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Làm Sao Để Chuyển Xanh - Lối Sống Trường Chay
Giới thiệu
Ăn một dinh dưỡng theo môi sinh có thể cắt giảm hơn 50% mức tiêu thụ dầu và nước của Hoa kỳ . Dinh dưỡng thịt của chúng ta gây ra nạn đói trên thế giới và là nguyên nhân chủ yếu của sự phá rừng . Một phương sách ăn chay với lối sống xanh có thể cải thiện sức khỏe của bạn đồng thời nâng cao đời sống của mọi người trên thế giới .
Hướng dẫn
Độ khó khăn : Dễ
Bước Một
Để tránh thèm ăn các món thịt bạn thường ăn lúc nhỏ , hãy thử một số thức ăn thay thế thịt , như các bơ-gơ chay hoặc xúc-xích thông minh (làm từ đậu nành hoặc mì căn) thay vì ăn xúc-xích nóng . Ăn lành mạnh có thể giúp ích cho thế giới , vui thú và thơm ngon .
Bước Hai
Hãy dùng thử sữa hạnh nhân , sữa đậu nành hoặc sữa gạo thay vì sữa bò chứa đầy kích thích tố . Nếu lo lắng về việc nhận đủ chất canxi , hãy ăn rau cải có lá xanh và tập thể dục . Tập thể dục có thể tránh chứng loãng xương ngay cả trong thức ăn không có bơ sữa . Cải xoăn và cải lá xanh hấp chín và rưới chút nước chanh vắt tươi và nước tương hiệu Brags . Mặc dù người Trung Hoa không uống sữa bò , họ không bị ảnh hưởng của chứng loãng xương , thật sự họ không có chữ đó trong ngôn ngữ của họ .
Bước Ba
Nếu ăn sản phẩm động vật , hãy ăn thêm đủ loại hữu cơ tìm thấy trong các tiệm thực phẩm sức khỏe địa phươn g.
Bước Bốn
Dùng chất béo lành mạnh trong thức ăn của bạn , như là quả bơ và các loại đậu hạt . Các nghiên cứu cho thấy khi người ta thèm thịt trong thức ăn , thật ra là họ thèm chất béo , không phải chất đạm .
Bước Năm
Ăn kèm thêm trái cây và rau cải tươi sống . Thức ăn nấu chín thiếu chất xúc tác thiết yếu cần cho việc tiêu hóa . Hãy thử ăn gỏi với các loại đậu hạt và dùng các loại xốt Thái Lan để tạo món ăn vui miệng .
Bước Sáu
Hãy đầu tư vào sách gia chánh chay và thức ăn tươi sống .
Bước Bảy
Hãy khám phá thực phẩm thế giới . Hãy mở rộng xa hơn thịt và khoai tây , để khám phá những món chay cà-ri vàng , ngọt và ngon . Du hành khắp toàn cầu trên bàn ăn của mình . Làm mỗi món ăn trở thành chuyến phiêu lưu thay vì xem đó là việc làm vặt . Hãy từ từ nếm thức ăn thay vì nuốt thức ăn nhanh chỉ để lấp đầy chỗ trống trong bao tử và linh hồn . Thưởng thức mỗi giây phút trong bữa ăn .
Bước Tám
Giữ từ ái với mọi việc mình làm . Nếu muốn biết hơn 6 tỷ thú vật chịu đau khổ và giết hại mỗi năm tại Hoa Kỳ , xin viếng Trại Trú ẩn Thú vật
Bước Chín
Hãy tham gia vào việc bảo tồn năng lượng trong vùng của bạn . Giữ lại những viên chức được bầu chọn có trách nhiệm . Viết thư cho họ và làm người tiên phong thực hiện . Yêu cầu họ làm thêm lối đi xe đạp an toàn hơn , giao thông công cộng bền vững , giảm thuế và những lời khuyến khích cho việc dùng năng lượng bền vững tại nhà .
Bước Mười
Đi bộ , chạy xe đạp hoặc dùng phương tiện giao thông công cộng .
Bí Quyết & Cảnh Báo
Thực hiện từng bước một mỗi lần . Nếu tất cả chúng ta bắt đầu tiến trình chuyển về phía trước trong một thế giới xanh hơn , chúng ta có thể cùng bước vào thế giới mơ ước của mình .
của Tiến sĩ Jewell soạn
Nguồn: http://www.ehow.com
trackback : http://www.suprememastertv.com/bbs/tb.php/sos_au/17
Thay Đổi Lối Sống Có Thể Hạn Chế Khí Hậu Thay Đổi : Chủ Tịch IPCC
BA LÊ (AFP) - Không ăn thịt , đi xe đạp , và mua sắm tiết kiệm – đó là cách bạn có thể giúp ngưng hâm nóng toàn cầu , chủ tịch hội đồng khoa học về khí hậu thay đổi từng đoạt giải Nobel của Liên Hiệp Quốc đã nói vào hôm thứ ba .
Tường trình năm 2007 của Hội đồng Liên Chính phủ Khí hậu Thay đổi (IPCC) phát hành năm vừa qua , nhấn mạnh “tầm quan trọng của việc thay đổi lối sống,” Rajendra Pachauri đã nói tại một cuộc họp báo tại Ba Lê .
“Đây là một điều Hội đồng Liên Chính phủ Khí hậu Thay đổi e ngại nói đến trước đây , nhưng bây giờ chúng ta đã nói.”
Một người ăn chay , kinh tế gia Ấn Độ khẩn thiết thỉnh cầu mọi người khắp thế giới giảm ăn thịt .
Ông nói , cho biết thêm tiêu thụ nhiều thịt cũng không tốt cho sức khỏe con người : “Xin bớt ăn thịt -- thịt là một loại hàng hóa tạo ra rất nhiều thán khí.”
Các nghiên cứu cho thấy sản xuất 1 kí-lô (2,2 cân Anh) thịt sẽ thải ra khoảng 36,4 kí-lô thán khí .
Thêm vào đó , chăn nuôi và vận chuyển miếng thịt bò , thịt cừu hoặc thịt heo đó cần số năng lượng tương đương với thắp một bóng đèn 100 công suất điện trong gần ba tuần .
Trong những cách liệt kê mà các cá nhân có thể đóng góp hầu chống lại hâm nóng toàn cầu , Pachauri ca ngợi hệ thống công cộng , đưa xe đạp vào Ba Lê và các thành phố khác của Pháp như một “sự phát triển tuyệt vời.”
Ông nói với ký giả tại một cuộc họp báo : “Thay vì nhảy lên xe hơi đi 500 mét , nếu chúng ta dùng xe đạp hoặc đi bộ , điều đó sẽ tạo một khác biệt khổng lồ.”
Ông nói tiếp , thay đổi lối sống có thể giúp , không phải mua sắm đồ vật “đơn giản vì đồ vật đã sẵn có.” Ông cố thuyết phục người tiêu dùng chỉ nên mua những thứ thật sự cần .
Khi giải Nobel được trao cho Hội đồng Liên Chính phủ Khí hậu Thay đổi Liên Hiệp Quốc và cựu phó tổng thống Hoa Kỳ Al Gore vào tháng 10 , Pachauri đã rung chuông báo động về sự nguy hiểm của hâm nóng toàn cầu .
Ông cảnh báo vào hôm thứ ba : “Bức tranh thật tàn khốc -- nếu loài người không làm một điều gì đó , khí hậu thay đổi sẽ có nhiều ảnh hưởng nghiêm trọng.”
Đồng thời , tuy nhiên , ông nói ông được cổ vũ bởi kết quả của những cuộc thương thuyết về khí hậu thay đổi do Liên Hiệp Quốc tổ chức tại Bali tháng trước , và bởi triển vọng của chính quyền mới tại Hoa Thịnh Đốn .
