UK government supports reducing meat for the planet and human health

Following a year’s investigation by 55 scientists in nine countries,the report “Public Health Benefits of Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse-gas Emissions” was published in the prestigious British medical journal the Lancet. It concluded that reducing livestock production by consuming fewer animal products would provide the greatest benefit for reducing emissions, improving health, and containing climate change mitigation costs.

The new report, which described the health benefits of various global warming mitigation strategies, including lifestyle changes, was officially endorsed during a launch event in the United Kingdom by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and leaders of the World Health Organization, the UK Department of Health and Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the US Department of Health. Supreme Master Television spoke with lead author Professor Sir Andrew Haines, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Professor Sir Andrew Haines – Director of London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK (M): You can't ignore the food and agricultural sector if you're serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions quite dramatically, which is what we know has to be done. So we look first of all at the potential for technological change. Could it all be done just by improving technology of farming? And we concluded that that would be not sufficient.

VOICE: The report found that a 30% reduction in the number of livestock animals had the benefit of reaching 50% greenhouse gas reduction goals by 2030 and improving overall health. In particular, heart disease rates alone would be reduced by 15%, saving 18,000 lives in the UK per year from the country's #1 killer.

Sir Andrew Haines (M): Since we already consume sufficient nutritional content from the Western diet, we can quite safely reduce our saturated fat consumption by let’s say, 30%.
There's many people who don't consume very much animal products and meat and other animal products, some who are purely vegetarian and vegan, and all these different dietary patterns are compatible with a healthy lifestyle.

VOICE: We thank the dedicated world scientists and The Lancet medical journal for this very important study integrating climate change and health. We also laud the British government and United Nations officials for supporting this call to global action in reducing meat production and consumption.

May world citizens enjoy the multifold benefits of a plant-based diet including longevity, vitality, and above all, a saved planetary abode. Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently discussed the effective role of governments in reducing global warming, as in an interview published in the September 2009 edition of the British Parliament's The House Magazine.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: The government can support organic vegan farming through subsidies. They can also redirect the funds away from the meat industries and instead toward encouraging citizens to plant, to buy and to choose organic vegan food. And when they do, we will soon have a lot of healthy, happy, productive people, a restored green environment, and minimum climate mitigation costs – something all governments can look forward to and gain the enthusiastic support of all citizens.

Media reports on major greenhouse gas and livestock source

On November 16, a climate change conference was held in Orizaba, a city located in a fertile valley in Veracruz, Mexico. Titled “SOS – A Quick Action to Stop Global Warming,” the conference was hosted by the Veracruz state government, who specially invited Supreme Master Ching Hai as the honored guest to elaborate on practical ways to address climate change, especially relating to Mexico.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Livestock is the #1 source of global warming worldwide. And a primary greenhouse gas, methane, is generated by livestock. One study in Mexico found that livestock was responsible for 97% of the country’s agricultural methane! So, I repeat: The number one source of global warming is from our consumption, killing of all the cows, pigs, chickens, sheep, eggs, dairy. This, along with the killing of billions of beautiful fish for food, is what causes the most climate-related trouble for our planet.

VOICE: The videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai was discussed with much interest by major Mexican media, even prior to the conference. Mexico’s second largest newspaper, “La Jornada Veracruz,” published an article titled “Alarming Levels of Pollution,” also reflecting methane’s primary role in global warming:

“The high emission of CO2 as well as methane and their combination in the atmosphere, besides bringing about serious environmental impacts, are accelerating the process of climatic change. Even if we continue with this polluting trend, in a period of not more than 20 years the land would be facing serious climate changes, some of these metamorphoses are even already registered at present.”
http://www.jornadaveracruz.com.mx/Noticia.aspx?ID=091113_203943_700&id_seccion=0

Supreme Master Ching Hai: So the solution is very simple. We just have to turn away from the animal products. We stop eating meat, dairy, eggs, fish. If everyone does this, we will have a transformed world in no time. It really is that easy.

VOICE: We thank “La Jornada Veracruz” and other media, as well as the Veracruz government, for doing their part to spread this vital information. We also appreciate Supreme Master Ching Hai for her thoughts shared with the Mexican people and all world citizens. Blessed be every endeavor that leads to the swiftest, strongest actions to save our planet.

Fish farming destroys important carbon sinks

Coastal habitats, such as mangroves, sea grasses and salt marshes are being cleared at a rapid rate for shrimp farms as well as agriculture and other forms of human development. Now a new study by Dr. Emily Pidgeon, Director of the Conservation International’s Marine Climate Change advocates for the immediate preservation of these vanishing habitats, due to their ability to sequester as much as 50 times the amount of carbon as tropical forests.

Dr. Pidgeon explained that unlike forests, which store carbon primarily in the living flora, plants in salt marshes are very efficient at burying carbon in the soil itself so that it is not released when the plant dies and can remain underground for thousands of years.

She stated, “The simple implication of this is that the long-term sequestration of carbon by one square kilometer of mangrove area is equivalent to that occurring in fifty square kilometers of tropical forest.”

Dr. Pidgeon and colleagues at Conservation International, many thanks for shedding further light on the value of our coastal ecosystems. Let us all strive to tread more lightly and preserve nature’s balance.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has long highlighted the need for humanity’s greater protection of our marine environment, 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://news.mongabay.com/2009/1117-hance_coastalveg.html

Earth on path to warm by a disastrous 6 degrees Celsius

A comprehensive new study by the Global Carbon Project (GCP) indicates that between 2000 and 2008, atmospheric carbon emissions rose by an alarming 29%.

If continued, humanity will face a temperature increase of 6 degrees Celsius by as early as this century. The findings of this study were corroborated by a report from the United Kingdom’s Met Office, funded by the European Commission, which also forecasts steep temperature increases for Europe that would impact food production, industry and direct human survival.

Forecasts include sweltering summer heat waves that could kill thousands as they did in 2003, along with staple crops that would succumb to pests or simply not grow. Floods and extreme storms would continue to increase, with physical and mental health costs along with their financial burden.

Furthermore, in the Arctic region, temperatures could rise by up to 10 degrees Celsius, causing massive permafrost melt and release of greenhouse gases that would easily trigger unstoppable global warming.

Leading scientists of both studies emphasized that this devastating potential is another signal of the need for strong commitments from world leaders at the coming Copenhagen climate conference.

Our heartfelt appreciation, Global Carbon Project, Met Office, and European Commission for these real and important forecasts that could seriously affect us all. May government leaders and co-citizens hasten to halt the worst scenarios by making the most effective lifestyle choices today. In a September 2009 videoconference with environmental and health experts in South Korea, Supreme Master Ching Hai reiterated her reassurance that disastrous climate changes are avoidable and, through right actions, even reparable.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: I would say that the most serious one is the frightening prospect of runaway global warming, the frightening aspect that nations will not do enough to stop it. This irreversible effect, we want to avoid at all costs, especially since it may not be as far away as we would like to think.

