Warming oceans are leading to extensive acidification

A recently published study provides the first direct evidence of increased levels of carbon dioxide absorption from climate change that have led to acidification across an entire ocean basin.

Led by Dr. Robert Byrne of the University of Southern Florida, the research analyzed the pH of Pacific seawater over a 15-year period from Oahu, Hawaii to Kodiak, Alaska in the USA.

The scientists found that CO2 levels were increasing down to half-mile depths, with only the deepest ocean waters containing levels that were unchanged.

Dr. Byrne stated that the study leaves no doubt about the danger posed by acidification to the world’s oceans, saying, “If this happens in a piece of ocean as big as a whole… basin, then this is a global phenomenon.”

Dr. Byrne and fellow University of Southern Florida scientists, our thanks for the further revealing of global warming’s effect on the fragile marine environment.

Let us all step toward sustainable measures to protect our planet while there is still time. At a May 2009 videoconference in Togo, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke, as on previous occasions, of the critical situation of the world’s oceans and the need for humanity’s better stewardship on Earth.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Balanced marine ecosystems are extremely important, as more than two-thirds of the planet is covered by oceans. They provide half of the world’s oxygen and play a major part in regulating the global climate.

So, life on Earth truly depends very much on the ocean for survival. In addition, oceans also absorb atmospheric CO2 – carbon dioxide – which directly helps to cool our planet.

From the oceans themselves, we are seeing warming temperatures, rising sea levels, increasing acidification and terrible levels of pollution. So global warming is affecting the oceans, which in turn is affecting the fish. This is an equally urgent situation as the one presented by livestock industry, and it has the exact same solution.

Stop eating the flesh; stop killing for food; stop eating the fish. This will help restore the balance of both the ocean and land, immediately.

http://www.physorg.com/news183231158.html
http://www.marine.usf.edu/PDFs-and-DOCs/Quantum_Leaps_Byrne.pdf

Bremen introduces “Veggie Thursday”

The picturesque city in northwest Germany has become the first municipality to introduce a weekly Veggie Day. The campaign has taken its cues from the success of a similar program in Gent, Belgium where schools, restaurants and citizens are all participating.

The German “Veggie Thursday” initiative has received the endorsement of Bremen’s mayor, Mr. Jens Böhrnsen; its environmental chief, Dr. Reinhard Loske and a broad-base of consumer and environmental groups.

Along with its health benefits, campaign organizers state that if 550,000 Bremen citizens stop eating meat for just 52 days in the year, they can prevent the CO2 emissions of 40,000 cars.

Bravo, “Veggie Thursday” organizers and Bremen citizens on your adoption of this wholesome trend! Surely such noble examples as yours will continue to spread, with more and more communities joining in the life-saving veg lifestyle.
http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=52632〈=en
http://www.taz.de/1/nord/artikel/1/bremen-propagiert-veggiday/
http://www.extremnews.com/nachrichten/natur-und-umwelt/656912d8c2bd91f

“Global Warming and Health” Summit held in Formosa (Taiwan)

Findings on climate change presented by Dr. Liu Shaw-Chen, Director of the Environmental Change Research Center of Academia Sinica in Formosa showed that the duration and intensity of typhoons and rainstorms on the island have doubled within 45 years, while the rate of sea level rise in Formosa is higher than the world’s average.

In response to the urgency of these and other global warming effects, the National Taiwan University Hospital Yunlin Branch and the Yunlin County government held their first climate change forum in Yunlin.

Participants called on the government and medical professionals to act decisively in reducing meat consumption to halt global warming, while also averting a human health crisis.

Ming-Been Lee, President of Taiwan Medical Association, Formosa (M): From the medical field, we already found out that meat-eating is one of the factors that affects global warming. So as we talk specifically about health issues,of course we should emphasize vegan, plant-based food.

Dr. Rui-Yun Xu – Attending physician, Hua-Lian Tzu Chi Hospital , Formosa (F): Vegetarians have a purer and healthier body. We see that from many of our past surveys and many medical reports.

VOICE: Initiatives to encourage the veg trend, such as that already launched by the Yunlin County government, were also discussed.

Zhi-Fen Su, Yunlin County Magistrate, Formosa (F): We encourage all schools to go meatless at least one day a week. From Meatless Mondays, we gradually promote and extend to two days a week. We hope this would allow all of us humans to focus on our own health as well as the harmonious relationship with natural resources, and begin to take this kind of issue seriously.

VOICE: National Taiwan University Hospital, Yunlin County government, and all summit dignitaries and participants, many thanks for your efforts to encourage society toward the manifold benefits of the plant-based diet.

May everyone swiftly turn to this nutritious fare to halt climate change in time and ensure the health of all. As mentioned on previous occasions in addressing the urgent state of our Earth, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke during an October 2009 videoconference in Hong Kong of the personal and planet- saving benefits of the
organic vegan lifestyle.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Everybody knows organic vegetables are very healthy. You see, if you eat organic vegetables, you will hardly have to go to the hospital and all the money we can save to better education for the children, better care for the elderly, and building more beautiful roads, more equipment, inventions, and use it more for sustainable energies, for free for everybody. The benefit has no ends.

It’s high time we turn away from the harmful, unsustainable meat business and go toward a more civilized, more efficient, more sustainable, more humane means, namely organic vegan. And it will save the planet.

In a letter to the United Nations, US climate envoy Todd Stern confirms the United States’ goal of reducing emissions 17% from 2005 levels by 2020.

http://www.france24.com/en/20100128-us-affirms-climate-goals-un

Antarctic glaciers’ tipping points could be looming closer

A new study from a team of British scientists collaborating from Oxford and Cambridge Universities has found that global warming related changes to aspects of Antarctic glaciers known as grounding lines are speeding ice sheet disintegration, which in is forecast to bring significant global sea level rise.

Noting that in 2004, Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier was already melting 25% faster than 30 years previously, the researchers state that this glacier likely passed a tipping point in 1996. If the same happens to neighboring Thwaite’s Glacier, the world could easily be facing increased sea levels of 52 centimeters.

Lead author Dr. Richard Katz of Oxford University's Department of Earth Sciences cautioned of a further disintegration, that of the entire Western Antarctic shelf, as he stated, “The volume of ice locked up in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is equivalent to a sea level rise of around 3.3 meters.

Our model shows how instability in the grounding line, caused by gradual climatic changes, has the potential to reach a 'tipping point' where disintegration of the ice sheet could occur.

He concluded by saying, “We should be concerned about tipping points in West Antarctica and we should do a lot more work to investigate.”

Dr. Katz and all collaborating scientists at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, we appreciate your insights into the impact of global warming on the ice sheets of the Antarctic. May humanity realize now the growing urgency of our situation and adopt lifestyles that save our planet. Concerned for the welfare of all beings,
Supreme Master Ching Hai once again spoke of the the crisis of our warming Earth as well as the way to avert it during an August 2008 videoconference with our Association members in Canada.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: 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 vegan. If the ice melts quicker, then, of course, we have shorter time to save the planet.

But nevertheless because people are joining the vegan diet, we still can manage to save the world.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100116103350.htm
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0114-hance_antglacier.html

Community teams up to save stranded whales

In response to a pod of 50 pilot whales that were found beached in Banks Peninsula on New Zealand’s South Island, some 80 community members, including holiday visitors, worked to save the whales and return them to the ocean waters.

Although 15 of the mothers and calves did not survive, 35 were successfully restored, thanks to the help of the community volunteers who were led by the marine-mammal rescue organization, Project Jonah.

The reason for the strandings, which have increased over time, is not completely known. However, scientists have suggested that global warming’s effect on the complex ocean environment is a factor.

We are saddened to know that mothers and babies lost their lives but thankful to Project Jonah and all rescuers for their tireless efforts to save the pod. May our greater consideration for the delicate marine environment allow the whales to continue gracing our world with their loving presence.

In response to a question about whale stranding during a 2008 videoconference with our Association members in Thailand, Supreme Master Ching Hai shared a deeper perspective on this behavior and its connection to humanity’s wider impact on the environment

Q (m): We have been seeing dolphins and whales stranding themselves in many places throughout the world, more often in the past few years. Are these events related to the global warming?

And are these animals trying to tell humans something?

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Yes, yes. They have been telling us a long time already, but very few listen. Poor souls. What suffering they must have endured, due to our carelessness and unkind habits.

Let’s hope the humans will develop more spiritually and understand the needs of the animals, and give them love and respect as they deserve. I hope the humans wake up soon. For their own sake even, and the animals’ sake.

If we just stop meat eating, stop killing animals for food, then 80% global warming gas pollution will disappear. And we will live in peace, health, happiness, and long life again.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/mass-burial-held-stranded-whales-3341231
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/3258074/50-whales-saved-15-die-as-port-rescue-pays-off
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/24/AR2010012400497.html
http://www.greenfudge.org/2010/01/24/48-pilot-whales-stranded-along-new-zealand-33-of-them-saved/
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2010/01/24/Whales-die-after-New-Zealand-beaching/UPI-94681264383595/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/3260515/Whales-taken-to-final-resting-place

International media, CCTV reports on “Eating for a low-carbon world”

On China Central Television (CCTV-9), news journalist Wang Mangmang is host of a program series called “My Low Carbon Life” and reported recently how being veg is catching on in China as a way to curb climate change.

She went on to say that this trend is actually being set by the younger generation. Dong Ziyang, manager of the organic vegetarian Jintai Catering Club said, “The average age of our customers is under 33 years old...

Young people are more environmentally aware and more open to new ideas.” The journalist also cited the United Nations report on animal agriculture generating more greenhouse gases than all the transportation in the world combined, and concerns about livestock being the cause of environmental desertification and deforestation.

She stated, “As more and more people strive for a low-carbon lifestyle, the climate-diet equation is becoming more prominent.”

Our appreciation and applause, journalist Wang Mangmang and CCTV for sharing the eco-statement being made by the low-carbon diet.

Blessed be such programs as yours in benefiting many viewers as well as the animals and our Earth. Speaking during a May 2009 videoconference in Togo, Supreme Master Ching Hai highlighted the key role of the younger generation in being good stewards for the environment.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: I’m happy to see young people especially involved in endeavors like this, which contributes to human health and also the planet.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: They are also often the most open-minded people. They are intelligent, they are easy, they are an impressionable and honest group of people.

Once they make a connection of global warming to their lives, they may really decide to do something.

Especially if they understand that what they do can truly make a difference, they may be the first ones to take action.

They can be true heroes, by being vegan and spread the news of this solution. They can save lives, including their own, but also of people all over the world, and countless animal lives around the world.

The young people are oftentimes the most ready to change their lifestyle if they see a reason for it. Their age group is also, in many cases, the first one to see that veganism is good, it is correct.

http://english.cctv.com/program/newshour/20100121/103665.shtml

UK’s Environmental Secretary calls for action to protect biodiversity

In an article written for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s online News, Right Honorable Hilary Benn, Member of Parliament and UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs cautioned that biodiversity worldwide is reaching a point of irreversible loss.

Highlighting the interdependence between human activities and ecological systems, he warned that deforestation, overfishing, and other environmental abuse is impacting sustainability on all levels.

Secretary Benn stated, “…Our ecosystems also sustain us and our economies – purifying our drinking water, producing our food and regulating our climate. Climate change and biodiversity are inextricably linked.

We ignore (such) natural capital at our peril.” His Excellency concluded by urging for continued protective measures with close monitoring for effectiveness, saying that the time to act is now.

Our earnest appreciation, Your Excellency Hilary Benn, for bringing attention to the vital safeguarding of Earth’s biodiversity. Let us be quickly motivated to work together in saving our irreplaceable planet and co-inhabitants.

Concerned for our global welfare, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often emphasized the need to act to protect all beings on Earth, as during July 2008 Heart-Touch Tour videoconference in Formosa (Taiwan).

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Up to now, we have lost so many, not just marine life, but land species. They disappear faster than we can imagine. They suffer a lot, they die, or they completely disappear because of our careless management of the world.

And we just feel like it doesn’t concern us or that we are not responsible for their plight, for the death and disappearance of our precious co-inhabitants. But the fact is that we are responsible.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We have to stop the harmful effect of meat consumption, then we will see a happy, sufficient and satisfied world manifest in front of our eyes in a matter of weeks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8461727.stm
http://www.hilarybennmp.com/41c571d4-9a4c-85c4-3104-a7b2af04423e
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8467746.stm
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/
http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2010/01/biodiversity_year.html