Ông nói : “Lời phát biểu cuối cùng nói rõ việc cắt giảm mạnh trong khí thải khí nhà kính . Tôi không nghĩ rằng mọi người có thể trốn chạy khỏi thuật ngữ đó.”
Cuộc thương thuyết tại Bali đã thiết lập kế hoạch cho sự thỏa thuận toàn cầu về cách giảm lưu lượng thán khí và những loại khí khác tạo ra bởi hoạt động của con người đưa đến khí hậu thay đổi .
Pachauri cũng thấy được nguyên nhân về sự lạc quan trong sự thật là , lần đầu tiên từ khi cuộc họp gồm các quốc gia trên thế giới bắt đầu về vấn đề hâm nóng toàn cầu năm 1994 , “không ai thắc mắc về những phát hiện của Hội đồng Liên Chính phủ Khí hậu Thay đổi.”
Ông nói : “Rõ ràng khoa học đã trở thành nền tảng để hành động về vấn đề khí hậu thay đổi.”
Năm 2007 , Hội đồng Liên Chính phủ Khí hậu Thay đổi đã phát hành một tường trình đồ với kích cỡ ba quyển sách điện thoại niên giám về sự thật và nguy cơ của khí hậu thay đổi , giám định lần thứ 4 trong vòng 18 năm .
Pachauri nói đã quá muộn để Hoa Thịnh Đốn công nhận và đồng ý nghị định thư Kyoto , hiệp ước quốc tế duy nhất ủy nhiệm về việc giảm thán khí thải .
Hoa Kỳ là quốc gia kỹ nghệ duy nhất đã chưa có những cam kết đó .
Nhưng ông vẫn còn hy vọng Hoa Kỳ -- dưới chính quyền mới -- sẽ là một “quốc gia ký kết chính yếu” về thỏa hiệp mới nào đó .
Ông nói : “Với sự thay đổi chính trị đang diễn ra ở Hoa Kỳ , những cơ hội thay đổi đang xảy ra chắc chắn tốt hơn rất nhiều so với trường hợp vài tháng trước.”
Ở tuổi 67 , Pachauri nói ông chưa quyết định có nên đảm nhận nhiệm kỳ thứ hai 5 năm với cương vị chủ tịch Hội đồng Liên Chính phủ Khí hậu Thay đổi Liên Hiệp Quốc . Cuộc bầu cử sẽ diễn ra vào tháng 9 .
Mặt khác , ông nói , kinh nghiệm ông đã thu thập sẽ phục vụ tốt cho ông .
Nhưng ông vừa cười vừa nói , lợi điểm của việc nghỉ hưu là ảnh hưởng thán khí của ông -- số lượng thán khí thải thoát ra từ việc đi lại của ông sẽ giảm rất nhiều .
Những người ăn thịt đang góp phần hâm nóng toàn cầu
New Research Suggests What You Eat as Important as What You Drive
April 19, 2006 --
Your personal impact on global warming may be influenced as much by what you eat as by what you drive.
That surprising conclusion comes from a couple of scientists who have taken an unusual look at the production of greenhouse gases from an angle that not many folks have even thought about. Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, assistant professors of geophysics at the University of Chicago, have found that our consumption of red meat may be as bad for the planet as it is for our bodies.
If you want to help lower greenhouse gas emissions, they conclude in a report to be published in the journal Earth Interactions, become a vegetarian.
In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that both researchers are vegetarians, although they admit to cheating a little with an occasional sardine. They say their conclusions are backed up by hard data.
Go to see full Article --> http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Sto...1856817&page=1
Thử liên hệ món ăn tối với khí hậu thay đổi
EVER since “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore has been the darling of environmentalists, but that movie hardly endeared him to the animal rights folks. According to them, the most inconvenient truth of all is that raising animals for meat contributes more to global warming than all the sport utility vehicles combined.
The biggest animal rights groups do not always overlap in their missions, but now they have coalesced around a message that eating meat is worse for the environment than driving. They and smaller groups have started advertising campaigns that try to equate vegetarianism with curbing greenhouse gases.
Some backlash against this position is inevitable, the groups acknowledge, but they do have scientific ammunition. In late November, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization issued a report stating that the livestock business generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transportation combined.
When that report came out, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other groups expected their environmental counterparts to immediately hop on the “Go Veggie!” bandwagon, but that did not happen. “Environmentalists are still pointing their fingers at Hummers and S.U.V.’s when they should be pointing at the dinner plate,” said Matt A. Prescott, manager of vegan campaigns for PETA.
http://www.suprememastertv.comhttp:/...memastertv.com
Go to see full article http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/bu...=2&oref=slogin
Xuất bản ngày Thứ Bảy 20 tháng 1 , 2007 bởi Huffington Post
Ăn chay là xe Prius mới
Kathy Freston
President Herbert Hoover promised "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage." With warnings about global warming reaching feverish levels, many are having second thoughts about all those cars. It seems they should instead be worrying about the chickens.
Last month, the United Nations published a report on livestock and the environment with a stunning conclusion: "The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.
That's right, global warming. You've probably heard the story: emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are changing our climate, and scientists warn of more extreme weather, coastal flooding, spreading disease, and mass extinctions. It seems that when you step outside and wonder what happened to winter, you might want to think about what you had for dinner last night. The U.N. report says almost a fifth of global warming emissions come from livestock (i.e., those chickens Hoover was talking about, plus pigs, cattle, and others)--that's more emissions than from all of the world's transportation combined.
For a decade now, the image of Leonardo DiCaprio cruising in his hybrid Toyota Prius has defined the gold standard for environmentalism. These gas-sipping vehicles became a veritable symbol of the consumers' power to strike a blow against global warming. Just think: a car that could cut your vehicle emissions in half - in a country responsible for 25% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions. Federal fuel economy standards languished in Congress, and average vehicle mileage dropped to its lowest level in decades, but the Prius showed people that another way is possible. Toyota could not import the cars fast enough to meet demand.
Last year researchers at the University of Chicago took the Prius down a peg when they turned their attention to another gas guzzling consumer purchase. They noted that feeding animals for meat, dairy, and egg production requires growing some ten times as much crops as we'd need if we just ate pasta primavera, faux chicken nuggets, and other plant foods. On top of that, we have to transport the animals to slaughterhouses, slaughter them, refrigerate their carcasses, and distribute their flesh all across the country. Producing a calorie of meat protein means burning more than ten times as much fossil fuels--and spewing more than ten times as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide--as does a calorie of plant protein. The researchers found that, when it's all added up, the average American does more to reduce global warming emissions by going vegetarian than by switching to a Prius.
According to the UN report, it gets even worse when we include the vast quantities of land needed to give us our steak and pork chops. Animal agriculture takes up an incredible 70% of all agricultural land, and 30% of the total land surface of the planet. As a result, farmed animals are probably the biggest cause of slashing and burning the world's forests. Today, 70% of former Amazon rainforest is used for pastureland, and feed crops cover much of the remainder. These forests serve as "sinks," absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, and burning these forests releases all the stored carbon dioxide, quantities that exceed by far the fossil fuel emission of animal agriculture.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the real kicker comes when looking at gases besides carbon dioxide--gases like methane and nitrous oxide, enormously effective greenhouse gases with 23 and 296 times the warming power of carbon dioxide, respectively. If carbon dioxide is responsible for about one-half of human-related greenhouse gas warming since the industrial revolution, methane and nitrous oxide are responsible for another one-third. These super-strong gases come primarily from farmed animals' digestive processes, and from their manure. In fact, while animal agriculture accounts for 9% of our carbon dioxide emissions, it emits 37% of our methane, and a whopping 65% of our nitrous oxide.
