Over two millennia of
European tree ring data
reveals how
climate change
affected civilizations.
Led by paleoclimatologist
Ulf Büntgen, researchers
at Switzerland's Federal
Research Institute
for Forest, Snow
and Landscape studied
over 9,000 samples of
tree ring data to create
a 2,500-year history
of European
climate fluctuations.
Comparing these to
major historical events,
the scientists determined
a link between
climate and society.
They found, for instance,
that the abundant crops
nourished by wet and
warm summers helped
support prosperity
during Roman and
later in European
Medieval times,
and that the fall of the
Western Roman Empire
occurred during a period
of drought and increased
climate variability, which
would have adversely
affected food supplies.
In another example,
combined cold and
wetter summers around
1300 coincided with
plague and famine that
led to the loss of nearly
half of Europe's
population within
the next 50 years.
The researchers concluded
that climate change
events which positively
or negatively affected
agricultural production
amplified political,
social and economic
situations in the past, and
may have implications
for our modern era.
Dr. Büntgen and colleagues
at the Swiss Federal
Institute for Forest,
Snow and Landscape,
we appreciate your
comprehensive analysis
that shows the connection
between physical
and social events.
May such revealing
comparisons remind us to
strive ever more urgently
for lives of balance and
harmony with nature.
As during an October
2009 videoconference
in Indonesia,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
has often discussed
the importance
of the moral aspect that
determines a civilization's
sustainability.
Supreme Master Ching Hai : If we have
the spiritual eye,
we will find that
past civilizations,
both on Earth and
other planets, sometimes
developed too quickly in
the technological sense.
But the spiritual
development,
their store of love,
was low or empty.
We see the pattern is that
no society can last long
if they refuse to
sustain the lives of
their own members and
fellow beings; I mean,
including all the beings,
like animals and trees.
Or, if they destroy the
environment they live in,
then that society
cannot live long.
The real problem is
our meat consumption,
the tendency of
mass killing that we have
made a part of our lives
It is not normal.
We cannot earn a living
or sustain a living
by death.
Now, if we,
the human race, develop
as a vegan society,
and better yet,
a spiritual vegan society,
there will be no limit to
our material development.
Because then,
we will have the wisdom
and the love to propel us
on a balanced, straight
course for the future,
bright future,
for our planet
and our children.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/01/fall-of-rome-recorded-in-trees.html?rss=1
,
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/01/does_climate_change_explain_th.html,
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science_technology/Scientists_link_bad_weather_to_historical_lows.html?cid=29224702
Extra NewsAt the Qatar Motor Show,
German automaker
Volkswagen unveils
the new low-carbon
plug-in hybrid XL1,
which can travel
over 420 kilometers
on one gallon of diesel
and is expected
to be production-ready
by 2013.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12281238,
http://rumors.automobilemag.com/fast-facts-five-facts-didnt-about-volkswagen-xl1-15223.html,
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2011/01/volkswagen-xl1-prototype-gets-260-mpg-is-one-step-closer-to-production.html
US Geological Survey
scientists warn of future
climate change impacts
in California, USA,
including precipitation
events of up to 10 feet
of rain that could destroy
25% of the state's homes,
prompting a call
to government
for mitigation plans.
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2011/01/17/Californias-big-one-could-be-a-flood/UPI-86481295273884/
As European, African
and Canadian agriculture
ministers meet to discuss
global food shortages,
they call for an end
to speculation in food
commodities, warning
that continued food price
increases would likely
lead to social unrest
and instability.
http://www.france24.com/en/20110122-food-price-rises-may-cause-unrest-ministershttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-24/speculation-swings-may-threaten-food-security-ministers-say.html,
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14780207,00.html,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161469.html
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