With diverse flora and fauna, magnificent natural landscapes, and an ecological biosphere that supports life, this wondrous planet is our earthly home. From our animal co-inhabitants to the lush rainforests and life-giving soil, we cherish all these as gifts from the Creator. It is a common theme in the world’s major faiths that during our temporary stay here, we should be good stewards of Mother Earth.

Throughout the years, Supreme Master Ching Hai has shared the message of leading a balanced life while following a spiritual path. Not only must we nourish our spirits, but we share the responsibility to care for nature and our fellow beings.

In light of recent scientific evidence which pinpoint the raising of livestock as the number one contributor to climate change, Supreme Master Ching Hai affirms the important message she has noted for over the past two decades: we must be vegan and practice sustainable living. We invite you to listen to a compilation of excerpts from Supreme Master Ching Hai’s lectures titled “Change Our Diet to Save Water for the World.”

We appreciate your company for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples here on Supreme Master Television. Join us again tomorrow for part 2 of “Change Our Diet to Save Water for the World.” And now, Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants is coming up next, right after Noteworthy News. Please stay tuned. We bid you adieu for now.

It’s been a pleasure to have your company for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Part 3 of “Change Our Diet to Save Water for the World” will continue next Friday. Up next is Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants right after Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. Please stay tuned. May Heavens bless you with much love and light.

Thank you, for your company for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Join us again tomorrow for part 4 of “Change Our Diet to Save Water for the World.” Up next is Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants right after Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. Please stay tuned. May you be guided by wisdom and kindness in your everyday life.

Thank you, compassionate viewers, for your company for our program, “Change Our Diet to Save Water for the World,” on Between Master and Disciples. Up next is Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants right after Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. We bid you adieu and wish you many joyous moments.

The meat diet consumes a lot of the world’s resources, so there is less water, less land and even less oxygen, and more poisonous gases. It’s because it costs a lot to produce one piece of steak.

But it costs very little to produce a piece of tofu that we eat, and tofu provides the same amount of nutrition – actually even more than the steaks – and tofu doesn’t have any ill side effects. So it’s not just about the disease. Eating steaks doesn’t just cause sicknesses. We can’t say, “If I am sick, I can go to the hospital. It’s okay. It’s my own fault, and I’ll endure the consequence myself.” No. It will affect other people and the whole world. It’s because meat eating hurts a lot of people by harming the environment: it causes global warming.

So when you go home, please be more patient and pass out more flyers. If you cannot pass out flyers, then you can talk to more people. Do whatever you can. Cook vegetarian food for others. One serving of beef, we use 1,200 gallons of clean, good water; one serving of chicken, 330 gallons of water, clean and good; and one complete vegan meal, including rice or bread or tofu that is full of protein and vegetables, it cost only 98 gallons of water.

Now, we are complaining about the shortage of water everywhere on the planet. We are complaining about the shortage of food. We use 90% of grain to feed animals instead, and we leave 862 million people hungry. That is in 2008 alone. For the grain that we use for livestock, we can feed 2 billion people, many times over, for the world hunger people that we have right now. So I do not understand, truly, from all the intelligence that I have. Would someone explain to me what kind of world we are living in and what kind of policy we are following and what kind of kindness we are doing to ourselves and our fellow beings? - not to talk about animals yet. Because we cannot even love our own species. So it would be incomprehensible, of course, for many to understand how to love animals. Now you know why.

In Ohio alone, the climate change is going to cost that state US$1 billion because the water bordering their state, the lake, will be going down drastically due to climate change. And they will have to rebuild their harbors and infrastructure to meet the new level of water, new demand.

So, that climate change, it will cost more. And why? Because of the meat diet. All we do is just forsake that piece of meat on our plate and replace it with protein from the vegetable kingdom. We have food to eat, we have choices - and they are wonderful, they’re nutritious. It’s not like we don’t have choice. We don’t have to kill to live. We don’t have to degrade ourselves into a murderous agent of the planet.

We can live and let live. The way it is right now, it seems like we will be working forever, forever busy just to pay tax. Because we earn the money and then we have to pay tax so that we can have our sickness repaired, our body checked up, and that’s not even guaranteed that we can live. That is the point. So much suffering, so much medicine, so much blood tests and x-rays and operation and all that.