It's a little hard to take in when thinking of a small chick hatching from her fragile egg. How can an animal, so seemingly insignificant against the vastness of the earth, give off so much greenhouse gas as to change the global climate? The answer is in their sheer numbers. The United States alone slaughters more than 10 billion land animals every year, all to sustain a meat-ravenous culture that can barely conceive of a time not long ago when "a chicken in every pot" was considered a luxury. Land animals raised for food make up a staggering 20% of the entire land animal biomass of the earth. We are eating our planet to death.
What we're seeing is just the beginning, too. Meat consumption has increased five-fold in the past fifty years, and is expected to double again in the next fifty.
It sounds like a lot of bad news, but in fact it's quite the opposite. It means we have a powerful new weapon to use in addressing the most serious environmental crisis ever to face humanity. The Prius was an important step forward, but how often are people in the market for a new car? Now that we know a greener diet is even more effective than a greener car, we can make a difference at every single meal, simply by leaving the animals off of our plates. Who would have thought: what's good for our health is also good for the health of the planet!
Going veg provides more bang for your buck than driving a Prius. Plus, that bang comes a lot faster. The Prius cuts emissions of carbon dioxide, which spreads its warming effect slowly over a century. A big chunk of the problem with farmed animals, on the other hand, is methane, a gas which cycles out of the atmosphere in just a decade. That means less meat consumption quickly translates into a cooler planet.
Not just a cooler planet, also a cleaner one. Animal agriculture accounts for most of the water consumed in this country, emits two-thirds of the world's acid-rain-causing ammonia, and it the world's largest source of water pollution--killing entire river and marine ecosystems, destroying coral reefs, and of course, making people sick. Try to imagine the prodigious volumes of manure churned out by modern American farms: 5 million tons a day, more than a hundred times that of the human population, and far more than our land can possibly absorb. The acres and acres of cesspools stretching over much of our countryside, polluting the air and contaminating our water, make the Exxon Valdez oil spill look minor in comparison. All of which we can fix surprisingly easily, just by putting down our chicken wings and reaching for a veggie burger.
Doing so has never been easier. Recent years have seen an explosion of environmentally-friendly vegetarian foods. Even chains like Ruby Tuesday, Johnny Rockets, and Burger King offer delicious veggie burgers and supermarket refrigerators are lined with heart-healthy creamy soymilk and tasty veggie deli slices. Vegetarian foods have become staples at environmental gatherings, and garnered celebrity advocates like Bill Maher, Alec Baldwin, Paul McCartney, and of course Leonardo DiCaprio. Just as the Prius showed us that we each have in our hands the power to make a difference against a problem that endangers the future of humanity, going vegetarian gives us a new way to dramatically reduce our dangerous emissions that is even more effective, easier to do, more accessible to everyone and certainly goes better with french fries.
Ever-rising temperatures, melting ice caps, spreading tropical diseases, stronger hurricaneshttp://www.suprememastertv.com. So, what are you do doing for dinner tonight? Check out www.VegCooking.com for great ideas, free recipes, meal plans, and more! Check out the environmental section of www.GoVeg.com for a lot more information about the harmful effect of meat-eating on the environment.
Kathy Freston is a self-help author and personal growth and spirituality counselor. She is the author of Expect a Miracle: Seven Spiritual Steps to Finding the Right Relationship. Her CDs offering guided meditation have been featured in W, Self, and Mode. Kathy and her husband, Tom Freston, divide their time between New York and Los Angeles.
© 2007 The Huffington Post
Các nhà nghiên cứu môi không chú ý việc ăn chay như một công cụ hữu hiệu nhất để chống khí hậu thay đổi trong cả cuộc đời của chúng ta, do Noam Mohr viết
Báo cáo cuả Earth Save:
Chiến lược hâm nóng toàn cầu mới:
Các nhà môi trường học đang xem ăn chay là công cụ hiệu quả nhất chống lại sự thay đổi khí hậu trong đời sống cuả chúng ta, viết bởi Noam Mohr
Tải xuống toàn bộ báo cáo(.pdf)
Summary
Global warming poses one of the most serious threats to the global environment ever faced in human history. Yet by focusing entirely on carbon dioxide emissions, major environmental organizations have failed to account for published data showing that other gases are the main culprits behind the global warming we see today. As a result, they are neglecting what might be the most effective strategy for reducing global warming in our lifetimes: advocating a vegetarian diet.
Sự hâm nóng toàn cầu và CO2
he environmental community rightly recognizes global warming as one of the gravest threats to the planet. Global temperatures are already higher than they’ve ever been in at least the past millennium, and the increase is accelerating even faster than scientists had predicted. The expected consequences include coastal flooding, increases in extreme weather, spreading disease, and mass extinctions.
Unfortunately, the environmental community has focused its efforts almost exclusively on abating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Domestic legislative efforts concentrate on raising fuel economy standards, capping CO2 emissions from power plants, and investing in alternative energy sources. Recommendations to consumers also focus on CO2: buy fuel-efficient cars and appliances, and minimize their use. ,
This is a serious miscalculation. Data published by Dr. James Hansen and others show that CO2 emissions are not the main cause of observed atmospheric warming. Though this may sound like the work of global warming skeptics, it isn’t: Hansen is Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies who has been called “a grandfather of the global warming theory.” He is a longtime supporter of action against global warming, cited by Al Gore and often quoted by environmental organizations, who has argued against skeptics for subverting the scientific process. His results are generally accepted by global warming experts, including bigwigs like Dr. James McCarthy, co-chair of the International Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group II.
The focus solely on CO2 is fueled in part by misconceptions. It’s true that human activity produces vastly more CO2 than all other greenhouse gases put together. However, this does not mean it is responsible for most of the earth’s warming. Many other greenhouse gases trap heat far more powerfully than CO2, some of them tens of thousands of times more powerfully. When taking into account various gases’ global warming potential—defined as the amount of actual warming a gas will produce over the next one hundred years—it turns out that gases other than CO2 make up most of the global warming problem.
Even this overstates the effect of CO2, because the primary sources of these emissions—cars and power plants—also produce aerosols. Aerosols actually have a cooling effect on global temperatures, and the magnitude of this cooling approximately cancels out the warming effect of CO2. The surprising result is that sources of CO2 emissions are having roughly zero effect on global temperatures in the near-term!
This result is not widely known in the environmental community, due to a fear that polluting industries will use it to excuse their greenhouse gas emissions. For example, the Union of Concerned Scientists had the data reviewed by other climate experts, who affirmed Hansen’s conclusions. However, the organization also cited climate contrarians’ misuse of the data to argue against curbs in CO2. This contrarian spin cannot be justified.
While CO2 may have little influence in the near-term, reductions remains critical for containing climate change in the long run. Aerosols are short-lived, settling out of the air after a few months, while CO2 continues to heat the atmosphere for decades to centuries. Moreover, we cannot assume that aerosol emissions will keep pace with increases in CO2 emissions. If we fail start dealing with CO2 today, it will be too late down the road when the emissions catch up with us.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that sources of non-CO2 greenhouse gases are responsible for virtually all the global warming we’re seeing, and all the global warming we are going to see for the next fifty years. If we wish to curb global warming over the coming half century, we must look at strategies to address non-CO2 emissions. The strategy with the most impact is vegetarianism.
Mê-tan và thuyết ăn chay
By far the most important non-CO2 greenhouse gas is methane, and the number one source of methane worldwide is animal agriculture.
