Climate change causes unprecedented coral bleaching

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

Oceanic dead zones emit potent greenhouse gas and accelerate global warming

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.../

Oscar-winning film director speaks out for dolphin and ocean protection.

The documentary film, “The Cove,” describing the cruelty of an annual dolphin hunt that takes place in a small bay in Japan, recently won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

For the filmmakers, the efforts to end marine mammal killing and to protect the animals’ environment has been ongoing. Just before the Oscars award ceremony, they teamed with vegan eco-activists to go undercover into a restaurant suspected of selling whale meat, which is illegal in the United States according to the Marine
Mammal Protection Act.

After a DNA test confirmed that the flesh being served was from the endangered Sei whale, the violation was reported to officials. The film’s director, Louie Psihoyos, who had participated in the activity, said that the exposure of whale hunting, like his film, is about saving the animals as well as the biosphere that supports their lives.

Louie Psihoyos – Director of Oscar winning film The Cove (M): We’re trying to solve the problem in one little cove, but it’s really a microcosm of what’s going on in the oceans. With all the fertilizers and run-offs and pesticides, it’s killing the oceans.

VOICE: “The Cove” also exposes the fact that the dolphins being hunted are already contaminated with mercury from the polluted ocean waters.

Those hunting them use underwater sonar waves, which drive the panicked dolphins into a small cove that soon turns bloody red as they are brutally speared or knifed to death.

As it turns out, this dolphin meat has some of the highest levels of mercury known in Japan, with the potential to cause neurological damage, especially in children. In addition, the dolphins that are not killed outright are captured and sold into lives of captivity and isolation to entertain humans in zoos and aquariums.
The film’s message is thus to raise awareness about these practices, which wreak harm to so many beings.

Louie Psihoyos (M): The only way that we can save the life of a dolphin now is to prove that we made his environment so toxic, that we can no longer eat them.

It shows you the amount of respect that we lost for the animal and the amount of respect that we lost for ourselves. We’re doing what no wild animal will do; we’re fouling our own nest.

VOICE: We congratulate and thank Mr. Psihoyos and co-creators of “The Cove” for working to preserve our precious oceans and their beautiful inhabitants.

May we treat more kindly our marine friends and the vital seas that we both share and depend upon.

Louie Psihoyos (M): Be veg, go green, save the planet.

VOICE: In a November 2008 interview with Ireland’s East Coast Radio FM, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed the issue of tainted dolphin meat and once more encouraged the protection of all marine life for our planetary survival.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Some Japanese scientists stated that these products should be taken off the shelves immediately. And Dr. Palombi of Harvard University gave the same advice to the Japanese government - that they should ban dolphin fishing and they should ban dolphin meat selling in the market.

To stop this destructive practice of fishing, the solution is the vegan diet, no fishy stuff in our meals. Choose the life- and Earth-saving vegan diet. Protect animals and the environment.

And pray that all will heed the scientists’ wise counsel and turn to benevolent life courses which will in turn offer a benevolent life on Earth.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/in-sushi-sting-oscar-winners-nab-restaurant-selling-whale/19389362
http://www.france24.com/en/20100308-oscar-winning-film-makers-deny-japan-bashing
http://eii.org/saveJapanDolphins/coveEmail11a.htmlI
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/world/asia/20iht-dolphin.1.10223011.html?_r=1
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/30/world/main3772997.shtml

Ocean acidity rates could lead to mass extinction

A study led by Dr. Andy Ridgwell of the United Kingdom’s University of Bristol examined ocean sediment to determine how levels of acid have changed throughout history. Its findings revealed that ocean acidity is increasing ten times faster today than 65 million years ago, when dinosaurs became extinct, due to currently rising levels of atmospheric CO2.

With excessive acidification causing the carbonate shells of certain marine organisms to dissolve along with muscle wasting and dwarfism in other species, Dr. Ridgwell said that the rate of today’s acidification is threatening the basis of all marine life.

