05/03/2026: Disaster Tourists, Birds of War, Perfume Capital of the World

Summary

60 Minutes (CBS News) – May 3, 2026

Episode Summary:

Disaster Tourists, Birds of War, Perfume Capital of the World

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Episode Overview

This episode of 60 Minutes explores three distinctive and far-reaching stories:

1. The rise of “disaster tourists”—far-right, white nationalist, and anti-government groups exploiting natural disasters for recruitment, image makeover, and influence.
2. Colombia’s unique “birds of war” – how decades of armed conflict protected invaluable bird habitats and now foster a new wave of eco-tourism and reconciliation.
3. A journey to Grasse, France, the historic and resurgent perfume capital of the world, where age-old traditions and modern luxury intersect in the making of iconic scents like Chanel No. 5.

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Segment 1: Disaster Tourists

[03:02–16:30]
Reporter: Lesley Stahl

Key Discussion Points:

• Far-Right Groups at Disaster Sites:
  Far-right, anti-government, and white supremacist organizations, labeled as “disaster tourists,” are increasingly present in communities recovering from natural disasters. These groups offer apparent relief but use their visibility to recruit, spread ideology, and create propaganda content.

• Example: Hurricane Helene, North Carolina (2024):

  • Sheriff Lowell Griffin recounts the aftermath:
    “Imagine taking in a box of toothpicks and dumping them on your kitchen counter.” (04:04)
    • Outsiders, including militia and white nationalist groups like Active Club and Patriot Front, descended on devastated towns, sometimes armed and disorderly.
    • Some attempted to establish their own law and order, distracting authorities from genuine rescue work.

• Motives and Tactics:

  • Groups such as Active Club, co-founded by Robert Rundo, focus on helping “our people.”
    • “Going to a disaster relief is directly helping our people.” – Robert Rundo (05:24)
    • When asked if they help non-white victims:
      “If there was, like, a guy on fire, would I give him water? Yeah, I’d probably give him some water.” (06:42)
  • These groups record and upload videos to cultivate a wholesome image and reach wider audiences:
    “The whole point was to get that video… by saying, it kind of sounds like what everyone does. Right? That’s what a president does when he goes into a community.” – Robert Rundo (08:30)

• Recruitment and Mainstreaming:

  • They seek to develop a “pro-white parallel system” and leverage disaster response as outreach, softening their image and attracting young men through “macho, wholesome” activities like mixed martial arts.
  • Influencers like Dan Bilzerian and Nick Fuentes bring similar themes into mainstream conservative youth politics.

• Impact and Dangers:

  • Their operations spread misinformation about rescue efforts (e.g., FEMA rationing/sabotaging, bodies in rivers, conspiracy theories that the government created hurricanes via “weather weapons”).
    • “The misinformation took a bad situation and actually complicated a bad situation.” – Sheriff Lowell Griffin (14:26)
    • “Government didn’t help whatsoever.” – Joseph Moule (13:36)
    • “This will be the new normal.” – Sheriff Lowell Griffin (16:20)

Notable Quotes & Moments:

• “There’s fun in fascism.” – Robert Rundo (06:04)
• “They [disaster tourists] don’t coordinate with authorities… That minority can create chaos.” – Sheriff Lowell Griffin (04:38, 04:53)
• “White nationalists are interested in natural disasters because everybody is interested in natural disasters… very few things command the public’s attention.” – John Kelly, social media analyst (09:31–09:44)
• “Peace here remains fragile, but more tourists are coming than ever before.” (26:21) (Transitional note into next segment)

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Segment 2: Birds of War

[17:16–29:53]
Reporter: Scott Pelley

Key Discussion Points:

• Colombian Rainforests: Haven for Birds and Birders:

  • War and conflict in Colombia kept humans out and protected the forest, making it a world hotspot for bird biodiversity (over 2000 species).
  • Since the 2016 peace treaty, eco-tourism, especially birding, has become an economic lifeline and form of reconciliation.

• Diego Calderón Franco: Bird Guide and Former Hostage:

  • Guides like Diego, once kidnapped by FARC guerrillas, now bridge divides by training ex-combatants as birding guides.
    • “We totally forgot who we were. They weren’t thinking, oh, this is the guy we kidnapped, you know, 15 years ago. Birds connect you so much… they have this healing power.” – Diego Calderón Franco (25:29)
  • Diego’s field notes, made during his 88 days in captivity, became a testament to birds’ role as solace.

• Community Transformation:

  • Locals, like Michelle Tapasco, rebuilt lives from tragedy (her partner was killed by guerillas) into thriving eco-lodges dedicated to conservation.
    • “They have given me everything I have, everything I am, everything my daughters are today.” – Michelle Tapasco (28:51)
    • Now, her daughters are biologists and conservationists.

• Birding Culture:

  • International birders like Gary George and Joseph Brooks travel the world for rare species—establishing “life lists” with thousands of sightings:
    “Some people collect salt and pepper shakers, but we collect bird sightings.” – Joseph Brooks (27:02)
    • “We’re very close to 8,000.” (27:19)

Notable Quotes & Moments:

• “Hummingbirds, you know, they look cute, but they are real warriors.” – Diego Calderón Franco (19:55)
• “You have seen the cult ring tanager—now you belong to a higher cult of mortals.” – Diego Calderón Franco (29:53)
• “Are they married to birders?...I never thought of birds as matchmakers, but here maybe they are.” (28:57–29:09)
• “Worldwide, 60% of bird species are declining in population…” – Scott Pelley (28:13)

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Segment 3: Perfume Capital of the World

[30:09–44:18]
Reporter: Sharon Alphonsdev (with John Wertheim)

Key Discussion Points:

• Grasse, France: Origins of Modern Perfume:

  • Grasse's perfume tradition began in the 15th century to mask the stench from the leather industry and blossomed into artistry and industry.
    • “It reeked of dead animals… A pair of gloves infused with the scent of local flowers sparked a new industry.” (30:09–30:32)

• Flower Cultivation and Iconic Scents:

  • Signature blooms—rose centifolia and jasmine—are essential for Chanel No. 5:
    • “12 of these roses go into a bottle of Chanel no. 5…1,000 jasmine flowers.” (31:13–31:28)
  • Flower farming is an intergenerational effort, with the Moulé family as the preeminent supplier.