All this doesn’t even guarantee that our life will be saved due to the way we don’t treat ourselves kindly, due to the way that we are taking poison for food. Meat is poison, scientifically speaking, physically speaking. It’s good enough for me if people just be veg, do good deeds. That’s all I ask: be vegetarian, do good deeds. Whatever good, you do it right away, whatever bad, you stop.

Doing good right now including saving the planet. That means go veg as well. So, it all boils down to being vegan. Okay, if you cannot be vegan, please be vegetarian first. Because if we don’t eat meat, even though we eat cheese there will be much, much less livestock raising and it would be much less killing on the planet. It is the killing karmic retribution that contributes to the danger of our planet right now.

But just scientifically speaking, meat contributes 50% of global warming and pollution. So, if we just throw that piece of meat out of our mind, then the planet will be saved and you will have a longer life. And mark my words, you will be a much happier person. You will be less anxious, sleep better at night, you will have no sickness. If all the planet’s people become vegetarian, we will have no sickness, almost zero.

So, God has created enough water for us, enough food for us to last even forever, if we but know how to stop abusing the Earth’s resources and her sustenance. We should not kill our fellow beings to satisfy our greed. This is the main point for planetary problems right now, our overly spending of our moral merit and world resources. All these changing bulbs, new car technology and sparing water, “don’t take a shower too long,” and “don’t turn on the tap water while you are cleaning your teeth,” all this is fine, but they are just scratching the itch outside of the sock.

It will not ease our itch. It only makes matters temporarily forgotten and covers the real problem and covers the real solution. It just distracts us from our real goal, real solution, and the planet will get worse if we just keep doing this “scratching outside the sock” thing. We have to scratch on the skin if we want to ease our itch. What I mean is we have to address the main wound: that is the meat production.

Everybody who has the chance to know, and who has the power to know, should know by now that meat production is the main cause of global warming, and stop meat eating is the main solution to save the planet. I do not understand why we don’t go there. If somebody with intelligence explains this to me, I would be very grateful if I have a good answer for that. Meanwhile, we have to continue doing what we do.

Because we need to save this planet to pass onto our grandchildren. If we live the way we do now – meat eating, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and all that, and killing each other, killing the animals – I don’t know how we really can answer to our own conscience, not to talk about religious obligation, nothing at all. Ever wonder what kind of example we want to offer to our children when they grow up? From all the goodness, the well manners that we expect from them… If we tell them to be frugal and “don’t shower too long,” or even “don’t leave water running” while brushing their teeth and all that.

And even suppose we don’t take baths anymore, even, all of us, or suppose we don’t brush our teeth anymore, suppose we don’t even drink water, how much water do we save? - 30%, more or less. What good will that do to us? When we just stop eating meat, then we have 70% plus water to use. You can take as long a bath as you want, you can have three, four swimming pools in your house. Nobody will say anything and you will never feel any guilt, you’ve never done anything harm to the planet. Just leave that piece of meat out of your diet. Let peace begin on your table.

The experts told us a lot of things. They say that California right now is headed toward the worst drought in California’s recorded history, the worst drought they are heading to. The Sierra Nevada Mountains, which supply much of the rest of California’s water, is supplying now 61% of the usual amount in this past winter season – winter season even! We’re not talking about summer yet, when it’s dry. California produces 50% of fruit, vegetables, and nuts that are grown in the United States, but the US government has announced that farmers will not be able to buy any water from the state. Imagine this?

They supply 50% of your fruits and vegetables, but now they’re not able to buy any water from the state. And their state is in a drought predicament because the main source of water for the farmers is expected to go dry this year. Greenhouse gases are causing deserts to expand in California, elsewhere as well but now we just zoom in on California. Moreover, two of the largest manmade lakes in the US, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, will be dry in the next decade, 2021. These lakes and the Colorado River system that fills them provide water to nearly 8% of the US population.