But I would say the most hopeful is that more and more people are becoming aware of the real solution, which is to be veg. The more people who eliminate meat and, indeed, all animal products from their lives, the more we have a chance to save the planet and not only that, to actually restore our Earthly home to her original grace and beauty and even more so, more beautiful, more abundant, more peace, more gladness than what we have known up to now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8364926.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/6585444/Global-warming-will-bring-killer-heat-floods-and-storms-to-Britain.html

Bangkok, Thailand faced with serious threat of rising waters

This city of 10 million people, already prone to flooding, is one of 20 major urban regions named by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as being vulnerable to submergence from climate change caused rising sea levels.

Most recently, research conducted by the Asian Institute of Technology shows that Bangkok along with 30 other Thai provinces could be devastated in the next 50 years. Many families are already suffering from these effects and have been forced to relocate frequently.

Thai citizen Khamron Deedok, who has moved four times, said, "My original house was a few kilometers away from the sea. Each time we have to move, it's with great sadness but we are also happy that we are then safe from the storms. Then we move again. It is an endless cycle.”

Affirming the situation’s urgency, Professor Thanawat Jarupongsakul of Chulalongkom University stated, “The effects of climate change have come very close to our society, so there's no time to discuss whether it's real or not… It's time now to … act.”

We thank Professor Jarupongsakul, the Asian Institute of Technology and other researchers for this valuable information. Our prayers for the safety of the Thai people as well as other residents of the world’s threatened coastal regions. May we all protect ourselves from these changes by quickly adopting lifestyles in harmony with our ecosphere.

Supreme Master Ching Hai, who often reminds of the increasingly urgent state of our planet, spoke once more of the changes we must make to avoid disaster during an interview published in the September 2009 edition of The House Magazine.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: It’s too serious. These are people forced from their homes and communities due to rising sea levels and a host of other natural disasters, so-called natural disasters, but in fact these are all man-made. Sea level rise, for example, threatens half of the world's population living within 200 kilometers of a coastline. These situations will only worsen, not improve, until we stop the cause. This means to halt the livestock production and meat consumption.

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8344311.stm
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-17-voa6.cfm
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/27596/rising-seas-threaten-nation http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=12844

Warming climate causes jellyfish numbers to rise

Scientists at Canada’s University of British Columbia say that global warming is causing 2,000 different jellyfish species to appear earlier each year as well as expand their ocean range and overall populations.
This proliferation is causing problems for the operation of seaside power and desalination plants in Japan, the Middle East and Africa, as well as the enjoyment of beaches around the world.

Warming waters are being cited as a main reason for the overgrowth, along with human-caused water pollution from sources such as livestock that boosts plankton, which is a food source for the jellyfish.
Overfishing has also removed natural jellyfish predators and is thus another factor in their growing numbers. Researcher Lucas Brotz stated, “These increases should be a warning sign that our oceans are stressed and unhealthy.”

Many thanks, scientist Brotz and University of British Columbia colleagues, for this further evidence of our disturbed marine environments. Let us quickly step toward meaningful actions to reverse climate change so that the health of oceans and our planet can be restored. Supreme Master Ching Hai has often addressed the precarious state of our ecosystems, as during a May 2009 conference in Togo, as well as the actions we can take to help.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: If we say that the ocean ecosystems are dependent on fish populations to be balanced, then those ecosystems are extremely imbalanced right now.

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.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/TechandScience/Story/STIStory_454991.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wirestory?id=9093818&page=1

Chief Executive Officer Magazine publishes interview with Supreme Master Ching Hai

On November 23, Chief Executive Officer Magazine’s November 2009 edition will present a discussion with Supreme Master Ching Hai on solutions to the urgent matter of climate change, also regarded as a highly important issue by the business world today.

After the interview was originally published in the September 18, 2009 British Parliament’s The House Magazine and again in the European Parliament Magazine's September 2009 issue, Chief Executive Officer Magazine invited the further publishing of Supreme Master Ching Hai’s message to reach a global corporate audience.

With a readership that includes nearly 12,000 of the world’s most successful top-level company executives along with 25,000 email subscribers, the Magazine provides up-to-date information as well as in-depth perspectives contributed by respected fellow business leaders.

The November 2009 issue, which contains editorials from chief executive officers (CEOs) of Virgin Media and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will feature Supreme Master Ching Hai's remarks about animal agriculture as the main cause of climate change along with the vital benefits and savings of the organic vegan solution.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: By turning to the virtuous, compassionate diet of vegan alone, they would generate such a positive, constructive energy. This new loving power could even stop the effects of climate change and open up people’s innovative thought to solve all manner of economical, social, and technological problems. And every country, whether developed or developing, will flourish in ways beyond our imagination.

VOICE: Following its November 23 distribution, the magazine will also be available for the public to read online at www.The-ChiefExecutive.com.

Our thanks, Chief Executive Officer Magazine, for your work in bringing relevant and timely information to your distinguished readers. We join in appreciation of the views shared by Supreme Master Ching Hai, which have helped groups and individuals better understand our choices for humankind and the planet.
May companies worldwide quickly direct their strengths toward charting the most sustainable course possible for our future.

Climate change already jeopardizing food security

During the recent three-day United Nations World Food Summit from November 17 to 19, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization announced that over 1.2 billion people, or one-sixth of the global human population, are starving due to regional conflict, global financial crisis, rising energy prices and food costs.

Addressing the assembly, UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon emphasized that food security depends on reversing global warming, and that water shortages are already becoming one of its earliest and most visible consequences. Along with Africa, Asia, and Latin America, which are expected to see agricultural declines of up to 40% as temperatures rise above 2 degrees Celsius, the Yangtze River Basin, which supports a third of China’s total population, is also likely to experience more extreme weather.

In addition, it is estimated that over 20 million East Africans are already in desperate need of emergency food following conflict and droughts. Secretary General Ban warned, “In many parts of the world, water supplies are declining, agricultural land is drying out. We must make significant changes to feed ourselves, and most especially to safeguard the poorest and most vulnerable.”
Ban Ki-Moon: There can be no food security without climate security. That is why next month in Copenhagen we need a comprehensive agreement that will provide a firm foundation for a legally binding treaty on climate change.

Pope Benedict XVI: The preservation of the environment is a modern challenge to guarantee a harmonious development that respects the plan of God the Creator and hence can preserve the planet.
If all of humankind is called to be conscious of its own responsibilities towards future generations, it's also true that the duty to protect the environment is the responsibility of states and international organizations.

Secretary General Ban, United Nations and all participating leaders, we are thankful for your concern for the welfare of people around the world. Indeed, may all of humanity quickly adopt the most sustainable solution to world hunger and climate change alike: the organic vegan diet. Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently
highlighted meat production as the aggravating factor behind both resource scarcity and global warming, as in a July 2008 videoconference with climate and other experts in California, USA.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: For the grain that we use for livestock, we can feed 2 billion people.
what kind of world we are living in and what kind of policy we are following and what kind of kindness we are doing to ourselves and our fellow beings, not to talk about animals yet.