• Perfumers—The 'Noses' of Grasse:

  • Olivier Polge, Chanel’s master perfumer:
    “People always think my nose is very special—it is not. The work of perfumer is to identify.” (32:12–32:29)
  • Honorine Blanc, a ‘masternose,’ creates for major brands:
    “There are plenty of new odors to discover… for a perfumer, it's heaven.” (39:16)

• Industry Changes and Challenges:

  • Flower fields in Grasse have shrunken drastically (from 12,000 to 124 acres), but luxury brands are reviving traditional supply by working directly with local families.
  • Authenticity and sense of place—“terroir”—matter for scent as with fine wine:
    • “You can't put Burgundy in a bottle of Bourbon… For fragrances, it’s exactly the same thing.” – Joseph Moule (35:55)
  • Modern perfume combines natural and synthetic ingredients for complexity:
    • “You create perfection by balancing notes that are unpleasant with pleasant… Imperfection is important for your fragrance.” – Honorine Blanc (40:03)

• Economic and Cultural Renaissance:

  • The mayor of Grasse has preserved land for floral agriculture and resisted luxury real estate, promoting perfume heritage and tourism.
    • “We want development, but we want to choose our development.” – Mayor Jerome Viaud (37:30)
  • Grasse is now a UNESCO heritage site, and major houses have reinvested in the region.

Notable Quotes & Moments:

• “Is there a renaissance in the perfume business underway right now?” – “I think so. You saw it?” (37:41–37:43)
• “Does the jasmine today smell like the jasmine originally used in Number five?”
  – “I think so. We do it exactly as it was at the beginning.” – Olivier Polge (42:24)

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Bonus/Last Minute: Forgotten Breakthrough in American History

[42:44–44:18]

• Historian Jill Lepore reflects on the “philosophy of amendment”—America’s foundational principle of written, amendable constitutions.
  • “We amend state constitutions all the time… But I worry we’ve all but forgotten the federal constitution can be amended too.” (43:02)
  • “Is that what Americans want?” (44:09)

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Segment Timestamps (MM:SS):

• Disaster Tourists: 03:02–16:30
• Birds of War (Colombian Birding): 17:16–29:53
• Perfume Capital of the World (Grasse, France): 30:09–44:18
• Last Minute – Constitution Reflection: 42:44–44:18

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Memorable Moments & Quotes (with Attribution)

• “There’s fun in fascism.”
  – Robert Rundo, on appealing to young white men through far-right activism (06:04)
• “Hummingbirds… they look cute, but they are real warriors.”
  – Diego Calderón Franco, on bird competition (19:55)
• "You can't put Burgundy in a bottle of Bourbon… For Chanel, it’s exactly the same thing.”
  – Joseph Moule, flower farmer in Grasse (35:55)
• “Birds connect you so much… they have this healing power.”
  – Diego Calderón Franco, on birding as reconciliation (25:29)
• “Does the jasmine today smell like the jasmine originally used in Number five?”
  – “We do it exactly as it was at the beginning.”
  – Olivier Polge, Chanel’s master perfumer (42:24)

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Tone & Closing

As with a hallmark 60 Minutes episode, the reporting is in-depth, critical, and often surprising—juxtaposing dark explorations of contemporary extremism with uplifting tales of renewal in both ecological and cultural spheres. The tone varies by segment: sober and urgent for “disaster tourists,” awestruck and hopeful for Colombia’s birds, and nostalgic yet optimistic in fragrant Grasse.

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This episode paints a portrait of how crisis, conflict, and culture drive people—sometimes toward division, sometimes toward appreciation, preservation, and connection.

Transcript

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[Lesley Stahl]

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[Lesley Stahl]

What if we told you that after natural disasters, some of those who descend on hard hit communities with offers to help reclaim America are anti government conspiracists and white nationalists. Their motive, recruit, soften their image.

[Robert Rundo]

And going to a disaster relief is directly helping our people.

[Interviewer]

You go in to help white people?

[Robert Rundo]

Yeah.

[Scott Pelley]

Once in a while we get to travel so far off the beaten track, there's hardly a track at all. For decades, this pristine forest in western Colombia was a no go area because of armed conflict. But that allowed hundreds of species of birds to thrive, some of which you can't find anywhere else on earth.

[Gary George]

Oh, look at that.

[Lesley Stahl]

Oh my God, look at that huge thing.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

This is the Rose centifolia. Cultivated in row after pink row. It is a flower worthy of a serenade. PIANO NOTES PLAY OVER SPEAKERS the vibrations are said to help the buds bloom evenly. 12 of these roses go into a bottle of Chanel no. 5, all grown here in the French town of Grasse, where century old traditions are used to develop scents for some of the world's most famous perfumes.

[John Wertheim]

How do you know when it's right?

[Honorine Blanc]

It's instinct. It's like music.

[Lesley Stahl]

I'm Leslie Stahl.

[Scott Pelley]

I'm Scott Pelley. I'm Bill Whitaker.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

I'm Sharon Alphonsdev.

[John Wertheim]

John.

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

I'm John Wertheim.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

I'm Cecilia Vega.

[Scott Pelley]

I'm Anderson Cooper. Those stories and in our last minute, a forgotten breakthrough in American history. Tonight on 60 Minutes.

