked. 4,000 jasmine flowers equal just one pound.
39:55The blooms are then rushed to an on-site factory where their fragrance is extracted using a 150-year-old
40:03technique developed in Gras.
40:05MILES O' You have to work really fast.
40:07MILES O' Yes.
40:07MILES O' Because what happens when they get brown? The smell changes?
40:10MILES O' Yes. It smells bad fruit, like a ripe fruit.
40:15MILES O' Crate after crate of jasmine is layered into this vat and steeped overnight like tea.
40:21MILES O' Then the flowers are removed. They leave behind withered petals and a liquid that cools into a thick
40:29wax.
40:30MILES O' It took 35 million jasmine flowers to get this 22-pound tub.
40:36MILES O' The wax is turned back into a liquid.
40:39MILES O' Oh, wow. So strong.
40:40MILES O' And filtered again into the most concentrated form of jasmine.
40:44MILES O' So this will be sent up to our factory near Paris and a few drops will go in
40:52each bottle of number five.
40:54MILES O' Does the jasmine today smell like the jasmine originally used in number five?
40:59MILES O' I think so. I think this is why we are very careful in maintaining the way we harvest
41:06the jasmine,
41:07the way we extract the jasmine, and we do it exactly as it was at the beginning.
41:18MILES O' The last minute of 60 minutes is sponsored by UnitedHealthcare,
41:24coverage you can count on for your whole life ahead.
41:29MILES O' The summer will see many celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence,
41:36but historian Jill Lepore is reflecting on another breakthrough in 1776.
41:42MILES O' Our very system of law is founded on what I think of as the philosophy of amendment,
41:50the idea that we can always make things better. We amend state constitutions all the time,
41:56mostly by referendums on election day. But I worry that at this point we've all but forgotten
42:02that the federal constitution can be amended too. That hasn't even really happened in any meaningful way
42:08since 1971 when the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. It was in 1776, even before the United
42:17States
42:18declared independence, that written constitutions were invented in the states where the people said,
42:24we govern ourselves. And they did that by writing down the rules and making sure that we, their descendants,
42:32could change those rules. Some people might say, oh, the U.S. Constitution doesn't need to be amended
42:37because it's perfect. But you'd have to concede that the U.S. Constitution is being amended all the time,
42:44not by the people, but by the Supreme Court. Is that what Americans want?
42:50I think the 250th anniversary of the first constitutions in the United States, those state constitutions,
42:57from 1776, is an excellent time to ask that question.
43:02I'm Anderson Cooper. We'll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.
43:12The only way to get a 360-degree understanding of America is to get out there in America.
43:19So I get out there to try to talk to people about what matters to them.
43:22And I am reassured that anything that's wrong with America can be fixed by what's right in America.
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