God has created enough water for us, enough food for us to last even forever, if we but know how to stop abusing the Earth’s resources and her sustenance. We should not kill our fellow beings to satisfy our greed. This is the main point of planetary problems right now – our over spending of our moral merit and world resources. And stop meat eating is the main solution to save the planet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8361770.stm,
http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2009/world/news-food-security-and-climate-change-are-deeply-
interconnected-un-secretary-general-says/
http://english.cctv.com/program/worldwidewatch/20091117/101260.shtml
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/11/18/worldupdates
/2009-11-18T004135Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-440285-1&sec=Worldupdates
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=111509§ionid=3510212, http://www.france24.com/en/node/4927469
http://www.france24.com/en/node/4927502
http://www.reuters.com/article/swissMktRpt/idUSLH70163320091117?sp=true

China’s lakes are disappearing

Experts report that more than 1,000 lakes have vanished in the past 50 years, with an average of 20 that are now drying up annually. In Hubei province, once known as the land of 1000 lakes, only 34% of the total water area remains. In addition, more than 80% of the lakes along lower Yangtze River are affected by excessive algae growth, a condition associated with nitrogen runoff from livestock manure and pesticides that suffocates aquatic life. Although the government has allocated funds for clean-up, the researchers are advocating a halt to the discharge of such pollutants, including livestock production. Our appreciation, all Chinese scientists for alerting us to this disturbing change drying and pollution of the Earth's precious water bodies.

Let us quickly change this picture by switching to sustainable lifestyles that include the Earth-renewing organic plant-based diet. Supreme Master Ching Hai has often addressed these planet-wide tolls while highlighting the effective and necessary solution, as during an August 2009 videoconference in Thailand.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Many tens of thousands of rivers and great lakes are dying, dead, gone or going. And I don’t know how many more we must wait for to die in order for us to wake up.
The leaders of the nations must do something. The people of all nations must do something. We have to do something to avoid the tragedy that is already happening to billions of other people.

There are one billion people hungry already because of climate change, and short of water and food. And three billion people are short of water. Just be veg. Stop the meat, dairy, fish industry.
Be benevolent. Create a merciful energy that will envelop our world, that will emit mercy, love, protection for us and our children on this planet. Please take action now.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/china-lost-1000-lakes-in-50-years-
says-expert_100269542.html
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/04/content_12385612.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/03/content_12375799.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/currency-converter/#from=CNY;to=USD;amt=14500000

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

A call for mercy toward all beings

At a recent event in Orizaba, Mexico, issues of animal cruelty and climate change were the focus as Veracruz state government dignitaries and citizens gathered in the wish to do their part to halt global warming.
Invited by the Veracruz state government, Supreme Master Ching Hai shared her thoughts via videoconference on the effectiveness of showing compassion for other lives by not eating meat in achieving the urgently needed care of all of nature.

To honor the efforts of Supreme Master Ching Hai and the international association that developed around her example of service, Mr Alonso Domínguez Ferráez, Coordinator of Environment of the State of Veracruz, presented our Association with a certificate of appreciation.

It read:(in Spanish)

“The State of Veracruz, through the Office of General Coordination for the Environment, hereby grants this Award to the Supreme Master Ching Hai [International] Association for its valuable contribution in raising awareness to reduce the effects of climate change though the conference “SOS: A Quick Action to Stop Global Warming.”

Lic. Alonso Domínguez Ferráez General Coordinator for the Environment Orizaba, Veracruz,
November 16, 2009

VOICE: During the conference, Supreme Master Ching Hai emphasized that halting the livestock industry would not only reduce greenhouse gases, but would reward humanity through a peaceful co-existence with other animals on Earth.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Cows, pigs, chickens, fish, etc. are no different from our beloved animal companions. Perhaps people would do differently if they could just see their piece of meat for what it is, as real beings who had a strong will to live in dignity but had to die in anguish.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: There are many stories in the news about cows who ran away to escape being slaughtered. There was one such case of a cow who was seen in the streets of New York City even, because she escaped.

And one of the animal control staffs was so moved by the cow’s plight, she became vegetarian on the spot. This cow was no different nor special compared to the rest of the thousands of her kind, murdered every day for meat.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Because people are so misinformed, that’s why we do what we did. But from now on, if we are informed and if we want to save the planet, we have to stop killing any animals at all.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We have lived so long with them on this planet; it’s about time that we should get to know them, make friends with them for the wonderful, respected and noble beings that they are.

Thank you for being concerned. God bless you.

VOICE: Our appreciation, respected state government officials and dignitaries, as well as conference participants for your open hearts. We are thankful to Supreme Master Ching Hai, who continues to support the restoration of the Earth’s biosphere. May we all choose the compassionate organic vegan diet that
will beget the protection most needed at this crucial time.Please tune in to Supreme Master Television’s Words of Wisdom for the full rebroadcast of this live event at a later date, with multi-language subtitles.

Nitrogen must be curbed for the health of the planet

A series of recent studies show that excessive levels of nitrogen are contaminating the Earth’s soil, waters and atmosphere, which in turn is endangering ecosystems.
Behind the dangerous increase in nitrogen levels are factors that include rising livestock populations, with farmed animals emitting 67% of the human-generated greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. This gas is nearly 300 times more heat trapping than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Another major source of nitrogen is chemical fertilizers, which also go to crops that feed livestock.

Scientists have recommended that the levels of human-caused nitrogen be reduced by 75%, which would require an overhaul of the world’s agriculture system. Our sincere thanks all scientists for raising awareness of the perilously high levels of nitrogen and their source.

Let us all heed the warning and contribute to our planet’s immediate health by choosing plant-based organic foods. Supreme Master Ching Hai has long highlighted the need to foster compassionate lifestyles to reverse such damaging consequences, as during a May 2009 climate change videoconference in Togo.

Supreme Master Ching Hai:The biggest thing is to forgo all animal products, whatsoever, and spread the message to as many people as possible that this is the solution So, the reason on the physical level is to stop methane and nitrous oxide, the two gases that are produced by livestock raising. the animals that are raised for meat are producing more greenhouse gases than all the worldwide transportation combined.

Supreme Master Ching Hai:If we eliminate meat from our diet, global warming is reduced very quickly by a tremendous amount, if not the most of it. If everyone becomes vegan, stops raising more animals for food and, instead, growing organic vegetables, our Earth and the environment can be saved, and as quick as we
could not even imagine – in a few weeks.

http://www.e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2207
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/asu-ans110309.php

On the power of simple choices

As the world’s meat consumption levels doubled since the 1960s, so did the demand for a solution to the deplorable environmental harms of the farmed animal industry.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization had projected in 2006 that concerns would range over time from lesser to more serious issues such as pollution, climate change and loss of biodiversity.
Dignitaries gathered at the November 16 international conference in Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico, addressed these already gravest concerns as they spoke to the theme of “SOS – A Quick Action to Stop Global Warming.”