Now they are drying; they will be completely dry soon. So, picture all this. Stockholm International Water Institute states that 70% of water is used by agriculture. Of that amount, a lot of it is going into planting corn and soy, and that is to feed animals, not humans! That’s why we’re short of water, short of food. It’s a waste of precious food – not just our precious water – as well. The experts also calculate that 1 kilogram of beef takes 5,000 to 20,000 liters of water to produce, but 1 kilogram of wheat takes only 500 to 2,000 liters of water. That is one-tenth, 10% of the amount of water for meat.

At a time when we have water shortage and all the reservoirs are dwindling at such an alarming rate, we are truly afraid that even if we don’t take showers at all, it will not do much help because all the humans’ use and everything comes together is only 30% of water around the world. Everything else is mostly used for meat industry, 70% of it. You see that? So even if you and I go ascetic, we don’t even wash clothes, we go like the Himalayan yogis – the ones who don’t wear clothes – and we don’t wash ourselves, we put ash on our body forever, it won’t help the planet. Meat industry should be cut.

That will help the planet. That will help to reserve our water, to refill our lakes and our rivers again. That is physically and scientifically speaking. I’m not talking about the merit, the bad karmic contribution that we are doing to ourselves by harming others and torturing animals and killing them just to save our stomach. On the other hand, if we forgo 1 pound of beef, we can save more water than if we stop showering for half a year. Just don’t eat 4 hamburgers and you can shower half a year every day, generously. Can you imagine the big, big, big difference like that? So if we really want to save the water for the world to be able to use for our daily necessity, not to talk about future generations, then we have to change to a vegetarian diet, animal-free diet. Animal industry must be out. That’s it.

I’d like to ask about the conflicts between nations caused by global warming and their solution. In March 2007, the United Kingdom suggested that climate change and the conflict problem should be discussed as an urgent agenda for the UN Security Council, and it was actually discussed seriously. It shows that people have begun to recognize that climate change caused by global warming has become a serious threat to national security. Global warming can cause not only natural disasters such as floods, storms, and rising sea levels, which threaten national security, but also a large number of climate refugees flowing over national borders. These series of incidents will cause not only worldwide insecurity but also can be a definite reason for increasing conflicts between nations. Could you tell us what efforts and measures each country should develop in order to be ready for conflicts between other countries as a result of global warming?

Hallo, Colonel and Professor Yeo. Thank you for your very important question. It is true exactly as you have said, that we are facing a very serious situation. However, we hope it does not have to come to the point of more conflict. We already have plenty. However, the most effective effort that can be made by any country to avoid further catastrophe, whether natural or manmade, is to promote a compassionate, noble lifestyle. Not only does this benefit the planet in its reduction of greenhouse gases, but being veg opens up land and delivers crops to humans that were previously being grown for animal feed. Moreover, a plant-based diet saves immensely on water.

Meat production uses water in excessive amounts that we cannot imagine. You see, all this is important because if humans are in shortage of food or, of water, then conflicts, of course, will break out. That is what the United Kingdom means by “climate change is affecting national security” – not just for the United Kingdom but everywhere in the world. When our family members are in danger of hunger or thirst, maybe we would do anything to bring food to them. So reluctantly, some virtuous or good people might even go astray and cause conflict between neighbors and then, on a larger scale, it will cause conflict between nations.

Scientists have documented that one serving of beef takes more than 1,000 gallons of water to produce. By contrast, sir, the vegan diet uses about one-tenth of that amount. So the water problem would also be completely solved if everyone is vegan. And as the killing karma (retribution) is reduced with people becoming vegan, all disasters will diminish, a more loving atmosphere will envelop our Earth, and we would not even have to worry about war between countries, because the vegetarian diet will make people feel peaceful, more clear-headed. So, consequently, each nation would naturally have sufficient resources and wholeheartedly exchange help to each other. So the best way to prepare for conflict is to take complete prevention. The vegan diet will help us to achieve that goal, and almost immediately.

Most respected Supreme Master Ching Hai, ladies and gentlemen, I’m truly touched to be able to attend the conference this time. Respected Supreme Master Ching Hai, my friends and I are extremely grateful for your contributions to create a better and more beautiful world. Respected Master, thanks to your guidance, humankind is transitioning in a positive direction. However, is that change quick and sufficient enough to stop global warming and save this beautiful planet?

