Alarming climate science presented in Copenhagen forum

In a side conference held during the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Denmark, former US Vice President Al Gore joined Arctic Council leader and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and scientists to address delegates and media on the updated status of the world’s ice caps. Supreme Master Television’s correspondent in the Danish capital has more from Copenhagen.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: This week, world government ministers and heads of state are arriving to help seal the agreement seen as the last chance to prevent runaway global warming.

Karel de Gucht – EC Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid: We are now arriving at the point where negotiations really start.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: Just as the world’s environment ministers held their first meeting, two new reports were presented about the immensely rapid changes occurring in the Arctic, Greenland and Antarctica.

Jonas Gahr Støre – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denmark (M): The update paints a very gloomy picture of how the ice sheet is out of balance and of the consequences stemming from a melting Greenland.

It carries a clear message from the scientific community relating to climate change that we need to act and we have to act now.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: Danish ice scientist Dr. Dorthe Dahl-Jensen and the respected former US Vice President and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Al Gore, explained how quickened ice loss in the Antarctic, and even doubled melt rates in the Greenland ice sheet, are raising sea levels.

Al Gore – Former US Vice President, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (M): Roughly speaking, each one meter of sea level rise generates 100 million climate refugees.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: Based on this report, Minister Støre emphasized the need – and timely advantage – of addressing non-CO2 warming substances such as methane and black carbon. This is due in part to their extremely high heating effect in contrast to CO2, which has been found to accelerate ice melt in the Himalayas, the Arctic, and Antarctica. Yet fortunately, they also disappear from the atmosphere many times faster than CO2.

Jonas Gahr Støre - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denmark (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.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: Now, it happens that the number one source of human-caused methane is the livestock industry, while vast quantities black carbon are released from forests being burned to clear land for livestock grazing as well as grow animal feed crops.

Parallel to the leaders’ summit, various workshops have been held at Copenhagen on the climate impacts of meat production. Encouraged by Supreme Master Ching Hai’s dedicated example, our Association members have been actively participating as speakers and panelists to raise awareness of this most urgent factor
in global warming.

Our Association member (F): Methane – it’s very very potent but it also goes away very very fast.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: In addition, members of The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association created public service announcements on the vegan solution for climate change, which are being aired on the leading Danish television station TV2 Denmark, broadcast to over one million viewers during this crucial week. This is Supreme Master Television in Copenhagen, Denmark.

VOICE: We are grateful to Minister Støre, former Vice President Gore and all participating scientists for this important updated report. Our faith and prayers that the courageous governments of this landmark summit may seize this opportunity of the vegan diet solution and thus truly make history by saving the planet.

On many occasions leading up to the Copenhagen conference, Supreme Master Ching Hai has shared her heartfelt thoughts in response to public requests, as in this October 2009 videoconference in Frankfurt, Germany.

Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai “Be Vegan, Go Green, Protect God’s Creations in Nature” Frankfurt, Germany – October 18, 2009

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Prince Charles said to the European Parliament, “The lives of billions of people depend on your response and none of us will be forgiven by our children and grandchildren if we falter and fail.”
I’m sorry to say, but I cannot even guarantee that our grandchildren will have a chance to be born to say that, if the Copenhagen climate change conference leaders don’t agree together to stop the meat industry and talk directly to the subject, not talk around it. It’s really that urgent. I pray the world leaders will awaken to this reality, immediately, and act properly, now.

Climate change conference is about saving lives

During their meetings and negotiations, global decision-makers at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark have been keenly aware that in the end, human lives are at stake.
Supreme Master Television’s correspondent reports.

Supreme Master Television Danish correspondent (M): Over the weekend, churches in more than one dozen countries including here in Copenhagen (gesture to cathedral behind reporter) symbolically rang their bells 350 times at 3 pm to highlight the importance of bringing atmospheric CO2 levels to the relatively safe levels of 350 parts per million.

A 2-degree temperature rise is another way to describe a global warming limit considered in the acceptable range by leaders. However, in a press conference on Saturday, scientists from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) cautioned that much deeper emission reduction goals are needed to even meet this limit, and that a 2-degree temperature rise could still raise sea levels by up to 1.4 meters.

Addressing the delegates, Tuvalu’s lead negotiator Ian Fry translated this reality into human terms, reminding that entire nations are at risk of being lost without adequate action.

Ian Fry – Tuvalu delegate to UN Climate Change Conference (M): Pacific island countries, all the least developed countries, and millions of other people around this world are affected enormously by climate change.
I woke this morning, and I was crying, and that's not easy for a grown man to admit. The fate of my country rests in your hands. Thank you.