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[Lesley Stahl]

A surge of tornadoes tore across a large swath of the country in April, carving a path of destruction. Over 200 tornadoes hit over 20 states, closely clustered in the last couple of weeks. And hurricane season is just around the corner. Our story tonight is about what happens after these natural disasters. A pattern has emerged in recent years in which militias, conspiracists, and white supremacists show up to hard hit communities as they did last week in Texas, offering help. But they've been called disaster tourists who are out to sow doubt in government, soften their own image and gain followers. September 2024. Hurricane Helene barreled through North Carolina with forces so powerful it nearly wiped the town of bat cave off the map,

[Interviewer]

lifting homes and toppling trees.

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

Imagine taking in a box of toothpicks and dumping them on your kitchen counter.

[Lesley Stahl]

Sheriff Lowell Griffin faced a daunting rescue task.

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

We had already experienced days of heavy rain, and then the hurricane comes through

[Lesley Stahl]

like a triple whammy.

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

Yes, yes.

[Lesley Stahl]

Then another whammy. Outsiders started pouring into North Carolina.

[Scott Pelley]

So we got a lot of work

[Robert Rundo]

to get done if you're able to,

[Lesley Stahl]

including an influx of anti government far right groups.

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

These folks that we're talking about, they were in the minority. However, that minority can create chaos and that's what we ran into.

[Interviewer]

Did some of these outsiders launch their own rescue operations?

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

We had some folks wanting to act as a militia coming in to take over to, in their mind, bring some sort of self deployed law and order to.

[Interviewer]

With weapons.

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

Yes, ma'.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Am.

[Interviewer]

So that's like taking your time from the real rescue to deal with them.

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

It is, it is.

[Lesley Stahl]

The sheriff himself didn't see all the groups, but we know among those to show up were members of white nationalist group Active club.

[Robert Rundo]

Going to a disaster relief is directly helping our people.

[Interviewer]

You go in to help white people?

[Robert Rundo]

Yeah.

[Lesley Stahl]

Robert Rundo co founded active club in 2020 as a place for disgruntled young white men to work out together while sharing their ideology. With nearly 90 chapters, it's been described by watchdogs as one of the country's fastest growing white supremacist networks that are anti semitic, anti immigrant, and anti democracy. They also hold mixed martial arts tournaments.

[Robert Rundo]

We get together with the boys, we box, we travel.

[Interviewer]

Do you think of it as fun?

[Robert Rundo]

Of course. You know, there's fun in fascism.

[Lesley Stahl]

Fun in fascism.

[Robert Rundo]

I'm a nationalist. What does that mean, a nationalist? Yeah, means I put my people first.

[Interviewer]

Would you say white supremacist?

[Robert Rundo]

No, I think that's a slanderous term.

[Interviewer]

But my people are white people. European white people.

[Joseph Brooks]

Right.

[Robert Rundo]

And there's plenty of organizations that are geared towards other ethnic groups. Right. If we don't look out for ourselves, who is.

[Interviewer]

I know that your organization has gone to floods, fires, hurricanes. What if you came upon someone who wasn't white but is suffering because of the flood?

[Robert Rundo]

Like, if there was, like, a guy on fire, would I give him water? Yeah, I'd probably give him some water.

[Interviewer]

When you go into these areas, are you recruiting?

[Robert Rundo]

We hand out flyers. You know, if somebody wants to contact us later, that's fine. But just us showing up changes somebody's opinion, someone's mind. So the next time when they put something out and they say, these evil guys, they say, wait a second. That's the guy who came when my house was on fire and helped me out.

[Lesley Stahl]

Many of these outside groups want to build, as one of their post states, a pro white parallel system.

[Lloyd Lockridge]

Reclaim America.

[Lesley Stahl]

One of the more prominent white supremacist groups that showed up in North Carolina was Patriot Front. They cut down trees and handed out bread.

[Robert Rundo]

Are you sure?

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

Just one loaf.

[Lesley Stahl]

But Freddie Crews from the Western State Center, a hate group watchdog, says these white nationalists go to disasters primarily to build a following.

[Interviewer]

These people come in, they hand out water, they help clean up the debris. We, whatever their ideology, they're doing something positive, aren't they?

[John Kelly]

What we're seeing is actually these groups will show up and generate a whole bunch of social media content. We're dubbing it disaster tourism.

[Interviewer]

And then they leave.

[John Kelly]

That's generally what we see.

[Lesley Stahl]

That's unlike veterans relief groups like Team Rubicon or religious organizations like Samaritan's Purse that come in after disasters, coordinate with authorities and stay a while.

[Interviewer]

When you go into an area that's distressed, do you coordinate in any way with the local law enforcement, with the sheriff?

[Robert Rundo]

Absolutely not. They would probably do everything they can to prevent us.

[Interviewer]

What do you say to people who argue that you go in? The purpose is to have some video shot of you handing out some water and then you leave. And the whole point was to get that video so that you could post it by saying it kind of sounds

[Robert Rundo]

like what everyone does. Right. That's what a president does when he goes into a community. They have the cameras there. So is that bottle of water actually being handed out? Absolutely it is. Does our guys actually care and feel for the people that are helping out? Absolutely. Do we also video it and put it out there to show another side of us? Absolutely.

[Lesley Stahl]

These extremist groups put out videos after floods.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Patriot Front is here, continuing efforts in central Texas.

[Lesley Stahl]

They put out videos during fires.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

We are here in Santa Monica Pier,

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

collecting donations for victims of the wildfires.

[Lesley Stahl]

They figured out that videos about natural disasters can reach a whole new large audience.

[Social Media Analyst]

I think white nationalists are interested in natural disasters because everybody is interested in natural disasters.

[Interviewer]

John Kelly heads Graphica, a firm analyzing

[Lesley Stahl]

how content spreads online.

