Veg 4 Earth!

This article courtesy Supreme Master Ching Hai News

Over the decades scientists have warned us about how our consuming use of the planet’s resources without thinking of the consequences, has detrimental impacts on the Earth’s climate and environment. Most significantly in 2006, the United Nations reported that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization official Henning Steinfeld reported that the meat industry is “one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems.” The Earth itself has given us plenty of warning signs. A United Nations report on 2007’s natural disasters says nine of the ten worst disasters resulted from climatic disturbances.

There are many other signs too telling us we need to take action now. For instance, the Antarctic is also experiencing ice melts as dramatic as in the Arctic. After visiting Antarctica’s melting ice sheets in January 2008, Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg stated, “Alarm bells are ringing. It is irresponsible for decision-makers to ignore these signals.”

Findings from a study by Hans von Storch, head of the GKSS Institute for Coastal Research in Germany, indicate an unusually high warming trend in the Baltic Sea due to climate change. The world’s largest society of Earth and space scientists, the American Geophysical Union (AGU), has released a statement that identifies human activity as the sure cause of global warming. They have found that forests and seas are reaching the point of overload where they are unable to absorb any more greenhouse gas emissions, which means even more rapid temperature rises.

With global temperatures up by 1.4 degrees and still rising, John Holdren, a Harvard University policy scientist, said that a total increase of 3.6 - 4.5 degrees would present the danger of the world facing “intolerable and unmanageable impacts of climate change.”

In a 20-year study conducted by the University of Helsinki, progressively shorter winters are now weakening the ability of northern forests to soak up greenhouse gas emissions. Lead researcher Timo Vesala commented, “This means a bigger warming effect.”

Due to global warming, China’s glaciers are shrinking by 7% every year leading to devastating consequences for the 300 million people who depend on them for water. Furthermore, ponds in the Arctic that have been part of the landscape for 6,000 years have dried up with the lengthening of the Arctic summer. Meteorologists at Norway’s Troll research station in Antarctica say that atmospheric carbon has reached record levels.

OTHER DEVASTATING CHANGES

Areas all over the world are affected by global warming. Australian oceanographer Steve Rintoul estimates that the rapid rate of ice melting means that 100 million people living within 1 meter of the sea level “will need to go somewhere” to escape rising seas. Officials relocated 20,000 islanders in the year 2000 from the lowest area of Duke of York Island, one of the islands off Papua New Guinea. And at last year’s climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea islanders asked for help as their home lands are at risk of submersion.

India’s Lohachara Island disappeared under water due to global warming leaving 70,000 people taking refuge on neighboring islands. The coastline in West African countries like Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Nigeria is retreating at an average of 10 meters per year, and sea water levels on the West African coast will likely continue rising.

According to Richard Lochhead, Secretary of Rural Affairs in the United Kingdom, “Our winters are getting wetter and warmer, sea levels are rising and coastal erosion is increasing. These are happening now and we must take action.”

Scientists warn that if water levels continue to rise, over 80,000 hectares in Greece could be 1.6 meters under water by 2100, with the country’s western coastline also at risk. The Maldives could be the first country to become uninhabitable because of rising sea levels, and scientists monitoring sea levels say that the island state of Tuvalu will be one of the first nations to sink into the ocean.

Some areas of Âu Lạc’s (Vietnam) southernmost province, Cà Mau, show evidence of up to 6 meters of land covered up by the sea. Benin is slowly losing its commercial capital, Cotonou, to the rising ocean waters. Carteret Islanders are considering leaving their home as rising sea levels damage food crops and leaves the island uninhabitable.

US Geological Survey shows that Alaska’s coast is eroding at a faster rate than previously thought, as coastal cliffs are collapsing due to the melting of the permafrost which anchors the Earth. .

TOXIC GASES

A report first published in 2005 describes how poisonous gas bubbling up from the deep ocean could have suddenly caused the loss of the ozone layer 250 million years ago.

The UN Environmental Program reports the emergence of over 200 oxygen-depleted “dead zones” in the ocean. This is where new bacteria emerge, producing hydrogen sulfide gas, lethal to most marine and terrestrial life. The two known causes include run-off from factories, agricultural fertilizer and waste, as well as disrupted water currents and weather, all of which are related to global warming.

One such dead zone is in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Oregon, USA, which has quadrupled in size over the past year. Another is off the coast of Namibia, Africa, where millions of fish die whenever the hydrogen sulfide gas erupts from the ocean floor.

Due to overfishing and the loss of tens of millions of vital sardines, waters off the coast of southwest Africa are filled with a toxic gas that is bubbling up from the ocean floor, killing marine life that would fill over an area equivalent to the US state of New Jersey, and worsening the greenhouse effect.