Hallo, Ms. Vân. Madam Vân Anh, not quick enough yet at the moment. I wish we could be much quicker, like yesterday, but we still have hope. I appreciate your concern and certainly hope that all beings and the planet can be saved. Perhaps we cannot save all, but we can save the majority if we hurry up. This is why the members of our Association and myself, as well as the staff at the Supreme Master Television, are working as much as we can to get the message out to the world about the dire state of the globe and the rescuing vegan solution.

Scientists have already stated that the livestock industry is the single highest human cause of methane gas in the world. Everything is heating up so quickly, as we can see from the scientists’ reports on such alarming upheaval, such as rising sea levels and glaciers melting. In your country, Âu Lạc (Vietnam), you probably know of global warming related problems such as the untimely flooding, and encroachment of the sea upon 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, as I have mentioned, 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. Not only that, through the organic veg diet worldwide, we will see the planet revived to her original beauty and flourishing state even more so in the future. So please, be veg, and tell everyone else of these benefits. The more people who understand and change, the more chance our world will be saved in time.

Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, I’m very concerned about the effects of climate change and global warming on Âu Lạc (Vietnam), especially the southwestern region, the “granary of Âu Lạc (Vietnam),” where people are still impoverished.

Please shed some light on the following questions. How much longer and what is the size of land that will be under water? How many people will be affected? Could it be possible that the fertile rice fields in the southwestern region will turn into U Minh’s type of salt water swamp? At that time, could science create food-bearing plants or some kind of plant that is valuable and salt-bearing? In summary, what should we do to help the farmers in the Mekong Delta? Thank you, Master.

Yes. As we discussed briefly in the previous question, this situation is serious indeed. A combined report from experts at the United Nations, CARE International, and the US-based Earth Institute forecasts that more than 14 million farmers would lose their rice fields if sea levels rise by two meters. Already the growers are seeing salt water contamination in some crops, along with the excessive flooding that ruins harvests. Scientists say that the floods are due to upstream, melting glaciers, which cause the rice to be inundated at times when it needs to be dry. Moreover, as the glaciers continue to melt, the great Mekong River will begin to dry, because there’s no more support of flowing water – meaning further hardship for farmers as water becomes more scarce.

As it currently supports 18 hydropower stations as well, the drying of the Mekong River would also have adverse effects on power supplies, and the drought, combined with sea level rise, would cause further salt water contamination. The government has instituted programs to relocate people whose homes and growing areas are most vulnerable to these effects, but this does not really address their livelihoods or how to save the crops.

Research indicates that a one-meter sea level rise could result in up to 2 million hectares of land in the Mekong Delta being submerged. Depending on how quickly global warming accelerates, this could happen in a matter of years. As for how to best help the farmers in the delta region to cope with this urgent problem, I also wonder myself. It concerns me deeply to see the effects of global warming on this region. Dr. Cao mentioned scientistsdeveloping a salt-bearing plant. Perhaps we can, perhaps not. Even if we can, imagine. You see, some researchers have suggested building additional levees to hold back the floodwaters.

Both of these ideas could probably work over the short term and would help for a little while, but not for long term. We have to ask ourselves: for how long and at what price this will work? What kind of world will we have left if these global warming changes continue? What kind of drinking water, what kind of air we will have, even if the rice plants can grow in salt water? This is a complex ecosystem with a long, long history of supporting human life, so there is no easy answer.

But the most effective one I know, which is so simple, easy and also scientifically proven, is to adopt the meat-free, animal-free lifestyle. If everyone stops the killing and consumption of meat, these destructive changes will also stop. Just be veg and do good. That’s all there is. This is really the way to go. It is the best thing to help us, to help the farmers and the entire country of Âu Lạc (Vietnam), not just the Mekong Delta. If you turn in this direction and get as many people as possible to come with you, I guarantee that you will see good changes around you. And you will be proud to walk the Earth as a compassionate vegan and Earth protector.

