Antarctic Peninsula ice sheets melting at worrying rate

US Geological Survey (USGS) researchers who have been conducting a first ever survey of Antarctica’s entire coastline coasts are now reporting that the southern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula, which is its coldest, has been retreating for sixty years, with the biggest changes occurring since 1990.

The scientists report that this condition is likely suggestive of the situation across all of Antarctica, whose ice sheet contains 91% of the world’s glacial water and could cause a 60 to 73 meter sea level rise if all the land-based ice were to melt.

As noted by environmental experts, even one meter of sea level rise would jeopardize food supplies across the world. USGS scientist Jane Ferrigno stated, “The loss of ice shelves is evidence of the effects of global warming.

We need to be alert and continually understand and observe how our climate system is changing." We thank Dr. Ferrigno and associate scientists at the US Geological Survey for your careful monitoring of the Antarctic.

Let us act now to restore the planet-cooling balance of our world’s ice caps by choosing lifestyles in greater harmony with nature.

As mentioned on previous occasions, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke again during a November 2009 videoconference in Washington, DC, USA of the most direct way to avert the potentially catastrophic consequences of global warming.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Greenland is shedding 85 million tons of icebergs each day due to warming, and at a rate that is increasing by 7 percent each year. The West Antarctic Ice Shelf is also melting, with 3.3 meter sea level rises forecast that would threaten cities like New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

And if all of Antarctica and Greenland were to melt – meaning the ice – then the sea levels could rise to as much as 70 meters, which would be deadly or disastrous to most lives on Earth.

You may ask, what is the main cause of this damage and destruction to the environment?

It’s methane, which is produced primarily by the livestock industry.

NASA announced that methane actually contributes much more to global warming than previously understood and it traps 100 times the atmospheric heat over 20 years. And the largest source of methane is? You know - livestock.

So, to solve this, we do need to move quickly, and of course we know what to do, right?

Yes? Be vegan.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0223-hance_antpen.html
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/ice-shelves-on-antarctic-peninsula...
http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/books/pb4
http://www.springerlink.com/content/h28l707685463333/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/31/cattle-trade-brazil-greenpeace...

Sulfur dioxide pollution highlights methane as key to global warming

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Global warming to necessitate land use changes

According to a new report by Britain’s Government Office for Science, increasingly hotter, drier summers could cause extreme water shortages as river flows are reduced by 80% even as a rise in population of 9 million people is expected by 2031.

Scenarios in the report, written by 300 contributing scientists, economists and planners, include a future in which greenhouse gas emissions would be controlled by carbon rationing and state-mandated reductions in the space allocated to livestock as well as forced migration of citizens from places like the crowded southeast to more northern towns.

Chief UK scientific adviser and director of the research, Professor John Beddington warned, “Over the next 50 years we cannot manage land in the way we’ve done…

The effects of climate change and new pressures… could escalate, seriously eroding quality of life.” Professor Beddington, Government Office for Science and all report contributors, we are thankful for your objective report informing of outcomes we would wish to avoid. Let us join in making choices today that allow a harmonious and plentiful future for all on our planet.

During an August 2008 interview by Ireland’s East Coast FM Radio, Supreme Master Ching Hai highlighted as she has on previous occasions our need to act upon the factual information provided by scientific experts.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: According to the scientists, whatever they have predicted or prescribed about our critical situation is accurate up to 99%. They want us to change the way we live our lives, to protect our fragile ecosystem, by cutting down CO2 emissions. And the fastest way that individuals can do, without a lot of protocol and ado, is to be veg.

It’s truly critical now, as we have witnessed increasing disaster worldwide, due to climate change.

We still have time, we still have a little time to change the course of destiny, thanks to the vegetarian population, old and new members that reduce the most karmic retribution in the shortest span of time.