Supreme Master Television Danish correspondent (M): Not only vulnerable countries, but the children of every nation are also at grave risk, for their lives and their future. A special film was presented to all government delegates and media depicting the nightmare of a six-year-old girl as she ran from the disasters of climate change. The youth choir singing for the film also conveyed their message of hope and nature’s preciousness to the assembly.

VOICE: The younger generation care deeply about our future. Just before the climate summit, 160 youth delegates from 42 countries gathered in Denmark for the Children’s Climate Forum Copenhagen 2009, organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Youth representative from Maldives (M): We want to show the world that beware, we care. That's our message. Together they made a declaration of recommendations that were presented to the climate conference leaders.

Youth representative from Maldives (M): My message to the global leaders will go as a question. I will ask them: Are they ready to commit murder? Of course that's a very big word, that's very scary.

But because if they don't take action, if they don't bring any change, our country, 360,000 strong, plus another million from another country, and all the countries in the same state, we will all be wiped out.

We met with one bright young Danish representative who is also aware of the most important planet-cooling solution of being vegan.

Lea Backes – Danish delegate, UNICEF Children’s Climate Forum Copenhagen 2009, Vegan, age 15 (F): I’m a vegan because I think we need to treat animals right, and because animal raising is affecting the climate radically. And because I think that it’s not okay to kill when you can live based on plants.

I hope that many more people become vegetarians and vegans in the future, because it really will affect our planet, in a good way. Be veg, go green, save the planet.

Supreme Master Television Danish correspondent (M): To spread the word about the urgent veg solution, our Association members have continued to distribute information packets to VIPs as well as to the participants and observers of the conference.

In addition to joining tens of thousands of people in a large peaceful march through the city, our Association members have also been invited to public presentations and workshops in related forums, as well as to interviews with international media including Danish Radio, Radio Radicale of Italy, Brazil-based Record Television, Radio Suisse Romand of Switzerland, Denmark's Radio P3, and the Internet-based Yourclimate TV.

Our Association member (M): …Major source of methane is livestock farming. So if we eat less meat, the climate and our health and the planet will be happy. This is Supreme Master Television reporting from Copenhagen, Denmark.

VOICE: We pray for the wise decisions of all leaders and climate change negotiators based on the best interests of people and the planet. Let us awaken now to the fastest, ever affordable solution of the vegan diet that will save our world and her inhabitants in time.

VOICE: In her steadfast plea to the world during a government-invited videoconference in November 2009 in Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai asked those concerned to pray for an enlightened leadership to steer the planet to safety.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: It’s just that we need to make the switch to the animal-free lifestyle now. Then everything will improve, life will be easier, and we can rest knowing that our children will have a future to look forward to. And I’m praying to all heavenly beings to help as well, to further accelerate the trend that we need, by manifesting themselves physically, to awaken the leaders, the media, the influential and ordinary citizens alike.

So that our planet won’t look like Mars in the near future. So, prayer, combined with the efforts of citizens, and the governments’ and media’s powerful support, this formula could bring the fastest and smoothest transition to a stable planet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8410356.stm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/20091213/wl_oneworld/world3683251260734225
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/12/12/3623534-scientists-climate-talks-aim-too-low-for-target
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?Language=en&id=2046566

Copenhagen Diagnosis Report reveals dire planetary state

Released this past week just ahead of the Copenhagen climate conference, the report is authored by a group of 26 climate scientists, including 14 members of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Their prognosis is that climate destabilization is much worse and precipitously more rapid than previously thought.
The scientists observe that greenhouse gas emissions are still skyrocketing even as Arctic sea is melting 40% faster than had been forecast, and sea levels are already rising 80% more than previously predicted.

The scientists say that without a significant change in course, the planet is set to warm 7 degrees Celsius by 2100. Eminent scientists, we appreciate this important message to the international community.

Let us all take steps now to stabilize the ecosphere during this precious window of opportunity that is still available to us.Ever-concerned for our global welfare, Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently called for the swiftest actions to reverse climate change, as during an October 2008 videoconference in Thailand.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We must let people know it’s urgent now and it’s time to stop global crisis. Time is short and we must all act as one to save our world from disappearing, to save our lives, and all the lives on the planet. Everything else takes too long.

So the fastest and easiest way is to stop animal products and to stop consumption of it. The result will be almost immediate, within a few weeks. It’s just the meat industry that causes the most pollution for the planet, that the planet is overloaded, nature is overloaded, the ocean is overloaded. So everything warms up because of meat and animal products.

If we change into vegan diet, this planet will become a paradise, will be plentiful, will be peaceful, will be very happy for everybody to live on.

http://www.casavaria.com/cafesentido/2009/12/01/5205/climate-scientists-say-destabilization-much-worse-than-ipcc-reporting/

Study of ancient coral reef shows catastrophic rise in sea levels.

According to a recent study by Dr Paul Blanchon, marine scientist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, rapid ice melt of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets could lead to sea level rises of several meters, which would inundate international cities like London in the United Kingdom; New York, USA; Tokyo, Japan, and Calcutta, India. With research that focused on fossilized Gulf of Mexico coral reefs dating back 121,000 years, Dr. Blanchon found that warmer temperatures at the time led to the disintegration of the same ice sheets now concerning scientists, causing a rapid jump in sea level at that time. With today’s fast melting of ice in the Antarctic and Greenland, this study on ancient coral reefs warns of the current potential for a disastrous sea-level rise if climate change is not mitigated.

Our sincere thanks, Dr. Blanchon and colleagues for your study that confirms humanity’s precarious situation and the need for all of us to act now to save our planetary home.

In a December 2008 videoconference held in California, USA, Supreme Master Ching Hai called on all global citizens to adopt a more caring lifestyle that halts devastating consequences such as these, thus conserving our lives and the planet.

Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai
California, USA – December 12, 2008

Supreme Master Ching Hai: So many islands have sunk under water already. Many coastal cities’ land has been eroded. Two thousand more islands are sinking, and 18 islands–for what we have known, maybe more, but we don’t know—18 islands including small nation islands already gone, disappeared under water, sometimes 6 meters under water already, and another 40 are or at risk of sinking, or uninhabitable or begins to be uninhabitable because they cannot cultivate anymore because the land became inundated with salty water already.

I want to plead with all the planet people. Please stop killing animals. Please have compassion. Please turn to vegetarian diet. Please be vegan. That is to save yourselves and your children.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: So, organic vegan diet is the answer.

Formosa (Taiwan) endangered by rising sea levels.

In the wake of global warming, sea levels are also increasing, placing islands such as of Formosa (Taiwan) in a precarious state. Dr. Fan Kuang-Lung of National Taiwan University’s Institute of Oceanography of has been examining the tidal levels of Formosa’s four harbors since in 1991, and has been noting their steady increase.

Dr. Fan Kuang-Lung, National Taiwan University, Institute of Oceanography, Formosa (M): In the recent 10 years, the average sea level has risen 3.2 centimeters. It may seem not so serious that the sea level is 3 centimeters higher over 10 years, but in fact, it’s very serious.

VOICE: A rise in sea level has direct impacts such as increased occurrence of damaging coastal erosion, with harm to wetland ecosystems and loss of land upon which countless people’s livelihoods depend.

Our sincere appreciation, Dr. Fan Kuang-Lung for your efforts to raise public awareness of the need to address these consequences of global warming. Let us all heed these alarming signs and turn to nobler Earth-conscious lifestyles.

In August 2008, during a videoconference with our Association members in Formosa, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke about the grave state of islands such as Formosa, and urged that we avoid natural disasters through kinder care for the lives on the planet.

Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai
Penghu Center Formosa (Taiwan) August 2, 2008

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Many people living on the islands are migrating to other countries and other islands because their islands are submerging and they can’t live there anymore. It’s not just affecting the fish, shrimp, and other sea creatures. It’s terrifying. It’s very scary. I just hope that people will wake up soon. Otherwise, this disaster is unimaginable.

You still need to continue to do your noble work, such as reminding people to be vegetarian, helping the Earth to reduce the killing karma.

Mekong Delta: salt water deeply encroaches on land

Mekong Delta facing water crisis. Farmers in Âu Lạc’s (Vietnam) premier rice growing region are concerned that crops now in the fields may fail as salinity levels reach record highs. Currently, brackish waters are advancing 50 km inland due to rising sea levels and may reach as far as 70 km by the time the rainy season alleviates the situation. The problems of the encroaching sea waters are compounded by increasing demands for fresh water by agriculture and industry, which have caused river levels and underground water tables to fall further. Compared to eight years ago, the Tân Châu River in An Giang Province is now nearly 80 centimeters lower, while in Hậu Giang Province, residents in areas where wells have turned salty now must try to have fresh water transported from other sources.

We pray that Heaven will protect the people of Âu Lạc in this difficult time. May humanity’s wiser and more compassionate regard for our planet meanwhile restore the balance of our earthly home.

Concerned for the escalating global shortages of both water and food, Supreme Master Ching Hai has repeatedly encouraged the world’s population to turn to the life-saving plant-based lifestyle. The following is an excerpt from an international gathering with Supreme Master Ching Hai on August 20, 2008.

International Gathering August 20, 2008

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Meat consumption is the one that takes away all things. Water, cereals, and the vegetable protein, 90 percent of it. So, it’s taking away a lot of the world resources. And water, 70 percent of it. So even if we don’t shower, we don’t brush teeth, it amounts to nothing when they don’t stop eating meat. We’re going to damage this planet. The resources will be running out. It’s already running out.

And also a lot of people stockpiling their food also, because they worry about climate change. But before that, the food is already short. 862 million people are hungry worldwide, this year alone, because of meat diet. Because all the food are fed to the animals; the resources and the land and everything. It’s not like if they eat meat then everything healthy and good and happy for them, and they could be enjoying forever. It’s not. If they keep eating like that, they will also be gone. If the Earth gone, and finally no more resources, nothing else to eat then.

West Antarctic ice sheet could melt – again

West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse. Teams of New Zealand, American and European researchers recently completed two studies that show that the West Antarctic Ice Shelf has periodically collapsed in the past. With just a 5 degree Celsius rise in ocean temperatures, the corresponding sea levels would rise some 5 meters and inundate entire nations. The scientists state that human-caused climate change is accelerating this natural collapse cycle, with co-author Dr. David Pollard at Pennsylvania State University warning, “…It is something to be concerned about; you cannot just ignore it because it is happening in thousands of years time.”

Thank you, international scientists, for expanding our knowledge of the dire state of our planet. Let us quickly turn toward much-needed eco-conscious changes in our lifestyles to ease the consequences of global warming and save all precious life on Earth.

In a videoconference with our Association members in Canada, on August 24, 2008, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke of the ice melt as being an urgent signal for humans to take swift action.


Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai Vancouver Center Canada
August 24, 2008

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Mostly the time of disappearing of the ice means also the spelling of trouble for our planet. Of course it would be better if we already saved the planet before the ice melted. But as it is, we can only do the best we can and trying to inform everybody to save themselves by being vegetarian.

If the ice melts quicker, then, of course, we have shorter time to save the planet. But nevertheless because people are joining the vegetarian diet, so we’re going to get it somehow fixed somewhere so that the time would be a little bit more lenient to us. Then we still can manage to save the world. Not complete, and not as much as we wanted if we have more time, but still better than nothing.

'Catastrophic' One-Metre Sea Rise Predicted

Sea levels predicted to rise to catastrophic levels. During this week’s gathering of some 2,000 participants at the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, revisions in anticipated sea level rise were among the concerns expressed by scientists. The latest figure, which accounts for quicker warming oceans and a faster-melting Antarctica and Greenland, now anticipates what could be more than a one meter rise before the century’s end. More than 600 million people could be affected by the submergence of lands such as the US state of Florida and island nations like the Maldives, with an additional number who would be more vulnerable than ever to natural disasters such as storms and floods.

Supreme Master Television was present to speak with the participants, where scientists indicated that present human efforts could and must be faster.

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri – Chair of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), VEGETARIAN (M): We have an enormous amount of inertia which we should be aware of. And that only requires us to take much more vigorous action to bring about change.

VOICE: Political leaders present at the meeting joined in the scientists’ call for urgent change.

Connie Hedegaard - Danish Climate and Energy Minister (F): If we don’t act now, we will stay hostage to outdated energy systems. If we don’t act now, we risk catastrophic changes to our climate causing destabilizing conflicts, and massive migration of refugees due to water and food shortages in many parts of the world. And consequently, if we don’t act now, we ultimately bring our natural security in danger
.
VOICE: We are grateful to the scientists and leaders from countries worldwide for revealing these critical insights on the perilous state of our planet. Let us quickly take heed and make the necessary eco-adjustments to save our beautiful and irreplaceable world.

In her response to panelists during the live videoconference for the SOS! International Seminar on Global Warming in Seoul, Korea in May 2008, Supreme Master Ching Hai likewise urged for rapid action, while reminding us of the priority we must place on our food choices.

The SOS! International Seminar on Global Warming Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai
May 22, 2008 – Seoul, South Korea

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We have to change. We have to. That’s the only way we can save ourselves and the planet, and the whole world and all the beings in it. Otherwise, even if we dig a hole into the mountain or under the ground to stay away from the sun’s heat, or we go up in the mountain to avoid the sea rising, there are other calamities that will be coming our way. We should move faster and take more actions. Vegetarian diet – number one. Green energy – number two. Everybody work together to be frugal, and protect the environment and the animals. It’s not that difficult. It’s just the habit that we have to change, that’s all.