Dr. Ridgwell and University of Bristol associates, our sincere thanks for bringing to light this important information that highlights our need to act now. May we humans deeply realize that our daily choices affect our future on the planet.

During a March 2009 videoconference in California, USA, Supreme Master Ching Hai once again emphasized the importance of protecting the oceans’ delicate balance, on which ultimately our own lives depend.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: There’s another condition called acidification where the lack of certain fish has contributed to higher ocean acidity which, in turn, reduces the capacity of the ocean to absorb CO2.

And the ocean is a very complex ecosystem where every living thing has a unique function. So, removing even a small fish for humans to eat creates an imbalance in the sea. In fact, we are already seeing an effect of this imbalance on marine mammals.

As the ocean becomes warmer and warmer and more acidic, more toxins are present in the water.

Anything God puts on Earth is for a purpose. We should not kill anything. We should not eat anything except plant-based diet.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7223827/Pollution-creating-acid-oceans.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/oceans-acidity-rate-is-soaring-claims-study-1899536.html
http://www.e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2241

Aquaculture endangers wild fish

According to recent research led by Professor Rosamond L. Naylor of Stanford University in California, USA, more than 50% of fish consumed by humans now comes from fish farms, or aquaculture.

The report, authored by Dr. Naylor and other international scientists, indicated that between 1995 and 2007, production of farmed fish around the world nearly tripled in volume.

However, along with the rise in aquaculture has been a corresponding increase in fish meal used to feed the farmed fish, with five pounds of wild fish being consumed, for instance, for every pound of farmed salmon produced. Even vegetarian fish such as Chinese carp and tilapia are now given fish meal garnered from wild ocean fish, thus furthering endangering species such as anchovies and sardines.

The researchers warn that this exponential rise of aquaculture, once thought to relieve pressure from depleting wild fish, is now being seen as an additional threat to their survival.

Dr. Naylor and international team of scientists, we appreciate your factual account of the true cost of farmed fish. May we all be reminded that our planet depends on the oceans’ vibrant life and choose from the wide assortment of healthful and delicious plant-based foods. Concerned for our fragile ecosphere, Supreme Master Ching Hai highlighted again the critical need for the more considerate care of our fish co-inhabitants during a May 2009 videoconference in Togo.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Fish farms are like on-land factory farms. They have similar problems environmentally, with impacts that include polluting the bodies of waters. The farmed fish are contained in big netted areas off the ocean shores with uneaten food, fish waste, antibiotics, or other drugs and chemicals that pass into the surrounding waters where they harm our ecosystems and pollute our drinking sources.

Depleting wild fish stocks also. Fish like salmon that are eaten by humans are usually fed huge amounts of other fish like anchovies. This practice also endangers sea animals, like sea lions and birds

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Fish are God’s creations that we should also care for, respect, protect, not to eat. We should be looking for ways to help the fish, to protect them and all the marine life from the devastating effects of climate change. Once we start thinking in this way, we are in a better position for ourselves, for the fish and for the planet.

http://www.naturalnews.com/028059_salmon_fish_stocks.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090907162320.htm
http://www.ratical.com/renewables/TherapHoil.html

Recovery of coral reefs linked to healthy fish

A study by the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom indicates that coral reefs damaged by climate change can recover. Over a two-and-a-half year time period, the scientists evaluated reefs at 10 sites throughout the Bahamas that had been severely damaged, first by acidification and bleaching and then by a devastating hurricane in 2004.

The study showed that coral reefs located within marine reserves had increased in growth by an average of 19%, while reefs in non-reserve sites showed no recovery.

This finding does not bode well for reef recovery as only about 2% of the world's coral reefs are located within marine reserves that are protected against damaging activities like fishing.

Lead study scientist, Professor Peter Mumby explained that certain marine life like parrotfish eat seaweed, which then allows the corals to grow freely and that governments should thus consider expanding the protected areas. He explained: “In order to protect reefs in the long-term we need radical action to reduce CO2 emissions.