You see, in the world we have many bad news, which is not published, which is not informed by the governments, or many governments, or many medias, that is, our world's major rivers are dying. One third are gone, or going – the rivers, the source of our life, the water that feeds us, billions of us. The major rivers are dying, going or gone. Groundwater wells for three billion people are drying up as well – not just rivers but groundwater to make wells are dying for three billion people. We have six billion people in this world and the sources of groundwater for wells, which supports half of our world population are dying, drying up.

And the top ten global river systems, drying or ebbing away: China’s Salween River, Europe’s Danube River, South America’s La Plata, North American Rio Grande, India's Ganges – the famous Ganges, the holy, the life sustaining Ganges – Pakistan's Indus River, Africa's Nile River and Lake Victoria, Australia's Murray-Darling, Southeast Asia's Mekong/Lancang, China's Yangtze, etc., etc. They are dying, drying up, ebbing away, day by day. And many major lakes, dried up or drying, not including the dangerous side effects, such as they release CO2, methane, and other gases after they dry or while they're drying.

In conclusion, I can only tell you that many, tens of thousands of rivers and great lakes are dying, dead, gone or going, and I don’t know how many more we must wait for to die in order for us to wake up. The leaders of the nations must do something. The people of all nations must do something. Just because we can still sit here pretty and talk, just because in our area there is not yet water shortage or food prices going up doesn’t mean it will not happen to us soon. We have to do something to avoid the tragedy that is already happening to billions of other people.

There are one billion people hungry already because of climate change, and short of water and food. One billion already! And three billion people are short of water. How many more, I don’t know, how many more of suffering people are we waiting before we take action? Please do it now! Just be veg. Stop the stop the meat, dairy, fish industry. Be benevolent. Create a merciful energy that will envelop our world, that will emit mercy, love, protection for us and our children on this planet. Please take action now. Very simple. Just be veg. Just be veg is truly enough for now, and it will be enough for a long future to come. Just be veg so we have time to save our planet in order to implement any other green measures that we want to implement. But everything is not as efficient as being veg. Just be vegan. Please be vegan.

How do we handle the situation in the future if the effects of global warming continue, Master? Yes, it’s a difficult question. Not only us but so many world leaders and scientists are also worrying about this. The truth is, we are already not able to handle such situations in places where global warming is already reaching extreme degrees. Some countries and communities have to cope with worsened drought situations. There is not enough water to raise crops or even to drink.

Their rivers and lakes are drying up or completely gone. Please refer to for more information. Glaciers melt in many places so dramatically that one moment there are massive floods, and soon after, a drought. So how can we handle the mass migration of tens of millions of people all at once due to desertification, the rising sea levels or the permanent loss of crop fields? It’s very difficult and maybe even impossible. And it’s not just numbers: every child, family, and society will be affected in some way by this experience of trauma and tragedy.

We are not ready for the changes that are coming. We are not ready at all. We are not prepared enough. Some of the changes are even anticipated to be unexpected, because there are many complicated interacting factors. The wisest action would be to fix the situation we have now and prevent further damage. Then we won’t even have to worry about the future. All the leading scientists we have spoken to tell us one and the same: that we must handle it now, not tomorrow.

The smartest way would be to stop the worsening of global warming by being vegan. It sounds very simple but it is the best solution, the most effective, and the effect of it will be felt almost immediately. Without this main, most time-effective change, no matter what we try to do, it won’t be enough to repel the worst consequences that we have accumulated. Moreover, the problems we already face now - such as the warming atmosphere, water shortage, food scarcity, desertification – we can quickly eliminate by stopping meat production. Stop it now, no further!

Let’s choose the vegan diet. The future effects will be greatly eased. Only then will we have a manageable situation.

Be veg, go green, so we can all save the planet. By the way, I would like to report to you something apart from that. I want to report to you about the current climate change effects in your country because it’s important that you know about this.

The latest report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change spoke of Latin America’s vulnerability to severe climate impacts. Peru is among the first to feel these impacts, as seen in the following: 1. Farmers in the Cusco highlands are suffering already from irregular, scarcer rain and extreme heat. 2. Due to excessive heat and droughts over the last 12 years, 140,000 hectares of potatoes and corn have been ruined – equal to food that could have fed 11 million people in the country. It’s been ruined. 3. In the central Piura area, springs that used to provide drinking water until recently are drying up. 4. Mosquitoes causing dengue fever are also being seen for the first time in Piura, as they spread to new areas due to climate change.

