Friday, October 15, 2010
UN final preparatory climate change conference held in China
With 3,000 representatives from 176 countries present, the fourth and final round of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meetings concluded in Tianjin, China on October 9. With a draft decision text agreed upon that will be submitted to the upcoming Cancun, Mexico summit, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres noted that the delegates had been able to produce some measurable results in areas such as long-term finances to cope with climate change.
Moreover, hosted country China’s chief climate change negotiator, Sue Wei, stated that the talks were successful in bringing views closer together and improving the understanding among parties.
Chinese correspondent (F): This is South Lake International Club, Tianjin, China. The latest working meeting of UNFCCC is taking place right across the street. Here, over 40 non-governmental organizations organized a series of activities, starting from Sept 30 to Oct 10, themed “Green China – Race to the Future.”
The participants include nation-wide organizations, like Friends of Nature and Green River, as well as international groups like the Greenpeace.
Li Yan - Climate & Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace China (F): We hope that we urge that negotiators at the Tianjin session and beyond to Cancun can get the sense of urgency and get the willingness of people, and then make concrete progress and have a concrete outcome in Cancun.
VOICE: Concerned groups also expressed their support of a plant-based diet solution to climate change.
Green Earth Volunteers, China (M): Yes, I feel that the meat industry makes a great contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, and that’s something to be worried about.
Li Yan (F): If we can see more people showing the willingness of the vegetarian community, in their transport, in their diet, in their power usage, that will send a very strong signal to the decision makers, policy makers, as well.
Correspondent (F): Supreme Master Television, Tianjin, China.
VOICE: We thank the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, all delegates and concerned groups for your participation at this meeting. May such continued conscientious efforts bring about the critical measures needed to save the planet, especially through the adoption of the humane and eco-friendly animal-free lifestyle.
Speaking during a 2009 climate change videoconference in Thailand, Supreme Master Ching Hai warned of the urgent predicament that the globe faces while asking that all leaders take the necessary initiatives to halt climate change.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: I hope the governments would please make it into law to forbid the killing of animals, to forbid any more animal livestock raising. If they are truly the leaders that pledge to protect their people, to improve their country in many aspects, then this is the first step we have to do.
Stop the meat industry,
stop the fish industry,
stop the dairy industry,
then our planet will be the way it was and even better. To save the planet, there is only one way to stop the cause – that is, the animal industry, by all means, in all aspects.
We have to do it. Spread information, encourage everyone, inform everyone to be vegan.
In an effort to save populations of wild Atlantic salmon threatened by global warming, fisheries in northern Scotland, UK are establishing protected environments to help the fish survive through certain critical phases and then release them back to the rivers.
Stop the meat industry,
stop the fish industry,
stop the dairy industry,
then our planet will be the way it was and even better. To save the planet, there is only one way to stop the cause – that is, the animal industry, by all means, in all aspects.
We have to do it. Spread information, encourage everyone, inform everyone to be vegan.
In an effort to save populations of wild Atlantic salmon threatened by global warming, fisheries in northern Scotland, UK are establishing protected environments to help the fish survive through certain critical phases and then release them back to the rivers.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/39Farms39-plan-to-save-threatened.6562474.jp
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Ground water being depleted at an accelerating rate
A new study from the Netherlands underscores the urgency of water as a global issue. Professor Marc Bierkens and a team at Utrecht University evaluated groundwater as a source and found that its depletion rate has more than doubled between 1960 and 2000, with aquifers losing almost 70 cubic miles of water per year.
For most aquifers, such an extraction rate far exceeds their ability to replenish. With total groundwater quantities being unknown, scientists are unable to say exactly when the global supply would be exhausted.
However, the matter could be critical in countries like the United States, where groundwater supplies 95% of the country’s needs resource. In the Midwest, for example, the 800-mile long Ogallala aquifer provides eight Midwestern states with drinking water and irrigates one-fifth of the nation’s farmlands.
Yet it is being drained at a rate that some experts say will cause it to run dry in as little as 25 years. Moreover, the researchers found that 70 to 80% of the water is being used by agriculture, with much of it consumed through the production of foods or other items.
According to the Stockholm International Water Institute, the most significant use of agricultural water is through meat production, with animal-based diets consuming vastly more than their vegetarian counterparts. Experts have also found meat consumption to be one of the major causes of global warming.
In an interview with Supreme Master Television, British Member of Parliament Mr. Virendra Sharma highlighted the need to adjust our diet to address climate change and improve public health.
Supreme Master TV: Meat production uses much more water than growing vegetables. Do you think lifestyle changes like eating less meat are important to saving energy and water?
Virendra Sharma – Member of Parliament, United Kingdom (M): For both points: Health first, that it is important as there’s scientific proof, all the health experts, all the specialists, all the campaigning bodies also indicate that it is true that veganism can help in reducing the health diseases. I do firmly believe in that and I support that. And I feel it that yes, eating less meat will help in reducing the carbon footprints, reducing use of water.
VOICE: We thank Professor Bierkens and colleagues at Utrecht University for highlighting the urgent depletion of precious ground water supplies, and Parliament Member Sharma for reaffirming the value of the plant-based diet for conserving resources as well as our own well-being. May we act swiftly and wisely to ensure a safe, plentiful future for humans and animals alike.
Virendra Sharma (M): Hi, I am Virendra Sharma, Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall, United Kingdom. You are watching Supreme Master Television. Be Veg, Go Green 2 Save the Planet!
Supreme Master Ching Hai has often explained why a meat-free diet is a priority today in protecting the Earth’s drinking water supplies, as in this October 2009 videoconference in Formosa (Taiwan).
Supreme Master Ching Hai: We tell people to do organic farming, how to conserve rainwater, ground water, and conserve land, planting trees to attract rain, etc. In the Alwar district of Rajasthan, India, one Indian village was able to guide the water enough that it brought back to life five flowing rivers - five flowing rivers – that had been dead before, been dried up before due to withdrawing too much water.
We could learn from them as well. But even these water losses pale in comparison to the incredible amount of water that is wasted for animal production. It takes approximately 4,664 liters of water to produce just one serving of beef, but an entire vegan meal can be produced with only 371 liters of water. The livestock sector is probably the world's biggest source of water pollution as well.
Water means everything to our existence. We must conserve the water; we must do everything we can. And the first step to begin is to be vegan.
We could learn from them as well. But even these water losses pale in comparison to the incredible amount of water that is wasted for animal production. It takes approximately 4,664 liters of water to produce just one serving of beef, but an entire vegan meal can be produced with only 371 liters of water. The livestock sector is probably the world's biggest source of water pollution as well.
Water means everything to our existence. We must conserve the water; we must do everything we can. And the first step to begin is to be vegan.
http://news.discovery.com/earth/groundwater-aquifers-agriculture-irrigation.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/09/groundwater-overuse-hitting-all-time-highs-future-supplies-hitting-lows.php
http://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/Groundwater-Depletion-Rate-Accelerating-0001?VNETCOOKIE=NO
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Genetically modified crops leach insecticide into the environment
Researchers at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York, USA have detected the presence of a protein with insecticidal properties in a significant number of the 217 streams tested in the corn belt region of the American Midwest.
Genetically modified corn contains a gene from a certain bacteria, which is inserted into the plant, making it toxic to a type of beetle that eats corn. This gene produces the insecticidal protein that the scientist found at a quarter of the sites tested.
Once the corn has been harvested the stalks remain in the fields, and the decomposing plant material is washed into streams. Study spokeswoman and aquatic ecologist Dr. Emma Rosi-Marshall affirmed, “Our research adds to the growing body of evidence that corn crop byproducts can be dispersed throughout a stream network, and that the compounds associated with genetically-modified crops, such as insecticidal proteins, can enter nearby water bodies.”
Other researchers have pointed out that the local runoff eventually drains into regions with wider impact such as the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, which in turn flows into the sea. Researchers, we thank you for this important work showing the unnatural risks inherent in genetically modified organisms.
May humans strive instead to live in harmony with nature for an abundant and sustainable future. During a March 2009 videoconference in Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed audience concerns regarding genetically modified food, pointing out a lasting way to stop the need for such detrimental production practices.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Genetically modified food is not very good for health. We don't need that. If we don't raise animals, we have enough food, extra for everybody. Even to feed freely to the hungry people, free of charge.
