Be Veg! Go Green! Save Our Planet

SUPREME MASTER TV is a free-to-air satellite channel broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a variety of engaging programs in English with over 30 subtitles and 40 languages. Being the ideal television channel that brings to your life Nobility and Spirituality. Broadcasting on 14 satellite platforms across the globe.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Stop eating fish to help the planet

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

Labels: , , , , ,

Friday, March 26, 2010

Loss of Arctic ice could cost trillions

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

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, March 15, 2010

Sulfur dioxide pollution highlights methane as key to global warming




With countries such as China and India now reducing pollutants containing sulfur dioxide, Dr. Frank Raes, head of the Climate Change Unit of the European Commission Joint Research Center in Italy reports that the planet is likely to heat more quickly in response.

Sulfur dioxide, which is emitted in the processing of coal, oil and other industrial processes, has already been significantly reduced in many developed nations.

Although it is harmful to health, sulfur aerosols create an atmospheric cooling effect that offsets the heat emitted by the CO2 released in these same processes.

This suggests that the heat from coal, oil and industry in developing nations has played a smaller role in global warming than previously thought. Such a finding corresponds with the conclusions of Dr. Drew Shindell from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, who estimated that because of sulfur dioxide’s cooling effect, methane, which is generated primarily by activities related to meat production, is heating the atmosphere much more than previously thought.

Our appreciation Dr. Raes and European Commission Joint Research Center fellow scientists, for this insightful finding. Let us choose the fastest way to return to health and cool the planet, namely, through the safe and Earth-friendly vegan diet.

As mentioned on previous occasions, Supreme Master Ching Hai reminded once again during a September 2009 videoconference in South Korea that the most urgent global warming threat lies in sources other than carbon dioxide.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: If the goal is to be a truly carbon-free society, we should consider all the major sources of greenhouse gases emissions. You see, we are emitting greenhouse gases not just through the fumes from factories, houses, and cars, but also through the products that we choose to consume. Besides, CO2 is cancelled out by aerosols, which are released at the same time from burning fossil fuels.

Even though aerosols are very detrimental to our health, they actually have a cooling effect that cancels out the CO2 heat in the atmosphere.

So the warming climate problem is not from CO2 I repeat, it’s not from carbon dioxide. It is from other sources, mainly methane.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: First and foremost, eliminate the single largest source of human-caused methane, namely, livestock. Stop animal products, then we stop global warming.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527481.400-smoke-bomb-the-other-climate-culprits.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/earth-environment/article6895907.ece

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Friday, March 12, 2010

Pamela Anderson speaks for seals and the environment



The Canadian-born actress, a vegetarian spokesperson for the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), recently organized a media event in Vancouver, Canada calling for the cancellation of the Canadian seal hunt this year.

Prior to the event, the actress had written a letter of appeal to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking him to spare the seal pups, whose survival is already threatened by habitat loss due to global warming.

Pamela Anderson - Vegetarian (F): This is another reason to stop the seal hunt - the environmental information that the Canadian government has now found is that the ice caps are the lowest in the last 30 years.

We are even asking this year to stop it, so we could actually have a bigger population, because their population is going to be nonexistent pretty soon.

VOICE: With petition signatures that have reached the prime minister numbering half a million thus far, members of the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association also showed support, and had a chance to present Pamela Anderson with an SOS bag on the vegan solution to climate change.

Accepting the gift, Ms. Anderson shared her encouragement for the actions people can engage in to stop animal cruelty as well as protect the environment.

Pamela Anderson (F): I have loved animals since I was little, so I was an animal activist since I was little. There’s just so much difference we could make. I think it’s just really important to do whatever you can.

Supreme Master TV (M): Is our diet part of that solution?

Pamela Anderson (F): Yes! Being vegetarian is a great way to a healthy environment. It is better than driving a hybrid car. Factory farming is one of the leading causes of global warming as well.

So, there are lots of conscious things we can do. The more I find out, the more I change my life. I just think that’s what we all need to do.