5. Peru is home to 70% of the entire range of Andean glaciers, with peaks that supply the country’s people with both water and hydroelectric power; however, these are all expected to disappear by 2015 – just a few more years. 6. The glaciers in the Andes mountain range have so far lost more than 20% of their volume. This is threatening the water supply for 30 million people. In Peru, the loss to glaciers is equivalent to 10 whole years of water supply for Lima city. 7. The Cordillera Blanca, a snow-topped northern mountain range of your country, sometimes called “Peruvian Switzerland,” you know about it, has been steadily disappearing due to climate change.

8. A warming climate has resulted in the 2008 disappearance of the Quilca Mountain snow cap, and in 2007 the Broggi Glacier also vanished, disappeared, completely. 9. In early 2009, the Quilca Glacier disappeared completely. Now it’s gone. It’s gone now. 10. With 8 of the country’s water basins already noted as being insufficient to meet people’s needs, Peru’s President Garcia announced in 2008 the construction of two desalination plants to try to address the water scarcity. It’s that urgent already in Peru. 11. Dwindling water supplies have caused escalating tensions and even conflicts to erupt as many people, including disadvantaged farmers, don’t have enough water, or are struggling for their share. 12. By 2020, it is predicted that up to 77 million people in Latin America will face water shortages.

13. In the past six years, Peru had at least three extreme temperature events and floods affecting more than 500,000 people. Within just 30 years, floods increased by more than 60%, and mudflows increased by 400%. 14. President Garcia declared a state of emergency in 2009 due to climate change-related severe cold and freezing conditions in the southern Andes that caused the death of nearly 250 children and sickened many others. I have contributed my humble share to purchase children’s warm clothes for this matter. But this is not the permanent solution.

The permanent solution is we have to stop this happening again. We have to stop climate change. We have to stop this kind of disaster that kills the children in Peru and sickens many other children as well as adults and the vulnerable like the elders, the weak and already sick. 15. In Chimbote, Peru, heavy pollution from 40 fishmeal manufacturers causes documented human illness and increasing oceanic dead zones, with the ground-up fish being fed to caged salmon, creating yet another environmental imbalance, and sickness to humans.

Thank you very much for your attention. I hope this report gives the people of Peru, Latin Americans, and the world a little more wake-up call. I thank you for your attention and I thank you in advance for whatever you will do on your part to save your country and to save the world.

Supreme Master, it’s been reported that a large industrial animal farm can produce as much waste as a large city, and that it takes thousands of liters of water to produce a pound of beef, which puts a severe demand on the world’s limited fresh water supply. Is this correct? Yes, absolutely. The connection between livestock industry and global warming has been clearly established. Factory farming takes an extreme toll on our vital resources. We will take water, for example.

As drought and water crises are spreading silently across the globe, affecting 44% of the world’s population, even triggering conflicts in some areas, the livestock industry is guzzling much of our precious fresh water. Livestock feed crop production alone takes up one-third of all arable land on the globe, most of which requires irrigation. So in reality, 4,500 liters of clean water goes down the drain for just 1 serving of beef. In contrast, only 370 liters of water are needed to produce one complete vegan meal, with plenty of calories and nutrients from rice, vegetables, and soy protein.

So, a massive package of resources goes into producing meat, namely, water, fertilizer, cleared land, chopped down forests, fossil fuel energy, and grains, soy, that are fed to the animals. This is even more staggering than when we consider the epic pollution levels inflicted by animal production on our water resources, such as Ireland’s own rivers, lakes, and groundwater. Your country’s Environmental Protection Agency reported that one of the top contributors to water pollution is agricultural runoff, which is the discharge of nitrogen and phosphorus. A huge portion of nitrates, for example, comes from animal manure.

In fact, the Agency further expressed concern because of the presence of the highly deadly E. coli bacteria in the groundwater, due to agricultural runoff. E. coli is always originally from an animal source, and it’s found in livestock fecal material, which can also be distributed through waterways to contaminate plant-based food even. The large scale of this health risk can be seen if we consider the fact that livestock produces 130 times more waste than humans. So, as pigs produce three times as much excrement as humans do, the 1.8 million pigs in your country, Ireland, generate more waste than the whole country’s entire population of 4.2 million!

