(upbeat music) - Coming up next to our NewsDepth, this volcano has been erupting nonstop in the Canary Islands.

And the world's top leaders make a stop in The Big Apple.

Social media got you blue?

We'll learn how it can impact your body image.

Plus, how about a career making people look and feel their best?

NewsDepth is now.

(upbeat music) A world at work to end the pandemic.

Hello everybody, I'm Rick Jackson.

Thank you for joining us.

Leaders from around the globe gathered in New York City last week and part of this week for the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The United nations is an organization of multiple countries that meet to develop ways to solve global problems and to work together for peace.

The theme for this year's session was, The Future We Want, the United Nations We Need.

On the very long agenda were: promoting human rights, solving climate change, combating terrorism, promoting justice and of course ending the pandemic.

President Joe Biden delivered his debut address to this group.

He pushed for a more unified response on COVID-19 and climate change.

Reporter Chris Nguyen has the latest.

- [Chris] Calling it a decisive decade for our world, President Joe Biden delivered his first speech to the United Nations since taking office presenting his long-term vision for the global community.

- No matter how challenging or how complex the problems you're going to face, government by and for the people is still the best way to deliver for all of our people.

- [Chris] The gathering of the General Assembly, amounting to a major credibility test for the president currently facing international blowback over mounting issues, including the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Biden defended the decision while looking ahead.

- We've ended 20 Years of conflict in Afghanistan, and as we close this period of relentless war, we're opening a new era of relentless diplomacy.

- [Chris] Reasserting America's leadership on issues like climate change, global health and fighting hunger at home and abroad.

- As we look ahead, we will lead.

We will lead on all the greatest challenges of our time from COVID declinement, peace and security, human dignity and human rights, but we will not go alone.

- [Chris] The UN secretary general calling this point in history, a moment of truth, urging nations to unite.

- Solidarity is missing in action just when we need it most.

- [Chris] And inspire hope for the greater good.

- [Antonio] The problems we have created are problems we can solve.

Humanity has shown that we are capable of great things when we are together.

- Thank, Chris.

Now, since all those world leaders came to us in the US why don't we return the favor and take a spin around the globe for some international news?

We'll start in Spain.

Hola, this country in Western Europe takes up most of the Iberian Peninsula bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

About 47 million people live in Spain, which is a constitutional monarchy.

That means they have a king and a set of guiding rules too.

Madrid is Spain's capital city and home to world famous paintings and a mix of unique architecture.

Spain also includes the archipelago off the Northwest shore of Africa called the Canary Islands.

An archipelago, that's simply a group of islands.

And this is where the news is.

Thousands of folks on the island of La Palma had to flee after the Cumbre Vieja volcano exploded last week.

Lava from the eruption has already taken out hundreds of homes and scientists aren't really sure how long the eruption will last.

The most recent eruption at that site?

50 years ago.

And back then, it went on for about three weeks.

The island of La Palma itself formed from previous volcanic eruptions that resulted in the archipelago.

Scientists are also concerned about the reaction between the lava and the ocean.

When, and if the lava makes it to the island's edge, the reaction could include blast of ash and toxic gases.

Luckily, no injuries or deaths have been reported as a result of the volcano's recent activity.

Now let's head to El Salvador where the government is trying to boost their economy with Bitcoin.

El Salvador may be the smallest nation in Central America, but they're taking a big gamble on making Bitcoin one of their national currencies.

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency is digital money that uses hard-to-crack codes to keep it safe online.

For folks who send money home to loved ones in El Salvador, a practice known as remittance, using Bitcoin means fewer fees to transfer funds.

However, unlike the US dollar, cryptocurrency isn't controlled or backed up by any government or a bank, and that can make it risky to rely on.

How much a Bitcoin is worth can change day to day, even hour to hour.

And that has some people in El Salvador concerned.

Rafael Romo reports.

(cows mooing) - They have come from across the country, bringing their best cattle (cow moos) in high hopes for a tidy profit.