[Social Media Analyst]

There are very few things that bring the public's attention to focus on one thing in unison. And natural disasters is one of those.

[Interviewer]

These groups, through natural disasters, are trying to change their image. They're trying to say we're wholesome.

[Social Media Analyst]

That's one of the things that characterizes the current groups, is that they've kind of decided to leave the more triggering iconography in the closet and try to appeal to a more mainstream audience, not to do things that turn people off the way that marching around with swastikas would turn people off.

[Robert Rundo]

A lot of mainstream media, how they depict us, they like to show a guy who's in camo, trucker hat, maybe overweight, face tattoos, something like this. What I wanted to do was to create something positive for young guys like myself.

[Lesley Stahl]

The more macho, wholesome image Robert Rondo thinks gives young men permission to adopt his fascist philosophy. Another guy who appeals to young men is online influencer Dan bilzerian. With nearly 30 million followers on Instagram, he peddles antisemitism.

[Joseph Brooks]

I believe that Jewish supremacy is the greatest threat to America, and I think it's the greatest threat to the world today.

[Scott Pelley]

I truly believe that some of these

[Lesley Stahl]

ideas are seeping into mainstream politics. Bilzerian is running for Congress in Florida. In a group chat, young Republican leaders praised Hitler. And then there's Nick Fuentes, the online hate monger who's even more explicit.

[John Kelly]

And I was thinking, what is it about Hitler that's cool? Why does it tickle? Cuz kids love Hitler. Kids love Hitler. Young men see the.

[Lesley Stahl]

While more people are advocating these ideas in the open, the young men of Active club hide their faces when they post pictures from natural disasters.

[Robert Rundo]

Our people come first.

[Lesley Stahl]

Rundo is their spokesman, even though he

[Interviewer]

himself hasn't gone to disasters for the past few years.

[Lesley Stahl]

He was out of pocket, so to speak.

[Interviewer]

Why were you in prison?

[Robert Rundo]

Which time? Oh boy, I was in prison twice.

[Lesley Stahl]

The 36 year old from New York was first incarcerated as a teen for a gang fight.

[Interviewer]

Did you stab somebody?

[Robert Rundo]

Allegedly. Well, yeah, you know, well, he had a weapon too. It wasn't like I just, you know, I just randomly showed up on somebody

[Interviewer]

and the second time, second time is

[Robert Rundo]

for what I'm most known for.

[Lesley Stahl]

In 2017, he got into a Series of fights with anti Trump, probably protesters at rallies. That's him pounding and pounding. He was on the lam when he got this idea to launch a more clean cut white pride group. But it's just a new image.

[Robert Rundo]

We're ultra nationalist, far right fascist. You know, I mean, this is. I'll lean a little bit into these

[Interviewer]

terms, you know, is your ultimate goal to turn America into a completely white Christian nation?

[Robert Rundo]

I would also add like a

[Diego Calderon Franco]

more

[Robert Rundo]

militant nation as well. You know, military rule, like having a

[Interviewer]

military person run the country.

[Robert Rundo]

Well, just more of democracy.

[Interviewer]

What did you mean democracy? And like it's terrible because it's just

[Robert Rundo]

such a, it's such a scam democracy. I believe it's politicians that get lobbied. They never have the interest anything that's important. Did they ever ask us?

[Interviewer]

No, but if you have a military, you'll never decide anything. They'll decide.

[Robert Rundo]

We don't decide anything right now.

[Lesley Stahl]

Going to natural disasters like Hurricane Helene also gives these groups an opportunity to slam the government.

[Joseph Moule]

Government didn't help whatsoever.

[Lesley Stahl]

Their videos claimed the government did a lousy job in the rescue, saying it was chaotic, clueless and corrupt.

[Scott Pelley]

And I am disgusted.

[Lesley Stahl]

The criticisms got more outsiders to descend. These militiamen from Virginia came to clear houses.

[Joseph Moule]

When the government fails, the people come together.

[Scott Pelley]

This is a staging area.

[Lesley Stahl]

In the Arizona vigilante conspiracist group, Veterans on Patrol came to organize supplies. But according to law enforcement, they created chaos and, and did more harm than good. Just look at this car. Sheriff Griffin in North Carolina says many of these disaster tourists spread conspiracies and misinformation to help their videos go viral.

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

The misinformation took a bad situation and actually complicated a bad situation.

[Interviewer]

But Sheriff, they're coming in because they

[Lesley Stahl]

think the government isn't doing anything.

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

So what I would say for all of these outside folks that are really wanting to help, they need to get their information from official sources and not from TikTok or Facebook or whatever the flavor of the day is with social media.

[Lesley Stahl]

What was some of the misinformation that

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

was being spread that there were people that were still stranded, that there were bodies floating in the river, that FEMA was rationing supplies and seizing supplies? None of that was true.

[Lesley Stahl]

Fema, the federal agency on the ground in natural disasters, is a main target of these outside groups. During Helene, FEMA rescuers had to back away for a few days when there were fears that militias were coming to hunt them. Also, a wild rumor spread that the government actually created Hurricane Helene using weather monitoring towers. As a weather weapon.

[Scott Pelley]

Now, this is a directed energy weapon utilized to manipulate the weather.

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These are weapons of mass destruction.

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

So basically the rumor was that that, you know, the government controls the weather and that this was a direct attack on the area.

[Interviewer]

Is this usual now in disasters? One, that there are these false rumors, conspiracies being spread, and two, that outside

[Lesley Stahl]

groups stream in and make it more difficult for law enforcement.