But it’s not much. We must change fast to avoid much more damage to the Earth as well as loss of more lives and resources.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7041857.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/26/uk-land-management
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7317864/Land-management-in-UK-must-change-to-cope-with-climate-change.html

Urban dwellers’ meat consumption among the factors of increasing deforestation

In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, US-based lead author Dr. Ruth DeFries discovered that along with an increased move to cities has been a rise in the clearing of forests.

This observation reverses previously held beliefs that fast-growing urbanization and technological efficiencies might slow or even reverse such deforestation.

Moreover, the research found that the trees’ decline is due in part to the tendency of city-dwellers to eat more animal products and processed foods.

Dr. DeFries stated, “One line of thinking was that concentrating people in cities would leave a lot more room for nature. But those people in cities and the rest of the world need to be fed.

That creates a demand for industrial-scale clearing.” Some of the nations most affected by the immense land clearing needed for livestock and related products include Brazil, Paraguay, Indonesia and Cambodia.

Related research has found that in Brazil alone, more than 80% of the deforested regions are occupied by cattle or crops grown for animal feed.

Our sincere appreciation, Dr. DeFries and colleagues, for your work in documenting further the immense eco-damage created by meat consumption.

May such findings hasten our actions toward life-giving plant-based fare to save our Earth.

Highlighting as on previous occasions the preciousness of our planet’s biodiversity, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed once more the need to halt the destructive tolls of the livestock industry during an October 2009 videoconference in Formosa (Taiwan).

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Right now, one-third of the entire Earth’s land surface is used either for grazing animals or growing feed for the animals, not for humans. We humans use very little of this agriculture section.

This is a devastating way to make a cheap profit at the cost of our planet’s and our people’s survival. We are eating our planet by consuming meat. So, without the needless animal industry, not only will we gain forests, we can also have organic vegan farmlands to grow real, decent food for humans, and like the forests, these farmlands can also absorb a lot of heat, a lot of heat from the atmosphere.

And a global shift to organic vegan practices could mean 40% of all greenhouse gases absorbed as well, apart from the 50 plus percent that we eliminate through the terminating of the animals raising practice.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/11/cities-farming-deforestation
http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/2470
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/how-cattle-ranching-chewing-amazon-rainforest-20090129
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ngeo756.html

Reducing meat consumption better than changing livestock feed and practices

In evaluating options such as emission abatement plans that would reduce livestock greenhouse gases by providing different food sources for the animals and using manure for fuel, scientists have found that these methods provide minimal benefit and in fact could create larger problems of both food quality and ethics.

Moreover, a decade-long study by New Zealand’s AgResearch concluded that such alternatives only reduce emissions by a few percent. Moreover, UK Food Ethics Council Executive Director Tom MacMillan has raised similar concerns, emphasizing the importance of reducing meat and dairy consumption to significantly minimize livestock emissions.

Mr. West, Mr. MacMillan, New Zealand AgResearch and UK Food Ethics Council, many thanks for your insightful findings. We look forward to people everywhere supporting the environment through the ultimately sustainable plant-based fare.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bdde1dec-0a00-11df-8b23-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Current emission goals put world on path for 3 degree temperature rise

Using a combination of scientific sources, the United Kingdom’s Guardian newspaper presented an overview of the effects of different global temperature increases. Starting with the minimum, it reported that an average rise of 1 degree Celsius is viewed as ideal and would ensure the survival of island nations such as Tuvalu. However, since this goal is considered impossible by many, scientists have called for a more realistic average increase of 2 degrees, which would still bring heat waves such as the one that cost tens of thousands of lives in Europe in 2003 as well as the collapse of Western Antarctica, leading to still-rising seas.

However, adding another degree for a 3-degree total temperature rise, which is forecast if nations continue with current emission reduction commitments only, could push global warming out of control, with billions of people forced to leave their lands. Without any mitigation whatsoever, researchers point to a 5 or more degree rise, which would drastically impact human populations.