Welcome to Aguilares, a town in north central El Salvador, where live cattle trading is a long time tradition.

It's the kind of place where you look at people in the eye.

When a deal is made, you shake hands and exchange cold, hard cash.

Other than feed and pasture, these cattle ranchers now have an additional worry.

They know the government has legalized a new digital currency called Bitcoin and rumors are running rampant.

(speaks in foreign language) "The truth is that it's not that simple," this rancher says.

"What if you don't know how much it's worth or how much it's going to get to value tomorrow?

What if it goes up?

It's like gambling."

Earlier this month, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in addition to the US dollar.

President Nayib Bukele says using Bitcoin as legal tender will attract foreign investment, help lower commissions and remittances, and give an alternative to people outside the banking system.

Analysts for the international monetary fund, which provided an emergency loan to El Salvador last year and is working on another, have warned that adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, post serious risks to a country's financial stability and integrity.

When the law went into effect on September 7th, the cryptocurrency market crashed losing billions in value.

And the government's digital wallet for Bitcoin has experienced several glitches that were still not fully fixed a week after the launch.

The younger generations and some small business owners have embraced the cryptocurrency, but here in Aguilares, even those who support the president otherwise say introducing Bitcoin was a mistake.

(speaks foreign language) "Everything that he's done is good at least what he had done so far," this rancher says, "but introducing this currency was not right.

Which bank is backing it?"

He wanders.

"You have to be patient, then get information about it so that you know how you can best use it and if it's convenient or not," this rancher says.

"If the president is wrong, then we're all wrong."

(cow moos) For now, most of these ranchers say they will stick to what they know a cash system that's worked just fine for generations.

And even though some are open to using a cryptocurrency in the future, their main worry is that Bitcoin can be as volatile as this bull.

- Thanks, Rafael.

Okay, one last international story for you.

For this report, we're going ahead to the European country of Denmark.

Here, hairdressers are having a hard time with the pandemic.

A hairdresser or cosmetologist is someone who provides beauty services like cutting and coloring hair, applying makeup, even painting nails.

The career is a good fit for creative people who are good at listening.

And you need to have a good eye for detail.

Plus, the personable.

To get these jobs, folks often start training early, attending a career technical center during high school.

Apprenticeships are also a great way to get experience in the field.

And in Ohio, you have to pass a special test to earn a license before you can snip anybody's hair.

It's anticipated there'll be about 3,800 openings for cosmetologist in the next year.

Now, no matter where you live, unless you're Rapunzel, you're gonna need your hair cut sooner or later, right?

Reporter Richard Quest visited a Danish hairdresser to discuss the impact of the long pandemic lockdowns on her business and the industry.

- The urge to actually just say, do your wildest.

- I mean, do you dare?

(laughs) - No.

All right, not too tight, don't strangle me.

- [hairdresser] I don't want you to feel uncomfortable in that chair though.

Do you want your legs up and the back massager on?

Yeah.

- When we spoke in May of last year, the salon, you'd been closed for a month and it was the week after you just opened.

- Yeah.

- You were very enthusiastic.

- I was super happy.

It was nerve wracking to be on a lockdown for a month for us and for some people longer.

So when finally coming back to your clients, and even though it was a little bit of a hassle to get everyone rebooked and figuring out how do we make time for everyone?

It was a pure joy to welcome clients again.

(upbeat music) Back then, everything was so new that you couldn't believe that Denmark would close down, we were so safe here.

So it was, yeah, surprising that everything like got very serious.

- So, then you go through May, June, July, August, you go through the year and things get worse in December and you have to close again.

- Yeah.

So we suddenly have to close again.

We're very worried about this, but in the beginning we think, okay, it's just a month.

And then it's next year and we're still closed and we're still closed all the way until April.

So a very long period of time.

- How difficult was it to stay in business for the four months, even with government help?

- It was tough, and I think especially for smaller salons and since Zenz is quite a healthy company, but for smaller salons I think it has been almost impossible.

