Be Veg! Go Green! Save Our Planet

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2010-04-16T09:46:00.001-07:00

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Climate change causes unprecedented coral bleaching

2010-04-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

According to a team of scientists from Australia’s Southern Cross University, warming ocean waters have imperiled coral reefs in Lord Howe Island Lagoon, the world’s southernmost such ecosystem, This year has seen the hottest, driest, most cloudless January in recorded history, and Dr. Peter Harrison, who led a survey of the reefs east of Sydney said that the two degree Celsius rise in temperature since 1993 has endangered the reefs as well as a sea anemone that is home to a rare type of fish.

As such overheating causes the coral to expel crucial algae that give them their color, a soon return to normal temperatures could allow the reefs to survive but only after decades of recovery.

Dr. Harrison explained that global warming is behind these changes as he stated. “It's exactly what you predict from warming seas. This is a warning of likely future increases of stress on this world's southernmost reef.”

Dr. Harrison and colleagues at Southern Cross University, we appreciate your detailed observations of the imperiled coral reefs. Our prayers that all are motivated to speedily adopt sustainable lifestyles that preserve the delicately interconnected life on our planet.

During a November 2008 interview with Ireland’s East Coast Radio FM, Supreme Master Ching Hai reiterated a concern she has often expressed about the preciousness of coral reefs as part of the biosphere affected by global warming.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Now, the coral reefs are there for some reason. See, there are many factors that affect coral reefs, like coastal development, water pollution, changing sea water temperature because of global warming.

Some scientists predict that most of the coral reefs could disappear in the near future if global warming increases.

Coral reefs are just like the forest on land. They are the protectors of 100-plus countries’ coastlines against storm surges and hurricanes. They are the protectors. And they are also the supporters of over 25% of all marine species.

So you see how important it is. And there are many more things that we have not discovered about the benefits of coral reef and marine life. We must protect a living and healthy sea, as it relates to our living and healthy self.

The solution is vegetarian diet

http://www.france24.com/en/20100324-climate-change-puts-australian-reef-knife-edge
http://www.scu.edu.au/research/whales/index.php/14/
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201003/s2855135.htm
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20102603-20767-2.html

Accelerated glacial melt causing water sources to dwindle

2010-04-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

As home to 70% of the Earth’s tropical glaciers, Peru has witnessed a 30% loss of glacial mass in the last 30 years due to climate change. Catholic University Research Center Director Bernex Nicol expressed his concern about the matter in a talk given on the radio station Radio Programs of Peru.

With shortages already threatening cities like Lima, where 1.5 million people are currently without water, further reductions are anticipated from factors such as the disappearance of freshwater springs in the northern Andes, where over 50% have dried due to deforestation.

Moreover, Peru’s National University of Engineering Director Julio Kuroiwa has stated that further shortages are expected in Lima, where water supplies could decrease by another 25% over the next decade.

Meanwhile, demands on this fragile resource are further complicated by metal contamination coming from mines in the country’s highlands.

Our appreciation Directors Nicol, Kuroiwa and colleagues for your evaluation and voiced concern about the vanishing Peruvian glaciers and their effect on people’s lives.

Let us act in unison now to stabilize the security and survival of the Peruvian people and all inhabitants of our shared Earthly home. As on previous occasions, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke during a September 2009 conference in Peru about the country’s water crisis and how to bring relief to this global problem.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: In Peru, the loss to glaciers is equivalent to 10 whole years of water supply for Lima city.

With 8 of the country’s water basins already noted as being insufficient to meet people’s needs, Peru’s President Garcia announced in 2008 the construction of two desalination plants to try to address the water scarcity. It’s that urgent already in Peru.

Dwindling water supplies have caused escalating tensions and even conflicts to erupt as many people, including disadvantaged farmers, don’t have enough water, or are struggling for their share.

So please, before the situation gets any more out of hand – let’s choose the vegan diet. The future effects will be greatly eased. Only then will we have a manageable situation.

Be veg, go green, so we can all save the planet.

http://www.peruviantimes.com/limas-water-supply-to-decrease-by-25-percent-over-next...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-03/28/c_13227756.htm
http://www.peruviantimes.com/brack-limas-water-supply-secure-over-next-years/285418

Drought strikes across global continents

2010-04-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

In Latin America, Bolivian authorities in seven municipalities have declared states of emergency due to dry conditions damaging 80% of crops. Municipalities like Lagunillas that rarely ever experienced droughts in the past now have lost all their crops.

Honduras also declared a state of emergency on March 23 due to drought and famine, and across the world the Philippines has also witnessed crop failure from drought that impacted 23 provinces.

In China, prolonged lack of rain has stricken at least five the southwestern provinces, with the nation’s State Forestry Administration reporting that the persistent drought has damaged young saplings and animal habitats, as well as increasing the risk of forest fires.

To help counter these effects, the Chinese government allocated US$586 million for emergency relief to supply water to over 19 million affected people.

Meanwhile, in South Sudan, drought and conflict has caused sudden alarming increased rates of malnutrition.

Aid agencies warn of a food shortage crisis, where nearly half of the children under five are malnourished.

Finally, in the United States, California’s director of the Department of Water Resources, Mark Cowin expressed concern of this year’s expected water shortages.

However, in a brief respite from such conditions, California welcomed the blessing of rains over the Easter weekend in early April that have helped replenish some main water reservoirs.

And in central Âu Lạc (Vietnam), several months of hot dry weather have been relieved by a rain that has provided much-needed moisture for thousands of hectares of coffee and other crops.

We thank all the governments for their efforts to relieve the suffering from these acute drought conditions as we pray that the dry spells being endured by many countries is alleviated with our better care for the planet and each other.

In an October 2009 videoconference in Formosa (Taiwan), Supreme Master Ching Hai once again expressed her deep concern and sympathy for the drought-afflicted, urging for actions to curb its impact.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: People are dying from droughts, people are leaving their villages, their hometowns because they don’t have any more water to drink.

Some die on the road because of starvation; some die on the road looking for water. This is very, very tragic. I hope we all wake up and wake up quick to save our people, to save our home.

Because many of our world co-citizens are not aware that many of our other co-citizens are dying because of lack of water, and lack of water means lack of food, lack of security.