Many thanks, scientists, journalists and Guardian newspaper for this informative overview, despite its alarming scenarios. Let us act in unity to create the safest and most planet-cooling future for ourselves and our children. As on many occasions, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke with concern during an October 2009 videoconference in Hong Kong about the devastating effects of global warming, also suggesting the fastest sustainable solution.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: A lot of the ecological and environmental news today is not very good due to the effects of global warming. We hear about glaciers melting, water becoming more scarce, rising food shortages, rising food prices with over one billion people going hungry every day, animals becoming extinct and many species gone forever and so on and so forth.

But even though our time is running out, we do still have time to save this beautiful planet and restore it to its original splendor, or even more so if all turn to the vegan diet.

As it has already been mentioned, recent research shows that more than 50% of emissions which heat up our planet, which put our lives in danger, which put our world into the perilous situation of mass extinction, are from the livestock industry.

The solution is at hand for each and every one of us, which is simply to forego animal products and become vegan – one small change; it’s no big deal.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/18/copenhagen-five-climate-scenarios

World media highlights veg solution to climate change

In their coverage of the major United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, international media groups discussed the vegan diet as providing the most effective and rapid solution to the planetary crisis. A number of journalists from newspapers, radio and television networks present during the two-week summit interviewed members of the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association to understand more about the reasons that livestock must be addressed and why a change in what humans consume is so vital.

Environmental journalist Jeff McMahon of True/Slant, an online news network in partnership with Forbes Media wrote:“But during the first week, the most persistent… at the Bella Center have been the smiling followers of Supreme Master Ching Hai, sometimes clad in chicken suits… with signs urging vegetarianism.

The article went on to quote one of our Association members, who stated:“‘We have only a short time to save the planet. Technology takes a long time and needs a lot of money and this is the easiest way. Everyone must be vegan to save the planet.’”

VOICE: On the website of internationally-distributed The Wall Street Journal daily news, reporter Spencer Swartz discussed the hot issues tied to meat consumption in his article titled, “Veggie Tales: Climate Activists Urge Meat-Free Lifestyle in Copenhagen.”“…an army of about 100 people have been regulars at the U.N.’s
two-week climate change conference, passing out vegetarian sandwiches to delegates daily and carrying placards calling livestock farms ‘an environmental hazard’ and to ‘Go Veg’… Reduced meat consumption, if done on a big scale, could even prompt landowners in Brazil, the world’s biggest soya producer, to stop clearing rain forest to grow soya bean, which cattle-owners often feed their livestock to beef them up…”

VOICE: In the cover story of its December 21 issue, the major South Korean weekly news magazine, “Hankyoreh 21,” (HAN-Gyuh-Reh 21) captioned a photograph of our Association members as follows: “The way to reduce greenhouse gas is already on the signs of environmental activists who had gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark.” Citing Supreme Master Television as a source of the newest research findings on the meat industry’s abuse of resources, the magazine went on to conclude that with time, “The vegetarian diet may no longer be a preference or choice, but survival itself.”

We thank the journalists, True/Slant, The Wall Street Journal, Hankyoreh21, and all media who bring to the public information about climate change and the most important countermeasure of halting meat production.
May more people join the growing ranks of conscious citizens who opt for the Earth-saving vegan diet.In an interview with the Irish Sunday Independent published in July 2009, Supreme Master Ching Hai once more expressed her appreciation to the media, who are in the indispensable role of alerting society to both planetary problems and solutions.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: So, with the vegan diet, we eat what’s best for our health, for the animals, for the environment, and nature will do the rest to restore the balance and save our world. I thank you for such noble journalism as you are upholding, because we really need the media to propagate the new noble lifestyle to save our planet. And I thank you manifold for doing that. Thank you truly from my heart.

http://trueslant.com/jeffmcmahon/2009/12/11/copenhagen-vegetarianism/
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/12/16/veggie-tales-climate-activists-urge-meat-free-lifestyle-in-copenhagen/

European livestock raising exceeds carbon storage of trees and soils

In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry found that although farms in Europe have the capacity to store some 125 million tons of CO2 equivalent through absorption by trees, grass and soil, these numbers did not take into account emissions from livestock and fertilizers. Lead author and Institute Director Dr. Detlef Schulze stated that the numbers changed drastically when factoring in the methane generated by livestock as well as the nitrous oxide produced by animal manure.

In fact, the beneficial absorption number was removed altogether and was replaced instead by 34 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions. Commenting on the current method of ignoring these livestock-related greenhouse gases, Dr. Schulze said, “That’s definitely not acceptable.” Dr. Schulze and colleagues, our heartfelt thanks for this further documentation of the harmful effects of farmed animal raising. Our prayers that climate negotiators act on such clear data by ensuring that livestock production is accounted for and regulated under all new emission reduction agreements and goals.

In her endeavors to safeguard life on our planet, Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently highlighted the need to stop the meat industry and its intense global warming effects, as during an interview published in the July 2009 edition of the Irish Sunday Independent newspaper.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: If we are vegan we don’t even need to worry about CO2 yet. CO2 by transportation and all that is not the grave urgency like methane gas and nitrous oxide and all the gases that are produced out of animal industry.

From my inside knowledge, and also scientifically speaking, 80% of global warming would be stopped if we stopped the animal industry. As the top climatologist Dr. James Hansen said, being veg is the single most effective thing a person can do to stop global warming.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=nw20091122222410940C386700
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aceiR0hNQrcA

Journalists remark on videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai

Held on November 8 in Washington DC, USA, “Humanity’s Leap into the Golden Era” united concerned participants to discuss the urgent matter of climate change in an exciting new light that included the constructive vision of overcoming the planet’s crisis through a vegan solution that would lead to an even brighter future.

The event had invited Supreme Master Ching Hai as the honored guest to share her thoughts on questions raised by a group of distinguished questioners, one of whom was US vegetarian journalist Marysol Varela of the Orlando Vegetarian Restaurants’ Examiner.

She later wrote an article sharing her impressions of the conference discussions. “The audience was given staggering facts about the harm that is being done to the world’s environment with our current destructive practices. …The most anticipated speaker of the evening was the Supreme Master Ching Hai. Her words of wisdom reached across the audience spreading hope and solutions to this impending global disaster.
Supreme Master suggested that by simply adopting a vegan diet, we can dramatically reduce our carbon footprint. Because meat eating is a major contributor of global warming, vegetarianism will reduce the demand for livestock.

She also speaks up for those animals which suffer and die every day in the hands of farmers by promoting a peaceful coexistence between all beings in the animal kingdom…. Once humanity has learned to work together to save our planet, then we will have advanced a step closer to the Golden Era.”

VOICE: In fact, as Supreme Master Ching Hai explained during the conference, it is humanity’s innate tendency to lead a noble, harmonious lifestyle.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: A compassionate vegan diet is the basic way of a higher being, a mark of a true human being. A true human being would never kill. A true being would never harm another, even if his own life is threatened. A real gentleman steps wisely, understanding that all beings are connected, and that by taking a life, he is compromising his own human spirit and bringing the bad retribution of killing upon him.
We must all work together to bring Heaven closer to Earth.

VOICE: Our appreciation, journalist Marysol Varela, “Examiner” and all other media reporting on our planetary crisis. We are grateful to Supreme Master Ching Hai for her efforts to encourage humanity toward a quick transition to the planet-saving organic vegan lifestyle. Let us all join this caring trend to secure our world’s welfare and to herald an Eden on Earth.
http://www.examiner.com/x-14525-Orlando-Vegetarian-Restaurants-Examiner

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.

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

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

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.

Swine flu update and factory farm connection.