However, our research shows that local action to reduce the effects of fishing can contribute meaningfully to the fate of (the) reefs.” Professor Mumby and University of Exeter researchers, you have our heartfelt thanks for your encouraging findings. May governments and individuals alike join in sustainable actions to save our precious marine environments.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently spoken of the need to preserve Earth’s biodiversity, as in an interview published in the September 2009 edition of the British Parliament's The House Magazine.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: No matter how small, each species has a role to help balance our ecosystem, scientifically proven. And yet, consumption of both fish and animal flesh continue and are wreaking havoc on biodiversity around the globe.

In the oceans and fresh waterways, so many species of fish have already been lost, with complete aquatic environments such as coral reefs being decimated by such practices as trawling and fishing with explosives.

The answer to all of this is quite clear. Stop the meat consumption. Stop it yesterday. This will allow biodiversity to be replenished. This is the way we need to go, and fast.

http://www.physorg.com/news182237863.html
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0110-hance_coralrecover.html

Ocean acidity increases noise levels

As global warming causes the oceans to absorb more and more CO2, US scientists say they are also getting louder, with unknown effects on marine life. Dr. Richard Zeebe, associate professor of oceanography at the University of Hawaii in the USA, explained that the rising acidity from the absorbed gas affects sound propagation, with certain frequencies becoming more intense.

Further increases in both the acid content as well as human-generated noise from ships, construction, seismic surveys and sonar signals could thus severely impair the cetaceans’ ability to navigate and communicate effectively.

Dr. Rima Morrell, an animal communicator and member of the United Kingdom’s Royal Geographical Society and Royal Anthropological Institute, conveyed in a telephone interview with Supreme Master Television further information about how whales in particular respond to such harmful human actions.

Dr. Rima A Morrell – Founder, Living Ark Sanctuary, Member of the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Anthropological Institute (F): Suddenly the ocean which was once a place of freedom is being restricted by these noises and these objects that humans have put there.

And mothers and babies are losing each other, and that kind of thing never used to happen. However, despite what is happening to the ocean, the whales themselves remain very balanced and they are delighted by the joy that that humans get through contact with them.
And that is indeed why they chose to actually come towards humans and leap around and surface there where humans are.

VOICE: Dr. Morrell, Dr. Zeebe and colleagues, our gratitude for this study which calls attention to a new aspect of climate change and its damaging effects. May we all unite in efforts to protect the oceans and our planet.

Highlighting the value of all animal co-inhabitants to the welfare of humanity, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often shared an understanding of the gifts they bring to our world, as in an August 2009 videoconference in Thailand.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: The animals are truly noble, gentle beings, selfless, and in harmony with one another, the environment, and with Heaven. Their role has always been since time immemorial to bring love and blessing to the world with their pure presence.

If we would only stop harming and torturing them and killing them, and give them a chance to fulfill their God-given mission, then our planet will be saved and will be kept in splendor.

They wait on the sidelines in full support of humans, for the day they can be our friends again, truly, not our victims. On that day of peacemaking between humans and animals, our eyes may begin to be opened to our co-inhabitants’ true magnificent roles on Earth.

http://www.starbulletin.com
/news/20091227_Ocean_noise_pollution_turns_up_with_greenhouse_gas_emissions.html
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/oceanography/faculty/zeebe.html

Toxic algae creates plague for marine life

In oceans across the globe, warming temperatures and pollution, especially from livestock manure and related agriculture, are often responsible for the growth of harmful forms of algae such as the red tide that is now spreading through waters off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

This algae impairs other organisms’ ability to absorb oxygen, leading to suffocation, and is thus devastating for coral, fish and other marine life. Both Iran and the United Arab Emirates report the death of many tens of tons of fish, marine mammals and coral thus far. Although cooler winter weather is expected to alleviate the situation, patches of the algae currently remain, meaning that it could continue to spread.