I think a lot of salons have had to close down or change the way to do things.

- So you've reopened now.

What's the situation now?

- Now we are a little bit more relaxed.

The face mask has gone off.

Everyone still needs a Corona pass, but everyone's gotten one already and gotten used to it.

So it's way more relaxed and we're almost back to normal.

I feel like our company has really dealt with this in the best possible way.

I do a lot of our social media and I've really been happy that we have the time and we have-- - You told people, come and get your color.

You did tutorials how to cut your own hair and people responded.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, there was a great response on it.

And yeah, especially for the color they could take home instead of going to some drugstore and get a box dye, and then we have fix it after.

Trust me, we do have a lot to fix after five months lock down in the first place.

So for someone to come in with green hair, they dyed themselves or whatever, I mean, that's just tough.

Just a tiny amount.

(faintly speaking) Yeah, its good, isn't it?

- Thanks Richard.

I wonder, did any of you notice my new haircut?

No?

Maybe next time we'll go for an exciting color, blue, that would be good, okay.

Having your hair just so, wearing your favorite outfit, those are both things that can boost your self-confidence, but comparing yourself to others, that can do the opposite for your body image, body image is how you think or feel about your appearance.

A recent study about the impact of social media on a young folk's body image is very concerning.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook, that's the parent company of Instagram, knows just how toxic Instagram can be for young girls.

Now, lawmakers are calling on Facebook and Instagram founder, Mark Zuckerberg, to explain what's going on.

Sunlen Serfaty has that story.

- [Sunlen] Madeline Taylor has grown up on Instagram, first creating her account in the sixth grade.

- I was in a very like sad kind of like lonely place.

- [Sunlen] Her darkest moments of self doubt over the last decade, she says, have all been triggered by what she sees on her feed.

- I felt very like isolated in my friend groups, and that was just totally perpetuated by Instagram.

I would see all my other friends going and doing these really fun excursions with their other friend groups.

And I was wondering why I wasn't doing any of that.

- [Sunlen] Those harmful feelings are exactly what Instagram already knows.

According to company documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal, Facebook, the parent company of Instagram spent the last three years trying to understand just how toxic Instagram is to young people.

That internal research is damning, saying that comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves.

Their researchers wrote, "Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression."

Finding that we make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.

- I would say 99% of the time, the patients who I meet with are reporting looking at idealized images and feeling horribly about themselves and using those images as a basis of comparison, that really results in feeling like a failure often.

- [Sunlen] In the wake of these internal findings, Facebook is pushing back, calling the reporting deliberate mischaracterizations and conferred egregiously false motives to Facebook's leadership and employees.

Adding that they believe the Wall Street Journal report cherry picked selective quotes from individual pieces of leaked material in a way that presents complex and nuanced issues as if there is only ever one right answer.

Instagram says it's looking at new ways to discourage users from focusing on their physical appearance and making it a positive space for all.

But lawmakers on Capitol Hill say that is insufficient.

- After this revelation, Mark Zuckerberg has to come back to Capitol Hill.

He has to give the answers.

- [Sunlen] And have demanded Facebook release their findings.

- He has to explain why he knew about the dangers and yet continued his business practice.

- [Sunlen] In the past, Facebook has taken pains to downplay the negative impact on teens.

- Mr. Zuckerberg, yes or no, do you agree too much time in front of screens passively consuming content is harmful to children's mental health?

- I don't think that the research is conclusive on that.

- [Sunlen] An assessment that lawmakers aren't buying.

- We all knew that that was a hollow talking point back then when he said it.

But obviously this internal research shows that he knew or at least he should have known that it was the exact opposite.

- Thanks, Sunlen.

It's important to be aware of just how much time you're spending on social media.

We've told you that before, but it's also important to know that it's impacting your mental health.

Remember last week, when we learned about augmented reality and those filters that can make you look like NewsCat?

Well, it seems online filters are getting more and more advanced.