In a speech, His Excellency Mr. Alonso Domínguez Ferráez, Coordinator of Environment of the State of Veracruz, emphasized the importance of consumers’ lifestyle choices to overcoming global warming.

His Excellency Mr. Alonso Domínguez Ferráez, Coordinator of Environment of the State of Veracruz, Mexico (M): An ecological or environmental view of the economy allows us to discard this pseudo-theory that reducing material and energy consumption implies a decrease in well-being. I invite all of you to begin
to act: Let’s change our consumption habits, our eating and purchasing habits and lifestyles, for ways that help us win our battle against climate change.

VOICE: Upon the invitation of Environment Coordinator Domínguez Ferráez’s and the request of the Mexican government, honored guest Supreme Master Ching Hai shared her perspectives via videoconference.
She spoke in particular about overcoming obstacles, such as the meat industry’s strong lobbying practices, to make the needed dietary shift away from animal products.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: It has been well hidden from our view, the truth about the cruelty and damages of animal raising to our health and our planet. And the products that come out of the factories destroy our health, in many ways: like Type 2 diabetes, which, by the way, is the number one cause of death in Mexico, obesity, cancer etc, etc. The list goes on.

But, even though the corporate entities are politically powerful, we have many effective tools to achieve what we need, that is, animal-free food production and animal-free consumption. And no one can prevent us doing what’s right for our lives and that of our planet. We just stop using, eating, buying animal products, then these corporates will just disappear, in no time. So, the power is in our hands.

VOICE: We thank Mr. Domínguez Ferráez, Veracruz state and the Mexican government as well as all other participants of this conference, for your voiced concern and efforts. We extend our appreciation to Supreme Master Ching Hai, for imbuing humankind with the courage we need to use our greatest power of free choice. May all faithful world citizens make the choice for life and love by quickly becoming organic vegans.

US and China agree to encourage climate change accord in Copenhagen

As part of his first state tour of Asia, United States President Barack Obama visited China, where he met on Tuesday, November 17 with President Hu Jintao and discussed goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Obama: The United States and China are the world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases that is causing the planet to warm.

Obama: Between myself and President Hu, the United States and China can show leadership. Because I will tell you, other countries around the world will be waiting for us. They will watch to see what we do. And if they say, ah, you know, the United States and China, they're not serious about this, then they won't be serious either. That is the burden of leadership that both of our countries now carry.

And my hope is, is that the more discussion and dialogue that we have, the more we are able to show this leadership to the world on these many critical issues. Obama: Truly, this is a nation that encompasses both a rich history and a belief in the promise of the future.

The two leaders concurred on their commitment to a comprehensive plan at the December United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen. Both presidents also agreed on a settlement in Denmark that would require set emission goals for industrialized nations along with assistance for developing countries in adapting to climate change.

President Obama stated, “Our aim… in support of what Prime Minister Rasmussen of Denmark is trying to achieve, is not a partial accord or a political declaration, but rather an accord that covers all of the issues in the negotiations and one that has immediate operational effect.” Their two heads of state also signed
cooperative agreements in low-carbon technology and spoke of other matters such as trade, Tibet, human rights and Iran.

President Hu later described their discussions as "candid, constructive and very fruitful." On Wednesday, the last day of his visit, President Obama went to the legendary Great Wall, where he reflected on his admiration for the Chinese civilization and the ancient history of the people.

Our respectful accolades, Your Excellencies, on your cordial meeting and shared commitment toward an effective plan to halt climate change. Wishing your countries flourishing relations as all world leaders come together in making wise and compassionate decisions to save our planet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/world/asia/19wall.html¸
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/17/barack-obama-hu-jintao-climate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091117/ap_on_bi_ge/climate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/17/AR2009111701090.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33979715/ns/politics-white_house/page/2/

Climate change hits close to home

On November 16, an international conference was held for the second time in the nation’s beautiful state of Veracruz, this time in Orizaba, known as the “Region of the High Mountains.”

Here, participants gathered with a united purpose for the special event entitled “SOS – A Quick Action to Stop Global Warming.” Distinguished guest speakers included the Honorable Juan Manuel Diez Francos, Mayor of Orizaba; His Excellency Mr. Alonso Domínguez Ferráez, Coordinator of Environment of the State of Veracruz; Engineer Nelba Villagran, vegan professor and President of the College of Nutrition of Chile; Mrs. Eva Quistorp, co-founder of the German Green Party and former Vice Chairwoman of the Greens in the European Parliament, and environmental geographer Mr. Edgar Espinoza Cisneros.

Also, broadcasting live to Mexican listeners were top radio stations: “XETQ La Q Internacional” at 850 AM; “XEOV La Picosa” at 1240 AM; “XEDZ Radio Ondas” at 580 AM; “XHPG Nova” at 92.1 FM, and Radio Orizaba SA, as well as Supreme Master Television, which was airing the event worldwide.

Speaking via videoconference for the fourth time at the request of the Mexican government was guest of honor Supreme Master Ching Hai, who had been invited to this seminar by Environment Coordinator Ferráez to discuss ways that humanity could save the planet from the urgent situation that is affecting all lives.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: So, climate change is not an abstract concept at all. It is here and now, affecting our neighbors, affecting us and more and more next.

Children will suffer. And mothers and fathers will suffer, upon suddenly losing their livelihoods, losing their loved ones, losing their dignity and happiness, and all might vanish overnight.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: It causes up to 900,000 of your fellow city persons to have to leave their homes every year, with many going to seek better livelihoods in the United States, if they can find it.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: And please remember, the #1 cause behind it all is: animal agriculture. People have to be informed, fast.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Besides the adverse effects that livestock production has on the planet, the consumption of meat is also destructive to our health. We are talking about the health of individuals and their loved ones. Furthermore, the cruelty of the meat industry brings another type of disease: food-borne bacterial infections. Due to the extremely filthy conditions of the meat processing plants, that the excrement of the animals is not cleaned and remains on the flesh through processing.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: And another health crisis that has been born through livestock is swine flu.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: However, the good news is that the way to end all this is truly even more real and quickly manifested than the problem itself. Because each and every person can do something significant to stop global warming. And you know already what that is, right? The vegan diet.

VOICE: We are grateful to the respected government officials and dignitaries, as well as all participants of this conference, for coming together in concern for the planet. Our thanks also goes to Supreme Master Ching Hai, for her encouragement toward each individual doing their part in halting climate change. May such inspiring
gatherings spark a global adoption of the organic vegan lifestyle for the blossoming welfare of all beings.Please tune in to Supreme Master Television’s Words of Wisdom for the full rebroadcast of this live event at a later date, with multi-language subtitles.

French actress Brigitte Bardot calls for European Vegetarian Day

In an open letter dated November 2009, celebrated French actress and animal rights group founder Ms. Brigitte Bardot addressed European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, urging the European Union to highlight meat production's serious impact on global warming and prioritize discussion of the issue in December's climate summit in Denmark.