Water means everything to our existence. We must conserve the water; we must do everything we can. And the first step to begin is to be vegan. Because animal industry uses 70 more percent of the clean water of our planet!

http://www.monre.gov.vn/monreNet/default.aspx?tabid=258&ItemID=82431
http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-03/25/c_13224950.htm
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/32075/
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6939401.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011514738_aporklamathdrought...
http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2010-04/02/content_19736019.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-04/02/content_9683395.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-04/03/content_9684946.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8589136.stm
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/01/extra-snowpack-wont-douse-sd-drought..
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_W_survey02.48d1ca2.html
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90780/91345/6932017.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jbziD...
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14823042?nclick_check=1
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/06/BAAP1CQ3IR.DTL

Cholera deaths in Kenya linked to climate change

2010-04-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

Severe droughts and intense flooding are among the climate change-induced water woes that Kenya and other Eastern African countries have experienced in recent years.

Along with tolls from these disasters, many people have at times been forced to drink unclean water and thus become exposed to the water-borne pathogen, cholera.

At least 13 people have perished from the disease, with hundreds of cases confirmed, many requiring hospitalization. The government has also shut down schools as a preventive measure.

Cholera causes severe diarrhea and vomiting and can be fatal within 24 hours if left untreated. Kenyan health officials have been working to distribute clean drinking water door-to-door in the affected areas to stop the spread of the disease, and the United Nations Environment Program is calling for such measures as wetlands and coastal mangrove preservation to restore these natural water purification systems.

Our appreciation, health officials and United Nations Environment Program for your caring assistance in bringing relief to the people of Kenya.

Let us all become part of the solution to climate change through sustainable daily actions on our shared planetary home. During a May 2009 videoconference in the African country of Togo, Supreme Master Ching Hai expressed her concern for the global warming effects already threatening the lives of the African people, also highlighting what could be done to halt them.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Sadly, global warming is affecting African countries in all the severest and some of the most visible ways. Increased temperatures mean erratic rainfall – either too little or too much at a time – so we have ravaging floods that drown the crops and fires that burn the forest.

There are more frequent droughts, heat waves, floods, storms, frosts, freezes, and locusts than before. These impacts of climate change increase food insecurity and the food crisis in Africa. There is also increased risk of diseases. The United Nations is afraid that hundreds of millions of people in Africa are at risk.

This is just a handful of all the news reports coming out about global warming in your land. I’m sure there are more.

So let us try our best to help remind and encourage our leaders to do something. If the world becomes vegan as a group, we can remedy the disasters that affect us globally.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121392§ionid=351020506
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/289412
http://www.clubofmozambique.com/solutions1/sectionnews.php?secao=social...
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/regional/-/1070/885016/-/8rc5bn/-/

Rising sea claims previously disputed island

2010-04-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

After 30 years of discussion India and Bangladesh regarding the territorial rights to an island situated in a river that forms a shared border between India and Bangladesh, the small land mass has been declared officially vanished.

Measuring 3.5 kilometers long and 3 kilometers wide, New Moore Island, or South Talpatti to the Bengali people, was first noticed in 1974 on the Hariabhanga River by satellite imaging, sitting at 2 meters above sea level.

However, since 1987, the island’s surface has been submerging due to the rising sea and now can only be seen at the lowest tide. Professor Sugata Hazra, Director of School of Oceanographic Studies in India stated, “There is no presence of the island now; recent satellite images establish this.”

Moore Island thus joins other isles regionally and worldwide that have succumbed or are effectively sinking due to the rising sea levels of global warming. We are saddened to know of yet another submerged island.

Meanwhile, we pray that the people of India, Bangladesh and indeed the world make step in unity to ease global warming via Earth-friendly decisions and compassionate lifestyles.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has on several occasions addressed the devastating effects of rising sea levels and what we can urgently do to halt them, as during an October 2009 videoconference in Indonesia.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: The threats imposed by global warming are more than imminent; they are already here, as you can see through many disasters, upheavals, climate refugees, phenomena around the world.

It’s the rising sea levels as well that force people to lose their home, their ancestral home, to go begging elsewhere; losing also their dignity, losing everything, not just physical possessions, but losing their loved ones as well.

We must change while there is still time. If we want to receive the mercy of Heaven for our life here on Earth, we must first be merciful in granting the same dignity and freedom of life to the animals.

So please, everyone, plant veg, be veg and we can go green later when we’ve already saved the planet.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h98JL-wXyzAx...
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/0324/Global-warming-as...
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/new-moore-no-more-rising-sea-claims-island...

Stop eating fish to help the planet

2010-04-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

In India, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is urging the public to go vegan and especially stop eating fish to help animals and the planet.

Senior coordinator for the campaign, Mr. Nikunj Sharma explained the results of a year-long study confirming that the practice of bottom trawling is one of the most ecologically damaging and unsustainable ever as it involves dragging huge, heavy nets along the sea floor, which in turn empty the waters of all life.

Mr. Sharma also highlighted fish as a health risk, being a major source of mercury and other damaging chemicals. Our sincere thanks Mr. Sharma and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in sharing the message of the connecting our dietary choices to the health of our planet.

Let us step together in choosing the vital plant-based fare to save the lives of marine and all fellow co-inhabitants.

In an October 2009 videoconference in Indonesia, Supreme Master Ching Hai once again emphasized the importance of not consuming any animal products, including fish, if we wish to sustain ourselves and the planet.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: “Meat production” also means fishing. After billions of these underwater animals have been snatched from their homes and killed en masse, our oceans are now gravely imbalanced.

Stopping meat and dairy consumption and fishing, all the animal products – is the fastest and most effective way to cool our planet and halt these dangerous changes.

And now that we also understand the immeasurable benefits for the organic vegan diet, which offers not only better personal health, but literally can save the entire planet, the entire world.

So, please join us, and become part of the trend to save our world.

http://sify.com/news/stop-eating-fish-to-help-planet-says-peta-news-national...
http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=17493

Warming climate causing drastic forest decline

2010-04-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

In various regions of the world, huge tracts of trees are perishing. Scientists have observed that a common factor of their often sudden demise has been increased heat and drought.

Across western North America, for instance, forest die-off has been especially disastrous, with 70,000 square miles being lost in the Canadian and US Rocky Mountains to beetle infestation as warming temperatures cause the insects to move to higher and higher altitudes.

In Australia, a recent report stated that nearly a third of the trees had died in a 20,000 square-mile savanna area, while a study in Russia of 9,400 square miles of tree-covered land also observed significant losses, with hot, dry conditions in forested regions like Siberia bringing extreme wildfires in eight of the last 10 years.