Methane is responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together. Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. While atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have risen by about 31% since pre-industrial times, methane concentrations have more than doubled. Whereas human sources of CO2 amount to just 3% of natural emissions, human sources produce one and a half times as much methane as all natural sources. In fact, the effect of our methane emissions may be compounded as methane-induced warming in turn stimulates microbial decay of organic matter in wetlands—the primary natural source of methane.
With methane emissions causing nearly half of the planet’s human-induced warming, methane reduction must be a priority. Methane is produced by a number of sources, including coal mining and landfills—but the number one source worldwide is animal agriculture. Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year. And this source is on the rise: global meat consumption has increased fivefold in the past fifty years, and shows little sign of abating. About 85% of this methane is produced in the digestive processes of livestock, and while a single cow releases a relatively small amount of methane, the collective effect on the environment of the hundreds of millions of livestock animals worldwide is enormous. An additional 15% of animal agricultural methane emissions are released from the massive “lagoons” used to store untreated farm animal waste, and already a target of environmentalists’ for their role as the number one source of water pollution in the U.S.
The conclusion is simple: arguably the best way to reduce global warming in our lifetimes is to reduce or eliminate our consumption of animal products. Simply by going vegetarian (or, strictly speaking, vegan), , , we can eliminate one of the major sources of emissions of methane, the greenhouse gas responsible for almost half of the global warming impacting the planet today.
Ưu điểm cuả ăn chay trong việc giảm CO2
In addition to having the advantage of immediately reducing global warming, a shift away from methane-emitting food sources is much easier than cutting carbon dioxide.
First, there is no limit to reductions in this source of greenhouse gas that can be achieved through vegetarian diet. In principle, even 100% reduction could be achieved with little negative impact. In contrast, similar cuts in carbon dioxide are impossible without devastating effects on the economy. Even the most ambitious carbon dioxide reduction strategies fall short of cutting emissions by half.
Second, shifts in diet lower greenhouse gas emissions much more quickly than shifts away from the fossil fuel burning technologies that emit carbon dioxide. The turnover rate for most ruminant farm animals is one or two years, so that decreases in meat consumption would result in almost immediate drops in methane emissions. The turnover rate for cars and power plants, on the other hand, can be decades. Even if cheap, zero-emission fuel sources were available today, they would take many years to build and slowly replace the massive infrastructure our economy depends upon today.
Similarly, unlike carbon dioxide which can remain in the air for more than a century, methane cycles out of the atmosphere in just eight years, so that lower methane emissions quickly translate to cooling of the earth.
Third, efforts to cut carbon dioxide involve fighting powerful and wealthy business interests like the auto and oil industries. Environmental groups have been lobbying for years to make fuel-efficient SUVs available or phase out power plants that don’t meet modern environmental standards without success. At the same time, vegetarian foods are readily available, and cuts in agricultural methane emissions are achievable at every meal.
Also, polls show that concern about global warming is widespread, and environmental activists often feel helpless to do anything about it. Unless they happen to be buying a car or major appliance, most people wanting to make a difference are given little to do aside from writing their legislators and turning off their lights. Reducing or eliminating meat consumption is something concerned citizens can do every day to help the planet.
Finally, it is worth noting that reductions in this source of greenhouse gas have many beneficial side effects for the environment. Less methane results in less tropospheric ozone, a pollutant damaging to human health and agriculture. Moreover, the same factory farms responsible for these methane emissions also use up most of the country’s water supply, and denude most of its wilderness for rangeland and growing feed. Creating rangeland to feed western nations’ growing appetite for meat has been a major source of deforestation and desertification in third world countries. Factory farm waste lagoons are a leading source of water pollution in the U.S. Indeed, because of animal agriculture’s high demand for fossil fuels, the average American diet is far more CO2-polluting than a plant-based one.
Recommendations
Organizations should consider making advocating vegetarianism a major part of their global warming campaigns. At a minimum, environmental advocates should mention vegetarianism in any information about actions individuals can take to address global warming.
Government policy should encourage vegetarian diets. Possible mechanisms include an environmental tax on meat similar to one already recommended on gasoline, a shift in farm subsidies to encourage plant agriculture over animal agriculture, or an increased emphasis on vegetarian foods in government-run programs like the school lunch program or food stamps.
Bảo tồn rừng mưa để bảo vệ tinh cầu bằng cách ăn chay
Do Ban Báo chí Vienna (nguyên văn tiếng Anh)
Rừng mưa Ba Tây trong bang Mato Grosso tạo thành một mái che quý báu và là môi trường sống thiên nhiên của rất nhiều chủng loại thú vật và thực vật , hiện đang bị nguy cơ khẩn cấp . Từ năm 2001 đến năm 2004 , hơn 1 triệu (1,334.369) mẫu tây rừng mưa đã mất đi .
Theo một báo cáo gần đây của các nhà nghiên cứu từ Ðại học Maryland , thì thủ phạm chính của nạn phá rừng là việc chăn nuôi gia súc . Nhà văn khoa học Hoa Kỳ Jeremy Rifkin cho biết , kể từ thập niên 1980 , khi mỗi cái bánh mì thịt bơ-gơ được tiêu thụ tại Hoa Kỳ , thì 6 mét vuông rừng mưa đã bị chuyển sang đồng cỏ . Trong khi hầu hết cây cối bị đốn để tạo đồng cỏ , rừng mưa cũng bị hủy diệt để sản xuất đậu nành , xuất khẩu làm thức ăn cho bò tại Âu châu .
Theo những dữ kiện cung cấp từ Tổ chức Nông Lương Liên Hiệp Quốc , sự phát quang rừng để làm đồng cỏ và đồng ruộng tạo nên 5.291 triệu cân Anh thán khí mỗi năm , một trong những chất hơi độc hại nhất của nhà kính . Tại Ba Tây và Bolivia , có dự đoán rằng gần 7 triệu rưỡi mẫu tây rừng sẽ bị mất vào năm 2010 .
Một phần ba những vùng không đóng băng trên thế giới hiện là đồng cỏ nuôi gia súc , trong khi 33% đất trồng trọt được sử dụng để trồng thực phẩm cho thú vật . Chăn nuôi gia súc là cách rất kém hiệu quả để nuôi dân số đang gia tăng của địa cầu : Ðể sản xuất 127.868 triệu cân Anh thịt mỗi năm , 169.756 triệu cân Anh thực phẩm hàng năm phải được dùng để nuôi gia súc .
41.888 triệu cân Anh thực phẩm bị lãng phí theo cách này thay vì vậy có thể nuôi sống hàng triệu người , và hàng triệu thú vật sẽ được cứu mạng !
Theo một nghiên cứu khác , đất rừng khai quang đóng góp phần lớn cho hiện tượng hâm nóng toàn cầu , tăng nhiệt độ lên đến 3 độ Fahrenheit . Ðất trồng trọt có khuynh hướng hâm nóng môi trường , và tiếp theo là đồng cỏ . Ngược lại , rừng mưa bốc hơi nước qua lá và rễ cây , tạo thành hiệu quả điều hòa không khí thiên nhiên . Những lá phổi xanh này của địa cầu cũng hấp thu nhiều thán khí và "thở ra" dưỡng khí . Thí dụ như , rừng mưa Amazon sản xuất hơn 20% tổng số dưỡng khí của địa cầu .
Những khám phá này cho thấy rõ rằng để ngăn ngừa hiện tượng hâm nóng toàn cầu và kết quả thay đổi khí hậu , ăn chay là một trong những cách hữu hiệu nhất . Ngoài ra , nó còn cứu mạng sống nữa !
Nguồn :
http://www.zeit.de/2007/04/Kuh?page=all (German)
http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/mail/sen...articleID=1323
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/New...3?img_id=17404
http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0919-amazon.html
Ðọc thêm :
Jeremy Rifkin : Vượt khỏi miếng thịt bò : Sự thăng trầm của công nghệ nuôi gia súc .