VOICE: A grateful salute, Pamela Anderson for your valiant and compassionate shining star to protect the seals and the planet. Indeed, may all of humanity foster the conscientious and life-saving vegan lifestyle for the wholesome future of our fellow co-inhabitants and the Earth.

As often mentioned in her wish to safeguard all beings, Supreme Master Ching Hai highlighted the connection between our treatment of animals and the planet’s climate crisis during a November 2009 videoconference in Washington, DC, USA.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: The whales and the seals are some of the many animals who literally radiate love to balance our planet. They were born here to help us to fill in the void of love that we lost through our inconsiderate actions.

But sadly, we kill them. If we kill these beings, we’re really killing ourselves. We take out the balance that is greatly needed at this time, in our dire situation.

Please inform yourself of the unimaginable, utterly cruel and utmost inhumane treatment involved in the meat and dairy production, or fishing even, as well as lab experiments or the animal fur industry.

How can we degrade ourselves into such a heartless state of being, by supporting these cruel, heart-wrenching practices? I hope it is clear that the best, and really the only way, is to be vegan.


http://www.theprovince.com/news/Pamela+Anderson+calls+cancellation+seal+hunt... +Vancouver+media+event/2622875/story.html

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Philippines drastically impacted by drought

The Department of Agriculture’s Central Action Center (DACAC) has reported that El Niño-induced drought has caused the loss of more than 144,000 tons of corn and 56,000 tons of rice across 14 affected provinces.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered water conservation measures as well as infrastructure improvements, while the Department of Agriculture is setting aside an aid package of US$19.1 million to assist farmers.

Moreover, due to low water levels of some hydroelectric dams, power shortages are also a concern. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go to all in the Philippines affected by these extreme conditions.

We pray for sustaining rains and a restored climate through humanity’s soon adoption of eco-friendly and compassionate lifestyles. As on many occasions, in a September 2009 climate change videoconference in Peru, Supreme Master Ching Hai reminded of the most effective way to return even dangerous conditions as these to balance.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Some countries and communities have to cope with worsened drought situations. There is not enough water to raise crops or even to drink. So how can we handle the mass migration of tens of millions of people all at once due to desertification, the rising sea levels or the permanent loss of crop fields?

The smartest way would be to stop the worsening of global warming by being vegan. It sounds very simple but it is the best solution, the most effective and the effect of it will be felt almost immediately.

The warming atmosphere, water shortage, food scarcity, desertification - we can quickly eliminate by stopping meat production. Stop it now, no further!

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100219-254002/Isabela-farms-worst-hit-of-14-provinces
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/244192/save-water-gma-orders
http://www.tribune.net.ph/nation/20100219nat1.html
http://www.silobreaker.com/northwest-farmers-feel-the-drought-5_2263241930831822884

Labels: , , , , ,

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Mid-east countries unite to find water solutions

At a recent conference held in Amman, Jordan, experts gathered to discuss the growing water crisis due to climate change. Organized by Jordan’s Ministry of Agriculture along with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and other partners, participants spoke of how to counteract the alarming decrease in water supply to the region.

More than 150 villages were abandoned during 2007 and 2008 in Syria alone due to climate-related drought, and the United Nations just announced the nation’s worst dry spell in four decades, affecting some 1.3 million people.

In an effort to address the situation, the Water and Livelihoods Initiative has been launched, a ten-year collaborative project involving Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen.

With an initial US$1 million in funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), each country is contributing plans for sustainable land and water management.

Nations such as Morocco and Jordan have already shown promise in implementing practices such as harvesting water from rainfall runoff as well as supplemental irrigation.

Jordan’s Ministry of Agriculture, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, all other participating partners and countries, we laud your resource-sustaining goals.

Wishing you every success as we pray that all governments awaken to the ultimate water savings found in the plant-based lifestyle. Concerned for the Earth's urgent state, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often addressed the actions needed to replenish our currently dwindling resources, as during a video message for a June 2009
climate change conference in Mexico.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We can stop water shortage. While droughts are plaguing more populations, we cannot afford to waste water. Meat production uses massive amounts of water, as you know. It takes up to 1,200 gallons of fresh and good clean water to produce just one serving of beef. In contrast, a full vegan meal costs only 98 gallons of water. That is 90 plus percent less. So, if we want to stop water shortage and to preserve precious water we have to stop animal products.