Meanwhile, possibly hundreds of thousands of seabirds are in peril in the Northwest USA as a toxic algae bloom has contaminated hundreds of miles of coastline. As this algal bloom decays, it emits a substance that removes the birds’ waterproofing from their feathers, leaving them vulnerable to starvation, dehydration and hypothermia. Rescue efforts are underway but the unprecedented number of birds affected has left local centers overwhelmed.

It saddens us deeply to know of such distress to our marine and avian co-inhabitants.
Let us all act with urgency to tread more gently and protect our shared Earthly home. Expressing concern once more about humans’ pollution of waterway ecosystems, Supreme Master Ching Hai reminded of the importance of preserving nature during a July 2008 videoconference in Formosa (Taiwan).

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Wild species suffer similar fates because we also drain our chemical substances, insecticides, pesticides into the rivers, into the lakes, into the oceans. So we lost many of these precious species, we lost many of us, because they are us. And we also lose ourselves, many of us humans, because of these poisonous substances – even from the farm industry - and we still did not wake up yet.

We should have more rules, more guidelines, to protect natural habitats. Above all, enlightenment is really what’s needed to govern. That’s number one. And vegan diet with right motive, number two, will offer more compassion and insight, also will help preserve precious natural habitats for the wild and protect the resources for humans.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110812§ionid=3510212
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_102209_animal_long_beach_algae_birds.240db632c.html

Fish farming destroys marine wildlife

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has reported a dramatic rise in sea louse, a parasite that infects salmon, is causing great concern in Norway as its populations triple in the crowded fish farms of the Norwegian fjords over the past year alone. Besides killing the farmed fish, environmentalists fear that this organism will further decimate already weakened wild salmon whose numbers have been reduced by half in the past decades.

Meanwhile, a 23-year Finnish study has concluded that lethal strains of the bacteria Columnaris have developed in the confined conditions of ocean fish farms. This infection destroys the skin, fins, and gills of fish and is currently the leading cause of their death. With infected farmed fish that sometimes escape or are let loose by fish farmers who wish to avoid fines and costly clean-up, wild fish are thus being subjected to an increasing number of virulent diseases that originate from factory farms.

Norwegian Food Safety Authority, we appreciate and share your concern for the well-being of wild fish and ocean life. May we all realize the damaging nature of meat and fish consumption and opt quickly for the life-enhancing vegan diet.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has often spoken of the tolls endured by the Earth’s animal inhabitants, addressing our need to halt the devastating practice of fishing as during a November 2008 interview with Ireland’s East Coast Radio FM.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We have to stop it. Just stop the fishing. The government has to forbid fishing because it’s too important to our survival to delay any further. To stop this destructive practice of fishing, the solution is the vegan diet, no fishy stuff in our meals. The sea offers us plenty of better food choices; the wide varieties of super healthy and nutritious sea plants. We can even live on it forever. We must protect a living and healthy sea, as it relates to our living and healthy self.

http://www.naturalnews.com/027809_farmed_fish_disease.html
http://www.wildforsalmon.com/aboutscokeye.html
http://users.jyu.fi/~pukaan/
http://www.france24.com/en/node/4955477
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1803174/norwegian_salmon_affected_by_lice/

Overfishing linked to harmful algal blooms

A new study by Swedish researchers found that, along with nitrogenous runoff from livestock raising and agriculture, algal blooms in the Baltic Sea are linked to the decline of certain species of large fish.

Specifically, the research showed that if perch and pike fish populations were healthy and no nitrogen pollution existed, the surrounding waters had only a 10% chance of being afflicted by an algal bloom.

However, in areas where fishing had caused their populations to be substantially reduced, the chances of an algal bloom went up to 50%. The researchers believe that the increase is related to a disruption of the food chain, which in turn affects the ecosystem. Swedish scientists, we appreciate your work that sheds new light on our oceanic environments.