Frances Moore Lappe : Phép ăn uống cho một hành tinh nhỏ .
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Cách chúng ta gây giống thú vật để làm thực phẩm là mối đe dọa cho địa cầu
The Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health today announced a new project to study and evaluate the effects of breeding large numbers of food animals in concentrated facilities. The Henry Spira/GRACE Project on Industrial Animal Production, sited at the School and named for activist Henry Spira, will coordinate research and discussion on all aspects of industrial animal production (IAP) including its effects on human health, the environment, and the animals. The project is funded by Helaine Lerner, a private donor with a long time interest in health and environmental issues.
Project director David Brubaker, PhD, said, "The way that we breed animals for food is a threat to the planet. It pollutes our environment while consuming huge amounts of water, grain, petroleum, pesticides and drugs. The results are disastrous." Industrial animal production has been linked to diseases such as E. coli, Listeria, and Cryptosporidium which often come from the huge quantities of manure produced the system. For example, Dr. Brubaker estimated that a hog farm with 5000 animals produces as much fecal waste as a city with 50,000 people, yet the disposal methods are farm more primitive. "This waste contains harmful viruses, bacteria, and parasites," said Dr. Brubaker.
The Henry Spira/GRACE Project will serve as a global forum to examine these issues and many others such as how to develop and promote diets that minimize costs to society; understanding the relationship between human nutrition and environmental quality; and finding ways to provide healthy food for people without mistreating animals. The broad goal of the project is to build a scientific and ethical consensus for the development of sustainable food production systems which minimize resource use and promote human health and environmental quality.
The Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health addresses the dual challenges of protecting health and protecting the global environment to sustain life for future generations. The Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) is a non-profit corporation committed to forming new links among those engaged in research, policy, and grass roots community work in order to promote solutions to preserve the future of the planet and protect the quality of the environment.
Public Affairs Media Contacts for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Tim Parsons or Kenna Brigham @ 410-955-6878 or paffairs@jhsph.edu.
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A just-released report in the November/December issue of World Watch Magazine has concluded that livestock raising is responsible for at least 51 percent of global warming.
Authors Dr. Robert Goodland, former lead environmental advisor to the World Bank, and World Bank research officer Jeff Anhang built upon “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” the report published in 2006 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
They calculated for areas not previously considered and updated others, including the lifecycle emissions of farmed fish production, CO2 from animal respirations , and an actual corrected tally that resulted in a more than doubling of the reported number of livestock animals on the planet.
Livestock's methane emissions were also factored in as being 72 times more heat-trapping in the atmosphere than CO2. This represents a more accurate increase from the original FAO calculations of 23 times the warming potential.
Even so, the researchers cautioned that the sum of their estimates was minimized, and therefore the 51 percent emissions total is still conservative. In a question and answer article on the website vegclimatealliance.org, the authors concluded:“It is now possible to understand that the dramatic expansion of the livestock sector in recent decades may imperil humanity, and that there may be no way to manage the climate risk of either the food industry or the world at large other than by replacing livestock products with better alternatives.”
Our thankful appreciation, Dr. Goodland, Mr. Anhang, participating scientists and World Watch Institute, for your work showing that meat consumption is clearly the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
Let us ever more swiftly replace animal products with their planet-cooling veg alternatives to preserve our ecosphere and all lives. Supreme Master Ching Hai has often offered support for this most direct solution to saving humanity and the Earth, as during an interview for the July 12, 2009 edition of the Irish Sunday Independent.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Livestock is the single largest emitter of methane. Moreover, because of methane’s faster disappearance from the atmosphere, if we stop eating meat the planet will be able to cool immediately.
Livestock raising and animal breeding also cause many other damages to our planet. Livestock, by far, is the single largest human-related occupier of land, the main driver of deforestation, the biggest water polluter, and top culprit of biodiversity loss.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Eighty percent of the Amazon’s deforested land are converted to grazing pastures for cattle. Of the remaining deforested land, the majority is used for growing soy. Eighty-five percent of the world’s soy is fed to the cattle that will be slaughtered for human consumption.
Everything points in the same direction, that is, meat diet. see? If we stop consuming animal products, much of this lethal source is eliminated and the heat it creates will also disappear.
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.
Reference
http://vegclimatealliance.org/livest...ate-change-qa/
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294
Read "Livestock and Climate Change," World Watch Magazine [FREE PDF]
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ĂN CHAY và HÂM NÓNG TOÀN CẦU
Culprit of the Fast Disappearing Global Biodiversity : The Livestock Industry
21. ĂN CHAY và HÂM NÓNG TOÀN CẦU
Lord Stern says to give up meat to save the planet - 28 Oct 2009
In an interview featured on the front page of the United Kingdom's Tuesday, October 27 issue of The Times, Lord Nicholas Stern, a global authority on climate change, stated that people need to consider going vegetarian to overcome climate change.
Lord Stern, who has previously served as Chief Economist of the World Bank and as advisor to the United Kingdom, published the Stern Review, an analysis of the economics of climate change.
He is now warning that unless actions change, the future holds temperature rises of five degrees Celsius, which will cause Southern Europe to become a desert and require hundreds of millions of people to move, leading to global conflict.
Explaining that such a crisis would come very quickly, he stated, “Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better.”
Our heartfelt thanks, Lord Stern, for your forthright call for the shift to a veg diet. We applaud your courage and honesty, and pray that climate change expert and leaders around the globe join in the planet-saving vegan diet. The benefits and planetary need for a plant-based lifestyle have been affirmed on many occasions by Supreme Master Ching Hai, as during an April 2009 videoconference in South Korea.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Some governments already have policies in place and are encouraging people to go green.But my only concern is that the changes are not happening quickly enough.
We really need to stop global warming now, like yesterday, because I’m sorry to say that while all these green changes are good, there is still one action that must be on the top of the list, the most important one, which, once again, is the vegan diet.
The greenest of all the green policy, the greenest of all the green action, the most compassionate, the most heroic, the lifesaving action, the vegan diet. It will eliminate methane, one of the most heat-trapping greenhouse gases. And this will cool the planet the fastest and give us more time to exercise our green policy
or finding better technology.
This is the most valuable step, the vegan step, that the governments could make, could encourage, could pass into law, could inform the people at large. This is the realistic way, the only way that I know, the only way that I see that we can save the planet right now.
22. ĂN CHAY và HÂM NÓNG TOÀN CẦU
Review of livestock and climate study by The Independent newspaper - 4 Nov 2009
On November 1, The Independent,a leading newspaper in the United Kingdom, published an article by Consumer Affairs Correspondent Martin Hickman commenting on the new report from the US-based Worldwatch Institute.
The Independent cited the report’s revised calculations finding that livestock is responsible for at least 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is far more than the 18% previously estimated by the United Nations.
It went on to highlight similarly held positions by public figures such as vegetarian Chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, who has called lower meat consumption “the most attractive opportunity.”
The article also quoted climate and economics expert Lord Stern of Brentford, UK, who more recently affirmed meat’s heavy carbon footprint and waste of the world’s resources.
The review concluded by sharing a statement from Justin Kerswell, campaign manager for vegetarian group Viva!, who said, “The case for reducing consumption of meat and dairy products was already imperative based on previous UN findings.
Now it appears to have been proven that the environmental devastation from livestock production is in fact staggeringly more significant…. It is essential that attention is fully focused on the impact of livestock production by all global organizations with the power to affect policy.”
We thank journalist Martin Hickman and The Independent for this thoughtful review of a highly relevant study, one that clearly indicates that change of diet is a priority to halt climate change. May more people and leaders be informed of such findings and act swiftly while there is still time.