[Sheriff Lowell Griffin]

So what I'm afraid of is from what I've seen, this will be the new normal.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

How China tries to exploit natural disasters

[Social Media Analyst]

in the US taking narratives that portray the US government as being ineffective and

[John Wertheim]

boosting those [e-mail]

[Lloyd Lockridge]

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[Lloyd Lockridge]

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[Scott Pelley]

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[Scott Pelley]

Once in a while, we get to travel so far off the beaten track, there's hardly a track at all. That was the case last year when we went to the mountains of western Colombia. There are some 2000 species of birds in that South American country, more than anywhere else on earth, partly because of its diverse geography, but also, surprisingly, because of war. Decades of fighting among the Colombian government, left wing guerrillas, right wing paramilitaries and narco traffickers made some areas so dangerous few people could go there, preserving the bird's habitat. But since 2016, when Colombia's government signed a peace deal with the FARC, the largest left wing guerrilla group, it's gotten safer to travel.

[Reporter]

And all those species of birds in

[Scott Pelley]

untouched forests have become an important part of a growing eco tourism industry. It brings in millions of dollars to Colombia's economy and and bird watchers, birders as they're known, are flocking there, hoping to catch even a fleeting glimpse of species you can't find anywhere else on Earth. On the western slope of the Andes Mountains, in an area with few roads in or out, lies Tatama National Park, a vast stretch of lush rainforest punctuated by powerful rivers. Delicate flowers blossom in the rain soaked forest and the sound of birds fills the humid air. This is one of the wettest places on Earth. We set off before dawn In a four wheel drive vehicle through untouched forest. Hidden in the lush vegetation were all kinds of birds. Some shy, others curious. Their colors as vivid as their names. The blue gray tanager. The cinnamon flycatcher. The purple throated wood star.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Okay, check it out, check it out. This one, mate.

[Scott Pelley]

Diego Calderon Franco knows them all. He's one of Colombia's most famous birding guides.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Go above the light.

[Reporter]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

The violet tells you this is the female.

[Reporter]

It's a little one right there.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

The little one, actually, that's the seal. Look at the tail.

[Reporter]

That tail is so beautiful.

[Scott Pelley]

Diego's enthusiasm is infectious.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

And this is the star here, this thing. Velvet purple coronetti. There you are.

[Reporter]

Wow, those colors are incredible.

[Scott Pelley]

Nearby, we spotted some drama between two hummingbirds.

[Reporter]

Is that a family? One of them is just sitting there on a branch. The others seem to be darting about.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Actually, they are both Empress Brilliance males. So there are actually probably two males fighting a little bit about territory. Hummingbirds, you know, they look cute, but they are real warriors. They will fight for resources.

[Reporter]

Really.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Hummingbirds do you all day long. All day long.

[Reporter]

The pink right underneath the throat and then throat is incredible.

[Scott Pelley]

Birding may sound dull to some, but in the forest there's always something to watch out for.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Whoa, watch out.

[Olivier Polge]

This is dangerous.

[Scott Pelley]

Diego has studied the species here so closely. He does their calls the way some people hum music.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Something like that, that I can.

[Scott Pelley]

That's a wren.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

That would be like a wood wren in the forest. There is one here where we are that is called the munchike wood wren that lives in the highlands. And it's like. But it's much happier, it has a different tone. So it's more, Much, much of a. Yeah, cooler bike.

[Reporter]

You've said that being a bird guide in Colombia is like being an explorer

[Scott Pelley]

during the Victorian age.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

It is.

[Scott Pelley]

How so?

[Diego Calderon Franco]

It is because all these explorers from the Victorian age, they were circumnavigating the globe and exploring and finding new species everywhere. And because our, you know, troubled past, you can still, you know, be in Colombia, look at that isolated mountain range and you might find a new species for bird, for science.

[Reporter]

Are there still bird species out there

[Scott Pelley]

that haven't been discovered?

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Absolutely. We tend to think that we have explored it all, that we know every corner of the planet and it's not the case.

[Reporter]

This area was a no go area

[Scott Pelley]

for a long time.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Indeed, the fact that there were illegal armed groups in this area, you know, like for so long, prevented just people coming and slashing and burning the Habitats.

[Reporter]

No one could disturb the birds, but no one could go see them really either.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[Scott Pelley]

More than 450,000 people were killed, most of them unarmed civilians. During decades of fighting between armed groups and government forces in Colombia, 50,000 people were kidnapped. Diego Calderon Franco was one of them. In 2004, as a graduate student, he and two colleagues were on an expedition in the mountains of northern Colombia when they were seized by the farc, Colombia's largest Marxist guerrilla group.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

And they didn't believe that we were bird watchers, you know, like that we were biologists.

[Scott Pelley]

While Diego and his colleagues were held hostage in this remote hideaway, and others, birders around the world called for his release.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Unlike 99% of all the other kidnappings in Colombia, it became monetary. It became like, okay, let's ask for a ransom to your families. I was 88 days to three months up there.

[Reporter]

How did you stay sane?

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Birds? I would say you were being held prisoner, but we could see and hear nature.

[Scott Pelley]

He scribbled notes about what he saw on these scraps of cigarette paper.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

I remember I saw for first time one bird that is called Slaty Brosfinch. And I even made a little drawing and a little note like, wow, this is my first. Slaty Brosfinch kidnapped up there in. In the Perry how mountains.

[Scott Pelley]

His father finally scraped together about $30,000 to free him. And three years after his release, Diego started a business leading birding tours. This was one of his favorite places to stay, a farm at the entrance to Tatama National Park. It's owned by Michelle Tapasco and her family. She says they moved here in the 1990s to escape violence by right wing militias in eastern eastern Colombia. Not realizing the left wing FARC was active here.

[Michelle Tapasco]

After we got here, we realized that it was the flip side of the coin. The guerrilla strike started. There were a lot of confrontations near here between the military, the police, and the guerrillas.

[Scott Pelley]

In 2008, she says, the FARC kidnapped and killed her partner. She had five daughters to support and thought about leaving, but decided to stay and build a business providing lodging for the occasional visitor.