In the letter, which was also endorsed by more than 100 organizations worldwide, she also called for a “European Vegetarian Day.” During a telephone interview with Supreme Master Television, Ms. Bardot explained her concern about livestock industry harms to the environment.

Brigitte Bardot – President of Fondation Brigitte Bardot, legendary French actress, Vegetarian (F): Because livestock raising, either on pastures or in batteries or industrial breeding, emits more greenhouse gases than those produced by transportation, all categories: car, train, etc., airplane and all that.
The World Bank has shown that 90% of the deforestation in the Amazon is related to the meat industry. So that’s really something terrible and it has impacts on the global warming which preoccupies us enormously today.

Supreme Master TV (M): So if you have a message to convey, what would it be?
Brigitte Bardot (f): Be veg. Go green. Save the planet. And your life will have meant something.

VOICE: Our appreciation and support Ms. Bardot for your deeply caring heart for our planet and animal co-inhabitants. We join in the plea for peace between humans and the environment and all fellow creatures so that indeed we may have a meaningful, worthwhile future. The essential need to halt animal farming in favor of
the planet-saving vegan lifestyle has often been mentioned by Supreme Master Ching Hai, as during an August 2009 videoconference in Thailand.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: If they are truly the leaders that pledge to protect their people, to improve their country in many aspects, then this is the first step we have to do. Stop the meat industry, stop the fish industry, stop the dairy industry, then our planet will be the way it was and even better. This, I can promise.
Otherwise, the year 2012, 2013, 2014, we will never know what will happen to us if we do not do the right thing.
And right now, to save the planet, there is only one way to stop the cause - that is the animal industry, by all means, in all aspects.Very simple, just be veg. Just be veg is truly enough for now. And it will be enough for a long future to come.

http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=49886&lang=en
http://vegetarianstar.com/2009/09/28/nicolas-sarkozy-asked-to-initiate-vegetarian-day-in-france/
http://www.france24.com/en/20090927-bardot-turns-75-with-new-turn-spotlight
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article1072649.ece

British climate chief speaks up for the veg climate solution in India

During an interview with Indian newspaper Financial Express, British climate economist Lord Nicholas Stern voiced his encouragement for the meat-free lifestyle as a viable climate solution, stating, “A vegetarian diet is climate friendly. It’s less carbon intensive. Though eating food is a matter of personal choice, it is desirable to help people make informed decisions.”

While in India, Lord Stern was delivering a lecture on “Building an Equitable Agreement on Climate Change.” Lord Stern is joining several other notable leaders in voicing support for the climate benefits of a vegetarian diet. These include United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairman Dr. Rajendra Pachauri; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change chief Yvo de Boer, and British former Beatles member, Sir Paul McCartney.

Lord Stern and all other noble voices, our accolades and admiration for encouraging the public to consider food choices as an integral part of an eco-friendly lifestyle. May we all be inspired toward adoption of the plant-based diet, for our planet and our future.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has long been a tireless advocate for the world-saving organic vegan diet, as in an interview with The House Magazine for the September 2009 edition.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: I wish I could find another solution, but all the evidence doesn’t favor any other solution except the vegan diet, and then we can have other solutions when we have more time We have only a few years now, and we don’t know what comes yet even. Now it’s the swine flu, but what else? I don’t want to know. I don’t have any other solution Be green is just by the way. Be veg is the only, the main, the 90% solution.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Vegetarianism--the-mantra-to-overcome-climate-change-
challenges/539753/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2008/06/is_it_time_to_turn_vegetarian.html

Global warming and El Niño impacting South American monkeys

Wishing to better understand the impact of climate change on tropical monkeys, US scientists studied the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the weather patterns that are worsening with global warming. They selected four representative species, all of which are highly threatened: the muriqui of Brazil,(Brachyteles hypoxanthus)
Colombia’s woolly monkey (Lagothrix lagotricha), Geoffroy's spider monkey in Panama,(Ateles geoffroyi) and the red howler monkey in Venezuela.

(Alouatta seniculus) Associate Professor of Biology, Dr. Eric Post (NFT: PhD) and Ecology graduate student Ms. Ruscena Wiederholt of Pennsylvania State University discovered that all four species showed a decline due to changes in fruit availability because of the extensive variations in climate associated with El Niño fluctuations.

Dr. Post stated, “El Niño events are expected to increase in frequency with global warming. This study suggests that the consequences of such intensification of ENSO could be devastating for several species of New World monkeys.” Their research will be published in the United Kingdom’s Royal Society journal, Biology Letters.

Many thanks, Dr. Post and Ms. Wiederholt for your important findings that highlight the harmful consequences of climate change on our primate relatives and co-inhabitants.Let us quickly adopt compassionate vegan lifestyles to help safeguard the many precious lives of our animal friends.

Concerned for the welfare of all beings facing the dire circumstances of our time, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often emphasized the urgent need for action, as during an August 2008 videoconference with our Association members in Canada.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : They are trying their best to sound the warning bell, warning by disease, and even death en masse, but I don’t know how many of us are listening. They are trying to help us, but we are trying to kill them. It’s a very sad affair. We humans have to do everything we can, not waiting for the animals.
They are already dying, dying, dying. Numerous are dying every day.

So many other signs in nature, so many animal signs, but we have to listen. It’s not the animals. It’s us.
Supreme Master Ching Hai : We just have to remind everybody to be veg and to be kind to the animals. That's the only way we can protect them.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/ps-gwc102309.php
http://www.bio.psu.edu/directory/esp10
http://www.huck.psu.edu/people/rpw143
http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/nino/intro.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/389567/monkey/225158/Old-World-monkeys-versus-
New-World-monkeys
http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/misc/about.xhtml#question1

Impacts of climate change in Madagascar

With three consecutive years of unsuccessful crops, dwindling resources in southern Madagascar have resulted in food insecurity and malnutrition among children. Village chief Valiotaky stated, “When we plant trees, we don't have rain and nothing grows.” By contrast, the country’s northern regions have been inundated with cyclones three times a year.

United Nations World Food Program Deputy Country Director Silvia Caruso said, “Environmental degradation and climate change are building on each other. The results are dramatic in Madagascar.”

Mother in Madagascar (Malagasy Language):I had seeds and planted sweet potatoes. But because there was no rain, they dried up. I noticed my daughter was getting thinner but there was no food and when she got even thinner, I took her to the health center.

Our prayers go to the people of Madagascar for Heaven’s protection and the blessings of more comfortable living conditions. Let us quickly turn to compassionate lifestyles that honor and cherish all beings for the restoration of our shared planetary home. Ever concerned for humanity’s welfare, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressedthe perilous situation facing Africa during a May 2009 videoconference in Togo.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : There are water crises from Sierra Leone to South Africa. Zimbabwe, Somalia, Mauritius, Mozambique, and Sudan – just to name a few – are experiencing worsened droughts that make it difficult to plant crops, thus adding to food shortages and prices rising. Add to this, desertification and deforestation that further degrade the land. Increased temperatures mean erratic rainfall If you’re a farmer, you already can feel that the climate is in trouble.