In Africa, climate change is being identified as the cause of demise for local trees such as the quiver tree, camel-thorn, and the giant 30-foot-tall succulent known as euphorbia.

Although when alive, these wondrous lungs of our Earth are continuously absorbing carbon dioxide, US Geological Survey ecologist Dr. Craig Allen, who has studied forests around the world, warns that as the trees perish, they actually become a source of greenhouse gases. We thank Dr. Allen and all international researchers for this reminder that our own well-being is truly linked to the health of the world’s forests.

May we all attend now to their silent calls of distress through our own swift adoption of more life-sustaining ways. Supreme Master Ching Hai has long highlighted the need to care for the ecosphere, including the world’s trees, and shield them from the tolls of global warming, as during a videoconference in Formosa (Taiwan) in July 2008.

Everyone knows by now that protecting the environment, protecting the animals, are actually protecting ourselves. So we must protect the environment.

We should have more rules, more guidelines, to protect natural habitats. Because sometimes we overlook the long run effect. Then the consequence is very, very detrimental to ourselves and to the planet, just like what we are facing right now.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: People must be more aware of our dire situation and that everyone’s responsible action does help to minimize or stop global warming. We should act fast.

Be veg. Go green.

http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2252
http://blog.climateandenergy.org/2010/03/16/forest-die-offs-in-the-rocky-mtns-and...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/16/forests-insects
http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2252
http://wildfiremag.com/tactics/russian_fire_season/

Scientists say extreme winter weather fits global warming

2010-04-09T21:15:00.000-07:00

According to the assessment of both US and European researchers, the frigidly cold weather and massive storm systems that occurred this past winter throughout the US and Europe were all part of a warming climate.

Frank Boettcher, Director of the German Institute for Weather and Climate Communication, stated, “Right now, temperatures in Greenland are 15 degrees Celsius above the season's long-term average.”

He went on to say that even with the cold temperatures in Central and Northern Europe, German weather statistics reveal an average temperature that is at least one degree Celsius higher than 100 years ago.

Moreover, a 2009 US Climate Impacts Report stated that global warming has caused large cold weather systems to move northward, with mid-latitude storms decreasing in frequency but rising in intensity as the hotter air retains more moisture, resulting in the release of enormous amounts of snowfall.

Satellite data in fact showed that the two large winter storms that recently impacted the US occurred during the warmest winter on record for the region. Director Boettcher and other European and US scientists, we are grateful for your insights that remind us of the perilous state of our ecosphere.

Let us all do our utmost to restore planetary stability by acting now in united and Earth-supporting ways.

As during a January 2009 videoconference in Mongolia, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often emphasized the real urgency of global warming and our actions that can quickly counter it.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We are already facing so many untold natural disasters on a daily basis such as earthquakes, severe storms never seen before, volcanoes, ice melting and many island nations that have sunk under the water already and many are sinking.

And the climate has become very, very strange, like it became warm where it should be cold and it became cold where it should be hot. And this can only be alleviated through a return to the ancient ways of our wiser elders, one that exists in harmony with nature and respect of other beings, a true brotherhood of love with all.

We can still do that; it’s not too late.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We should remind everyone to be veg, to invoke the mercy of the Buddhas, and we will be better protected.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ips/...
http://www.whitefieldconsulting.com/wordpress/?p=2463
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1962294,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/science/earth/11climate.html
http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts/full...

Accelerating Greenland ice melt observed

2010-04-09T21:01:00.000-07:00

A collaborative team of scientists from Denmark’s National Space Institute and US-based University of Colorado at Boulder have observed a melting of ice that is spreading at a rapid pace from Greenland’s south to its northwest coast.

To complete their findings, the international team compared data from a US National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite with GPS measurements from the ice sheet’s coastal edge.

Study co-author and physicist, Dr. John Wahr of the University of Colorado at Boulder, stated: “The ice mass loss has been very dramatic… Our speculation is that some of the big glaciers in this region are sliding downhill faster and dumping more ice in the ocean.”

Such vast Greenlandic ice loss could in turn lead to sea levels rising up to 80 centimeters by 2100, according to oceanographer Dr. John Church of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).

Dr. John Church (M): One of the important things to realize about the ice sheets is that our lack of understanding means that sea level rise could be substantially larger than we currently estimate, but not substantially smaller.

We need to recognize the importance and the seriousness of this issue. Society needs to call on our governments to show leadership to ensure that we reduce our emissions; we reduce them substantially and urgently.

VOICE: Dr. Church, Dr. Wahr and esteemed associates at the National Space Institute and the University of Colorado at Boulder, we appreciate your careful work in revealing more about the perilous warming of our planet.

Let us heed such cautionary findings by living sustainably so that all may continue to enjoy the Earth’s bounteous beauty.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has often conveyed her concern about the dire implications of climate change as well as hope for humanity, as during a March 2009 videoconference in California, USA.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Before, the United Nations predicted that one meter sea level rise would be very catastrophic already and causing a lot of people to lose their homes. But scientists have learned that Greenland and western Antarctica and eastern Antarctica are all melting now which had not been a factor before. Based on these findings, one scientist says:

If all Antarctica were to melt, then the sea level could rise up to 70 meters! So, there’s no way we can run away from this except we turn to a virtuous way of life; then we are connected with Heaven because Heaven is virtuous and love and blessing.

I see no other way we can protect ourselves at all.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36007220/ns/us_news-environment/
http://sify.com/news/greenland-ice-sheet-losing-mass-on-northwest-coast-news...
http://cires.colorado.edu/people/wahr/
http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=5518

Oceanic dead zones emit potent greenhouse gas and accelerate global warming

2010-04-05T21:57:00.000-07:00

As a growing number of oxygen-deprived “dead zones” in the world’s seas not only threaten marine plant and animal life, the suffocating waters also give off the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide.

In an article published in the journal “Science,” Dr. Lou Codispoti, oceanographer at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in the USA explains that the warming oceans are causing microbes, especially those in the more shallow, low-oxygen zones, to produce high levels of the gas, which are then passed into the atmosphere to further aggravate climate change.

Along with trapping 289 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, nitrous oxide also further depletes the Earth's ozone layer, thus increasing our exposure to harmful UV radiation.