[Reporter]

When you started this business, did some people tell you, oh, this is never going to work?

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Oh, oh.

[Michelle Tapasco]

In fact, they would tell me I was crazy. No one would give me a single peso for my project.

[Scott Pelley]

Now, thanks to birders, she's fixed the place up and rebranded it as the Montezuma Rainforest Eco Lodge. Much of the food for guests is grown on the premises, and Michelle makes sure there's plenty of nourishment for Tatama's hard working hummingbirds. Colombia is home to more than 160 species of these fast moving fliers.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

These guys are the very only group of birds in the world that can fly not only forward, normal, but up, down, and backwards.

[Reporter]

How fast are they moving their wings?

[Diego Calderon Franco]

How fast you think? How many times per second?

[Scott Pelley]

Per second?

[Diego Calderon Franco]

10, 80 times per second. You cannot rub this idea on your brain.

[Scott Pelley]

Ten years ago, the Colombian government reached a peace agreement with the FARC and nearly 10,000 fighters gave up their guns. But for peace to work, they needed new ways to make a living. So Diego decided to introduce his former captors to birding, thinking some of them might make good forest guides.

[Reporter]

What was it like to go birding with people who had been in farc, who had been combatants?

[Diego Calderon Franco]

We totally forgot who we were. They weren't thinking, oh, this is the guy we kidnapped, you know, 15 years ago. Birds connect you so much, and I think that's why they have this healing power.

[Scott Pelley]

Marcos Guevara was once a fark gorilla. Now he's a photographer. Diego helped him get his first job when he joined us at Tatema. He captured this video of a green and black fruit eater building a nest.

[Reporter]

Did you know anything about birding before you met Diego?

[Marcos Guevara]

No, I didn't know anything at all. That was really my introduction to birds. Diego gave us the chance to attend workshops and training sessions. Birdwatching became a doorway for us not just into conservation and preservation, but also as a way to generate income for ourselves.

[Scott Pelley]

Colombia still has plenty of problems. While we were busy birding, bombs went off in Cali and a presidential candidate was assassinated in Bogota eight days ago. Twenty people were killed in an explosion officials blamed on a faction of the FARC that refused to disarm. Peace here remains fragile, but more tourists are coming than ever before. At Michelle's lodge, we ran into Gary George and Joseph Brooks of Los Angeles. We bonded over a large bird that surprised us one morning.

[Gary George]

Look at that.

[Lesley Stahl]

Oh, my God. Look at that huge thing.

[Olivier Polge]

Yeah.

[Scott Pelley]

Do you see this?

[Lesley Stahl]

It's right there.

[Joseph Brooks]

Vaulter, the black vaulter.

[Scott Pelley]

Like many serious birders, they have what's called a life list, a count of how many of the roughly 11,000 species of birds in the world they've seen or heard. Some people collect salt and pepper shakers, but we collect bird sightings.

[Social Media Analyst]

So we go around the world to do that.

[Reporter]

How many birds have you seen?

[Joseph Brooks]

We're very close to 8,000.

[Reporter]

8,000. So you've seen the majority of the birds?

[Joseph Brooks]

4/5 of the world's birds.

[Scott Pelley]

If you didn't notice, those tattoos on Brook's arms are some of his feathered favorites. He says there's about 50 birds tattooed all over his body.

[Joseph Brooks]

This is a satin bowerbird from Australia. This is a red crowned crane we saw in Japan.

[Scott Pelley]

Down on this trip, they were searching for the ever elusive chami antpitta. In two prior trips here, they'd never gotten a glimpse of one. But this time, they finally hurt. Heard its call.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Let's try.

[Scott Pelley]

And then it darted right past them so fast our camera couldn't catch it.

[Joseph Brooks]

It's like finding a jewel, like a prize. And being in that moment, everything else goes away. You're not worrying about anything else in your life. You're only present in that moment.

[Scott Pelley]

Oh, great. Most birds don't have it as good as those here at Tatama National Park. Worldwide, 60% of bird species are declining in population, victims of logging, agricultural expansion and economic development. At Montezuma Lodge, Michelle Topasco told us she's working to buy more land to preserve for the birds. And now her daughters are pursuing careers in biology, forestry, birding and conservation.

[Reporter]

When you think about it, I mean, did the birds save you?

[Interviewer]

Yes, ma'.

[Reporter]

Am.

[Michelle Tapasco]

They have given me everything I have, everything I am, everything my daughters are today.

[Reporter]

Two of your daughters got married. Are they married to birders?

[Gary George]

Si.

[Reporter]

I never thought of birds as matchmakers, but it seems like here, maybe they are.

[Michelle Tapasco]

I believe so.

[Scott Pelley]

On our last day birding, we got to glimpse a species that only lives in this part of the Andes Mountains. The Gold ring tanager.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

That's the bird of this place. That's what birders come to see. This type of bird is like keystone for dispersing of seeds. You know, they will chew on the berries, they will travel away from the parental plants and they will defecate. And then they plant those seeds.

[Scott Pelley]

A little later, we got an even better look. The tanager may not be the most colorful bird in these forests, but just see, seeing it did feel like an accomplishment. We knew we'd probably never have the chance to see it again.

[Reporter]

Oh, wow. That's great.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Now you belong to a higher cult of mortals, for you have seen the cult ring tanager.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

In 15th century France, the medieval town of Grasse had a problem. It reeked of dead animals from its booming leather trade. Then came a clever idea to mask the stench. A pair of gloves infused with the scent of local flowers. It sparked a new industry. Flowers were planted, techniques invented. And what began as a cover up grew into an art form, establishing Grasse as the perfume capital of the world. In 1921, when Coco Chanel wanted to create a signature scent for her fashion house, she went to this town in the south of France, where fields once bloomed in abundance but have faded over the decades. Now a revival is underway. And that's where our story begins tonight, in Grasse, where flowers for the world's most famous perfume have been grown and gathered for more than 100 years. This is the rose centifolia, nicknamed the mayrose because it blew blooms in spring. Cultivated in row after pink row, it is a flower worthy of a serenade. PIANO NOTES PLAY OVER SPEAKERS Farmers say the vibrations help the buds bloom evenly. 12 of these roses go into a bottle of Chanel no. 5. But the real star is is this tiny white flower, jasmine. It opens at night and is harvested as the sun comes up. 1,000 jasmine flowers go into a bottle of number five, giving it the floral scent that has sat on grandmother's dressers for generations.