Adopting a plant-based diet can halt as much as 80% of global warming, eradicate world hunger, stop war, promote peace, and it will free up the Earth’s water as well as many other precious resources, offering a lifeline for the planet and for humanity. In short, it will very quickly halt many of the global problems facing us right now.

Therefore, it is vital that we do our part to bring to the public’s attention the urgent climate change issues and its solutions; the foremost being the vegan diet, to safeguard our precious planet.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87991
http://www.firstscience.com/home/news/agriculture/scientists-unite-to-combat-water-scarcity-solutions-yield-more-crop-per-drop-in-drylands_78493.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9714c514-10e3-11df-9a9e-00144feab49a,s01=1.html
http://www.speedy-fit.co.uk/Climate-Change/Drought-Drives-Residents-from-160-Syrian-Villages.html

Labels: , , , , , ,

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Copenhagen Accord on climate change announced

In the culmination of two years of negotiations, delegates gathered for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Denmark did their utmost to act in the best interest of the public they serve. The resulting Copenhagen Accord provides an agreed point from which to move forward. Supreme Master Television’s correspondent brings us highlights.

Supreme Master Television Correspondent: After global leaders arrived, they began a day of their own meetings to help advance toward unified action to curb global warming. By the evening of Friday, December 18, US President Barack Obama announced a broad outline with objectives formed in cooperation with leaders of China, Brazil, South Africa, and India.

NM Barack Obama – US President (M): Going forward, we’re going to have to build on the momentum that we established here in Copenhagen to ensure that international action to significantly reduce emissions is sustained and sufficient over time.

Supreme Master Television Correspondent: The Copenhagen Accord urges countries to cooperate in creating goals as negotiators plan for a legally binding agreement at the next meeting in Mexico City, Mexico in December 2010.

Wen Jia Bao – Prime Minister of China (M): We will honor our word with real action. Whatever outcome this conference may produce, we will be fully committed to achieving and even exceeding the target.

Supreme Master Television Correspondent: Furthermore, decisions were made regarding financial assistance for developing countries to cope with climate change.

Yvo de Boer – Executive Secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (M): We’re actually getting quite close to the US$30 billion that a number of people have talked about, and it is good that the secretary is now talking about US$100 billion annually for 2020.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – Brazilian President (M): For a long time, we have been discussing the climate change issue. And more and more, we see that the problem is even more severe than we could have ever imagined. If it is necessary for us to make more sacrifices, Brazil is willing to tap money to help other countries. We will do it.

Supreme Master Television Correspondent: In addition, developed countries will commit to at least 80% emission reductions by 2050, with shorter term commitments to be determined later.

NM Barak Obama – US President (M): We’ve come a long way, but we have much further to go.

Supreme Master Television Correspondent: According to climate scientists, the fastest way to significant planetary cooling is the reduction of shorter-lived gases such as methane; and the quickest and least expensive way to do that is to eliminate animal products from our diets, replacing animal agriculture with organic vegan farming.

Throughout the climate summit, this vital and effective veg solution was discussed by civil group delegates and the media. Forums were held, with films about the devastating impact of livestock and meat on climate change.

Members of the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association also strived to remain at the frontlines of the campaign by displaying and distributing information at the main entrance of the Bella Center conference venue, providing delicious vegan sandwiches to appreciative busy participants and passersby.

(M): I think your voice here is very good, so keep up the good work.

Besides giving presentations at public side events, our Association members were interviewed by journalists, radio, television, and print media groups from around the world. In addition, announcements about the harms of animal products along with the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle were printed in The COP15 Post newspaper
as well as broadcast on TV, featuring scientific findings and excerpts from interviews and conferences with Supreme Master Ching Hai.

Our Association member (M): During the First World War, Denmark totally gave up eating meat because it had an embargo, and during these three years, the total death rate went down by 17% and they were the only country where nobody died from hunger.

Ralph – Member of the Austrian Association against Animal Factory Farming (M): We drove the whole way from Austria, Vienna to Copenhagen to the climate summit in order to bring a very very very important topic and this topic is the connection between climate change and the mass production of meat; the animal factory farming in the world.

Bill McKibben – Co-founder and director of 350.org movement (M): Ending that kind of factory farming is key.

Vegan activist (F): It’s the #1 cause of the global warming.
George Monbiot – British journalist for The Guardian, Shining World Hero Award laureate (M): We still need to get out of livestock and everyone go vegetarian or vegan.

Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan – Governor of Delta, Nigeria (M): Meat, anyway, is very harmful to the body.

Claude Turmes – VP of European Greens, European Parliament Member (M): A more vegetarian-based diet is important. Moving on methane is a quick and very big step.

Lea Backes – Danish delegate, UNICEF Children’s Climate Forum Copenhagen 2009, Vegan, age 15 (F): 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.

Ancha Srinivasan - Senior Climate Change Specialist, Asia Development Bank (M): Be veg, go green, save the planet.

Marianne Thieme – Member of Dutch Parliament, Vegan (F): Be veg, go green, save the planet.

Gregor Robertson - Mayor of Vancouver, Canada (M): Be veg, go green, save the planet.

This is Supreme Master Television, reporting from Copenhagen, Denmark.

VOICE: Our respectful appreciation, dedicated global negotiators and leaders, for your efforts in arriving at the Copenhagen Accord, and world co-citizens foryour supporting endeavors. We are grateful to Supreme Master Ching Hai for her steadfast encouragement and guidance for humanity at this time.

May the day come very soon that all governments make the wisest choice of adopting the most efficient, low-cost and rapid initiative to save our planet – the organic vegan diet. During an interview on climate change for the July 12, 2009 edition of the Irish Sunday Independent, Supreme Master Ching Hai was asked to share her perspective about decision-makers’ climate priorities for the Copenhagen conference.

Ben (m): What advice would you give to the leaders making these very important decisions for the people of the world?

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Well, if I may, I have only one humble advice, that it is important to tackle the root cause, which is animal meat production. If we take the vital step to stop the demand for animal consumption, then the rainforest destruction will stop; the lungs of the Earth will be restored; the destructive agriculture runoff and pollution will stop; we will have clean air and clean water; there will be more food for the hungry.

Above all, when we’re freed of all the massive burdens imposed by producing and consuming meat and instead practice the compassionate vegan organic farming, then the energy patterns of the world will change to a more compatible waveform with the Earth and her inhabitants and with Heaven to produce harmonious weather and benevolent life-supporting atmosphere. It’s all about changing energy. Make good energy.

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Friday, December 18, 2009

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.

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Livestock reduction is key for Copenhagen’s deep emission reduction goals

At the two-week United Nations Climate Change Conference in Denmark, discussions have continued to revolve around how much global temperatures should be allowed to rise, with low-lying countries vulnerable to sea level rise calling for no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius increase. Even at this level, many such as the tiny island nation of Tuvalu are likely to be submerged. But a new study was presented at the conference on Saturday that highlights a very important component in limiting temperature rise.

Supreme Master Television’s correspondent is on location at the Danish capital with this report.
Supreme Master Television Danish correspondent: As delegates weigh in on proposals leading up to a final agreement, a summarized draft document calls for more drastic emission reductions than have been committed to thus far by industrialized nations.

In addition, for the first time, text has been proposed that would allow “interstate cooperation” to help countries with anticipated relocation of possibly millions of global warming refugees. Meanwhile, countries have been pledging future financial aid to vulnerable nations, with European Union leaders agreeing to funding €7.2 billion
over the next three years.

Anders TURESSON, Chief Negotiator for the Sweden, Presidency of European Union (M): These monies should be used for public support, adaptation, mitigation, and capacity building, with an emphasis on the least developed countries.

Supreme Master Television Danish correspondent: Meanwhile, Brazil stepped up efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest, a vital climate regulator whose deforestation is a major source of greenhouse gases.
Supreme Master Television recently spoke with Brazilian Ambassador Paulo Alberto da Silveira Soares about the government’s plan coinciding with the Copenhagen summit.

Paulo Alberto da Silveira Soares – Brazilian Ambassador to Singapore (M): Brazil is really the only country that came, weeks ago, before any other countries with a very straight forward proposition, a target of curbing CO2 emissions between 36 to 39% and 80% reduction in deforestation in the Amazon area.

Supreme Master Television Danish correspondent: A new study released on Saturday at the Copenhagen conference found that livestock raising is the biggest source of greenhouse gases, at more than 50%, and that about 75% of total Amazon deforestation was to clear grazing land for cattle.

Brazilian sociologist Marley Winckler has more to share about this message.
Marley Winckler – Sociologist, President of Brazilian Vegetarian Society (F): If you really want to mitigate greenhouse gases, you must address meat production. SMTV Danish correspondent: The Brazilian government announced this week that it will use satellite surveillance in an effort to ensure that cattle ranchers do not destroy more land than they are already allotted and that violators will not be granted permits to transport their cattle to be slaughtered.

We asked Ambassador da Silveira Soares his thoughts about changing dietary consumption to being meat-free as an immediate solution for both government and people.
Paulo Alberto da Silveira Soares – Brazilian Ambassador to Singapore (M): We need a big effort, Brazil is net producer of meat. So we have to make more than a campaign and make people more aware that for the health, of me, you and everyone in the world, less consumption of meat only helps your health and climate change.

Supreme Master Television Danish correspondent: This is Supreme Master Television reporting from Copenhagen, Denmark.

VOICE: We thank His Excellency Mr. Alberto da Silveira Soares, Ms. Winckler, and all negotiators and leaders who are working to chart our world’s best future course. May we work together to halt climate change through the organic vegan diet and farming practices, for the survival and happiness of all.

In a March 2009 videoconference with government dignitaries and the public in Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai once more highlighted the exceptional government measures required to address the current crisis of global warming.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: I suggest all world leaders and governments to please promote the animal-free lifestyle and quick so that we can save our planet. We have not too much time left. This is no longer even about politics.

It’s about the survival of ourselves and our children. If all governments encourage people toward the healthy, animal-free diet, the planet could be saved in no time.
And the activities that are good for our Earth can also gener ate livelihoods. We have a shortage of food, so the government can easily support organic vegan farmers and the advancement of other green practices.
This will help greatly. The government must make a priority, saving the planet, organic vegan farming subsidies.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/carteret-islands/6771651/The-sea-is-killing-our-island-paradise.html
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=49630
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_465710.html
http://www.france24.com/en/node/4945985
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE5BA29S20091211?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/11524/1/

Labels: , , , , , ,

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Informing ourselves of true carbon meat costs.




A landmark report has been officially supported by the British Departments of Health as well as Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the United Nations World Health Organization, and others.

Published in the esteemed medical journal, The Lancet, the report advises that both meat production and consumption be reduced by one-third, as the only way to meet the country’s ambitious carbon emission reduction goals. Furthermore, citizens would be more than compensated by direct and favorable effects on health. Dr. Alan Dangour - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK: The policy is reduced production, because our primary aim is to reduce carbon emissions, and we’re saying, in our series of papers, look at the health co-benefits. I think it is important for people to become much more aware about the true carbon costs of food production. Meat and meat products and dairy have an enormous carbon cost.

Today, the climate savings of plant-based eating are abundantly known, such as findings that a vegetarian diet saves more greenhouse gases than a hybrid car, or that an animal-free vegan diet reduces emissions by 94% compared to one with meat-based fare.

Regarding health savings, co-author Dr. Alan Dangour of the UK’s London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine stated that these could be even greater than the 18,000 lives forecast to be saved from heart disease alone if other meat-related diseases, such as colorectal cancer and obesity, were included. The hope is that knowing the true health costs will prompt the public to voluntarily shift away from harmful animal products. Dr. Alan Dangour: That information and the knowledge of the risks of climate change combined should allow them to make decisions about their future consumption patterns.

Our thanks Dr. Dangour and all researchers involved, as well as the British and United Nations officials who are prudently weighing the climate costs of livestock raising and meat consumption. May we all choose the plant-based diet to save our lives and the planet. In addressing the impacts of meat on all areas of our lives, Supreme Master Ching Hai has for decades urged the remedy of the vegan diet as in a May 2008 videoconference in South Korea.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: You see the meat diet not only causes the greatest emission of poisonous gas into the planet atmosphere but many other costs. There is the transportation energy cost, the electricity energy cost, there’s water wasting cost, there’s a land resource occupation cost, there’s a deforestation cost and there’s a related illness medical cost and there’s the grievance, sorrow of the people who lost loved ones due to disease related to meat diet cost.

And because we use food to feed livestock for human consumption instead of feeding directly to humans, therefore there is the cost of war and famine due to shortage of food and resources. Add them together, then we will see the real answer. So, right now, what’s good for our planet – vegan diet - we do it. We try as best as we can.

Reference:
http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/11/25/Brit-official-backs-meat-reduction-report/UPI-81791259183429/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6933045.ece

Labels: , , , , , ,

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Supporting farm practices that nourish life

A drought that is being called one of the worst in six decades has caused crop fields to wilt throughout Mexico and city water supplies to be rationed. With officials saying that to conserve water, more regulation is needed to restrain livestock activities, the Veracuz state government organized a conference in Orizaba on November 16 to address the interrelated issues of climate change and meat production.

Veracruz Environment Coordinator Mr. Alonso Domínguez Ferráez invited Supreme Master Ching Hai,who attended the meeting via videoconference, to address the concerns as they related to Mexico and beyond.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: It’s easy to see that if we stopped this raising of animals for meat, the weather patterns would be quickly restored, along with the land. In an interview, the president of the Cattlemen’s Confederation mentioned the need for more government subsidies for cattle raising. But what we actually need are subsidies for life-giving practices, not the ones that take the life away from the animals, take away life from us and take away life from our future generations and take the life from our one and only planet.

The government could easily subsidize organic farming instead, which would provide abundant benefit for all the people of Mexico and even would remove 40% of the atmospheric carbon if all tillable land on Earth were organically farmed. For yourself and your children, please ask everyone: Be veg, go green and save the planet.

VOICE: The Mexican media reported about this climate change videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai, with the following being an excerpt from an article written for En Politica Zona Centro.

“The goal is to reduce pollution that harms the planet Earth, and this can be achieved by removing the methane in the atmosphere. The proposal to reduce gases is to stop raising the large numbers of cattle being produced today, as this generates 35 percent of the gas that goes into the atmosphere of the Earth.
For this reason, the Environmental Association promotes alternatives so as to avoid consumption of meat from animals, as well as a noble lifestyle, hence the importance of attending the videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai…”

VOICE: Our respectful thanks concerned government officials of Mexico and participants of this conference. We join in appreciation for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s shared thoughts and genuine concern for all countries and inhabitants of the planet. May we be veg, go green, and save the planet, to offer our next generations life, abundant natural resources and a peaceful future.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-drought7-2009sep07,0,6988447.story
http://www.thecattlemanmagazine.com/issues/1998/12-98/updateMexCattle.asp
http://enpoliticazonacentro.blogspot.com/2009/11/propone-organizacion-internacional.html

Labels: , ,

Friday, July 24, 2009

UK Parliament questions consumption of fish, meat and dairy.

A report published on Tuesday by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee of the British Parliament said that the government should rethink its previous advice favoring fish consumption. Citing a perilous decline in the marine environment, the report recommended ensuring food security by growing more fruits and vegetables instead.

In acknowledging the adverse effects of meat production as well, the report stated, “UK consumers buying meat and dairy products should be encouraged to consider the environmental, as well as the health, impacts of their choices.”

A big thank you, British Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, for your interest in safeguarding both humans and the environment. We look forward to your country’s exemplary leadership in advocating the wholesome plant-based diet for the good of all.

Reference:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8160602.stm

Labels: , , , ,