And still have 1 billion portions left over. The more we use chemicals and pesticides, the worse the soil becomes. That is the problem. And the more we use,the more our health will be at risk, and the more the rivers and oceans will be depleted of oxygen, the more dead zones will be created andthe less food we have and the shorter our life span.
So, the more we use organic natural farming methods the more food we have, the healthier we become and the healthier the soil will become. And from then on, the soil will recover and then we will have more and more abundance of food.
So, organic vegan farming is good for everything and good for us, and good for the farmers to have a new job, good for our health, good for the planet.
And still have 1 billion portions left over. The more we use chemicals and pesticides, the worse the soil becomes. That is the problem. And the more we use,the more our health will be at risk, and the more the rivers and oceans will be depleted of oxygen, the more dead zones will be created andthe less food we have and the shorter our life span.
So, the more we use organic natural farming methods the more food we have, the healthier we become and the healthier the soil will become. And from then on, the soil will recover and then we will have more and more abundance of food.
So, organic vegan farming is good for everything and good for us, and good for the farmers to have a new job, good for our health, good for the planet.
http://www.physorg.com/news204819190.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/gm-maize-has-polluted-rivers-across-the-united-states-2091300.html
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Deadly tropical disease arrives in northern USA
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a warning to medical experts across the country to be on the lookout for the deadly and contagious Cryptoccocus gattii fungal infection.
At least 60 people in the Pacific Northwestern region of the US have already been diagnosed with the disease, which affects the lungs and nervous system and can take up to a year for symptoms to emerge. As it normally occurs in warmer climates such as Australia and southern regions of Asia and Africa, Dr. Ted Schettler, science director for the US-based Science and Environmental Health Network, explained that Cryptoccocal gattii’s presence in the northern US is an indicator of climate change affecting us now.
Dr. Ted Schettler – Science Director, Science & Environment Health Network (M): It has typically been thought to be confined primarily to tropical and sub-tropical regions.
So, its emergence in the Pacific Northwest of the United States is a bit unusual. And so my reaction to this report is that this could be a signal of infectious disease appearing in a new area precisely because of climate change.
VOICE: Dr. Schettler stated that although the current number of people infected is small, the illness is very dangerous, with fatalities in 33% of the cases. Meanwhile, other, more widespread diseases are also spreading due to rising global temperatures.
Dr. Ted Schettler (M): Many scientists have pointed out that we will see infectious diseases emerging in new areas as the climate changes and the ecology that will support certain infectious agents’ changes as well.
So we’ll see malaria showing up in new places, we’ll see dengue fever showing up in new places, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising that we would see fungal diseases showing up in new places as well.
So many people think that climate change is something that we start to worry about in 25 or 50 or 100 years. So we are seeing the effects of climate change right now, in various places of the world and this may be just one other manifestation of it.
VOICE: Our thanks US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for alerting the medical community to the threat of Cryptococcus gattii in colder climes, and to Dr. Schettler for helping us understand this data on disease in the context of climate change.
May we quickly recognize the increasing risks caused by an unbalanced climate and act to protect our families’ health and the planet. During a 2008 videoconference with our Association members in Washington, USA, Supreme Master Ching Hai cautioned about the spread of disease as a consequence of climate change, urging for everyone’s swift response to save the Earth.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: And some places may have more mental illness, and all kind of other illnesses, and diseases go where they have not been before even. Like mosquitoes, they migrate into different areas where they have not been before because the climate is warmer.
So it depends on how many people join the vegetarian diet. The more vegetarian people, the less killing of the animals, the more time we have to rescue the planet and the lives on the planet.
So everybody has to join into the vegetarian diet, and stop the killing, stop the harm to other people and the animals and save energies every way possible and go green wherever possible. THEN WE STILL CAN SAVE THE PLANET
So it depends on how many people join the vegetarian diet. The more vegetarian people, the less killing of the animals, the more time we have to rescue the planet and the lives on the planet.
So everybody has to join into the vegetarian diet, and stop the killing, stop the harm to other people and the animals and save energies every way possible and go green wherever possible. THEN WE STILL CAN SAVE THE PLANET
http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2010/07/disease-spread
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20100917/hl_ac
/6803456_whooping_cough_epidemic_not_only_illness_outbreak_in_united_states