They can drastically change how a person looks.

So don't forget that what you see on social media isn't always real.

If you're starting to feel down about yourself, whether it's how you look or what your life is like, talk it out with an adult, maybe a parent, a teacher, a school counselor, they're there to support you and to lift you up.

Now for this week's poll, we want you to pause for a second and think about your social media use, then vote online to tell us what social media sites you use.

Choose any and all that apply.

We've got TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

And if you don't use any, we have that choice for you too.

Now, last week we asked how long you got for lunch at school.

Remember the story about the school limiting lunchtime to 14 minutes to prevent the spread of COVID?

Well, 79% of you said you have 20 to 30 minutes to chow down.

Okay.

Well, that's pretty much enough time to watch an entire episode of NewsDepth.

So let's keep going.

I mentioned earlier that wearing a favorite outfit can be a good way to feel confident, but sometimes you've gotta try out some new styles, right?

Find that favorite.

That's what fashion designer, Amanda Wicker is all about.

She designed clothes that made people feel their very best and then encouraged others to do the same.

Our Carrie Wise has a look back at Amanda Wicker's life in this week sketchbook, check it out.

- [Carrie] When Amanda Wicker moves to Cleveland nearly a century ago, she put her education to work.

Having studied teaching and sewing, she started her own business out of her home, training others in dressmaking.

- And she's launching this business in basically, what is the era of the Great Depression.

That's when her business is taking off.

- She started out with a business in her home with a single client, teaching them how to sew and turned it into this huge school that taught teenagers, adults, she taught high fashion design couture techniques, but also if you wanted to be trained in garment industry factory work, she could train you on machines that way too.

- [Carrie] Wicker moved her business out of her home and established the school at East 89th Street & Cedar Avenue in Cleveland's Fairfax neighborhood.

For decades, Wicker celebrated Cleveland's black fashion scene with annual shows.

The large-scale events featured models wearing the latest designs, live entertainment and scholarship awards for students.

- [Patty] She called her fashion shows the Book of Gold and you'd get a program with a gold cover, and it was a sort of part graduation ceremony for students, and then part just a way for locals to display their work because the fashion shows were kind of a mix of student work, Amanda Wicker work, but also they would bring in local milliners to showcase their hats on the models.

- [Carrie] Wicker designed clothes throughout her life from wedding dresses to suits and evening wear.

More than a dozen of those creations as well as her photograph collection were donated by her niece to the Western Reserve Historical society.

Those photos and designs live on in a display now on view at the Cleveland History Center.

- I think like playful is a good word for her style.

So fun, a little bit of sparkle sometimes, fun silhouette.

- [Carrie] Wicker also had a talent for helping the community look its best.

She was an active member of Antioch Baptist Church and the Cleveland NAACP.

She taught her trade for more than 50 years until selling her school and retiring in the late 1970s.

- I think a lot of people don't necessarily think that teaching someone sewing is a form of activism, but it can give you a skill to become something different.

It can help support a community.

- The freedom of expression, I would have to say associated with fashion design and dressmaking, I think that's something that black women in particular came to appreciate in the years following the end of the civil war and certainly something that Amanda Wicker was the expert on and she taught other people to express themselves in excellent ways.

- Thanks, Carrie.

Got me all inspired to be looking sharp here now.

Better?

Okay.

For this week's write-in question, we wanna know how can you build up your peers and make them feel good about themselves?

Can't wait to read your letters because you guys have been doing a great job with your answers this year.

Now last week, we asked you how you can protect your little part of the planet.

Let's see what you had to say by opening up our inbox.

Falynn from the Greenbriar Middle in Palmer wrote, I can protect the local environment by picking up trash.

Most importantly, by the ocean to prevent ocean life from being trapped in garbage like plastic, planting more plants and saving animals.

For example, if a cat ran away, call its owner.

Sophie from Eastwood's Intermediate in Hudson sent along this drawing.