[Olivier Polge]

We all have a great nose.

[DSW Spokesperson]

I don't know about that.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

At Chanel's annual jasmine harvest, we met Olivier Polj, where he spends many of his working days in the fields of grass, sourcing flowers. He is Chanel's master perfumer. In the fragrance world, he's known simply as a nose.

[John Wertheim]

What should I call you? A perfumer. A nose.

[Olivier Polge]

I prefer perfumer because people always think that my nose is very special, is it not? And I don't smell things that you don't. The work of perfumer is not to smell things that nobody smells, but it is to identify.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

His job is to create new fragrances for Chanel and make sure the classics smell as they always have. It is part art, part science. A sommelier of scent Polsch can detect thousands of smells with a sniff.

[John Wertheim]

Do you have a favorite smell?

[Olivier Polge]

I love the scent of iris violet powder. Slightly woody.

[John Wertheim]

I have to tell you, I was very self conscious getting ready this morning, putting my perfume on, thinking you were going to smell it immediately and judge it. Did you when we met?

[Olivier Polge]

No. But you forgot that we are surrounded with such strong scents of flowers.

[John Wertheim]

This is over overpowering. Phew.

[Lesley Stahl]

Okay, good.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

According to Chanel, five bottles of number five are sold somewhere in the world every minute. Fitting, since it's named after Coco, Chanel's lucky number. The iconic designer came to Grasse during its golden age, searching for the world's finest and most expensive perfume ingredients. But over the decades, farms began to shut down as the French Riviera became a luxe. Real Estate market and cheaper flowers were grown abroad in places such as India and Egypt.

[John Wertheim]

Would Chanel no. 5 really smell that differently? If you sourced the jasmine from elsewhere,

[Olivier Polge]

yes, it would definitely have an impact. Far from me. The idea to say one is better than the other, but you have to recognize their differences.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

So what exactly does it smell like? Well, this is admittedly tough to convey on tv, since we're doing the smelling.

[Olivier Polge]

This is the jasmine from grass.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[John Wertheim]

Oh, wow.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Grass. Jasmine is grassy and fruity, with a note of green tea. Delicate, like the flower itself. In the early 1900s, Grasse had about 12,000 acres of flower fields. Today, only 124 acres remain. And where nearly 2000 tons of jasmine were once harvested each year, now there are fewer than 15, grown mostly by one family since the 1800s. For six generations, the Moles have farmed this land.

[John Wertheim]

What has it been like to watch the decline here in Kras?

[Joseph Moule]

It's very sad. It was a pity to see this evolution, but we couldn't do anything about it. It's how it went. So we had to hang in there for many years.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Joseph Moule is the 87 year old patriarch.

[John Wertheim]

How often are you in the fields?

[Joseph Moule]

Every morning, 7am It's.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Is he still the boss?

[Olivier Polge]

Oui.

[Honorine Blanc]

Yes.

[John Wertheim]

He'll always be the boss.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Joseph's daughter, Colette, runs the office. Her husband, Fabrice, oversees the fields.

[John Wertheim]

Who's done the most picking here?

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

We all picked jasmine.

[Family Member]

We had to help. In my case, it was my grandparents. And they would tell us, if you wish to go and swim in the sea, first you have to help us pick flowers.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

So every morning, no fun, pick first.

[Family Member]

That's exactly what we did.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

They say their jasmine has a distinct scent because, like grapes used in wine, it matters where it's grown. Here in the hills, where the Mediterranean meets the Southern Alps, in a cool climate and rich soil,

[Joseph Moule]

you can't put Burgundy in a bottle of Bourbon because people will tell you, no, that's not Bordeaux for the fragrances we do here. For Chanel, it's exactly the same thing.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

That's why in 1987, Chanel offered the Mouls a deal to grow and sell flowers exclusively to them. The first time a luxury brand partnered directly with Grasse farmers.

[John Wertheim]

They say even the birds smell good here in Grasse.

[Jerome Viaud]

Thank you very much. I think so.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

It's the kind of partnership Grasse Mayor Jerome Viaud says helped revive the region.

[John Wertheim]

A lot of people thought the perfume

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

industry here was over.

[Jerome Viaud]

Yes. A lot of people say it's the end of the perfume.

[John Wertheim]

Why did you think you could make a difference?

[Jerome Viaud]

Because we have the knowledge and we have the weather and we have everything to get success.

[Honorine Blanc]

So.

[Jerome Viaud]

So we think it's possible and we are working on it every day.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Since taking office in 2014, the mayor has filled the streets with thousands of pink umbrellas, a tribute to the rose and a picture perfect backdrop for the 2 million tourists who visit Grasse each year. He also helped designate Grasse a United Nations Cultural Heritage site, recognizing its centuries old perfume making traditions. And he blocked development on 170 acres of land so that new flower fields can be cultivated.

[John Wertheim]

A lot of mayors want the development to come to their town. What was your fear with that development?

[Jerome Viaud]

We want development, but we want to choose our development.

[John Wertheim]

You wanted to be specific to the perfume industry?

[Jerome Viaud]

Definitely, yes.

[John Wertheim]

Is there a renaissance in the perfume business underway right now?

