On today’s program, we’ll continue to visit cities using innovative ways to become more sustainable. Copenhagen, Denmark, widely considered one of the world’s greenest cities, plans to be the planet’s first carbon-neutral capital city by 2025. One of the main ways Copenhagen has become greener is by encouraging its citizens to use bicycles instead of cars. To reduce its carbon footprint even furth

Sustainable cities carefully consider their environmental impact, diligently working to use resources efficiently, reduce water usage, maximize renewable energy, reduce and recycle waste, improve air quality, and provide ample green spaces, while simultaneously improving the quality of life for the city’s inhabitants. In addition, sustainable cities seek ways to be more resilient in the face of th

A recent change in Australia’s national anthem honors the indigenous community’s great contributions to this magnificently diverse country. In the original version, the first two lines went as follows: “Australians all let us rejoice, For we are young and free.” Peter Vickery, founder and chair of the Representation in Anthem Project (RAP), worked with many other indigenous leaders and singers to

Even as a young boy, Mr. Louis Ng was concerned about animal welfare and environmental protection. On today’s program, he begins by telling us more about his early life. “With environmental/animal issues, somehow, it just stuck with me since I was young. My parents always asked ‘Why’ and (I) don't know, just somehow it clicked in me when I was young. I knew that there was something that I should d

The Honorable Louis Ng Kok Kwang is a Member of Parliament for Singapore’s People’s Action Party. Since 2015 he has served as an MP, representing the Nee Soon Group Representative Constituency. Mr. Louis Ng is also the founder and Chief Executive of Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), an animal protection organization, whose mission is to create a caring and socially responsibl

Ms. Cartwright is not only passionate about protecting animals, but also about protecting our Earth. On her Facebook page, she states, “Maybe the best way that we can prevent disasters and devastating weather events like forest fires and hurricanes, is to eat less meat and dairy. And it’s better for your health.” She further explains the devastation caused by meat consumption. “Well, it’s w

When Canada’s humane societies were founded, they had a broad mandate to protect both animals and all those who were considered vulnerable. Many countries, including France, the Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, and Tanzania now recognize animals as sentient beings. In these countries, animals are no longer considered as “property.” Humane Canada hopes that Canada will soon follow suit.“Recognizing sentience of animals in our legislative framework is critical. (The province of) Quebec has done it, which was great. They recognized it in their provincial legislation.” “So right now in Canada, there is no government oversight of farmed animals. And so, why we think that ‘ag gag’ legislation is dangerous and going in the complete opposite direction is because, if a person, a ‘whistle-blower,’ wants to come forward, because they see an act on a farm, this kind of legislation would deter them from doing it.” “There are significant amounts of messages in the COVID-19 crisis. But it isn’t the first. Zoonotic diseases are happening all the time, Ebola for example.” “But the way that we raise and interact with and slaughter animals is causing all of this trouble. It’s also causing a lot of the deforestation we see, the climate change problems we see. And so, COVID-19 should be our opportunity to really step back. We’re hearing a lot of ‘build back better.’ Well, the only way to ‘build back better’ is to build back more humane.” “And when we look to other countries where the crisis may have started, what we have to ask ourselves is, ‘Are we in the same weak position with factory farming?’ Because so much of the disease can spread so quickly in such closed-in spaces. It’s the same for humans.”

Ms. Cartwright is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Humane Canada, a national federation of SPCAs and humane societies, whose mission is to promote respect for and humane treatment of animals. For her exemplary work, Barbara was awarded the highly prestigious Canadian Governor General’s Gold Medal. She has been recognized as one of Canada’s top five “WOW Women” by Best Health Magazine, is a mem

Many experts concur that COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease, a virus originating in animals and then transferred to humans. Mark, a Shining World Leadership Award for Compassion laureate believes that to prevent future pandemics, all forms of animal abuse, including the raising of billions of animals each year for slaughter, must stop. Mr. Pearson sees coronavirus as a “wake-up call” for humans to cha

