Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
SAVE OUR PLANETÖ Record heat in Europe and elsewhere in the world. Seven western European
nations from Spain to Russia have been placed under severe heat warnings this week, with
temperatures expected to reach up to 40 degrees Celsius, straining health facilities and power
supplies. With temperatures noted to be up to eight degrees Celsius higher than normal
across the continent, the World Meteorological Organization has issued extremely hot weather
warnings for most of Spain and Belgium as well as the western half of Germany and parts
of the Netherlands. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, the United States East Coast
is under the grip of a heat wave that has already claimed two lives and caused fires
and power outages. Officials in locales such as New York City and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
have called on residents to conserve energy, stay hydrated, and check on vulnerable elderly
neighbors and animal companions. On the western coast of the United States, Washington and
Oregon have also faced record-high temperatures recently, and even Canada to the north has
reported near-record highs, with some municipalities in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec enveloped
in unhealthy smog.
In Asia, wildfires have ignited in central Mongolia due to the prolonged heat and dry
weather, claiming three lives and injuring six others as of Tuesday, July 6. Meanwhile,
the Aulacese (Vietnamese) National Hydro Meteorological Forecasting Center has reported temperatures
reaching 48 degrees Celsius and the sparking of forest fires in northern and central regions
with more of the same forecast for the near future. In Formosa (Taiwan), this year's highest-ever
temperatures have crowded hospitals and clinics with patients exhibiting heat-induced sicknesses
and symptoms, with the number of stroke patients rising by up to 30%.
It saddens us to know of the lives lost to the extreme heat and we pray for the protection
and resiliency of all those affected. Our prayers that the equilibrium of our ecosphere
may be restored as humanity strives to be more conscientious stewards on Earth.
During a June 2009 climate change conference in Veracruz, Mexico, Supreme Master Ching
Hai spoke with concern once again for the dangerous conditions of global warming, while
advising of the best action to halt climate change.
Video message from Supreme Master Ching Hai Rio del Boca, Veracruz, Mexico
June 4, 2009
Supreme Master Ching Hai: The past decade has twice, at least, seen the hottest average
annual temperatures ever recorded in our planetÃs history. So, we must cool the planet, first
and foremost. And one of the most effective and fastest ways to reduce the heat in the
atmosphere is to eliminate methane production. Methane not only traps up to 72 times more
heat than carbon, it also goes away from the atmosphere much faster than CO2. We can start
by cutting down on the biggest methane producer in the world, that is, animal raising. So,
to cool the planet most quickly, we have to stop consuming meat in order to stop the livestock
raising industry. If everyone in the world would adopt this simple but most powerful
practice of an animal-free diet, then we could reverse the effect of global warming in no
time.