Let us act on such knowledge to protect marine life for a vibrant planet. Supreme Master Ching Hai has often urged for an end to consuming fish and other animal products, to preserve the biosphere and our own peace of mind, as during a May 2009 videoconference in Togo.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: If those fish are all gone, we will see a catastrophic loss of other marine species as well. The coastal ecosystems will also be affected greatly by diseases and algae blooms that release toxins. The ocean is a wonderful recycler that normally can purify the water and create nutrients and turn carbon dioxide into oxygen, etc.

The ocean is a miracle. But if we ruin the ecosystems through overfishing, this will spell disaster for us. SM: It’s better for our body, for our conscience, for our mind, and for the planet to stay away from fish.
We should be vegan.

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091201/full/news.2009.1116.html?s=news_rss
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Algal-Blooms-May-Be-Caused-by-Overfishing-128552.shtml

Damage to oceans on the rise with global warming

A study just released by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in collaboration with the United Nations Environmental Program has found that although the oceans’ ability to remove atmospheric CO2 offsets the effects of global warming, its harm to marine life is vast and possibly irreparable due to the tens of thousands of years it will take to reverse.

In addition, the levels of CO2 are increasing at rates that scientists say could raise ocean acidity to 150% by 2050. This process, which also involves corresponding calcium loss, is occurring 100 times faster than any period in the past 20 million years. With no time to adapt to the new conditions, countless species could perish.

Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and United Nations, we are grateful for this eye-opening information about our life-sustaining oceans. Let us all heed such warnings and tread more lightly to help return our Earth to her pristine state.

Highlighting the importance of our marine ecosystems, Supreme Master Ching Hai outlined the dangers they face, as well as the solution, during a March 2009 videoconference in California, USA.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: There’s another condition called acidification where the lack of certain fish has contributed to higher ocean acidity which, in turn, reduces the capacity of the ocean to absorb CO2.
And the ocean is a very complex ecosystem where every living thing has a unique function. So, removing even a small fish for humans to eat creates an imbalance in the sea. In fact, we are already seeing an effect of this imbalance on marine mammals.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: As the ocean becomes warmer and warmer and more acidic, more toxins are present in the water.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Anything God puts on Earth is for a purpose. We should not kill anything. We should not eat anything except the plant-based diet.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/091118-oceans-carbon-sink-global-warming.html

Marine life being over exploited

Sri Lanka’s marine treasures endangered. Environmentalists in southern Asian countries such as Sri Lanka report that the unsustainable use of marine resources is leading to the devastation of coral reefs, marine turtles, mangroves and more. Although illegal, activities such as coral mining, collecting turtle eggs and catching turtles are still widely practiced in some regions. Furthermore, trawlers who drag the sea bottom along with other non-sustainable activities are contributing to the rapid decline of marine life, sea grass beds, coral reefs and mangroves, creating changes that greatly upset the region’s ecosystem.

We share the environmentalists’ sense of deep alarm and pray that everyone begins now in truly caring for all beings on the Earth that we share. May Buddha bless the Sri Lankan people and their marine co-inhabitants with a green ecosphere always.

In a July 2008 videoconference with dignitaries and guests at the "Heart-Touch Tour" exhibition in Formosa (Taiwan), Supreme Master Ching Hai responded to concerns about how to resolve the current plight of our ecosystems.

Heart-Touch Tour of the Supreme Master Ching Hai: Eden on Earth Arts Gallery Exhibition
Formosa - July 5, 2008

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We should have more rules, more guidelines, to protect our natural habitat because sometimes we overlook the long run effect. We just see the immediate benefit or gain and we forget that in the long run, if we carelessly build or damage or interfere with nature, then the consequence is very, very detrimental to ourselves and to the planet, just like what we are facing right now. Above all, enlightenment is really what’s needed to govern. That’s number one. And vegetarian diet with right motive, number two. We offer more compassion and insight. Also we help preserve precious natural habitat for the wilds and protect the resources for humans.