Dear NewsDepth, some ways we can help our environment include recycling, composting, saving water, and picking up trash that you see and putting them in the correct bins.

Brynn from Minster Elementary in Minster wrote, a way to protect the environment is to conserve energy.

We can do that by turning off the water while you're brushing your teeth, you can turn off the light if you're not in the room, there are many, many ways to conserve energy.

Leah from Central Trial Elementary in Toledo is looking to the sun for help, a sun just like on my tie, right?

I can protect my local environment by helping to pick up garbage.

I can also raise awareness about climate change.

I also want to help by getting the solar app and getting solar panels.

I can also tell people about solar panels and how much they help.

And finally, Joshua from Mulberry Elementary in Milford wrote, I can protect my local environment by stopping people from cutting down trees.

If I can stop people from cutting down trees, lots of birds and squirrels can have their homes.

When other people cut down trees, they kill so many animals by destroying their homes.

If we stop, we'll have more animals to look at and see how they live without their habitats being destroyed by humans.

Great answers, everyone.

Y'all are up to some pretty good work.

Just like this week's NewsDepth A-plus winners from Dewitt Elementary school in Cuyahoga Falls.

Fourth and fifth graders at the school have a standing tradition of leaving something behind to remind future students of their legacy after they've left for middle school.

Mrs. Short's fifth grade class and Mrs. Suboticki's fourth grade class last year created the Black Tiger Zen Den for future students to remember them by.

And for their work, they're this week's NewsDepth A-plus winners.

Mrs. Short told us that the Zen den didn't happen overnight.

It took a few years for the idea to grow.

A few years ago, the fourth and fifth graders were inspired by the high school's urban agriculture class and the garden they made at the high school.

They wanted to do something like that here.

So we started to clean up our courtyard.

She explained that over the next few years, each group of fourth and fifth graders made the courtyard better and better.

We really liked that we had a place to go outside to have class.

Last year, the courtyard was even more important to the students at Dewitt because so many classes went outside when the weather was nice, so they could physically distant.

This got last year's fourth and fifth graders thinking and dreaming big about how they could help their classmates and their community.

The students wanted to take it a few steps further and create a calming space that people could use during the day, Mrs. Short explained, with help from the GAR foundation and Suncrest Gardens, the fourth and fifth graders came up with the idea for the Black Tiger Zen Den.

The Zen den is open to the entire community.

The local YMCA is also planning on holding yoga classes there.

So this week's NewsDepth A-plus award goes to the Dewitt Elementary School class of 2021 for creating a calming space for their fellow students and community.

Keep up the great work.

Teachers and students we're always looking for more students up to good work, to feature in our A-plus segments.

If you know any stellar kids, and I know you do, email a nomination to NewsDepth@ideastream.org, or head over to the A-plus page on the NewsDepth website.

You'll find a quick nomination form right there as well.

Let's see now if NewsCat has earned a scratch behind the ears this week, because it is time for petting zoo.

(cat meows) Hey there NewsCat.

Ooh, I like the tie.

Oh wait, you're dressed to impress too?

Okay, at least you're watching the beginning of the show.

Good to know.

I'm liking it.

So what did find from this week?

Okay, she's got a story about a horse visiting a library, hmm.

To find out what Hank the horse has been reading, you've gotta click the petting zoo button on our website.

Thank you, NewsCat.

Well, that's gonna do it for us just about, but as always, we wanna hear from you.

There are plenty of ways to stay in touch with us.

You can write to us.

We're at 1375 Euclid Avenue.

That's in Cleveland Ohio.

Our zip code is 44115.

You can email us at NewsDepth@ideastream.org, or you can tweet us, our handle is @NewsDepthOhio.

Plus you can catch all of our special segments on YouTube.

Hit subscribe if you're old enough so you won't miss out on any of the new videos.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Rick Jackson.

We will see a right back here next week.

- [Boy] NewsDepth is made possible by a grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.

Clear call-outs featured in NewsDepth they're funded by the Ohio Broadcast Media Commission.