About 90,000 cases of the swine flu have been confirmed across approximately 122 countries, with a first-ever case being diagnosed in Syria. More than 380 people have lost their lives to the virus, three of which were the first fatalities for New Zealand. With over 5,000 cases confirmed and sometimes hundreds of new afflictions that appear overnight, Australia has the highest number of people stricken in the Asia-Pacific region along with nine swine flu-related deaths.

Also of concern are countries in the southern hemisphere where the flu season has just set in, such as Argentina with at least 44 who have perished and Chile’s 19 fatalities with approximately 7,400 cases confirmed.

Meanwhile, two recent US-based Huffington Post articles by Deirdre Imus and Nicolette Hahn Niman highlighted the need for more government and media attention to swine flu’s suspected origin in industrial-scale animal farms.

In her June 15 story titled “Reaping What We Sow: How Industrial Animal Farming is Contributing to the Risk of a Swine Flu Pandemic,” Ms. Niman wrote “…this pandemic reminds us that the current method of raising farm animals is fraught with risks to human health… As part of its efforts to mitigate the risk of a catastrophic flu pandemic, Congress should adopt a national moratorium on industrial animal operations.” Ms. Imus also urged for investigations into what she called “these toxic disease breeding grounds.”

Thank you, caring journalists Ms. Imus and Ms. Niman for helping bring a greater awareness of the real pandemic risks we face today. We also pray for the swine flu patients and loved ones, and send our sympathies for those who have been lost, as victims of today’s animal raising system. May we hasten to prevent a worse situation by ending all livestock raising practices and choosing health and happiness through the organic vegan diet.

Source:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aaNctHUHaVL0
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hVoGSwV_jPgg6J6Aoz8wSQiGyosg
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/04/world/americas/04argentina.html?ref=world
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deirdre-imus/beyond-swine-flu---could_b_219887.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicolette-hahn-niman/reaping-what-we-sow-how-i_b_215730.html

Livestock methane emissions higher than earlier estimates

India releases increased methane estimates. The most recently analyzed data has shown that India’s methane emissions from livestock climbed from an estimated 9 metric tons in 1997 to 11.75 metric tons in 2003. The country’s 485 million animals is also the largest population of livestock in the world. Researchers K.R. Manjunath and Abha Chhabra estimate that the main reason for the increase was an influx of dairy cows. According to the United Nations, livestock produces 37 percent of all human-induced methane, a greenhouse gas that traps up to 72 times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2.

Messrs. Manjunath and Chhabra, our gratitude for your work in highlighting the role of animal-based food products in accelerating global climate change. May we all be guided to benefit animals, humans and the environment through our adoption of the low emission plant-based diet.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has also helped us to see the larger picture of the costs related to consuming animal products that go even beyond greenhouse gas emissions. The following is an excerpt from a discussion with dignitaries and media representatives at the SOS! International Seminar on Global Warming held in South Korea on May 22, 2008.

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

Supreme Master Ching Hai: You see the meat diet not only causes the greatest emission of poisonous gas into the planet atmosphere but many other costs. It’s not only the animal who emits the methane gas because we keep multiplying the animals and they keep multiplying, spraying gas into the air. But that’s not only the damage. It’s not only methane gas from the animals’ waste. There is the transportation energy cost; there’s electricity energy cost; there’s water wasting cost; there’s a land resource occupation cost; there’s a deforestation cost, and there’s a related illness medical cost; and there’s the grievance, sorrow of the people who lost loved ones due to disease related to meat diet cost.

And because we use food to feed livestock for human consumption instead of feeding directly to humans, therefore, there is cost of war and famine due to shortage of food and resources. Add them together, then we will see the real answer.

Livestock contributes more to climate change than previous estimates.

In 2006, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization had estimated that animal agriculture was responsible for 18% of global warming. However, it is becoming increasingly clear to scientists that the industry is playing a more significant role.

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chief of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) hinted at this during a talk he gave in September 2008 on the role of reducing meat consumption in addressing global warming.