There are more frequent droughts, heat waves, floods, storms, frosts, freezes, and locusts than before.
If the world becomes vegan as a group, we can remedy the disasters that affect us globally.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: This is something all citizens of the world can do. Be vegan. Be a world-saver.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/23/madagascar-drought

Nations unite for climate action

Led by Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, the first Climate Vulnerable Forum, or V11, was held on Tuesday, November 10 with the leaders of 11 countries present. Acknowledging their susceptibility to global warming effects that include sinking islands, melting glaciers and drought, the 11 nations of Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, the Maldives, Nepal, Rwanda, Tanzania and Âu Lạc (Vietnam), agreed to a proposal that includes an atmospheric carbon goal of 350 parts per million.

This will be presented at the December United Nations Copenhagen summit. They also urged industrialized nations to pledge a percentage of economic profit towards climate action in developing countries, as the V11 members promised themselves to work towards carbon neutrality.

Your Excellencies, we laud your commitment and noble leadership in addressing the urgency of climate change. May your initiatives and goals be fully realized
to save your nationsand our planet.

http://english.cctv.com/program/worldwidewatch/20091111/102455.shtml
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jvR1y8KhwRFXt6P2z5pFaESp8L-QD9BT22CG0 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8354872.stm
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2009/11/11/Vulnerable-nations-for-climate-
change/UPI-79671257972252/

Compassion paves the way to a Golden Era

The climate change conference last Sunday, November 8 in Washington, DC, USA, made important connections between meat production and its consumption to the health of humans and climate change.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75 percent of current infectious diseases in humans began in animals, such as the current pandemic of swine flu, bred in the sordid and inhumane confines of factory farming.

(Speech)Dr. Michael Greger, MD – Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture for the Humane Society of United States, Vegan (M): In this age ofemerging diseases, we now have billions of curly tailed and feathered test tubes for viruses to incubate and mutate within billions more spins at pandemic roulette.
But along with human culpability comes hope. If changes in human behavior can cause new plagues, well then changes in human behavior may prevent them in the future.

VOICE: Along with the production process, meat consumption leads to a range of further illnesses, the leading US killers, as pointed out by Supreme Master Ching Hai, the honored guest at the conference.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Every year, heart disease kills 632,000 Americans. Cancer kills 560,000 Americans. Stroke kills another 130,000 Americans. Diabetes kills 72,000 Americans, just from meat eating.

Who cries for these hundreds of thousands of Americans who die because of that piece of meat? Who cries for those young helpless, innocent little child who die, just because of meat related E. coli, just a few cells of it? So, ladies and gentlemen, meat is the worse killer than any war, don’t you agree?

VOICE: The secret to halting health tragedies while ensuring a sustainable planetary future is simple.

(Speech)Dr. Peter Carter, MD – Founding director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Vegetarian (M): We have to create a compassionate culture as the Dalai Lama and all the spiritual leaders, and indeed, Supreme Master Ching Hai says it’s essential.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : We have to turn back to our caring and compassionate nature inside our heart. Being vegan worldwide is the advancement of compassion that will uplift and unify all cultures, bringing tranquility to humans and animals alike.
The inner peace that comes from replacing killing with respect for all life will spread like a wave across the globe, elevate human hearts, and create a harmonious Eden on Earth. That will bring us all to a lasting Golden Era.

VOICE: Conference participants later shared their thoughts about the discussion with Supreme Master Ching Hai.

Alex Arndt – Singer-songwriter, Vegan (M): Just getting to really look into her eyes today and see her compassion and her emotion was really special for me.
Steve Ma – Founder and president, Live Green, Vegetarian (M): She’s clearly such a positive spirit. She obviously cares so deeply about humanity, about this planet.
Her message is so important and to be a part of that message and contribute in some small way is really an honor.

Former Senator Mike Gravel, USA (M): Supreme Master Ching Hai, thank you for what you are doing, for bringing about this conference, for what you’re doing to try and save the animals of the world, to save the planet, to save the human race. Thank you. You are blessed, and truly, truly we are in your debt.

VOICE: We thank everyone involved in this memorable event. Our deep gratefulness also goes to Supreme Master Ching Hai whose promise of a better future has won hearts and pledges to action.

We pray for all humans and animals to co-exist lovingly and thrive forever in health, dignity, and happiness. Please tune in to Supreme Master Television’s Words of Wisdom for the full rebroadcast of this live event at a later date, with multi-language subtitles.

Climate change refugees: a growing sector

In the coastal village of Moti Danti, the Gujarat state government tried building a 10-foot wall to protect residents from the encroaching sea waters and intensified storm effects. However, a portion of the village remained engulfed by the sea, and hundreds of families have had to flee their homes. Further south along the state’s coastline, rising seas have also eroded the entire road for Kaladra village, forcing hundreds to rebuild further inland.

Meanwhile, up to 10,000 people in the Sundarbans region have been permanently displaced following cyclones, and other villages in Orissa state have completely disappeared due to coastal erosion.

In fact, with global temperatures continuing to increase, sea levels will continue to rise, unleashing extreme weather events and rendering a projected 125 million people in South Asia alone as environmental migrants by century’s end.

We pray for Heaven’s protection and for the climate refugees. Let us quickly take compassionate and sustainable actions to halt climate change for the welfare of brothers and sisters around the world.

Supreme Master Ching Hai, whose humanitarian endeavors include assistance to refugees, further addressed this tragic situation during an interview with Ireland’s East Coast Radio FM in November 2008.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: If we don’t have global warming, then no one would be a climate refugee I ask everyone to please imagine if that were yourself in the refugee’s situation, experiencing all these troubles – insecurities, hunger, lacking all comfort, humiliation, undignified situation, uncertain of the morrows of your future and the future of your helpless children.

Just imagine it. Then try to solve this tragedy by helping in whatever way we can. And above all, and most urgently of all, be veg, go green to save the planet, to prevent such trauma and to build a bright future for the world, for our co-citizens.
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=Ne141109exiled.asp

Prince Philip and British Hindus partner to address climate change

Following the conference last week, which brought together world religious leaders for eco-initiatives that included a shared vegan luncheon, a subsequent discussion was also hosted by His Royal Highness Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh at the United Kingdom’s Windsor Castle. The Prince met with Hindu leaders and United Nations secretary-General Ban ki-Moon to introduce the Bhumi Project,a plan for engaging the global Hindu community in actions to protect the environment.

Prince Philip, husband of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, is partnering with the Hindu leaders in the project, which includes promoting the traditional vegetarian diet as part of the global warming solution.

Your Royal Highness and British Hindu leaders, we laud your green partnership and efforts. Wishing you abundant sustainable success in realizing these noble spiritual and environmental goals.