HUMAN HEALTH

United Nations Secretary-General Ban urges world leaders to prioritize water security, saying that climate change and related water scarcity has caused discord in the past. Dr. Hugh Montgomery, Director of the Institute for Human Health and Performance at London’s University College states, “We are already witnessing the effects of climate change on health.” An Australian scientist, Professor Kevin Parton of Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia, has stated that conditions caused by global warming such as mosquito-borne diseases may have much more impact on indigenous people due to their insufficient access to health services.

British scientists express concern about the detrimental effects of climate change on human health such as heat waves, wild fires and floods. And showing how helpless we really can be if we are not set up to immediately respond to emergencies, Australian researcher Dr. Tony McMichael reports in the British Medical Journal, “Infectious diseases cannot be stabilized in circumstances of climatic instability, refugee flows, and impoverishment.”

SPECIES EXTINCTION

In the Arctic, polar bears are starving due to the warming of their habitat. Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, said, “We’ve observed massive melting of the sea ice in the Arctic in recent years, and they can’t survive without it.”

A quarter of US birds are facing extinction due to global warming, and 75% of European birds are expected to see their ranges shrink. Scientists say that if global warming continues at its current pace, at least 20% of the world’s species are likely to become extinct.

WHAT WORLD LEADERS ARE SAYING:

“The good news is, we have everything we need now to respond to the challenge of global warming. But we should not wait, we cannot wait, we must not wait.”

Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States

“We know the science, we see the threat, and we know the time for action is now.”

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, USA

“I think the science is clear that these changes are occurring. They’re serious and we must act.”

Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada

“We need to expand the concept of sustainable development to all the aspects of social and economic development of society.”

Chi-Beom Lee, Minister of Environment, Republic of Korea

“We are on the historic threshold of the irreversible. A new industrial revolution, that of sustainable development, lies before us.”

Jacques Chirac, Former President of France

“Australia’s official declaration today that we will become a member of the Kyoto Protocol is a significant step forward in our country’s efforts to fight climate change domestically – and with the international community.”

Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia

“There is still enough water for all of us — but only so long as we can keep it clean, use it more wisely, and share it fairly.”

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

“We are now beyond a critical turning point in the debate; those who continue to ignore the threat and its causes, or invoke half-baked arguments to confuse and obstruct, will be doing the greatest disservice imaginable to current and future generations.”

Marthinus Van Schalkwyk, South Africa’s Environment Minister

How WE can help:

1. Save lives and the planet by not eating meat: The 2006 United Nations report, Livestock’s Long Shadow, documents the livestock industry’s 18% greenhouse gas emissions contribution to global warming - more than the warming effect of all transportation throughout the world.

“Please eat less meat – meat is a very carbon intensive commodity.” “Don’t eat meat, ride a bike, and be a frugal shopper – that’s how you can help brake global warming.”

Rajendra Pachauri, Chief of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Changing from a meat-based to a vegan diet is at least 50% more effective in counteracting climate change than switching from a Suburban SUV to a Toyota hybrid car – based on the research by University of Chicago geophysics professors Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin.

If each person in the Netherlands goes meat-free one day per week, the lowered emissions would equal the Dutch government’s goals for emission reductions for all households for one year. A vegetarian driving a Hummer SUV is more environmentally friendly than a meat-eater on a bicycle. In South America, where 400 million hectares of soya crops are fed to animals raised for human consumption, incredibly only 25 million hectares would be needed to directly feed all the humans in the world.

To make the switch, international environmental organization EarthSave features VEGPLEDGE!TM at www.vegpledge.com, a program dedicated to helping anyone who wants to benefit the planet with a Go Veg! pledge.

2. Recycling does make a difference: California estimates that state-wide recycling saves energy to power 1.4 million homes, reduces 27,047 tons of water pollution, saves 14 million trees and reduces greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 3.8 million cars.

The Technical University of Denmark found that recycled aluminum uses 95% less energy than non-recycled aluminum, 70% less energy for plastics, and 40% less for paper.

3. Planting trees benefits our Earth: Two years after planting hardwood saplings in the wettest areas of Catahoula Parish, Louisiana Tech University scientists found each acre of reforested land sequesters sufficient carbon to offset driving a car for a year.

A US Forest Service Study showed that planting 95,000 trees in two counties in metropolitan Chicago provides cleaner air and will saves $38 million over 30 years due to lower heating and cooling costs.

4. Reduce carbon emissions with alternative energy transportation: A University of Chicago study indicates that driving a Toyota Prius electric-gas hybrid car will save 1 ton of emissions per year.

Locally-grown food is deemed to have a lower carbon footprint, as demonstrated by a 2003 Iowa State University study, which found non-local food had traveled an average of 1,494 miles, versus 56 miles for local food.

“I try to save energy by using my bicycle to travel to work as often as I can.” Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission

5. Energy efficiency and renewable energy can help renew our Earth: The American Council for Energy Efficient Economy recommends actions to reduce energy usage such as turning off equipment when not in use; installing Energy Star-rated appliances and programmable thermostats; insulating hot water pipes and using energy efficient bulbs. Install solar panels as an alternative energy source.

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