Dr. Codispoti, your study indeed sounds a warning that cannot be ignored and we are grateful for your observations. Let us all act now in planet-cooling endeavors to stabilize the environments of both land and sea.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has often cautioned about the detriments of poisonous gases being released by the warming oceans, along with global warming’s root solution, as during an international gathering with our Association members in February 2008.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: You see, the gases are fuming from the ocean and from the land that’s been deforested. It’s fuming everywhere. It’s just that at the moment, it’s not so intense. , yeah? But it’ll be more and more intense if we don’t do something.

Everybody knows by now, from the UN Report that meat eating, animal raising, it’s one of the worst factors, or even the worst factor of global warming.

And nobody talks about it. Everybody says, okay, new energy, biofuel, hybrid car, dig a hole and store the carbon. As if it will not bust one day. And before that you have to breathe in already, as if it will not affect you.

What is so difficult, to put down one piece of meat, and replace it with one piece of tofu. Which is exactly the same, better nutrition. Better for your health. More economized.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100311141213.htm
http://www.epa.gov/nitrousoxide/sources.html
http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/03/12/aquatic-dead-zones-produce-greenhouse-gas-300x.../

Past natural disasters the result of human activities

2010-04-05T21:44:00.000-07:00

The Nasca culture that flourished in South America is famous for its mysterious lines, best viewed from the air, that depict animals and other shapes across the deserts in Peru.

While being aware that the Nasca civilization ended suddenly between the 6th and 7th centuries, scientists at the University of Cambridge in the UK have recently revealed that the Nasca demise was related to deforestation.

This was due to their clearing of huarango trees, whose deep roots played a key role in regulating moisture and soil richness. Thus, removing so many trees eventually caused a tipping point to be reached, after which the ecosystem was irreversibly damaged and the climate became more and more dry.

The study's authors say that these findings are highly relevant in view of parallels with humanity’s situation today.

Meanwhile, experts from the Leibniz Oceanography Institute in Kiel, Germany announced their discovery of signs that a severe natural disaster occurred in the Atlantic Ocean two millennia ago.

According to the scientists, the edge of an African continental shelf broke off, scattering debris over 150,000 square kilometers across the deep Atlantic off the coast of Morocco, south of the Canary Islands.

This event could have set off a massive tsunami that some say impacted the lost city of Atlantis, believed to have existed in the Atlantic basin before being engulfed by the sea.

What intriguing findings! Thank you University of Cambridge and Leibniz Oceanography Institute scientists for your reports that offer insights into past civilizations.

Let us strive to prevent the repeating of such devastations through our increased stewardship of the environment. During a videoconference in Togo in May 2009, Supreme Master Ching Hai gave a spiritual perspective on such cases in history as well as ways for humanity to choose a safer course today.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: At least 2 major times, our planet has undergone major destruction due to detrimental human activities. It may be that past civilizations on Earth did not last also because their moral standard did not develop along with their technical power.

Spiritual development and compassion are what ensures the safety and balance of every other endeavor. I pray that our civilization will be different, will be wiser, and more advanced in many beneficial ways.

So, let us not neglect to cultivate our virtues. If we want good things then we have to do good. If we want life, we have to spare lives. Because that means we spare life, we want life, we want constructive energy, we don’t want destruction. So vegan is the answer.

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE5A100O20091102
http://www.kew.org/science/anniversary-conference/Kew-250thConferenceProgramme.pdf
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2008/2432894.htm
http://www.naturalnews.com/028358_deforestation_human_civilization.html
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315771,oceanographers-find-signs-of-at...
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1543702.php/Oceano...
http://en.mercopress.com/2010/03/27/german-scientists-find-evidence-of-major...

Record high temperatures reported across Canada

2010-04-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

With parts of the Arctic and northern Quebec reaching more than 6° Celsius above normal seasonal averages, the nation’s Meteorological Service has reported that this past winter was the warmest and driest on record.

Along with up to 60% less precipitation in some regions for this year alone, the past decade has produced 4 of the ten warmest years on record.

Meanwhile in the United States, a recent analysis by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) affirmed that average temperatures in the past decade have continued to rise rapidly despite year-to-year fluctuations caused by El Niño and La Niña cycles.

Our heartfelt thanks, Canadian and US scientists for this revealing data, despite its unsettling observations.

Let us all move now to adopt planet-cooling actions that restore the balance of our shared global home. In a video message during a June 2009 climate change conference in Veracruz, Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke of the quickest way to reverse the case of ever-extreme temperature rise.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: The past decade has twice, at least, seen the hottest average annual temperatures ever recorded in our planet’s history. So, we must cool the planet, first and foremost. And one of the most effective and fastest ways to reduce the heat in the atmosphere is to eliminate methane production.

Methane not only traps up to 72 times more heat than carbon, it also goes away from the atmosphere much faster than CO2.

We can start by cutting down on the biggest methane producer in the world, that is, animal raising. So, to cool the planet most quickly, we have to stop consuming meat in order to stop the livestock raising industry

If everyone in the world would adopt this simple but most powerful practice of an animal-free diet, then we could reverse the effect of global warming in no time.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2010/03/canwinter-20100320.html...
http://www.msc-smc.ec.gc.ca/ccrm/bulletin/national_e.cfm
http://www.msc-smc.ec.gc.ca/msc/contents_e.html
http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2010/03/global-cooling-is-bunk-draft-nasa...
http://www.aolnews.com/science/article/nasa-scientists-say-earth-is-still-warming...0

Doha conference calls attention to endangered species

2010-04-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

Delegates from around the world met at a UN sponsored Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) forum in Doha, Qatar to discuss measures for further protection of endangered species such as the polar bear, bluefin tuna, tiger, rhinoceros and shark.

The meeting came as conservationists warn of a wider biodiversity that is rapidly on the decline. Dr. Stuart Simon of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature stated that species are currently vanishing faster than they can evolve.

In England alone, nearly 500 species have died out, almost all in the last two centuries. Another topic discussed was the illegal trafficking of exotic animals such as lions, leopards and primates, with cruel practices that include drugging or even removing their teeth for placement in unnatural conditions such as the extreme confinement required for public entertainment or display.

CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers urged for governments to pass more stringent laws to curb practices as these. We thank Dr. Stuart, CITES Secretary-General Wijnstekers and all conference participants for your factual observations as we join your concern and pray that humans of every nation act now in choosing more harmonious lifestyles to protect the cherished species of our planet.