[Jerome Viaud]

I think so. You saw it?

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

We did. It's hard to miss. Over the past decade, major luxury houses have invested in Grasse by tying their brand to its reputation. Lancome built what looks like a Barbie Dream House on a farm where it grows roses for its fragrances. Downtown, in abandoned perfumery became a workshop for Louis Vuitton. And Christian Dior's former estate was restored, preserving the gardens that inspired the designer's first scent.

[Honorine Blanc]

It's nice to smell everywhere I go. I put my nose you do I smell everything.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Honorine Blanc is a masternose for one of the world's largest fragrance companies, creating perfumes for brands such as Valentino and Gucci.

[Honorine Blanc]

Yes, and smell it. Spacchouli. People don't realize how much work there is behind creating a fragrance. Sometimes I need 20,000 trial.

[John Wertheim]

20,000 is how long it's taken you sometimes. How do you know when it's right?

[Honorine Blanc]

I would say there's two ways your client stays top. This is practical or it's instinct. It's like music.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

As part of the grass revival, her company, DSM Firminiche, opened Villa Botanica five years ago, a private retreat for its top perfumers to discover new smells. The good, it's very clean. And the bad.

[Joseph Brooks]

What can you do with this smell?

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Like feet.

[John Wertheim]

There's an undiscovered world of scent out there.

[Honorine Blanc]

Still, I believe so. I think there are plenty of new odors to discover, plenty of new plants to discover. For a perfumer, it's heaven.

[John Wertheim]

Does Grasse still hold the same significance that it did to the perfume industry?

[Honorine Blanc]

Yes. And I think even more than ever, you know why? Because we're going back to authenticity.

[John Wertheim]

What does that mean when you're talking about perfume? Authenticity.

[Honorine Blanc]

For me, when I come to Grasse, it's a place where I can slow down and smell the value of an ingredient. Because, you know, everything is speed, speed, speed, speed.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Today, fine fragrance is a more than 20 billion dollar a year industry, largely built on synthetics bottled in a lab. Blanc says man made scents are essential to modern perfumery.

[Honorine Blanc]

You create perfection by balancing notes that are unpleasant with notes that are pleasant. If your apple is too perfect, you say, oh my God, it's not organic, it's not natural. So the imperfection and this off note are very important for your fragrance.

[John Wertheim]

So it's kind of like baking. You have to put a little bit of salt in the cake mix.

[Honorine Blanc]

Yes.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Chanel also uses synthetic scents created in a lab. We can't tell you exactly what's in a bottle of Number five. Olivier Polge told us the secret formula is kept in a safe in Paris.

[John Wertheim]

I've heard that Chanel no. 5 has more than 80 separate scents.

[Olivier Polge]

Yes.

[John Wertheim]

How many of those roughly are from Grasse?

[Olivier Polge]

The most important are from Grasse.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Which brings us back to the jasmine. Starting at dawn, when the jasmine flowers are at their most fragrant, each one is picked by hand. Too delicate for machines. The harvest ends before the midday heat can damage the petals, which are kept covered in wet cloth to stay cool. Workers line up to weigh what they've picked. 4,000 jasmine flowers equal just £1. The blooms are then rushed to an on site factory where their fragrance is extracted using a 150-year-old technique developed in Grasse.

[John Wertheim]

You have to work really fast.

[Diego Calderon Franco]

Yes.

[John Wertheim]

Because what happens when they get brown? The smell changes.

[Olivier Polge]

It smells bad.

[Joseph Brooks]

Fruit.

[Olivier Polge]

Like a ripe fruit.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

Crate after crate of jasmine is layered into this vat and steeped overnight like tea. Then the flowers are removed. They leave behind withered petals and a liquid that cools into a thick wax. It took 35 minutes million jasmine flowers to get this 22 pound tub. The wax is turned back into a liquid.

[John Wertheim]

Oh, wow. So strong.

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

And filtered again into the most concentrated form of jasmine.

[Olivier Polge]

So this will be sent up to our factory near Paris and a few drops will go in each bottle of Number five.

[John Wertheim]

Does the jasmine today smell like the jasmine originally used in Number five?

[Olivier Polge]

I think so. I think this is why we are very careful in maintaining the way we harvest the jasmine, the way we extract the jasmine. And we do it exactly as it was at the beginning,

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

The Last minute of 60 minutes.

[Scott Pelley]

The summer will see many celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. But historian Jill Lepore is reflecting on another breakthrough in 1776.

[Gary George]

Our very system of law is founded on what I think of as the philosophy of amendment, the idea that we can always make things better. We amend state constitutions all the time, mostly by referendums on election day. But I worry that at this point, we've all but forgotten that the federal Constitution can be amended to that hasn't even really happened in any meaningful way since 1971, when the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. It was in 1776, even before the United States declared independence, that written constitutions were invented in the states where the people said, we govern ourselves. And they did that by writing down the rules and making sure that we, their descendants, could change those rules. Some people might say, oh, the U.S. constitution doesn't need to be amended because it's perfect. But you'd have to concede that the US Constitution is being amended all the time, not by the people, but by the Supreme Court. Is that what Americans want? I think the 250th anniversary of the first constitutions in the United States, those state constitutions from 1776, is an excellent

[Sharon Alphonsdev]

time to ask that question.

[Scott Pelley]

I'm Anderson Cooper. We'll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.

[Podcast Narrator]

When beloved family patriarch Gary Ferris went missing, his family looked everywhere on their property until they came across something horrifying. It's a homicide.

[Scott Pelley]

Absolutely.

[Podcast Narrator]

The blame game in this family went round and round. This is Blood is the Ferris Wheel.

[Scott Pelley]

I don't see how anyone can look at this story and think they were happy.

[Podcast Narrator]

Binge the full series Blood is Thicker, the Ferris Wheel on the Free Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts.