PHÁ RỪNG

Destruction of the legendary Amazon rainforest continues. - 12 Feb 2011

Not only are millions of animal and plant species, but now also humans are endangered by deforestation of the Amazon. The Brazil government recently released rare photos of indigenous Amazonians to raise awareness of the threat of their extinction.

The images of these previously un-contacted people were taken by Brazil's National Indian Foundation during a flight over a region near the Brazil-Peru border, accompanied by human rights group Survival International.

Illegal logging in Peru has sent the natives fleeing across the border to less affected rainforests in Brazil. Meanwhile, a new report launched by the environmental organization Friends of the Earth has revealed that the excessive demand for meat, animal feed and biofuels is perpetuating destruction of the rainforest in Brazil, with severe impact to the lives of thousands of people, as well as causing biodiversity loss and accelerating climate change.

According to the research, the production of soy for animal feed and biodiesel is expected to increase by 5 million hectares, while production of sugarcane for ethanol and cattle ranching are expected to grow 25% by 2020, further threatening ecosystems and livelihoods throughout the country.

We thank the Brazilian government, as well as the National Indian Foundation and organizations such as Survival International and Friends of the Earth for raising awareness of the urgent issues threatening the survival of indigenous brethren and other fellow inhabitants. May we all join in concerted sustainable actions to save the vital lungs of our Earth.

Speaking with concern as on many previous occasions about the loss of precious rainforest trees, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed some of the causes in a video message presented during a November 2010 conference in the United Kingdom, along with how we can rebalance the precious ecosphere for all beings.

Well, 91% of the cleared Amazonian rainforest since 1970, the lungs of our Earth, can be directly or indirectly attributed to cattle raising. And, in fact, the UN FAO stated that the livestock sector is the major driver of global deforestation.

Research tells us that plant-based alternatives to animal products are not only healthy, they use less fossil fuel energy, create more sustainable jobs, and are growing in popularity because of their quality, which also includes good taste. We all love good taste, don't we?

In sum, only with the organic vegan solution can we still save our planet.

http://www.publico.es/ciencias/35793...za-la-amazonia
http://www.foeeurope.org/press/2011/...n_Amazon.htmla.
http://www.france24.com/en/20110131-...ed-amazoniansb
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...mazonians.html

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/de...=2436&page=1#v

Ancient peat land forests destroyed for palm oil - 16 Feb 2011

A new study by the Netherlands-based Wetlands International found that at the rate that peat swamp forests in places like Malaysian Borneo are being obliterated to make way for palm oil plantations, the nation may lose all of these biodiverse forests by the decade's end.

As companies that formerly depleted timber resources now clear the rest of the trees to develop profitable palm oil plantations, Malaysia and Indonesia are the world's two largest exporters of the oil, which is largely used for processed foods and so-called eco-friendly biofuel.

However, researchers warn that current growing practices are far from sustainable. As trees are removed from the ancient peat swamps, not only is wildlife severely affected, massive carbon stores are also released. This effect can be worsened if wildfires strike, causing peat to smolder underground, becoming nearly impossible to extinguish, with even more increased emissions of carbon dioxide and methane gas that had been stored for millions of years.

The loss of the forest habitats has further deprived many already- endangered species including tropical birds, as well as the clouded leopard, Sumatran rhino, and the world's smallest elephant, the Borneo Pygmy. Also threatened are indigenous rainforest tribes. Wetlands International is thus calling for a complete ban of peat land conversion for crops, urging companies instead toward more truly eco-friendly methods and products.

We thank Wetlands International for your work in bringing us this important information about the adverse consequences of peat land clearing to the environment.

May humanity work quickly to save the valued forests and all precious lives that they sustain. Speaking during an October 2009 videoconference in Indonesia, Supreme Master Ching Hai warned of nature's destruction for the production of palm oil, while offering the most sustainable actions needed to restore the ecosystem.

In Indonesia, your precious forests are being cut down to grow palm oil to be used as biofuel energy, and we thought that will help to minimize the CO2. We are wrong. It's a failure, causing more destruction and more greenhouse gas emissions than it saves. In fact, it's releasing the world's third-largest amount of carbon emissions, because of biofuel.

You see, the green technology is not always reliable.

Actually, not all of this palm oil product is used as biofuel even. Part of the palm oil products goes to make livestock feed. Fortunately, we have the solution ready at hand, sir, which is the organic vegan solution.

If we look into all the scientific and the physical evidence so far, we have to accept this organic vegan solution as the one and only to save our planet right now.

http://www.france24.com/en/20110201-...palm-oil-study
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...roversial.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/829...good-news.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/ear...f-Sarawak.html

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/de...=2440&page=1#v

Historical reforestation created planetary cooling - 17 Feb 2011

Although most of the focus on climate change has centered on the warming effects of fossil fuels beginning with the fairly recent industrial era, new research highlights the start of global warming thousands of years ago when forests were cleared to create room for livestock and other agriculture.
These changes are evident in the ice cores of Greenland and Antarctica, which show increases in carbon dioxide levels related to the burning and decay of cleared forests and meadowlands.

For the study, researchers from Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology in California, USA and from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany used a model of global land coverage beginning around 800 AD. To determine how reforestation might affect atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, they focused on four times in history when human populations decreased due to either conflict or disease, with agricultural fields thus being abandoned.

These periods of minimized human activity were found to create a cooling effect as the forests were naturally restored and resumed absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere. Lead author Dr. Julia Pongratz explained the modern implication of such reforestation on planetary cooling as she stated, “Today about a quarter of the net primary production on the Earth's land surface is used by humans in some way, mostly through agriculture… Based on the knowledge we have gained from the past, we are now in a position to make land-use decisions that will diminish our impact on climate and the carbon cycle.”

Many thanks, Dr. Pongratz and colleagues, for your work in revealing the profoundly beneficial effects of reforestation in mitigating climate change. Let us do our utmost to minimize destructive tree losses by halting livestock-raising and other unsustainable agricultural practices for the protection of our planet.

In a video message presented at a June 2009 conference with dignitaries in Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed the importance of conserving the world's vital forests as well as a way that this could be done.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : We have to ban deforestation. And we have to plant more trees, of course. Wherever there's erosion or empty land we have to plant trees.

Deforestation is also largely driven by meat production. With the United Nations estimating that deforestation accounts for approximately 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions, nearly all deforestation itself is related to meat production.

Eighty percent of cleared Amazon forest is designated as a cattle grazing area to prepare the animals for slaughter, and the remainder is planted as soy crops used also largely for animal feed. So to stop animal products is to protect our precious forests, the lungs of our Earth, and the crucial factor for our survival.

http://x-journals.com/2011/war-plagu...g-co2-buildup/
http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0120-hance_mongols.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-wpn012011.php

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/de...=2441&page=1#v

UK government forsakes plans to sell public forest - 20 Feb 2011

As confirmed by British Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman, previous plans to sell 258,000 hectares of England's public forests have been set aside upon hearing the calls of the public. Following a statement on Wednesday, February 16 by Prime Minister David Cameron, who said that he was not satisfied with the idea of privatizing the forests, Secretary Spelman offered a public apology, saying, “I am sorry, we got this one wrong, but we have listened to people's concerns.”

She also said, “If there is one clear message, it is that people cherish their forests and woodlands and the benefits that they bring.”

A big bravo and our thanks, Secretary Spelman and the government of the United Kingdom, for your decision to continue as stewards of your nation's public forests. May British citizens everywhere enjoy their refreshing beauty and balance, and come to cherish these gifts of nature even more.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12488847
http://www.tinygreenbubble.com/eco/e...off-in-britain
http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/...00/9400420.stm http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...roline-spelman http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...71G43A20110217

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/de...=2445&page=1#v

Schoolchildren in Amman, Jordan plant one million saplings - 22 Feb 2011

The government-sponsored initiative encouraged the youngsters to plant the trees at their schools, homes, and other locations. Agriculture Ministry Media Office Director and Spokesperson Mr. Nimer Haddadin stated, “As students plant the trees and become responsible for watering and caring for them, a new generation that is aware of the need to protect trees will be created.”

A big green salute, Director Mr. Nimer Haddadin and Jordanian Government, for your Earth-loving project. May eco-friendly measures such as these, combined with the low-emissions organic vegan diet,lead us to a flourishing era of our planet.
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=33515

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/de...=2508&page=1#v

Climate change portends grim future for forests - 13 Mar 2011

At a recent conference on trees, US Forest Service workers and other experts gave unsettling reports on the health of US forests and how quickly they are declining due to climate change. Citing major tree die offs that have already occurred in the western USA for species such as the aspen, Dr. Jim Worrall, plant pathologist and leading top expert on Sudden Aspen Decline estimated that some １１ million acres of the current １６ million that currently populate hills and mountainsides could be gone, destroyed by rising temperatures and drought.

Meanwhile, climate change could prove even more devastating to a species like the white pine, whose vulnerability to mountain pine beetles is causing it to disappear. As temperatures have warmed, the beetles are moving further north, with large stands of trees in Montana and parts of Wyoming that have disappeared in just the past three years.

According to a study of ７６ old-growth forests by the US Geological Survey, increasing mortality rates are being seen in ８７% of all tree stands, with tree deaths that have doubled over the past １８ years. Speaking at the conference, former US Vice President Al Gore stated, “If you love the forests and you care about what's happening to them, the number-one connection … is warmer temperatures.”

Your Excellency and all other scientists, our sincere thanks for this information about global warming's effect on our vital forests. May the trees of the US and worldwide thrive once more as humans adopt ecological lifestyles that support a wealth of biodiversity on our planet.

During a ２００８ videoconference in Canada, Supreme Master Ching Hai discussed the core solution to the plight of the life-giving forests in the face of climate change.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : Even if we plant more trees, there will be something else happening, maybe wildfire, or the beetle will be more in abundance, and then they will also begin to eat away all the forest.

So this is a really terrible situation. The only thing is we have to be morally fit. And have to be virtuous. Otherwise, there's no getting away from the bad karma, meaning the retribution, for whatever we do.

We have to be compassionate again. We have to look into our heart to live the noble way that Heaven intended us to live. So, planting trees alone is not the absolute solution. We have to be vegan.

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20...ntProfile=1058, http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/145343

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/de...=2514&page=1#v

The cultivation of the amazing Moringa tree is encouraged in Sierra Leone - 3 Apr 2011

An initiative has been launched by the United Methodist Committee on Relief, in conjunction with the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone, to promote the many benefits of this wonderful tree. Native to the Himalayan Mountain foothills, it is now widely grown in Africa, Latin America
and parts of Asia.

The pods, which taste like asparagus, are very nutritious. Furthermore, the leaves are full of amino acids and are one of the richest sources of vitamins and minerals available in the plant kingdom. They are also capable of cleaning water. The Moringa tree can be seeded in arid, tropical and
sub-tropical conditions, in sandy or poor soil, and it will flower and fruit within a year.

Our heartfelt gratitude, United Methodist Committee on Relief and Council of Churches in Sierra Leone, for your dedicated efforts. May we look to the Moringa Tree and other miracles of Nature to provide abundant sustenance on a gentle and sustainable Earth.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/...G?OpenDocument,
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?re...11763&page=247

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/de...=2515&page=1#v

Mangroves store significantly more carbon than other forests - 16 May 2011

A study was conducted by the Pacific Southwest and Northern research stations of United States Forest Service, University of Helsinki in Finland, and the Indonesian based Center for International Forestry Research.

It assessed the carbon content of 25 mangrove sites on the shores of the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. The mangrove systems were found to keep four to five times more carbon than terrestrial forests, due in part to their thick layer of organic-rich sedimentary soil.

Our thankfulness, all scientists involved, for these important results. May we do everything possible to protect this invaluable treasure of our ecosphere.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0404173247.htm
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/1104....2011.205.html

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/de...=2564&page=1#v