On today’s program, Audrey begins by explaining how creative people can help to protect our planet. “I think there is a lot of room for designers, for artists, for people who are creative to find new and interesting ways to attract people to the idea that you need to take care of the planet and the people, in order to make a profit. So, the people on the planet before the profit, and it only becomes profitable if people find it interesting and attracting.” “But of course, for people to purchase a leather bag, they’re into some textile feelings, some touches of whatever nobility it conveys or whatever, right? So, you need to not only recreate such designer feelings in this new vegan leather, but also to add even more to it, just like people who prefer the Beyond Meat to meat, or the Impossible Burger to burger. One needs to feel like ‘beyond.’” “But people who are not vegan would prefer, for example, the Impossible Burger, not because it is vegan, but because it tastes great, right? And so, we need more creative types; we need more people who are into gastronomy, into design, into art, and so on, to show that this kind of lifestyle is preferable, not only because it’s ethical, but because it's fun.” Ms. Tang believes that a calm, quiet mind is essential for living a creative and productive life. Audrey explains that one of the best methods for calming the mind is meditation. “I practice Taoist meditation.” “So, I think it is very important for people to have a full night’s sleep in order to carefully integrate whatever we have learned in the daytime, so that by the time we wake up, we will be a more holistic person. If we get interrupted all the time during sleep, right before sleep and by alarm clocks, and so on, one would feel fragmented and therefore not that able to empathize or to take all the signs.” At the conclusion of the interview, we asked Audrey if she had some final words for our global audience. “I would then just wish the people watching the television a good time and live long and prosper. Thank you all for your work that you are doing for our environment. Be Veg, Go Green, 2 Save the Planet!”

Mark believes that, ultimately, there is only one way to truly protect the lives of animals: the widespread adoption of a vegan lifestyle. In addition to improving animal welfare, this shift would have many other benefits for our planet. “If we move towards a plant-based diet, obviously that is going to bring enormous harmony and peace and compassion. It will just allow our society to become less violent. So, I think my view is that we are actually moving that way. I mean in some countries, intensive farming is proliferating, but I think it's doomed. It's going to fall over, because, like the Paris Summit said, the strain on the environment and our resources, putting aside animal welfare, it is illogical in terms of the survival of the planet, to keep going in that direction. So just scientifically, business thinking, we have to move away from it.” For decades, humans have conducted behavioral experiments on animals, hoping to discover more about the way they think and act. Mr. Pearson shares his views on such animal experimentation. “But I think us, the closer you come to the sense of awe and delight in seeing the mystery and beauty of an animal in its majesty, and not wanting to control it, then you become a much better person and the best in you is nourished by that relationship. So, I think that's very important.” Mark believes that if people truly understood the immense suffering that meat consumption causes for animals, they would immediately adopt a plant-based lifestyle. He wishes that all beings on Earth, even the animals, were vegan. “And the sinister thing is that in most countries, people sit down to their meat with their knife and fork, cutting into it with their knife and fork, unaware that far in the distance in a valley somewhere, animals are being slaughtered, and your action here is implicated. You are connected to that. You connect to that sorrow, to that fear. And it's in the food you're eating. So, what's happening to you when you consume the flesh of another who's suffered fear and distress?”

“So, one of the winners for this year's social innovation Hackathon is the Circuit Plus, which in Mandarin is called ‘Feng Cha.’ ‘Feng Cha’ or ‘Tea Serving’ is a very venerated tradition in Taiwan (Formosa) where the shops put a very large pot of tea outside of their door for people who are thirsty to refill their cups. It’s like a self-serving water station.” “So, this is a game, based on not using plastic bottles, but rather using refills as a habit. Because we know that people who refill is a habit. And for people who buy fresh bottles, that is also a habit. And habits are very difficult to change. So, making a funny game where people would not think that, ‘Oh, I'm getting a water refill,’ but rather, ‘I am participating in the revitalization of peace and culture.’ And that is the angle that can get people to really change their behavior and save plastic bottles and save the planet.” “To me, AI (Artificial Intelligence) is ‘Assistive Intelligence’ meaning that, just like a human assistant, we would ask for their values to align with ours.” “So, it’s useful in three different areas. One is simply about saving time. There is a lot of public sector work that is routine, that is paper based. And for a paper-based copy, to make ten copies it’s ten times more time and resources, compared to making one copy. But in digital, making ten copies or making 10,000 copies, it’s the same time, the same resources. And so, in the digital world, making copies is essentially at no marginal cost.” “So aside from digitization, we also make optimization. For example, a lot of people in the Taiwan (Formosa) Water company are listening to water pipes for possible leaks, because in Taiwan (Formosa), water resource is an important thing. In the Keelung region, for example, it takes on average two months for a water leak to happen and to be discovered by the rotating people who listen to the pipe with a stethoscope-like device. So, using Assistive Intelligence, they built a chatbot as part of one of the Presidential Hackathons a couple years ago, so that the repair people can wake up and look at the chatbot, and the chatbot informs them that these are three likely leaking places, by analyzing the water pressure, water flow and things like that, and with 70-percent confidence.” “And finally, it could also lead to new ways to think about the public sector service.”

The Honorable Mark Pearson is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, representing the Animal Justice Party and a Shining World Leadership Award for Compassion laureate. On today’s show, Mr. Pearson shares the fascinating story of how he first became involved with animal rights. "And that was when I was 22. And then before I was going on holiday, I thought, 'I'll take a couple of book

On today’s program we’ll meet Minister Audrey Tang. Appointed as a Digital Minister without portfolio in President Tsai Ing-wen’s cabinet at the age of 35, Audrey is the youngest person to ever serve in the President’s administration. At the age of 16, Audrey started her first IT company and has since established several others. In 2019 she made Foreign Policy magazine’s list of “Top Global Thinke

This remarkable change occurred thanks to the wise Taiwanese (Formosan) government. To improve water quality, the government passed legislation, forbidding farmers to raise livestock animals in water conservation areas. First, we’ll speak with Mr Lee Huan-Sheng, a former tobacco farmer, who now makes his living growing delicious white-water snowflake. “Later I quit growing tobacco because the government ceased awarding tobacco planting contracts. When the contract was cancelled, we became jobless. So, we switched to planting white water snowflake.” Ms. Peng Yu-Wen was formerly a pig farmer in Meinong District. “In 1998, the government promoted a policy called the ‘Livestock Animals-Free Farming Policy,’ which was a nationwide policy. After leveling the land, we dug a pool and began to try planting white water snowflakes.” Although the transition was not easy, Ms. Peng is now grateful for the change. She notices many advantages. “In the past, when you just came close to Meinong Town, you could smell the pigpens from miles away because the density of pig farms was very high in Meinong at that time. But now there is none. Now when you’re in Meinong, the air quality is very fresh and comfortable.” Let’s now visit with Mr. Li Sheng-Hsiung, who formerly earned his income by leasing his farmland for tobacco cultivation but has now transitioned into growing many delicious food crops. “My income is no less than that from leasing out my lands to tobacco farmers. After switching to growing fruits and other sub-staples, it has improved our living quality and benefitted our family.” Ms. Peng also feels happier with her new way of farming. She shares some advice with other livestock animals-raising farmers who want to change from raising livestock animals to growing food crops. “Yes, being a plant-growing farmer is much happier than being a pig-raising farmer since there are many kinds of contagious diseases with pigs. Especially the disposal of dead pigs died of illness; it’s really heartbreaking and sad. I hope everyone will join our farming, grow diversified crops, and thus make the world a better place.”

A renowned Hakka cultural area, Meinong is located in northeast of Kaohsiung City and north of the Pingtung Plain. With 4,000 hectares of fertile land, it plays an important agricultural role in Taiwan (Formosa). In the early 1990’s, thousands of hogs were being raised annually in this densely populated area. Consequently, the water supply in the District became severely polluted, and the foul smell of the pigs’ excrement lingered heavily in the air. Today, however, the pig farms have all disappeared, and farmers are growing food crops instead. Recognizing that pig farming was the primary cause of the water pollution, the government developed a policy to stop all hog raising in the area. After the Meinong District hog farmers agreed to stop raising pigs, the government helped them find alternative sources of income. Since then, the farmers have met with great success with many of their food crops. “So, the local government simply guided these farmers to grow the famous Meinong cherry tomatoes as well as white jade radish, red beans, papaya, and recently, the guava. There has been a substantial growth in Meinong agriculture. In particular, the quality of our Meinong rice has won great esteem, always sold out.” One of the most successful recently introduced crops is the white-water snowflake, a delicious and nutritious plant that is native to this area. Now frequently grown in abandoned shrimp ponds, the white-water snowflake has become widely cultivated in the district. “Later, we found that white-water snowflake has considerable economic value, especially since the growing of it would not be affected by the climate. Even when a typhoon hits, it can be harvested as usual, which is helpful to the farmers.” Not only have the farmers enjoyed good profits since transitioning from raising pigs to growing food crops, but all the citizens of Meinong District are also benefitting. “What can be witnessed straightaway is the improvement of the water quality in both the gutters and irrigation canals, which in turn contributes to the recovery and clean-up of the originally lucid streams and rivers. There is no more foul odor. Furthermore, a normal ecology is starting to revive with fish and shrimps beginning to reappear in places that used to be stinky gutters.” “When Meinong was raising pigs, there were very few tourists. With the transformation to green agriculture, the pollution of water, air and environment has been stopped. The number of tourists has thus increased.”

