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

Permafrost receding northward

In two concurring studies, researchers from Canada’s Université Laval and Sweden’s Lund University have found that the permanently frozen ground known as permafrost is melting at southern latitudes.

In the case of Canada’s James Bay region, the permafrost layer now begins 130 kilometers north of where it had been 50 years ago. In Sweden, scientists found over a several-year period that the permafrost in one peat mire region completely disappeared. The Canadian researchers also noted a temperature rise of some 2 degrees Celsius over the last two decades, saying that if this continues, permafrost in the James Bay region will vanish.

Not only is the melting of permafrost a sign of acute global warming, scientists have warned previously that its effects include the collapse of entire communities, which has already been seen in Arctic locations like Alaska, USA.

Worse yet are the vast underground stores of methane that are released as the permafrost melts, with tipping points beyond which runaway global warming is inevitable.

We thank you for your careful observations, Canadian and Swedish scientists, despite our alarm at what they foretell. May everyone turn to harmonious lifestyles that sustain our environment while there is still time.

As in a September 2009 videoconference held in Peru, Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently spoken of such warning signs as permafrost melt, along with the way we can all act to halt it.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: US and Canadian scientists traveling to the Arctic have noted increased methane gas being released from the Earth’s melting permafrost, which is storing immense amounts of methane beneath the frozen surface. Other research has also highlighted how quickly the temperature is rising in the Arctic, much faster than in the rest of the world.

This means a vast quantity of methane could be released from the previously frozen soil very quickly, which would be a complete disaster for life on Earth.

One fact is clear: if we stop meat consumption and livestock raising, we will also eliminate one of the most heat-trapping gases, which is methane.

And since this gas disappears more quickly from the atmosphere, the planet will cool almost immediately.

This will also address problems like the melting permafrost, which will otherwise emit more methane if nothing is done to halt it.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100217101129.htm
http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE61G5BG20100217?sp=true
http://www5.fsa.ulaval.ca/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090218081629.htm

Veg trend on the rise in Australia

Just weeks after the country launched Meatless Mondays, a campaign encouraging at least one meat-free meal a week, Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach was the site of the country’s biggest vegetarian barbecue for the recent celebration of Australia Day.

Sponsored by Fry’s Vegetarian brand and hosted by spokesperson and Australian comedian Simon Kennovich, the veg event raised funds for the Bondi Surf Life Saving Club while advocating a healthy, environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Supreme Master Television’s correspondent reports.
Australian Correspondent (F): We’re here on Australia’s famous Bondi Beach at Australia’s biggest vegetarian barbeque where Simon Kennovich is telling Australians not to eat lamb on Australia Day but to instead try a Fry’s burger and to try being veg for the planet and for our beautiful Australia.

Simon Kennovich – Comedian (M): Hallo everyone, people of the world. Come to Australia. Get down here, have a vegetarian barbeque with us. We’ll all have a good time.

VOICE: Served fresh off the grill were vegan alternatives to the meat often eaten on holidays, with a crowd of people showing their interest in tasting more.

Attendee/Citizen (M): It’s good.

Attendee (M): Mouth-watering, really.

VOICE: The barbeque also raised awareness on vital veg benefits for one’s health and the planet.

Volunteer (F): That’s obviously helping with the cutting down of methane gases that are produced by animals. And also just having a different protein source, it’s a great way of benefiting your diet.

Attendee (M): Anyone that loves this planet and loves the blue sky and the conditions we have at the moment really should get behind a vegetarian diet for the planet. If we get enough people behind this, we could change this global warming phenomenon.

VOICE: Many thanks, Fry’s Vegetarian, Simon Kennovich and Bondi Beach for your celebration and support of the Earth-protecting plant-based diet. May the compassionate lifestyle soon be adopted by all countries for a vibrantly sustainable world.

The World Day for the Abolition of Meat recognized around the world

On January 30, the second annual World Day for the Abolition of Meat was held in over 50 towns in nations across Europe, as well as South Africa, Bolivia, Brazil, USA and India. Let us join our correspondent at the Leicester Square in London, United Kingdom.

Supreme Master Television Correspondent, London, UK (F): World Day for the Abolition of Meat is a growing movement intended as a means of promoting the end of the slaughter of at least six million sentient beings globally every hour for the consumption of meat. And this figure does not include the fishing industry and other industries that produce animal products.

Older lady with glasses Participant, London, UK, Vegan (F): We’re trying to call for governments to instead be promoting vegan farming, not only not exploiting animals but also kinder to the land and environment and can feed more people on a smaller amount of land.

Handsome Man Participant, Vegan, London, UK (M): Cut back on meat that is consumed, not only for people’s health, but also for animals’ welfare.

VOICE: Our Association members also joined in this movement in Paris, France and Rome, Italy.

Supreme Master Television Correspondent, Rome, Italy (F): Viewers of Supreme Master Television, we’re here in Rome for the World Day for the Abolition of Meat.

Participant, Rome, Italy (F): Maybe governments are starting to be more sensitive and even the media has started talking about the problem of meat eating and its impact on the environment and on the planet.

Supreme Master Television Correspondent, Paris, France (M): I am standing here, in front of the Opéra De La Bastille in Paris. There are a lot of stalls and people who have come as well and vegan food being offered for tasting.

Student, but a bit gothic-looking Participant, Opéra De La Bastille, Paris, France(f): People should realize that there is something on their plates, something that has feelings.

Participant, Opéra De La Bastille, Paris, France(f): My message above all, is to stop subsidizing livestock; it is an economical waste. We all know that livestock is one of the main causes of pollution. So we really have to stop eating meat.

VOICE: Hats off, global participants of the World Day for the Abolition of Meat, for your noble initiatives! May the world soon choose vegan to herald a Golden Era of harmony for all beings.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has long called on a global shift to the vegan diet for our planetary welfare, as during an interview published in the September 2009 edition of The House Magazine.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We raise and slaughter billions of animals per year! We can’t stop the climate change with all this methane heating our planet and in turn heating the Arctic.

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 We have only a few years now, and we don’t know what comes yet even.

Be green is just by the way. Be veg is the only, the main, the 90% solution. CO2 is not the main problem, it’s not our main problem. Methane is! Nitrous oxide is! These all come from animal products, and these are the ones that heat up the planet, and fast, hundred times, or 60, 100 times more than CO2.

http://www.nomoremeat.org/

Methane emissions foretell runaway climate change

Scientists at Edinburgh University in Scotland have observed a 31% increase in methane emitted by high latitude permafrost, or Arctic tundra, in just the past five years. They also note that global warming in the Arctic is occurring at twice the rate as anywhere else on Earth, with some regions having already warmed by 2.5 degrees Celsius.

Dr. Phillippe Ciais with the Laboratory for Climate Sciences and the Environment in France reported in 2009 that vast stores of methane could be released with just a 2 degree Celsius average global rise. As Arctic soils store billions of tons of the gas, which has far more warming potential than carbon dioxide, the thawing of this region could create what has been called a “ticking timebomb” that would overwhelm any human efforts to halt it.

Dr. Ciais and University of Edinburgh researchers, we appreciate your observations and their resounding call to action. Let us step urgently while we still have time toward sustainable solutions that preserve our planet.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has often emphasized the critical danger of triggering such a methane release, as well as what we can do to halt it, as during September 2009 videoconference in South Korea.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: I would say that the most serious one is the frightening prospect of runaway global warming, described by scientists as the conditions that will trigger out-of-control climate change effects.

This runaway warming of the climate could easily be caused by melting permafrost, which is the frozen soil extending across the vast expanse of the Arctic tundra.

As the permafrost melts, it releases methane stored underground. Since 2007, scientists have seen more and more evidence of methane from permafrost melt, with recent discoveries of pure methane gas bubbling up from
the bottom of the Arctic lakes in both northern Canada and Russia.

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 than what we have known, more beautiful, more abundant, more peace, more gladness than what we have known up to now.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/14/arctic-permafrost-methane
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8459770.stm
http://www.news.com.au/arctic-greenhouse-gas-emissions-jump-30pc/story-e6frflrr-1225820280873

Melting tundra releases immense carbon stores

A study recently conducted by Dr. Sofia Hjalmarsson of the Department of Chemistry at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg found that the permafrost layer stretching across the vast reaches of the Arctic contains an additional global warming hazard.

Besides the melting of methane hydrate crystals, which have already been observed as gaseous bubbles rising from an increasing number of Siberian lakes and other water bodies, the thawing tundra also releases stored carbon.

Dr. Hjalmarsson’s studies of the Laptev, East Siberian and Chukchi Seas of north Siberia as well as the Baltic Sea revealed elevated carbon dioxide levels in all of them, meaning that organic carbon released from the permafrost is being carried by the rivers out into the coastal waters.

Dr. Hjalmarsson warned that the danger of the permafrost thawing is that it cannot be stopped once it advances beyond a certain stage, meaning that the melting of the vast carbon stores must be stopped now.

Our appreciation, Dr. Sofia Hjalmarsson for this important research showing the ever-increasing dangers of global warming. May findings as these spur us all toward sustainable practices such as the Earth-saving vegan diet. During an international gathering with our Association members in February 2008, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke of toxic gases such as methane being released with atmospheric warming, as she urged for the solution that addresses the root cause.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: You see, the gases are fuming from the ocean and from the land that’s been defrosting. It’s fuming everywhere. It’s just that at the moment, it’s not so intense.

Everybody knows by now, from the UN report that meat eating, animal raising, it’s one of the worst factors, or even the worst factor of global warming. And nobody talks about it.

Everybody says, new energy, biofuel, hybrid car, dig a hole and store the carbon.” As if it will not bust one day. And before that you have to breathe in already, as if will not affect you.

What is so difficult, to put down one piece of meat, and replace it with one piece of tofu? Which is exactly the same, better nutrition. Better for your health. More economized.

http://www.physorg.com/news182430651.html
http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=65756&CultureCode=en
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Tundra-Meltdown-Triggers-Carbon-Spills-131761.shtml

Siberian Arctic temperatures and methane emissions sharply increased

Scientists from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks in the USA have reported that the shallow undersea permafrost in Siberia, which until recent years was stable, is now noted as releasing significant amounts of methane, even more than the record highs from Summer 2008.

According to lead scientist Professor Igor Semiletov, who is also head of the International Siberian Shelf Study (ISSS), the region is experiencing the fastest temperature rise of the planet.

Springtime air is currently measured at an average of 4 degrees Celsius higher than in the last three decades of the 20th century. Sudden releases of methane gas are linked to runaway global warming and are considered a factor in the past mass extinction of species.

The Alaskan researchers state that if the current warming conditions continue, the melting of underwater Siberian permafrost would release catastrophic amounts of methane.

Dr. Sergey Kirpotin – Tomsk University (Quote in Russian): As more permafrost melts, more greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. It is absolutely evident. We could be uncertain in quantitative terms, but the fact that this process has a global character, global importance and global scale is absolutely evident.

Vladimir Chuprov – Greenpeace Russia Representative (Quote in Russian): It is essential to come up with a new international agreement that could guarantee the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions – the causes of the global climate change.

Only then could we slow down these negative processes that take place also in the Russian Arctic. Professor Semiletov and University of Alaska colleagues, we appreciate this clarion call about the dire signals being conveyed by our Earth.

May we all deeply realize the grave nature of climate change and act now to protect our shared planetary home. As on many occasions, Supreme Master Ching Hai explained during an October 2009 videoconference in Hong Kong the urgent situation of methane gas release, while offering the surest solution.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: There are massive quantities of gases, poisonous and explosive, such as under the permafrost. The gas released then causes more warming, which causes even more gas to be released. This is like a vicious circle. They even call this vicious feedback cycle a so-called “climate time bomb.” We are running out of time, we must wake up soon; we must make a small sacrifice and changes.

I am hopeful. I’m having a positive feeling that it won’t happen to Earth, but we all must work; we cannot sit there and wait for a miracle to happen. God needs us to represent Hirm in compassion, in merciful heart, in the way we live a godly life, befitting God’s children. If we all become vegan and live a virtuous, compassionate life, it won’t happen.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8437703.stm

Copenhagen Accord on climate change announced

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lea Backes – Danish delegate, UNICEF Children’s Climate Forum Copenhagen 2009, Vegan, age 15 (F): I hope that many more people become vegetarians and vegans in the future, because it really will affect our planet, in a good way. Be veg, go green, save the planet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alarming climate science presented in Copenhagen forum

In a side conference held during the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Denmark, former US Vice President Al Gore joined Arctic Council leader and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and scientists to address delegates and media on the updated status of the world’s ice caps. Supreme Master Television’s correspondent in the Danish capital has more from Copenhagen.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: This week, world government ministers and heads of state are arriving to help seal the agreement seen as the last chance to prevent runaway global warming.

Karel de Gucht – EC Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid: We are now arriving at the point where negotiations really start.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: Just as the world’s environment ministers held their first meeting, two new reports were presented about the immensely rapid changes occurring in the Arctic, Greenland and Antarctica.

Jonas Gahr Støre – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denmark (M): The update paints a very gloomy picture of how the ice sheet is out of balance and of the consequences stemming from a melting Greenland.

It carries a clear message from the scientific community relating to climate change that we need to act and we have to act now.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: Danish ice scientist Dr. Dorthe Dahl-Jensen and the respected former US Vice President and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Al Gore, explained how quickened ice loss in the Antarctic, and even doubled melt rates in the Greenland ice sheet, are raising sea levels.

Al Gore – Former US Vice President, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (M): Roughly speaking, each one meter of sea level rise generates 100 million climate refugees.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: Based on this report, Minister Støre emphasized the need – and timely advantage – of addressing non-CO2 warming substances such as methane and black carbon. This is due in part to their extremely high heating effect in contrast to CO2, which has been found to accelerate ice melt in the Himalayas, the Arctic, and Antarctica. Yet fortunately, they also disappear from the atmosphere many times faster than CO2.

Jonas Gahr Støre - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denmark (M): If there is one positive message from this report, it’s that doing something about that, if not easy, is manageable. So while we wait for the results of curbing CO2 emissions, we need to address the issue of methane, ozone, black carbon, swiftly.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: Now, it happens that the number one source of human-caused methane is the livestock industry, while vast quantities black carbon are released from forests being burned to clear land for livestock grazing as well as grow animal feed crops.

Parallel to the leaders’ summit, various workshops have been held at Copenhagen on the climate impacts of meat production. Encouraged by Supreme Master Ching Hai’s dedicated example, our Association members have been actively participating as speakers and panelists to raise awareness of this most urgent factor
in global warming.

Our Association member (F): Methane – it’s very very potent but it also goes away very very fast.

Supreme Master Television COP15 Correspondent: In addition, members of The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association created public service announcements on the vegan solution for climate change, which are being aired on the leading Danish television station TV2 Denmark, broadcast to over one million viewers during this crucial week. This is Supreme Master Television in Copenhagen, Denmark.

VOICE: We are grateful to Minister Støre, former Vice President Gore and all participating scientists for this important updated report. Our faith and prayers that the courageous governments of this landmark summit may seize this opportunity of the vegan diet solution and thus truly make history by saving the planet.

On many occasions leading up to the Copenhagen conference, Supreme Master Ching Hai has shared her heartfelt thoughts in response to public requests, as in this October 2009 videoconference in Frankfurt, Germany.

Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai “Be Vegan, Go Green, Protect God’s Creations in Nature” Frankfurt, Germany – October 18, 2009

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Prince Charles said to the European Parliament, “The lives of billions of people depend on your response and none of us will be forgiven by our children and grandchildren if we falter and fail.”
I’m sorry to say, but I cannot even guarantee that our grandchildren will have a chance to be born to say that, if the Copenhagen climate change conference leaders don’t agree together to stop the meat industry and talk directly to the subject, not talk around it. It’s really that urgent. I pray the world leaders will awaken to this reality, immediately, and act properly, now.

US EPA to regulate greenhouse gases

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson formally announced on Monday, December 7 that greenhouse gases such as CO2, methane and nitrous oxide pose a threat to the public health and welfare of the American people and are thus subject to regulation. The EPA based this finding of endangerment on extensively evaluated scientific data, which supports a 2007 US Supreme Court decision that greenhouse gases are air pollutants.

Coinciding with the opening of the climate negotiations in Copenhagen, the announcement was heralded by the European Commission and other members of the international community, including Chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, who said he welcomed the determination and leadership of the United States being demonstrated through this decision.

Administrator Johnson, Environmental Protection Agency and United States, we respectfully laud your commitment to protecting the health of humanity and the planet. May all world leaders in Copenhagen vote similarly for the most effective measures to reduce dangerous greenhouse gases while we still have time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8400323.stm
http://www.euronews.net/2009/12/08/us-carbon-ruling-raises-hopes-at-copenhagen/
http://english.cctv.com/20091208/101043.shtml

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

the Arctic Ocean will probably be ice free by the end of this century

Melting of Arctic puts us in a perilous situation. Following a visit to Siberia several weeks ago, Dr. Katey Walter, an ecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the USA stated that the permafrost is melting at an unprecedented rate across the Arctic. She said, “Lakes in Siberia are five times bigger than when I measured them in 2006. It's unprecedented. This is a global event now.” Norwegian scientists also recently reported a steady and relatively large increase in atmospheric methane levels since 2004, which they believe is due to the thawing of permafrost in North America and Russia. With methane’s warming potential averaged over 20 years being some 72 times higher than that of CO2, excessive release of this gas could accelerate global warming beyond our control.

Our gratitude, Norwegian scientists and Dr. Katey Walter for your eye-opening reports on the urgency of the global warming crisis. We pray that all heed the warning signs and act now in vital areas such as eliminating meat consumption to halt the production of atmospheric methane and save our Mother Earth.

In a June 2008 videoconference in London, United Kingdom, Supreme Master Ching Hai further explained the connection between the accelerated rate of melting permafrost and livestock raising, the most serious cause of atmospheric warming.

Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai
London Center United Kingdom June 13, 2008

Supreme Master Ching Hai: So now, the permafrost layer is melting each day. And the methane gas, or other gas even, are releasing into the atmosphere. I really hope and pray that someone is listening. Methane and nitrous oxide is made by stock raising, stock keeping, animals keeping.They are far more poisonous, far more dangerous than CO2. Because the atmosphere is getting warmer and so the methane is bubbling out. If we stop the worst cause of global warming, meaning stock raising, animal breeding, then we will be able to save the planet.

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.

Global warming may trigger carbon 'time bomb', scientist warns

Runaway explosive gas from a warming Arctic. At the Copenhagen Climate Congress this past week, climate researcher Dr. Philippe Ciais of the French Laboratory for Climate Sciences and the Environment warned that just a 2 degree Celsius rise in average world temperature could instigate a carbon “time bomb” in the vast regions of Arctic permafrost. The sustained warming of the soil would initiate bacterial composting, leading to a cycle of accelerated temperature increase and the possibly explosive, fatal release of billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

In a recent phone interview with Supreme Master Television, Dr. Isobel Simpson of the University of California – Irvine, USA, shared her views and concern about the current situation of thawing in the Arctic.

Dr. Isobel Simpson – Atmosphere chemist, University of California – Irvine, USA (F): A lot of the climate change feed back scenarios involve methane. You know there is all this methane trapped in the permafrost in the Arctic, and you already get research coming out saying, these lakes are thawing in Siberia and you’re getting all this methane released from these thawed lakes. There’s so much methane trapped under the permafrost, orders of magnitude more than what’s in the atmosphere now and the concern is, at what point does that methane start being released under melting scenarios?

That is what would keep me awake at night, is thinking about the future and where are the methane reservoirs. How stable are they? How fast is the change occurring in the Arctic? And can we get carbon dioxide under control before something catastrophic happens?

VOICE: Drs. Simpson, Ciais and colleagues, we thank you for alerting us to the dire situation caused by the warming atmosphere to our Earth. We pray that the world’s citizens quickly transition to a kinder, more considerate lifestyle to preserve all life on our beautiful globe.

During a videoconference with Supreme Master Television staff members in California, USA in January 2009, Supreme Master Ching Hai revealed through her insight and inner contact with inhabitants of Mars some truths about their history of climate change. Only a tiny minority had survived the runaway events, whose beginnings were similar in many ways to the current situation on Earth.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: The mass extinction came; they die, not only human beings on there, but the animals also; they die by two main poisonous gases. Namely, hydrogen sulfide and nitrous oxide, plus methane as the third cause. But hydrogen sulfide and methane from the livestock begun to warm the climate and then triggered more other gases from the ocean, from permafrost and glacier around their planet. Just like what is happening to our planet right now.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: As the destruction happened too fast and no one can help anyone. Only 0.2% of them escaped, around 2 million, into the underground caves. And that’s how they survive.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: They retain the history of what happened, so that the descendants know how to take care of what they have and not to be careless, and not to be so destructive anymore but more virtuous and spiritual.

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.