Reference
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Environment/Global-Warming/Prince-Philip-joins-British-Hindus-to
-fight-climate-change-/articleshow/5207271.cms

Stanford University in California, USA is promoting awareness of animal products’ role in causing climate change by posting signs in student dining halls encouraging meat and dairy reduction certain days of each week.
http://www.stanforddaily.com/cgi-bin/?p=1035403

Restoration efforts including replanting and preservation of nearly 90,000 hectares of forests have resulted in China’s Qinghai Lake increasing in depth by 54 centimeters since 2005.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/04/content_12387632.htm

During discussions with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, US Senator John Kerry pledged that lawmakers would complete a framework of climate change legislation prior to the December meeting in Copenhagen.
http://www.france24.com/en/node/4922261

Redefining the greatness of a nation

During the recent climate change conference in Washington DC, USA, experts on climate change and health shared their views on the importance of mitigating global warming and ways it could be accomplished as quickly as possible.

Dr. Stephen Schneider – Climatologist, Stanford University, USA, UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (M): A major component in the Copenhagen meeting will be trying to get strategies to help us adapt. But remember, we have to adapt to what we can’t prevent, we have to prevent what we can’t adapt to.

VOICE: Some speakers highlighted the wide-scale shift to a plant-based diet as a fast and efficient way to prevent further warming, given that methane emitted by livestock to produce meat traps much more heat than CO2 and also leaves the atmosphere fast – in less than one-tenth the time.

Honored guest Supreme Master Ching Hai contributed ideas on how the government could implement the vegetarian climate solution, pointing out the major health and economic benefits as well.

Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai “Humanity’s Leap into the Golden Era” November 8, 2009 – Washington DC, USA

Supreme Master Ching Hai: And all the while that we are suffering illness, complaining, losing lives, grieving over loss of loved ones, of family members, losing happiness, losing money due to the animal diet, we are the ones who are paying the industry to continue producing this problem, producing meat, fish and the like,
with our hard earned tax money that’s used to subsidize them.

Ironic? The US government could of course redirect billions of dollars now spent on livestock subsidies to help farmers switch to organic vegetable and fruit agriculture. That will be a great help to your country and the health of the Americans.

VOICE: In a three-year period, the US government spent US$20 billion to subsidize animal feed crops and US$1.3 billion in dairy subsidies alone.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: I have always looked to the American people and their great government leaders as one of the best living examples of democracy and freedom, integrity, of our world.
However, I must tell you truthfully that the meat industry is unbefitting to the greatness of your country and of the great American citizens. Great people deserve great things. Great people lead great lifestyles. So we have to do away with the un-great things and we have to begin the great things, for the great people, great country like America.

VOICE: Our thanks to the speakers and participants of the Washington conference. We are also grateful to Supreme Master Ching Hai for her steadfast faith that all nations will take the courageous steps to save the Earth.

Let us all join in the call for wise governance that will save our lives and the planet. Please tune in to Supreme Master Television’s Words of Wisdom for the full rebroadcast of this live event at a later date, with multi-language subtitles.
Reference
http://www.pcrm.org/news/release091008.html

Recognizing the animals’ role in Earth’s balance.

Since time immemorial, religious scriptures and sages have all suggested ways that humans can live in greater harmony with the environment, including our animal co-inhabitants.

As we see nature deteriorating due to climate change, the importance of valuing the animals’ beneficial role – and therefore their lives – is even greater. The larger the scale of destruction, such as through modern livestock farming and meat production, the more imperiled the state of our biosphere.

As Indian Parliament Member Maneka Gandhi stated in a video message delivered during the recent climate change conference in Washington DC, USA:
Maneka Gandhi – Indian Parliament Member, Former Indian Environment Minister, Vegetarian (F): Maybe this is the ultimate lesson that nature is trying to teach us. Good begets good.
Don’t kill and don’t be killed.

VOICE: Supreme Master Ching Hai, who was the honored guest at the videoconference, further explained the tolls of slaughtering animals for meat.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: As we are being deluded more and more into the killing of the animals and destroying the environment, the atmosphere of our planet also being depleted of love and happiness.
Therefore, these animals were born here in order to balance it, to help us to fill in the void of love that we lost through our inconsiderate actions.

But sadly, we kill them. We kill our benefactor, just because we are blind. We are so blind spiritually, telepathically and psychically that we don’t see who are friends and who are not. Sadly, the friends we can see, like the whales, the seals, we don’t recognize.

But the enemies, we don’t see, but we listen to. That is the force of the ego, the force of the negative in this world. So we do many wrong things that we regret, or at the time of death we regret, because at that time we can see whatever wrong things we do, just like watching cinemas, and we feel very sorry that we have done such things due to not knowing, due to being misled. These animals, they are really our friends; they are our benefactors. So, if we kill these beings, we really killing ourselves. We take out the balance that is greatly needed especially at this time, in our dire situation.

VOICE: Our gratitude, all speakers and participants of this meaningful conference. We also thank Supreme Master Ching Hai for encouraging humanity toward ever more virtuous standards.

May our united efforts soon welcome a loving peaceful globe blooming with vibrant life. Please tune in to Supreme Master Television’s Words of Wisdom for the full rebroadcast of this live event at a later date, with multi-language subtitles.

Tsunami waves could reach Israel

Mounting evidence shows that global warming increases the frequency of tsunamis, and recent research in Israel indicates that these massive waves could reach the shores of the Middle Eastern countries.

Dr. Beverly Goodman of the University of Haifa led an extensive geo-archaeological study and found that tsunamis have struck the Mediterranean port of Caesarea in the past. In fact, four such events occurred between 1500 BC and circa 1100 CE with waves up to 5 meters high that spread to 2 kilometers inland.
These historical tsunamis were generated by volcanoes and earthquakes, phenomena that have also been noted to be on the rise as global warming produces different stresses on the earth’s crust.

Many thanks, Dr. Goodman and University of Haifa colleagues for this revealing glimpse into humanity’s past. Let us all adopt harmonious lifestyles to protect Israel and all countries from the devastation of climate change.
Concerned for the stability of our ecosphere, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often cautioned about the perils of human-caused climate change, as during a June 2008 videoconference in England.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: It's just getting worse nowadays, more obvious. You just have to tune in to any TV channels, any radio, read any newspapers, they are full of reports, almost daily, about world hunger, and the shortage of food, unaffordable food prices, unaffordable daily necessities, basic necessities.
And unprecedented frequent disasters. And crop failures due to bad weathers. And the non-stoppable sea rising levels, high priced fuels, shortages, incurable or strange new diseases... all of these are happening now!

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Veganism is the only solution. It's the best, the fastest solution.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: I pray that people in the world wake up on time and just forsake that piece of meat, then everything will be just fine. Everything will be beautiful, nice, peaceful.

Reference
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026093728.htm
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58F62I20090916

Al Gore recommends reducing meat to address global warming.

In several of his interviews to promote his most recent book on climate change, “Our Choice,” environmental campaigner, former US Vice President and Nobel Prize laureate Al Gore has spoken with US broadcast journalist Diane Sawyer and Australian Leigh Sales on the role of meat reduction in halting global warming.