As during an October 2009 videoconference in Indonesia, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often addressed the need for action to halt the tragic suffering and loss of our animal co-inhabitants.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: In our society, the law only punishes someone who has done something wrong to the society. The animals, they have never done us any wrong. They live their life quietly, they’re eating whatever God provides them, they don’t harm us in any way. Even if in some cases they do, it’s because we destroy their habitats, because they have nowhere to live, they have no more food in nature for them to eat.

Now we are at the point where we must change while there is still time, otherwise we will face disastrous consequences and we might lose the whole world, our lives altogether.

So please, everyone, plant veg, be veg and we can go green later when we’ve already saved the planet.

http://www.theage.com.au/world/experts-warn-species-loss-is-unnatural-20100308...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/mar/15/common-english-spec...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/georgemonbiot
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paula-crossfield/cites-biodiversity-loss-a_b_502180.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/...
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=112824

Climate change and development seminar held in Mexico

2010-03-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

In preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Mexico City, Mexico this coming November, the Inter-American Development Bank hosted a seminar on climate change and development. Supreme Master Television’s correspondent is in Cancun on location.

Mexican Correspondent (F): We are reporting from the Convention Center of the City of Cancun, Mexico where the Annual Reunion Assemblies of Governors is being held under the organization of the Inter-American Development Bank.

Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada – Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico (M): We need to give all the support to the Mexican negotiations, to bring something useful to humanity at the end of the year.

VOICE: Invited speakers to the forum included Chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri; renowned Nobel Prize winning Mexican scientist Dr. José Mario Molina-Pasquel Henríquez; Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Yvo de Boer; former Irish President and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson; and Mexican Environment Secretary, Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada.

Panelists’ discussions included consideration for such topics as climate justice, in that the populations most affected by global warming are often the least equipped and protected.

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri (M): There are some countries in the world, some communities, that are going to suffer the impacts of climate change much more than other countries.

Mary Robinson (F): We need to make progress, because the poorest are suffering very much from climate change.

VOICE: During an interactive session with the audience, Supreme Master Television’s correspondent asked about the dietary solution to climate change.

Mexican Correspondent (F): The vegan diet is an effective solution to mitigate global warming, and it doesn’t require thousands of dollars of investments. What do you think about this?

Mary Robinson – 7th President of Ireland, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (F): I’m glad you asked that question. I feel very strongly that we need to have an awareness that this is both an intellectual and an educational tool for every family – for every mother, every father, every grandmother like me, and in our schools, we need to have a wholly different approach now.

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri – Chair, United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007 Nobel Peace Prize (M): When people ask me what lifestyle changes, one of the things that I say is to reduce meat consumption.

And I want to give an example. About two years ago, I addressed a group in the city of Ghent in Belgium, and that started a movement, as a result of which they have now declared one day a week as a meatless day.

It’s healthy for individuals; it’s also healthy for the planet.

Mexican Correspondent (F): Broadcasting for Supreme Master Television from Cancun, Quintana Roo in Mexico.

VOICE: Our appreciation all esteemed seminar participants for your concerted efforts to pave the way toward solutions on climate change. Let us act on measures in all world citizens’ best interest, including global adoption of the planet-saving meat-free diet.

In an August 2009 videoconference in Thailand, Supreme Master Ching Hai once again urged government leaders toward bold actions at this crucial time to halt global warming.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: To sum up, to all the leaders, I call on them once more to put their love first for their countrymen and women, and for all the children to accept with courage the deed that must be done, to use the mighty power in their hands entrusted by people to save the world.

The global livestock industry is now contributing almost about as much to global warming as the energy sector, or even more. And I know it contributes at least 80% of it. Just be vegan. And please, be quick. Our days are numbered.

British eco-organization Natural England calls for protection of peat lands from damaging practices such as plowing and burning, which is causing the release of CO2 emissions equivalent to 350,000 households per year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7465370/Damage-to-peat...
http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/edp24/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline...

Seabed methane could spell climate disaster

2010-03-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

In a new study published in the journal “Science,” a team of researchers from Russia, United States and Sweden have found that thawing permafrost is causing 8 million tons of methane to be released from the seabed of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf each year.

This alarming amount from just one location is equivalent to the total that had been previously estimated for all the world’s oceans and causes concern that a tipping point may have already been reached.

Lead researcher, Dr. Natalia Shakhova of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in the USA noted that current average methane concentrations in the Arctic are already the highest in 400,000 years.

Of equal concern is the fact that, averaged over a 20-year period, methane is 72 times more heat-trapping than CO2; however, these potentially vast permafrost methane emissions are not included in climate change prediction models.

Dr. Shakhova and international colleagues, we are grateful for your sharing of such factually urgent observations. Let us act in accordance with their dire implications and move swiftly toward sustainable ways to save our ecosphere.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has spoken with concern on several occasions about the risks of melting permafrost, as during a September 2009 videoconference in South Korea.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Since 2007, scientists have seen more and more evidence of methane from permafrost melt, with recent discoveries of pure methane gas bubbling up from the bottom of the Arctic lakes in both northern Canada and Russia. This situation is so alarming that

UN Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change Chairman Dr. Pachauri has referred to the potential for “abrupt, irreversible climate change” from the melting permafrost. This irreversible effect, we want to avoid at all costs, especially since it may not be as far away as we would like to think.

The more people who eliminate meat and, indeed, all animal products from their lives, the more we have a chance to save the planet and not only that, to actually restore our earthly home to her original grace and beauty and even more so, more than what we have known, more beautiful, more abundant, more peace, more gladness than what we have known up to now.

So please, be a part of the solution and join in first by being vegan yourself and helping to spread this message as much, as quickly as possible: Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7050312.ece
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/03/04/methane.releases.arctic.shelf.may.be...
http://www.theage.com.au/national/seabed-methane-leaks-cause-alarm-20100305-pox2...

Honeybee crisis deepens

2010-03-31T03:43:00.000-07:00

This past winter on Vancouver Island, Canada, the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Lands noted a staggering 90% loss of the vital winged insects. A longer summer season due to climate change is thought to have weakened the bees’ immunity as they worked overtime collecting pollen to further the species of both flowers and foods consumed by humans.

As scientists raise concerns about the Vancouver Island decline spreading further inland, a recently published study in the USA, where bees continue to perish from the malady known as Colony Collapse Disorder, found unprecedented levels of chemical pesticides in their North American beehive homes.

The nation’s federal courts have issued a ruling in support of more stringent regulations. Canadian and US researchers, we appreciate this message of alert to the dying honeybees, and are also grateful to all scientists and officials working to protect them.

Our prayers that humans everywhere turn to the organic, vegan diet as the best way to spare resources and protect all life. As during an August 2008 international gathering, Supreme Master Ching Hai has long indicated that troubled species such as the bees show the need for urgent, necessary lifestyle changes to stabilize the Earth’s ecosystems.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: My God, now the continued decline of bees has affected the food now. This is nothing new, but they keep reporting it’s getting worse all the time.

Because if there are no bees, there is no pollination. And then some food, some fruits and some vegetables depend on the pollination to bear fruits. And now a lot of bees have died We might have no food because of no pollination. So you guys maybe just start planting something at home. Some things that don’t need the bees.

But this is terrible, this is such a disaster The people don’t take care of the environment, and let all beings keep dying like this.

Just to be vegan, how difficult can it be? Is it difficult? Even if it is, this is the only choice we have to survive, then why not?

Why not just change to the vegan diet?

http://www.examiner.com/x-40360-Vancouver-Environmental-News-Examiner~y2010m3d9-Climate-change-linked-to-death-of-90-of-Vancouver-Island-honeybee-population
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/03/09/bc-vancouver-island-bees-die.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100324/ap_on_sc/us_food_and_farm_disappearing_bees
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/57474/title
/Bees_face_unprecedented_pesticide_exposures_at_home_and_afield
http://news.discovery.com/animals/honey-bees-disappearing-still-a-problem.html

Climate change is real and now

2010-03-31T03:30:00.000-07:00

A report by Australia's top science bodies, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and the Bureau of Meteorology sounds the alarm about the imminent dangers of climate change.

Saying that temperatures have risen about 0.7 degrees Celsius in the last 50 years, the report also states that both CO2 and methane are at their highest levels in perhaps 20 million years.

As a result, every region of the country is warming during every season, and each decade surpasses the previous decades’ temperature records. Sea levels rising by 9 cm between 1993 and 2009 along with changes in precipitation represent other marked consequences of climate change, with rainfall in the north and central parts of the country increasing substantially while decreases in the south and east have led to severe droughts.

Scientists at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization and the Bureau of Meteorology, we are grateful for this report which is also a call to action.

May we all unite in restoring harmony and balance to our Earth. In an October 2009 videoconference in Indonesia, Supreme Master Ching Hai referred to the experts’ increasingly serious reports on climate change, and reiterated the most urgently needed countermeasures.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Now, according to expert scientists, the atmospheric temperatures are rising so steeply that we do not have much time left to change. And that is just what they have predicted up to date.

The effects of climate change can be seen in so many ways, with increased flooding, droughts, fires and even earthquakes everywhere in the world.

How do we stop these alarming changes The greenhouse gases released from the animals, from their waste, agricultural runoff, and the activities related to these massive operations have been identified as the primary, the number one cause of global warming.

We have to halt the meat consumption and the livestock raising Instead, we should choose to buy organic vegetable and fruit products to save our lives and those of our families, save the animals and the planet.

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20101603-20714-2.html?...
http://www.france24.com/en/20100315-australia-07-degrees-warmer-over-past-50-years
http://www.gdacs.org/reports.asp?...

World Water Day observed across the globe

2010-03-27T22:38:00.000-07:00

With experts increasingly aware of a looming shortage, this year’s theme of the United Nations’- sponsored event was “Clean Water for a Healthy World.”

Held on March 22, participants worldwide gathered to raise awareness and call for action in protecting both quality and quantities of the precious resource.

As acknowledged by many environmentalists, addressing the massive consumption and pollution of both the meat and dairy industries could effectively eliminate the Earth’s water crises, as this farmer in California, USA shares.

Grape farmer located near dairy factory farms, California, USA (M): The ones that have been doing all these nuts, grapes, vegetables, fruits; we’ve been doing that for the last hundred years. We had a lot of water. The central valley of California feeds America, and also other countries. Ever since the dairy moved in, the water level in my well went dry.

My neighbors’ well went dry. One, two, three, four of our wells are dry. Our water level was really high before. Now our water level is so low, the farmers that are doing all the vegetable and fruits are hurting for water, because we got the dairy here.

VOICE: The United Nations Environment Program also held a three-day event in Nairobi, Kenya, where policy makers and scientist participants released a report revealing that more lives are lost to contaminated water than to wars or other conflicts.

In fact, every 20 seconds, one child less than age 5 succumbs to water-related disease. Highlighting once again a livestock-based source of the majority of the world’s water problems was Mr. Rick Dove of Waterkeepers Alliance in North Carolina, USA.

Rick Dove – Southeastern representative for Waterkeeper Alliance (M): In eastern North Carolina there are about ten million hogs producing more fecal waste each and every day than all the people in the states of North Carolina, California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, North Dakota combined.

On some of our rivers like the Neuse, we’ve lost over a billion fish, dead fish since 1991, and just this year we’ve lost about 200 million on the Neuse River.

VOICE: We thank Mr. Rick Dove and all the concerned participants of World Water Day 2010 for helping raise awareness of our need to preserve this life-giving resource.

As more and more people awaken to the link between water scarcity and livestock, may we soon herald a meat-free world of lush abundance for all.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has often addressed the need for action to reverse these planet-wide tolls, as during an August 2009 videoconference in Thailand.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Many tens of thousands of rivers and great lakes are dying, dead, gone or going. And I don’t know how many more we must wait for to die in order for us to wake up.

The leaders of the nations must do something. The people of all nations must do something.

We have to do something to avoid the tragedy that is already happening to billions of other people. There are one billion people hungry already because of climate change, and short of water and food.

And three billion people are short of water.

Just be veg. Stop the meat, dairy, fish industry. Be benevolent. Create a merciful energy that will envelop our world, that will emit mercy, love, protection for us and our children on this planet. Please take action now.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1593806/world-water-day
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-deane/reflecting-on-world-water_b_508036.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2010/0322/World-Water-Day-Dirty-water-kills...
http://yubanet.com/world/World-Water-Day-2010-Highlights-Solutions-and-Calls-for...

Loss of Arctic ice could cost trillions

2010-03-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

The Pew Environmental Group in the USA has released a peer-reviewed report stating that damage from rising seas, floods and heat waves due to the loss of Arctic Sea ice will cost the sectors of agriculture, real estate and insurance up to US$24 trillion by 2050.

The report also estimates that heat waves, flooding and other factors are already resulting in hundreds of billions of dollars lost annually. Report author and resource economist Dr. Eban Goodstein stated, “The Arctic is the planet's air conditioner and it's starting to break down. Everybody around the world is going to bear these costs.”

During the December 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in Denmark, the Arctic Council announced new findings that the fastest way to halt the rapid melting of the Arctic is to reduce shorter-lived substances like methane, ground-level ozone and black carbon, and that the best way to ease ground-level ozone, the third most prevalent greenhouse gas, is to decrease methane.

Jonas Gahr Støre - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway, Arctic Council Leader (M): If there is one positive message from this report, it’s that doing something about that, if not easy, is manageable.

So while we wait for the results of curbing CO2 emissions, we need to address the issue of methane, ozone, black carbon, swiftly.

VOICE: With livestock accounting for 36% of human-caused methane, it is clear that decreasing animal agriculture is the fastest way to cool the planet and avoid catastrophe.

The Netherlands’ Environmental Assessment Agency has also calculated that global adoption of a vegan diet would reduce the costs of mitigating climate change a full 80% by 2050.

We appreciate this sobering report, Pew Environmental Group scientists. Let us all step toward the most rapid way to reduce costs and cool the Earth: the life-saving plant-based fare.

In a September 2009 videoconference in South Korea, Supreme Master Ching Hai highlighted as she has on previous occasions the need for quick action to restore Arctic ice and the planet as a whole.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: They call the Arctic ice the refrigerator of the planet, and without it, there will be more droughts and floods in other, even, faraway parts of the world.

The world’s leading climate scientists told us in television interviews that being vegetarian – meaning no animal products – is the single most effective thing an individual can do to stop global warming.

Meat is the number one cause of global warming. So, the number one solution is to stop producing it. So, we all have to be vegan. That is what the science is clearly telling us right now.

If the world’s people become vegan, one of the results is that the ice in the Arctic will be restored, and quickly, along with the repairing of nature in every corner of the planet

Isn’t that wonderful? This is the truth that I could promise you, but we all must act fast, like, yesterday.

http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/56999
http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Protecting_ocean_life...
http://www.pbl.nl/en/publications/2009/Climate-benefits-of-changing-diet.html

European butterfly species on red alert

2010-03-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

A survey conducted by the UK’s Butterfly Conservation has found under-average populations of the winged species across 100 sites in the United Kingdom. Moreover, along with a loss of habitat and declines due to pollution, three consecutive summers of wet weather have posed difficulty for the delicate insects to fly out to find nectar and foster their young.

Head of monitoring at Butterfly Conservation Dr. Tom Brereton said that some species could be lost forever if the country experiences yet another wet summer this year.

European Commission also just released the European Red List, which revealed that certain butterflies, dragonflies and beetles are not only threatened in Europe, but are also at risk of global extinction.

We thank Dr. Brereton, Butterfly Conservation and European Commission scientists for highlighting the perilous state of our butterfly and other winged friends.

Let us move quickly toward more conscious and compassionate lifestyles to restore the conditions for these wondrous species to flourish once more. As part of her frequent endeavors to safeguard the lives of all beings, Supreme Master Ching Hai again emphasized the need for action to alleviate global warming during an April 2009 videoconference in South Korea.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Now, we all can see that nature is changing because of global warming, and the animals are directly affected as well. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has a list called the Red List that shows the species actually disappearing from the planet.

At the end of 2008, the IUCN was monitoring a total of 45,000 species and said that 40% were threatened with extinction. It is difficult even to imagine this kind of loss.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We should all remember that we share this planetary abode, the water, the air, the resources, the food, all of nature, we share only. We should not be possessive of nature.

So, the best thing we can do for the birds and all the animals is to stop causing suffering to them, stop killing them, stop eating them, stop damaging all our habitats. Stop damaging our environment.

Be veg, go green and save their planet too, the planet of the animals.
Thank you so much for all you have done and doing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7368141/Five-species-of-butterfly-in-danger...
http://www.theportugalnews.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?id=1053-20

Climate change reaffirmed as human-caused

2010-03-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

A year-long study by an international team of scientists has reached the same conclusions as the 2007 UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, namely that global warming has been induced by humans.

Led by the United Kingdom’s Met Office, the study evaluated more than 100 recent scientific papers, finding that only human activities could account for the millions of tons of greenhouse gases emitted and the corresponding steep rise in global temperatures since the mid-twentieth century.

Lead researcher Dr. Peter Stott stated, “The fingerprint of human influence has been detected in many different aspects of observed climate changes. Natural variability, from the sun, volcanic eruptions or natural cycles, cannot explain recent warming.”

Other signs include new evidence of warming in the oceans, which in turn is causing increased atmospheric evaporation, with resulting accentuation of weather extremes worldwide, so that places like the United Kingdom become wetter while arid areas such as East Africa are even more dry.

Our sincere appreciation, Dr. Stott and other Met Office scientists for your factual assessment of humanity’s role in the Earth’s now-perilous state.

Let us heed such compelling conclusions and swiftly adopt lifestyles that protect our planet for future generations. Supreme Master Ching Hai has often emphasized the human-based causes and need for immediate action in curbing global warming, as during an interview published in the September 2009 edition of The House Magazine.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: It’s too serious. Too serious. Although there is no way to assess completely, for the moment, already more than a decade ago the United Nations conservatively estimated that there were 25 million climate change refugees – a decade ago, these are people forced from their homes and communities due to rising sea levels and a host of other natural disasters, so-called natural disasters, but in fact these are all man-made.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: These situations will only worsen, not improve, until we stop the cause. This means to halt the livestock production and meat consumption.

If humans switch to the vegan diet, the Earth will begin cooling immediately and many of these dilemmas can even be reversed. So please, be veg and do good, to save the planet and all the beings on it, including you and me.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/humans-umustu-be...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2832934a-27f6-11df-9598-00144feabdc0.html

Protecting dolphins’ and all animals’ freedom

2010-03-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

Following a recent accident at a US marine entertainment park that resulted in the sad loss of a human life, public awareness has risen regarding the cruelty involved in confining wild whales and dolphins.

In a new study, researchers from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom found that dolphins in their native habitats experience extreme stress if forced to have too much close contact with people.

The study, which was conducted off the coast of Zanzibar Island, Tanzania revealed that when large groups of tourists came and tried to swim with and touch a group of bottlenose dolphins, the marine mammals spent much more time moving through the water and significantly reduced time spent in activities such as seeking food, nurturing their young and resting. As a result, not only individual dolphins, but whole populations could be harmed.

Respected Canadian conservationist Michael Bailey, co-founder of the international environmental group Greenpeace, has in recent months been calling for renewed respect toward dolphins, along with a halt of their massacre for meat and capture for entertainment.

In an interview with Supreme Master Television, Mr. Bailey spoke of them as one of all animals we must protect to sustain our environment.

Michael Bailey – Co-founder of Greenpeace, Canadian conservationist, documentary producer (M): For me the dolphin is a very special creature. They have a cheerful nature and a gentle nature and they have a tribal nature that’s really rare.

Perhaps the way that, in my view, ancient humans were tribal thousands of years ago, working together. And these gentle creatures warm our hearts, make us feel alive, make us understand that the Earth is a very special place. We’ve got beautiful creatures on this planet that we share with and we need to respect them
and make the planet a better place for all. Be veg! Go green! Save the planet!

VOICE: We thank Mr. Bailey, Greenpeace and the Newcastle University researchers for your work in raising public awareness about the gentle dolphin. May such understanding help humans and all co-inhabitants of the Earth to live in peaceful co-existence. In an October 2009 videoconference in Indonesia, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke of the need for human kindness toward all animals, especially in our wish to save the planet.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: If we want to call ourselves a civilized human race, we must protect the animals’ lives, which are linked to ours. If we want to receive the mercy of Heaven for our life here on Earth, we must first be merciful in granting the same dignity and freedom of life to the animals.

Only then can we have a return of the environmental balance that I know you also seek to protect. So please everyone, be veg and we can save the planet.

http://vegansociety.jp/tag/the-cove/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7456102/Swimming-with-dolphins...
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/dolphins-dont-like-to-swim-with...

Scientists discuss the need for a greener diet

2010-03-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

In order to avoid runaway climate change, industrialized countries have agreed to a 2050 goal of a 90% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared to pre-industrial levels.

Toward this end, scientists are emphasizing the need for behavioral, rather than technological, approaches for faster results. This is especially true in the area of food.

Multiple studies have suggested that reducing or eliminating meat consumption would be more cost effective and quicker in reducing greenhouse gas emissions than attempting to develop technologies to capture the large-scale emissions involved in meat production.

Dr. Juha-Matti Katajajuuri, senior researcher at MTT Agrifood Research Finland, evaluated the climate impacts of various typical Finnish meals, ranging from meat-based to vegan.

He found that vegetarian main courses had a 50-60% smaller climate impact compared to their meat-based counterparts. Dr. Katajajuuri also highlighted the likelihood of obtaining more immediate results from a behavioral approach.

Dr. Juha-Matti Katajajuuri – Senior researcher, MTT Agrifood Research Finland (M): It is a lot more challenging to find easy and new technological solutions by which we can reduce the environmental effects of food production.

VOICE: Industrial ecologist and climate scientist Dr. Peter Tom Jones of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, agreed, saying that personal human action rather than technical change is the key for greener food consumption.

Dr. Peter Tom Jones – Industrial ecologist and author, Vegetarian (M): This entails: more local chains, more organic food, less dependence on oil.

In that manner you can drastically reduce the environmental impact of the production issue.

But then a second essential component of the reduction in the food sector has to do with our meat and fish consumption.

VOICE: Dr. Jones, a vegetarian himself, stated that if governments encouraged the consumption and production of organic vegan foods, the international reducing of emissions by 90% would be attainable, with added health benefits.

Peter Tom Jones, PhD (M): We can easily go to a reduction of 90% if associated with the agro-ecological food model, with even much healthier nutrition.

So there would be less nutritional disease, less cardiac and blood vessel disease, less diabetes, less obesity, etc.

VOICE: Our sincere appreciation, Dr. Katajajuuri, Dr. Jones and associates for your research in the crucial area of food production emissions.

May all governments and co-citizens start now to eliminate costly animal products and switch to organic plant-based fare to halt climate change. Supreme Master Ching Hai has often emphasized the priority of dietary change needed to save the planet, as during a September 2009 videoconference in South Korea.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: In order to call ourselves a low-carbon or carbon-free society, we must eliminate our meat consumption, because that is the number one cause for climate change – that is, our meat consumption.

In fact, if we focus on shifting people to be vegan, it will save us much more money than green technology, and of course it’s much more effective.

And I urge you, the government leaders, because our time is running out, we have to act on this now. Please explain to your co-citizens this important truth and tell them we must work together to become animal-free consumers.

We have a very short time to save our planet. We have a great planet to save. We have a great precious treasure, that is, our children, to save.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=limits-on-greenhouse-gas-emissions
http://www.mtt.fi/english/
http://www.se2009.eu/polopoly_fs/1.24468!menu/standard/file/Juha-Matti...
http://www.petertomjones.be/content/blogsection/6/27/

Western Australia receives wake up call on dwindling water supply.

2010-03-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

A report from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) forecasts that the capital city of Perth in Western Australia state could see water supplies reduced by 50% in two decades.

This is due in part to less groundwater availability, including the Gnangara Aquifer that supplies Perth's drinking water, which is expected to decline 33% by 2030.

Perth and surrounding areas have already experienced a 50% reduction in water supplies since the mid-1970s, which has been attributed to global warming.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong stated that the recent CSIRO report and its forecast of further reduced resources brings significant concern for the region.

Your Excellency, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization researchers and Australia, we appreciate your work and cautionary concern.

Let us swiftly adopt lifestyles to reverse these adverse effects and restore our planet for future generations.

In an August 2009 videoconference in Thailand, Supreme Master Ching Hai urged as she has in previous times for immediate action to counter the world’s fast dwindling water supplies.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We have over six billion people in this world and the sources of groundwater for wells, which supports half of our world population, are dying, drying up. And the top ten global river systems, drying or ebbing away.

And three billion people are short of water. How many more, I don’t know, how many more of suffering people are we waiting before we take action? Please do it now! Just be veg. Stop the meat, dairy, fish industry. Be benevolent.

Create a merciful energy that will envelop our world, that will emit mercy, love, protection for us and our children on this planet. Please take action now. Very simple. Just be veg.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/water-supplies-could-halve-in-two...
http://www.conservationwa.asn.au/