Anderson Cooper

Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American journalist, author, and television personality. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories. From September 2011 to May 2013, he also served as host of his own eponymous syndicated daytime talk show, Anderson Live.

Early life and education

Cooper was born in New York City, the younger son of the writer Wyatt Emory Cooper and the artist, designer, writer, and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. His maternal grandparents were millionaire equestrian Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt and socialite Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and his maternal great-great-great-grandfather was Cornelius Vanderbilt of the prominent Vanderbilt shipping and railroad fortune. He is also a descendant, through his mother, of Civil War brevet Major General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, who was with General William T. Sherman on his march through Georgia. Through his "Vanderbilt" line, he is a second cousin, once removed, of screenwriter James Vanderbilt.

Planet in Peril

Planet in Peril is a two-part, four-hour documentary on CNN that premiered on October 23, 2007, broadcast in the CNN Presents format. It also aired as a special presentation on December 2 & 3, 2007 on Animal Planet & Animal Planet HD. CNN's Anderson Cooper, Sanjay Gupta and Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin investigate the current state of our planet, focusing on four major areas: global warming, overpopulation, deforestation and species loss.

They report from a wide variety of locations including Alaska, Brazil, Madagascar, Southeast Asia, and Yellowstone National Park, examining the effects of population growth, rising temperatures, poaching and illegal wildlife trade, among others, on the global environment.

Specific areas it deals with are the conflict in the Niger Delta (oil exploitation) and La Oroya, Peru (industrial pollution).

On December 11, 2008, CNN premiered a sequel to Planet in Peril, called Planet in Peril: Battle Lines. It featured Anderson Cooper, Sanjay Gupta, and Lisa Ling from National Geographic Explorer.

Planet

A planet (from Ancient Greek ἀστήρ πλανήτης astēr planētēs, or πλάνης ἀστήρ plánēs astēr, meaning "wandering star") is an astronomical object orbiting a star or stellar remnant that

The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science, mythology, and religion. Several planets in the Solar System can be seen with the naked eye. These were regarded by many early cultures as divine, or as emissaries of deities. As scientific knowledge advanced, human perception of the planets changed, incorporating a number of disparate objects. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially adopted a resolution defining planets within the Solar System. This definition is controversial because it excludes many objects of planetary mass based on where or what they orbit. Although eight of the planetary bodies discovered before 1950 remain "planets" under the modern definition, some celestial bodies, such as Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta (each an object in the solar asteroid belt), and Pluto (the first trans-Neptunian object discovered), that were once considered planets by the scientific community, are no longer viewed as such.

Imminent peril

Imminent peril, or imminent danger, is an American legal concept where Imminent peril is "certain danger, immediate, and impending; menacingly close at hand, and threatening." In many states in the USA, a mere necessity for quick action does not constitute an emergency within the doctrine of imminent peril, where the situation calling for the action is one which should reasonably have been anticipated and which the person whose action is called for should have been prepared to meet; the doctrine of imminent peril does not excuse one who has brought about the peril by her own negligence.

Legislation

In California, legislation authorizes a person to use deadly force to defend against death or serious injury if they believe they are in imminent peril. Raymond L. Middleton, Warden v. Sally Marie McNeil is a California case that espouses this doctrine. The 2012 Florida Statutes lay measurable conditions to determine if the "fear of imminent peril" is reasonable under the law. Both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Law Commission (ILC) have recognized the profound motivations of one's lawful fear of imminent peril and have adopted measures to define consequences, of self-defense against such peril, as reasonable.