Supreme Master Ching Hai has often cited the dire consequences of meat consumption and the urgent need to halt it, as during a June 2008 videoconference with our Association members in London, England.
Supreme Master Ching Hai : From all the scientific facts, from all the reports, we know the cars,the garbage, they are not the main cause of global warming. They are not the main polluter of the planet.
They are not the main cause of the killer. For example, methane is like 72 times more potent than CO2. And nitrous oxide is approximately 300 times more potent than CO2. And livestock is the number one cause
of methane.
And byproducts, also nitrous oxide is also from livestock. Meat, eggs, dairy, responsible for 65% of worldwide human-caused nitrous oxide emissions.
All the cost of deforestation, all the cost of transportation, all the cost of water, all the cost of medicine, all the cost of sickness, all the cost of building hospitals, training more doctors and making more medicines,
and all the heartache of being sick and causing trouble for the loved ones by being sick. And then all the trouble or the cost of war because of hunger, because of food insecurity.
Now vegetarianismis the only solution. It's the best, the fastest solution. I pray that people in the world wake up on time and just forsake that piece of meat, then everything will be just fine. Everything will be beautiful, nice, peaceful.
Reference
http://www.independent.co.uk/environ...s-1812909.html
23. ĂN CHAY và HÂM NÓNG TOÀN CẦU
British Prince Philip hosts vegan interfaith banquet for a sustainable planet - 4 Nov 2009
Together with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, hosted a special lunch on Tuesday, November 3 at Windsor Castle.
The occasion was part of a 3-day conference entitled, “Many Heavens, One Earth: Faith Commitments for a Living Planet,” which had gathered over 250 leaders from nine faiths to propose frameworks for future commitments to climate change action.
In accordance with the eco-conscious event, the conference organizers opted for a vegan lunch, providing a low-impact meal while also respecting various religious dietary needs.
With dishes that featured seasonal, regionally sourced plant-based ingredients, this was the first vegan banquet in Windsor Castle’s history. Heaven bless you, Your Royal Highness, Secretary-
General Ban and all involved, for this noble event bringing faiths together in love of our God-gifted Earthly home.
We pray that the conference spiritually recharges the world’s faiths and believers toward meaningful climate action that includes the ultimately eco-friendly vegan fare.
Reference
http://www.forward.com/articles/117809/
http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/a...ash=e7922d7047
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...ynGlTwcqqY2RJQ
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/berkshir...00/8337997.stm
http://www.forward.com/articles/117809/
The Australian reports on trend toward less meat - 5 Nov 2009
In a recent article in “The Australian,” the most widely read national newspaper in the country, Tasmania correspondent Matthew Denholm observed that cattle farmers are noting signs of diminished public demand for beef products.
Mr. Denholm explained that indeed, there is a growing global public call help mitigate climate change by reducing meat consumption, and he included mention of the efforts of Supreme Master Ching Hai.
The following is an excerpt from the article.
“…A campaign is under way to persuade Australians to eat less meat to reduce greenhouse emissions. The Australian Vegetarian Society says the issue is as important in the climate change debate as coal-fired energy, while SBS TV viewers would have noticed ads – financed by Vietnamese-born [Supreme Master] Ching Hai -- urging the world to “Be Veg. Go Green. Save the Planet.” Such groups cannot be dismissed as fringe-dwellers,since their arguments are echoed by the UN, which says livestock produce 18 per cent of world greenhouse emissions -- more than all forms of transport combined (13 per cent).
The head of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Indian scientist Rajendra Pachauri – a vegetarian – is among those urging a cut in meat consumption as the quickest, easiest way to cut emissions.”
VOICE: The article stated that the Australian cattle farmers believe that the younger generation of consumers and their concern about livestock as a cause of global warming could very negatively impact the industry.
The story concludes with a comment shared from an Australian veg advocate.“Mark Berriman, [New South Wales] director of the Australian Vegetarian Society, believes Australians’ meat-loving culture will change as ‘reality’ sinks in. ‘Reducing meat consumption takes out the most powerful of the greenhouse gases
but also takes them out at a much quicker rate than removing carbon dioxide,’ he says.”
VOICE: Our appreciation goes to journalist Matthew Denholm and The Australian for informing readers about the causal link between meat consumption and climate change. To save our irreplaceable planet and precious co-inhabitants, may humanity make the veg trend a foremost priority, through which alternative economic opportunities will surely follow.
Supreme Master Ching Hai’s original slogan, “Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet” indeed offers a simple but effective way to preserve our world, as explained in a May 2009 videoconference in Togo.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: We all have a shared planet and we have shared responsibility, and we all want it to be saved for every one of us. Just like in the human body, if one area is hurt, it will affect the whole body as well.
So, that is the key, to Be Veg and spread the message of compassion, to let people know that they can really make a difference. And we each can through the choices we make in putting food on our plate. Please try to inform your people that peace and the survival of our planet begins at home, begins on our plate.
Reference
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...013871,00.html
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1523&page=2#v
Al Gore recommends reducing meat to address global warming - 6 Nov 2009
In several of his interviews to promote his most recent book on climate change, “Our Choice,” environmental campaigner, former US Vice President and Nobel Prize laureate Al Gore has spoken with US broadcast journalist Diane Sawyer and Australian Leigh Sales on the role of meat reduction in halting global warming.
When Ms. Sales asked if he agreed with British climate expert Lord Nicholas Stern’s call for people to be vegetarian to reduce emissions, Mr. Gore replied, “It’s a legitimate point of view.
Nick Stern is a very able advocate for whom I have enormous respect… I have cut back sharply on the meat that I eat and it’s absolutely correct that the growing meat intensity of diets around the world is one of the issues connected to this global crisis. Not only because of the CO2 involved, but also because of the water consumed in the process.”
The former vice president went on to say, “You can add in the health consequences as well. We’ve all heard from our doctors for many years that vegetables and fruits should occupy a bigger part of all of our diets, and that’s important for a lot of reasons. I’ve made those changes.”
A green bravo, Your Excellency, for highlighting the important role of plant based foods in addressing climate change. May more people hasten in their adoption of a diet that optimizes health for people and planet.
Reference
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2009/11/05/2733587.htm
http://www.democraticunderground.com...ss=389x6919521
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/03/sawyer-beck-gore/
British climate chief speaks up for the veg climate solution in India - 17 Nov 2009
During an interview with Indian newspaper Financial Express, British climate economist Lord Nicholas Stern voiced his encouragement for the meat-free lifestyle as a viable climate solution, stating, “A vegetarian diet is climate friendly. It’s less carbon intensive. Though eating food is a matter of personal choice, it is desirable to help people make informed decisions.”
While in India, Lord Stern was delivering a lecture on “Building an Equitable Agreement on Climate Change.” Lord Stern is joining several other notable leaders in voicing support for the climate benefits of a vegetarian diet. These include United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairman Dr. Rajendra Pachauri; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change chief Yvo de Boer, and British former Beatles member, Sir Paul McCartney.
Lord Stern and all other noble voices, our accolades and admiration for encouraging the public to consider food choices as an integral part of an eco-friendly lifestyle. May we all be inspired toward adoption of the plant-based diet, for our planet and our future.
Supreme Master Ching Hai has long been a tireless advocate for the world-saving organic vegan diet, as in an interview with The House Magazine for the September 2009 edition.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: I wish I could find another solution, but all the evidence doesn’t favor any other solution except the vegan diet, and then we can have other solutions when we have more time We have only a few years now, and we don’t know what comes yet even. Now it’s the swine flu, but what else? I don’t want to know. I don’t have any other solution Be green is just by the way. Be veg is the only, the main, the 90% solution.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news...lenges/539753/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight...egetarian.html
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1525&page=2#v
Media reports on major greenhouse gas and livestock source - 26 Nov 2009
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/No...0&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.