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time. It concerns every one of us. Already now we use far more resources and produce far more greenhouse gases than it can handle. The increased production of greenhouse gases that has changed the Earth’s climate and the atmosphere is of great concern to scientists, politicians, and citizens around the world. To ensure that the rights and needs of current and future generations around the world are met, we have to deal with climate change now. Today we’ll show you how other countries are legally committing themselves to curbing the disastrous consequences of greenhouse gas emissions and rising global temperatures, and what they are doing to put their climate laws into action. With Norway’s Climate Change Act 2018, the country aims to become a low-emission society before 2050, by reducing 80-95% of its greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels. The United Kingdom Climate Change Act 2008 requires a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 100% or more based on 1990 levels no later than 2050 and preparation for climate change risks with the aid of a framework to achieve this goal. Moreover, Scotland’s Climate Change Act 2019 seeks to reduce national emissions of greenhouse gases to net-zero before 2045, a goal considered to be second to none in the world. New Zealand is among the most dedicated climate-law nations in committing to become a net-zero carbon emitter by 2050. Mexico is another nation working to create a cooler planet. Its General Law on Climate Change passed in 2012 commits to a 50% reduction in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 compared to year 2000 levels. By now we all recognize the importance of enacting climate laws and of pursuing related actions to protect not only human beings but also the environment and our animal friends. Our beloved Supreme Master Ching Hai has the answer. “I guess you know already what to do, I do hope. I do see some very little, tiny baby steps toward the benevolent world of veganism. And ANIMAL LAWS IS THE BEST. ANIMAL PROTECTION LAW, ANIMAL PROTECTION LAW, meaning VEGAN LAW, no more causing any harm, any pain, any fear to animals. Because kindness will beget kindness, and compassion will beget compassion. And this VEGAN LAW IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO SAVE OUR WORLD. So, stopping these brutal, murderous businesses is the fastest way to cool our Earth. By now, scientists have warned us XXXXX times, many times, repeatedly, by evidence – that vegan is the best, most effective way to reduce global warming, reducing or stopping climate change, stabilizing it, is good for all of us, human and animal tenants.” We thank You immensely, Supreme Master Ching Hai, for once again presenting the quickest and easiest way to save our world. It is clear now that veganism is the best solution to our climate crisis.

On today’s show, we’ll explore how European Union members are using legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus avoid climate change’s unfortunate consequences. Enacting both local and international climate laws is essential to the process of minimizing or neutralizing the impact of climate change as proposed by the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement is a worldwide effort to keep the increase in global temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to attempt to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The EU’s Paris Agreement pledge calls for a nationally determined contribution (NDC) to reducing at least 40% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to address the climate crisis. However, the EU now has the goal of reaching climate neutrality and zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 through its European Climate Law plan. Individually, European Union countries also have national laws to mitigate the impact of climate change. For instance, the Danish Climate Act passed in December 2019 sets a legally binding target for reducing Denmark's emissions by 70 percent before 2030 compared to 1990 levels and for reaching climate neutrality by 2050. New targets are to be set on a five-year basis over the next 10 years. Enacted in June 2015, Finland's Climate Change Act aims to reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to 1990 baseline levels no later than 2050. During a conference in October 2009 in Indonesia, Supreme Master Ching Hai said, as She has on several other occasions, the best solution for our planetary climate crisis is to adopt a compassionate plant-based way of living. “Stopping meat and dairy consumption and fishing, poultry – all the animal products – is the fastest and most effective way to cool our planet and halt these dangerous changes. And now that we also understand the immeasurable benefits for the organic vegan diet, we can simply step forward and implement this solution, which offers not only better personal health, but literally can save the entire planet, the entire world. This is how we can continue to make the vegan lifestyle more popular.”