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri – Chair of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, VEGETARIAN (M): Since people found out about this talk that I was going to give here today, I’ve received a number of emails from people that I respect saying that the 18% figure is an underestimate; it’s a low estimate and in actual fact it’s much higher.

VOICE: Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a renowned researcher and internationally bestselling author of “The China Study,” also indicated that livestock’s role in heating the planet is much bigger.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell – Renowned nutrition researcher, Cornell University, USA, VEGAN (M): I just had some information just recently, that the new figures now indicate that at least half of the greenhouse gases that are up there now, not that 15 or 20%, at least half – and maybe considerably more – are due to livestock production.

VOICE: The United Nations’ 18% estimate follows virtually every step of the meat producing process, including enteric fermentation and manure, deforestation for grazing and feed crop production, transport, processing, refrigeration, and more.

LIVESTOCK GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION SOURCES:
1. Enteric fermentation
2. Manure management and application
3. Nitrogen fertilizer emission
4. On farm fossil fuel use to raise livestock
5. Deforestation of pasture
6. Deforestation for feed crops
7. Feed crop production
8. On farm fossil fuel to produce feed
9. Nitrogen deposition
10. Soil carbon losses due to burning, erosion, harvests, and grazing
11. Transporting animals to slaughter
12. Processing the meat
13. Refrigeration
14. Transporting the meat

VOICE: Accounted for are the three major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, the latter two of which are shorter-lived but while in the atmosphere cause much more damage than carbon dioxide. However, what is unaccounted for is the fact that methane may be as much as 100 times more effective at trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere than carbon dioxide, compared to a 23 times estimate used in most reports – including that of the United Nations. Dr. Kirk Smith is a professor at the University of California – Berkeley in the United States, as well as a member of the IPCC and the US National Academy of Scientists.

Dr. Kirk R. Smith – Professor, University of California – Berkeley, USA (M): Already livestock is 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions, excuse me, the meat system, which includes the animals, includes growing the food for the animals, includes the transport of the meat, includes the fertilizer to grow the food to feed the meat. And that’s with not treating methane any more than the sort of normal way it is used.

VOICE: Dr. Smith believes that by factoring in methane’s truer global warming potential, livestock emissions would be calculated to be higher.

Dr. Kirk R. Smith (M): If you treat it more, then that 20% will go up to maybe 30%. So the 30%, in the next 20 years, is going to be due to meat production.

VOICE: In addition, according to US physicist Noam Mohr, livestock have an even larger share of emissions when yet another unaccounted factor is acknowledged: aerosols, or particles released along with CO2 from burning fossil fuels that actually have a cooling effect.

Voice of Noam Mohr – Physicist with degrees from Yale University and University of Pennsylvania, USA, VEGETARIAN (M): When you consider aerosols and consider the net effect of burning fossil fuels, the carbon dioxide released heats the planet, the aerosols cool the planet, and the net effect roughly cancels each other out. That means that most of the warming we have seen historically and are likely to see in the future comes from other gases, namely methane.

VOICE: We thank the distinguished scientists for this revealing information. May your research continue to be updated and illuminate our decisions in the wisest direction. We pray that humanity’s bold action to reduce meat consumption and meat production will quickly bring us to a safer situation.

In a July 2008 videoconference with our Association members in Thailand, Supreme Master Ching Hai revealed through her deep insight the reality of animal agriculture’s cumulative cause in global warming.

Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai
With Bangkok, Thailand Center – July 24, 2008

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Because meat producing causes 80% of global warming. Transportation, water, deforestation, refrigeration, medical care for animals and humans, and etc, etc. All kinds of pollution coming from meat production. It’s not just the land that they use, it’s not just the methane gas and nitrous oxide that they produce, it is all its by-product; there’s no end to the list. We cannot rely on green technology alone to save the planet. Because the worst cause of it is from the meat industry. Everybody knows it; all the scientists already report it to us.