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1526&page=2#v
Fish farming destroys important carbon sinks - 26 Nov 2009
Coastal habitats, such as mangroves, sea grasses and salt marshes are being cleared at a rapid rate for shrimp farms as well as agriculture and other forms of human development. Now a new study by Dr. Emily Pidgeon, Director of the Conservation International’s Marine Climate Change advocates for the immediate preservation of these vanishing habitats, due to their ability to sequester as much as 50 times the amount of carbon as tropical forests.
Dr. Pidgeon explained that unlike forests, which store carbon primarily in the living flora, plants in salt marshes are very efficient at burying carbon in the soil itself so that it is not released when the plant dies and can remain underground for thousands of years.
She stated, “The simple implication of this is that the long-term sequestration of carbon by one square kilometer of mangrove area is equivalent to that occurring in fifty square kilometers of tropical forest.”
Dr. Pidgeon and colleagues at Conservation International, many thanks for shedding further light on the value of our coastal ecosystems. Let us all strive to tread more lightly and preserve nature’s balance.
Supreme Master Ching Hai has long highlighted the need for humanity’s greater protection of our marine environment, as during a November 2008 interview with Ireland’s East Coast Radio FM.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: We have to stop it Just stop the fishing. The government has to forbid fishing because it’s too important to our survival to delay any further. To stop this destructive practice of fishing, the solution is the vegan diet, no fishy stuff in our meals.
The sea offers us plenty of better food choices; the wide varieties of super healthy and nutritious sea plants. We can even live on it forever. We must protect a living and healthy sea, as it relates to our living and healthy self.
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1117-h...oastalveg.html
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1527&page=2#v
UK government supports reducing meat for the planet and human health - 27 Nov 2009
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.
Professor 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.
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1528&page=2#v
Informing ourselves of true carbon meat costs – 28 Nov 2009
A landmark report has been officially supported by the British Departments of Health as well as Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the United Nations World Health Organization, and others.
Published in the esteemed medical journal, The Lancet, the report advises that both meat production and consumption be reduced by one-third, as the only way to meet the country’s ambitious carbon emission reduction goals. Furthermore, citizens would be more than compensated by direct and favorable effects on health. Dr. Alan Dangour - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK: The policy is reduced production, because our primary aim is to reduce carbon emissions, and we’re saying, in our series of papers, look at the health co-benefits. I think it is important for people to become much more aware about the true carbon costs of food production. Meat and meat products and dairy have an enormous carbon cost.
Today, the climate savings of plant-based eating are abundantly known, such as findings that a vegetarian diet saves more greenhouse gases than a hybrid car, or that an animal-free vegan diet reduces emissions by 94% compared to one with meat-based fare.
Regarding health savings, co-author Dr. Alan Dangour of the UK’s London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine stated that these could be even greater than the 18,000 lives forecast to be saved from heart disease alone if other meat-related diseases, such as colorectal cancer and obesity, were included. The hope is that knowing the true health costs will prompt the public to voluntarily shift away from harmful animal products. Dr. Alan Dangour: That information and the knowledge of the risks of climate change combined should allow them to make decisions about their future consumption patterns.
Our thanks Dr. Dangour and all researchers involved, as well as the British and United Nations officials who are prudently weighing the climate costs of livestock raising and meat consumption. May we all choose the plant-based diet to save our lives and the planet. In addressing the impacts of meat on all areas of our lives, Supreme Master Ching Hai has for decades urged the remedy of the vegan diet as in a May 2008 videoconference in South Korea.
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. There is the transportation energy cost, the 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 the cost of war and famine due to shortage of food and resources. Add them together, then we will see the real answer. So, right now, what’s good for our planet – vegan diet - we do it. We try as best as we can.
Reference:
http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/11/...1791259183429/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6933045.ece
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1529&page=2#v
Prestigious vegan scientist sets out to transform the food industry - 30 Nov 2009
Concluding that the planet cannot sustain humanity if consumption of animal products continues to increase, Stanford University professor and US National Academy of Sciences member Dr. Patrick Brown decided to set aside his normal scientific work for 18 months and instead seek to eliminate animal farming across the globe.
His plans include helping people change their diets by showing companies how to create and market tasty vegetarian foods.
For the next six months, he will be working with scientists on models demonstrating that the economic and environmental costs of animal foods are too high to sustain, followed by a year of working with famous chefs and food researchers developing savory vegetarian dishes and a program to overcome food security issues.
Saying that he wants to approach our planetary crisis as a solvable problem, Dr. Brown offered a simple summary of the solution: “Eliminate animal farming on planet Earth.”
Our accolades and admiration, Dr. Brown! May Heaven bless your lofty ideals in speeding our world toward adoption of the lifesaving plant-based fare.As part of her tireless work to aid humanity in facing our precarious global situation, Supreme Master Ching Hai has advocated an urgent transition to the organic vegan diet, as via a video message for a June 2009 conference in Mexico.
Supreme Master Ching Hai : Adopting a plant-based diet can halt as much as 80% of global warming, eradicate world hunger, stop war, promote peace, and it will free up the Earth’s water as well as many other precious resources, offering a lifeline for the planet and for humanity. In short, it will very quickly halt many of the global problems facing us right now. Therefore, it is vital that we do our part to bring to the public’s attention the urgent climate change issues and its solutions; the foremost being the vegan diet, to safeguard our precious planet.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/11...at-burger.html
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1530&page=2#v
Food insecurity looms with more rapid climate change - 5 Dec 2009
With recent research doubling forecasts due to new information about accelerated ice melt in Antarctica and other regions, a 1.4-meter sea level rise is now being anticipated in coastal areas and islands before the next century.
Countries such as Âu Lạc (Vietnam) are thus calling attention to the issue of food security ahead of the upcoming international negotiations in Copenhagen. Deputy Director of the Aulacese (Vietnamese) Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change Department, Mr. Nguyễn Khắc Hiếu has stated that the anticipated flooding would inundate 31,000 square kilometers of the Mekong Delta – an area about the size of Belgium.
As the world’s second largest rice exporter, the effect to both Âu Lạc and many other countries would be profound. Deputy Director Nguyễn is thus asking that adaptation issues be addressed at the Copenhagen climate summit.
Our appreciation, Deputy Director Nguyễn and Âu Lạc for calling attention to this vital topic at such a crucial juncture for humanity. May the decisions of our world leaders bring unified steps to restore the balance of our ecosphere. During an August 2009 climate change conference in Thailand, Supreme Master Ching Hai further highlighted the tolls of the current global crisis, while emphasizing the critical need for appropriate action to reverse the situation.
Supreme Master Ching Hai : In Âu Lạc (Vietnam), you probably know of global warming related problems such as the untimely flooding and encroachment of the sea of the Mekong Delta region –
both of which have caused havoc and further threat to the region’s vital rice and fruit crops.
This is due to a combination of sea levels rising, along with the effect of melting glaciers, which are now causing excessive floods but eventually will cause drought and vastly diminished water supplies as well.
So we must work quickly to avoid such unwanted outcomes.
And the most effective way is the organic vegan diet, organic vegetable farming. This is also the fastest way to reverse the increased warming climate to prevent further damage and disaster. If everyone does this – be veg – the Earth will begin to cool and we will have more time to implement the measures to eliminate all the carbon emissions. So please, be veg,and tell everyone else of these benefits.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...OkjhbTqf2dOWwQ
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.ac...nav=Groupspace
http://www.rfi.fr/actuvi/articles/120/article_5911.asp,
http://www.france24.com/en/node/4938440
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...t_12571641.htm
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...zGMZ_bgwwgAM5w
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1533&page=2#v
European Parliament Members discuss reducing meat and climate change - 6 Dec 2009
The European Parliament organized a hearing on Thursday, December 3 titled “Climate Change and Food Policy: Less Meat = Less Heat,” opening the floor for a discussion about ways that reducing meat consumption would mitigate global warming. Invited as guest panelists were former Beatles artist Sir Paul McCartney, known for his Meat-Free Mondays campaign, and Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, esteemed Chair of
the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who is also a vegetarian.