When Ms. Sales asked if he agreed with British climate expert Lord Nicholas Stern’s call for people to be vegetarian to reduce emissions, Mr. Gore replied, “It’s a legitimate point of view.
Nick Stern is a very able advocate for whom I have enormous respect… I have cut back sharply on the meat that I eat and it’s absolutely correct that the growing meat intensity of diets around the world is one of the issues connected to this global crisis. Not only because of the CO2 involved, but also because of the water consumed in the process.”

The former vice president went on to say, “You can add in the health consequences as well. We’ve all heard from our doctors for many years that vegetables and fruits should occupy a bigger part of all of our diets, and that’s important for a lot of reasons. I’ve made those changes.”

A green bravo, Your Excellency, for highlighting the important role of plant based foods in addressing climate change. May more people hasten in their adoption of a diet that optimizes health for people and planet.

Reference
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2009/11/05/2733587.htm
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6919521
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/03/sawyer-beck-gore/

The Australian reports on trend toward less meat

In a recent article in “The Australian,” the most widely read national newspaper in the country, Tasmania correspondent Matthew Denholm observed that cattle farmers are noting signs of diminished public demand for beef products. Mr. Denholm explained that indeed, there is a growing global public call help mitigate climate change by reducing meat consumption, and he included mention of the efforts of

Supreme Master Ching Hai. The following is an excerpt from the article.
“…A campaign is under way to persuade Australians to eat less meat to reduce greenhouse emissions. The Australian Vegetarian Society says the issue is as important in the climate change debate as coal-fired energy, while SBS TV viewers would have noticed ads – financed by Vietnamese-born [Supreme Master] Ching Hai -- urging the world to “Be Veg. Go Green. Save the Planet.” Such groups cannot be dismissed as fringe-dwellers, since their arguments are echoed by the UN, which says livestock produce 18 per cent of world greenhouse emissions -- more than all forms of transport combined (13 per cent). The head of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Indian scientist Rajendra Pachauri – a vegetarian – is among those urging a cut in meat consumption as the quickest, easiest way to cut emissions.”

The article stated that the Australian cattle farmers believe that the younger generation of consumers and their concern about livestock as a cause of global warming could very negatively impact the industry. The story concludes with a comment shared from an Australian veg advocate.
“Mark Berriman, [New South Wales] director of the Australian Vegetarian Society, believes Australians’ meat-loving culture will change as ‘reality’ sinks in. ‘Reducing meat consumption takes out the most powerful of the greenhouse gasesbut also takes them out at a much quicker rate than removing carbon dioxide,’ he says.”

Our appreciation goes to journalist Matthew Denholm and The Australian for informing readers about the causal link between meat consumption and climate change. To save our irreplaceable planet and precious co-inhabitants, may humanity make the veg trend a foremost priority, through which alternative economic opportunities will surely follow. Supreme Master Ching Hai’s original slogan, “Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet” indeed offers a simple but effective way to preserve our world, as explained in a May 2009 videoconference in Togo.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: We all have a shared planet and we have shared responsibility, and we all want it to be saved for every one of us. Just like in the human body, if one area is hurt, it will affect the whole body as well. So, that is the key, to Be Veg and spread the message of compassion, to let people know that they can really make a difference. And we each can through the choices we make in putting food on our plate. Please try to inform your people that peace and the survival of our planet begins at home, begins on our plate.

Reference
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26259209-5013871,00.html

Meat consumption related to Type-2 diabetes

Characterized by high blood glucose levels, Type-2 diabetes is an increasingly prevalent condition that can lead to serious complications such as kidney damage, heart disease, blindness and lower-limb amputations.

A recent meta-analysis by scientists in Norway and the United States now points to meat consumption increasing the likelihood of the disease. Led by Dagfinn Aune of the University of Oslo in Norway, a systematic review of 12 previously conducted studies on dietary habits revealed that high rates of total meat consumption raised the risk of Type-2 diabetes by 17%, while consumption of processed meat upped it to 40 %.

Mr. Aune and other Norwegian and US researchers, we appreciate knowing of this important link between diabetes and meat consumption. Wishing everyone the benefit of the wholesome veg diet to safeguard our own health and the happiness of loved ones.

Reference
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Science-Nutrition/Meat-linked-to-increased-diabetes-risk-Meta-analysis
http://www.springerlink.com/content/v1h7374736t010t0/
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/DM/PUBS/statistics/#allages
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/168/14/1493
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=no&u=
http://www.med.uio.no/imb/stat/staff/dagfinn_aune.html&ei=XzTwStm_FNW-lAe97vjuCA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCEQ7gEwBQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddr.%2BDagfinn%2BAune%2BOslo%26hl%3Den

Plant-based foods may prevent flu by preserving lung health

Although many cases of swine flu have been relatively mild, for some people, the disease is severe and deadly. Researchers have found that those losing their lives to the flu typically have faced respiratory complications and difficulty absorbing oxygen. According to scientists in Alabama, USA, flu viruses damage the lungs through a component of their M2 protein that prevents fluid from being removed from the lungs, thus creating conditions for pneumonia.

However, when the researchers injected the M2 protein into human lung cells along with a substance known to remove oxidants, the M2 protein no longer damaged the lungs. Study co-author Sadis Matalon stated, “The recent outbreak of H1N1 influenza and the rapid spread of this strain across the world highlights the need to better understand how this virus damages the lungs and to find new treatments.

Additionally, our research shows that antioxidants may prove beneficial in the treatment of flu.” Antioxidants are found in plant foods and are known to help fight disease. Researchers at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA stated that red beans, pinto beans and black beans are some of the most antioxidant-rich foods, followed by many vegetables such as artichoke hearts, sweet potatoes, spinach and eggplant.
These new findings may offer hope for US citizens amidst a shortage of vaccines in the country.

In additional findings, US researchers discovered the first cases of a Tamiflu-resistant version of swine flu jumping person-to-person, which could make the anti-viral medication less useful, while another study found that some children continue to spread the virus a full two weeks after the first appearance of symptoms.

Swine flu deaths continue to grow around the globe, as the confirmed global death toll has risen to over 6,051. The countries with the highest number of reported fatalities areBrazil at 1,368 deaths, followed by the United States with 1,004 and Argentina at 585 lives lost to swine flu. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that since the pandemic began, 114 children have perished with 19 of these deaths occurring in the past week alone.

From China to France, swine flu vaccination programs have begun in countries worldwide, but infections are still far more widespread than can be officially counted. We sorrow for growing number of families and nations in grief and fear of this tragic pandemic. We appreciate the researchers for their findings on the potential protection from antioxidants and pray that people turn more and more to the wholesome plant-based diet for protection, along with the elimination of virus-breeding facilities, namely the animal farms.

Reference
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/antioxidant-superstars-vegetables-and-beans http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029125538.htm
http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/flu-/632578.html
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-swine-flu31-2009oct31,0,7651765.story http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_printcontent/0,,4842380,00.html
http://en.newspeg.com/German-swine-flu-death-toll-jumps-49344728.html