World's largest wetland threatened in brazil

Largest wetland in the world in decline. The Pantanal region, shared by Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, is the world’s largest wetland and home to an extraordinary array of rare animals, along with 650 species of birds. However, the area has become increasingly threatened by unsustainable economic development, large-scale deforestation and pollution. The biggest problem is cattle raising, which has caused a 63 percent loss of the Pantanal forests in elevated regions. Farm pollution now also jeopardizes the balance of the fragile ecosystem. Sandro Menezes, manager of Conservation International's Pantanal project said, "It's very probable that local flora and fauna will become extinct."

Conservation International, we appreciate this clear picture of the potential losses facing the unique Pantanal wetlands. Our prayers that a caring humanity adopts sustainable lifestyles to ensure the flourishing our world’s irreplaceably diverse inhabitants.


Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai with Supreme Master Television staff
November 26, 2008

During a videoconference with Supreme Master Television staff in California, USA in November 2008, Supreme Master Ching Hai explained the interconnectedness of human-caused events, including the spiritual redemption that results from turning to a meat-free lifestyle:

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Fertilize for more animal feeding, clearing more forest for animal feeding, planting animal feed and fertilizing animal feed and run-off pollutions, acidity caused by run-off pollution and weather change and cause more destruction and then erosion, then reconstruction, etc., etc.

It’s the whole chain of effects. And another thing, people forget all the time the “cause and effect,” the karma. Even people now, they eat meat all these years and they just turn to vegetarian diet then their cancer is diminished or lessened, their sickness is gone, even cardiovascular disease and many other diseases just disappear. So even if the methane gas is still there in the air from the animal but we turn away from killing; we drop the butcher knife, then we are protected by our own virtues.
We are protected once we turn to be a compassionate person.

Low-meat diet could slash cost of climate change action

Reducing meat consumption would halve the cost of addressing global warming. Researchers at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency have published a study that evaluates the cost of halting climate change by stabilizing atmospheric CO2 at the estimated safe level of 450 parts per million. The report concludes that US$20 trillion, or 50 percent of a total US$40 trillion cost, could be saved from a global shift to a low-meat diet, along with the benefits of dramatically reduced methane emissions from minimized livestock rearing. Moreover, the millions of square kilometers of land no longer used for raising cattle could function instead as croplands for vegetation that would feed humans directly and would also absorb enormous amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency researchers, we appreciate your calculations that illuminate the logic of the plant-based diet, both economically and environmentally. Blessed be the gift of the animal-free lifestyle in securing the future of all co-inhabitants on our Earth.

Livestock producers required to reveal emissions.

A new regulation has gone into effect in the United States that requires livestock operations to report estimated emissions of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide to state and local authorities. This Environmental Protection Agency ruling resulted in part from the harmful effects to human health noted from these gases, which are emitted as a byproduct of certain livestock raising situations.

US Environmental Protection Agency, we are grateful for this measure to safeguard public health. Our prayers that all people soon turn to the meat-free diet for a safer and cleaner environment for all.


During the Climate Change International Conference on July 26, 2008 in California, USA Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke via videoconference about the dangerous health risks of gases emitted by the animal farming industry.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Just the hydrogen sulfide alone can cause irritation of different body organs: eyes, nose, throat, bronchial constriction, spontaneous abortion, impaired bodily functions, headaches, dizziness, vomiting, coughing, difficult breathing, eye damage, shock, coma, and death, etc. If concentrated dose is high enough like, for example, 1,000 parts per million, ppm, then even one single inhalation, cause immediately breathing stop and collapse.

So there were some reports about animal farms in Minnesota which produce also hydrogen sulfide that causes people in the vicinity to vomit so much that they had to flee their own homes. And another incident in North Carolina, in which residents from 26 counties are forced to stay indoor as the air quality so was poor and filled with pollutant, including highly toxic gas, hydrogen sulfide, from animals. I’m sure these are not the single incidents concerning hydrogen sulfide produced by livestock raising.