Dr. Rajendra Pachauri – Chair, United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Vegetarian (M): I think we have to use every means to mitigate the emissions of greenhouse gases, and I’d submit to you once again that cutting down on meat consumption would be an extremely effective way of doing so.
VOICE: Dr. Alan Dangour, co-author of a recent report published in the esteemed medical journal The Lancet that recommended reductions in meat consumption to save lives, also joined Sir Paul and Dr. Pachauri in the lively discussion.
Dr. Alan Dangour – London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK (M): A greater awareness of the climate costs of all of our actions, including our choice about what we eat, is urgently needed. Surely cooling our love affair with animal source foods is a very small price to pay.
VOICE: During this session, Sir Paul and Dr. Pachauri fielded questions from international journalists, including one from our Supreme Master Television correspondent.
Supreme Master Television correspondent: How do you think we can encourage people to
change their eating habits, education-wise, and also in the compassion issue?
Sir Paul McCartney – Former Beatles musician, Vegetarian (M): I think what needs to be done is to point out the dangers of not changing our eating habits. There are a lot of facts available. I think we just have to encourage people, to guide them, to help them make the transition. But I think it’s doable, it’s very possible.
VOICE: We send our gratitude, European Parliament members, Sir Paul McCartney, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri and other participants, for your efforts to address this most urgent matter of our time.
May all people quickly make the shift to the vegan diet for the safe continuation of life on Earth. As one who has been dedicated to safeguarding humanity's course on the planet, Supreme Master Ching Hai again called for adoption of the life-giving plant-based lifestyle during an April 2009 videoconference in South Korea.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: We really need to stop global warming now, like yesterday, because I’m sorry to say that while all these green changes are good, there is still one action that must be on the top of the list, the most important one, which, once again, is the vegan diet.
The greenest of all the green policy, the greenest of all the green action, the most compassionate, the most heroic, the lifesaving action, the vegan diet. It will eliminate methane, one of the most heat-trapping greenhouse gases. And this will cool the planet the fastest and give us more time to exercise our green policy
or finding better technology. This is the most valuable step, the vegan step, that the governments could make, could encourage, could pass into law, could inform the people at large.
This is the realistic way, the only way that I know, the only way that I see that we can save the planet right now.
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1534&page=2#v
European livestock raising exceeds carbon storage of trees and soils - 8 Dec 2009
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_i...2410940C386700
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aceiR0hNQrcA
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1535&page=2#v
Animal agriculture affects global hunger - 9 Dec 2009
With the numbers of people facing hunger worldwide having risen to more a billion for the first time in history, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released a white paper calling for reduced reliance on industrial animal agriculture and greater support instead for plant-based foods to provide nutrition
for more people.
The report points out that with over 80% of all soy and up to 50% of corn already being fed to livestock, forecasts of animal product consumption doubling by 2050 means that livestock animals may soon be in competition with humans for food. Worse yet, livestock production is a major factor in global warming, which if continued will only intensify problems such as drought and extreme storms that are already threatening food security worldwide.
Our appreciation, Humane Society of the United States for this wise reminder that global hunger can be alleviated by the simple choice of plant-based foods.
May such research as yours lead us to swiftly adopt lifestyles that optimize the food supply for all.
In her dedication to ensure humanity’s wellbeing, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often warned of the major role of the livestock industry in world hunger, as during a January 2009 videoconference in Mongolia.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Actually, we should not have to worry about food because we have it abundantly on our planet. It’s just that we have to use it wisely. Instead of using it to feed the animals, we use it to feed humans and that will be fine. We should remind everyone to be veg to invoke the mercy of the Buddhas, and we will be better protected.
Studies have shown that if the grain currently going to livestock animals for feed, if we feed it to humans, then all the hunger in the world will disappear and the reversal of global warming from a vegan diet will result in more plentiful growing conditions. So, we even have more food than now if we turn to vegan diet.
http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/...rld-hunger.pdf
http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=50669&lang=en
http://www.humanesociety.org/news/pu...l_welfare.html
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1536&page=2#v
FAO hears expert consultation by Dr. Robert Goodland - 10 Dec 2009
The co-author of the World Watch Institute report that traces at least 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions to livestock raising was recently invited to speak at policy brief on climate change for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The Rome-based organization is working to garner support for a combined solution to global warming and food security, which calls attention to the many opportunities in agriculture to mitigate the effects of climate change. In his speech, Dr. Goodland made several recommendations including the promotion of a plant-based diet and that emissions from livestock should be considered in any approach to reducing global warming.
Dr. Goodland, our sincere thanks for sharing your expertise. May the United Nations, governments and organizations worldwide quickly adopt such wise and effective practices as the organic vegan lifestyle to halt climate change.
This solution to our global crisis has also been echoed time and again by Supreme Master Ching Hai, who again called on all leaders to take initiatives toward a plant-based world during a September 2009 videoconference in Jeju Island, South Korea.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: I urge the government leaders, because our time is running out, we have to act on this now. Please explain to your co-citizens this important truth and tell them we must work together to become animal-free consumers.
We have a very short time to save our planet. We have a great planet to save. We have a great precious treasure - that is, our children - to save. The government and the people have nothing to lose by being vegan. For the environment, the absence of livestock will bring about much less pollution and less waste of water and food resources. For the citizens, there are perfectly nutritious, delicious alternatives to animal products nowadays. And the vegan diet is also the best for our children.
http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=51046&lang=en
http://wellfedworld.org/PDF/FAOConsult12-09.pdf
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...t_12571641.htm
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/...lfedworld.org/
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1537&page=2#v
Galapagos species suffering from climate change and overfishing - 22 Dec 2009
The Ecuadorian Galapagos Islands were first brought to the world’s attention as the site where Darwin tested his theory of evolution. Now, they are speaking of the fragile state of our seas as a new report in the journal Global Change Biology indicates that the Galapagos black-spotted damselfish , and a remarkable 24-rayed starfish called Heliaster solaris are likely extinct as they have not been seen in the last 25 years.
Rising ocean temperatures caused by global warming-induced El Niño weather events as well as excessive fishing are blamed for their disappearance as well as the decline of other species such as the Galapagos penguin and the Floreana cup coral.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, seven species from this famous ecosystem are possibly extinct while nine others are critically endangered.
We are saddened to know of the perilous condition of the Galapagos and all marine life. Let us all act now to avert more losses by adopting considerate lifestyles that are in harmony with nature.
During a May 2009 videoconference in Togo, while addressing the urgent need to act on the crisis facing our marine co-inhabitants, Supreme Master Ching Hai again called on all humanity to turn to life-sparing ways.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: The marine ecosystem is in big trouble right now from global warming already. If those fish are all gone, we will see a catastrophic loss of other marine species as well. The coastal ecosystems will also be affected greatly by diseases and algae blooms that release toxins. The ocean is a wonderful recycler that normally can purify the water and create nutrients and turn carbon dioxide into oxygen, etc. The ocean is a miracle.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: It is in our interest to care for the oceans if we want to survive, and all the life that they contain, including fish. No animal products at all; that is the best way. We should be vegan.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/04_14.html
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1203-hance_galapagos.html
http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/ve...=1538&page=2#v