This is not to mention the 21 times of human waste that each cow produces, and the huge amount from poultry that over 70 million birds produce. As the land cannot absorb it all, much of the excess runs into our rivers and soil. We are talking about a horrific amount of toxic material that poses an appalling set of problems, including poisonous gases like hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, residues of pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and bacteria like E. coli that could, and do, cause food poisoning and also death. Cities worldwide, including Dublin – Dublin, in your country – are already struggling with water shortages. Even in your country, in Dublin. But all the while, livestock production is hazardously wasting and polluting any remaining water supply.

If we really want to conserve our clean, safe water for ourselves and our children, we must stop livestock production and adopt the plant-based diet.

Sometimes it takes an impending catastrophe to make us change and become much greater than we were before. Is this what’s happening with climate change? Is it, in fact, an opportunity for us to make an unprecedented leap in evolution? Good question, sir, good question. You see, we should not have waited until we have a catastrophe like this, or impending catastrophe, to change. But, nevertheless, you’re right. It’s possible that when we’re faced with such a great upheaval, then we will change and we’ll make a leap into the next level. Especially now, we still have a little time to change. It’s just that we need to act now, you see, to profit from this so-called catastrophic future awaiting us.

We have to act now for all of humanity. Because along with our own survival and health, there is an entire planet that is in trouble, and everyone needs to be vegan to save it. It’s a very simple solution that we might overlook. Because if we all change to vegan, put down the animal products, then we would have a dream world – that I promise. Because like begets like. We forget that the Bible told us that “as we sow so shall we reap.” That means if we create peace, compassion and harmony, then that’s what we will get. Now, the impending catastrophe that you mention, it might be motivating us to change, the whole humanity. But to benefit from this opportunity, more people must act now. All of us must. We face a very dangerous future if global warming continues.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was just here in Washington D.C., making an historic address to the US Congress, and asked the United States to help to lead in halting climate change. I would ask the same even though I am not a Chancellor. I’m sure many of you are aware of the increasing number of global warming effects noted worldwide, so I will share just a few from the world and from the United States. 1. In the Arctic, North Pole, so much ice has already melted that scientists are forecasting an ice-free summer within as little as 3-6 years, which would be the first time in one million years – first time in one million years!

Meanwhile, Greenland is shedding 85 million tons of icebergs each day due to warming, and at a rate that is increasing by 7 percent each year. The West Antarctic Ice Shelf is also melting, with 3.3-meter sea level rises forecast that would threaten cities like your country, New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. And if all of Antarctica and Greenland were to melt – meaning the ice – then the sea levels could rise to as much as 70 meters, which would be deadly or disastrous to most lives on Earth. 2. Glaciers across the globe are shrinking more quickly than researchers ever expected, leaving rivers and lakes gone, disappearing or drying, with no water for crops and billions who face food shortages due to water shortages, as well.

3. Due to rising sea levels, islands are sinking as we speak, with Tuvalu, Tonga and some 40 other island nations having to plan their whole country's migrations. They are being forced to join the already 20 million climate refugees today. The International Organization for Migration stated that there may be 200 million climate refugees by 2050. 4. According to researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology, United States of America, worldwide the number of the most destructive Category 4 and 5 hurricanes doubled over the past 35 years.

Category 5 storms yield the highest level of destruction in major cities. Their intensity and duration also increased by 75 percent since the 1970s. One of these storms whose effects can still be seen and felt was the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, which devastated, especially, areas of New Orleans, with people who are still recovering their homes and their lives today. I am so sorry the American people have had to suffer through such tragedies.

Now, in the United States: 1. Close to a million acres of pine forest have been lost in the Rocky Mountains due to beetle infestation from global warming. Similar also in Canada but, due to the time limit, I cannot report to you everything, so now we just report about United States. 2. In the state of Montana, the famous glaciers of Glacier National Park are now expected to disappear within a decade. 3. According to a new study by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Colorado River, which supplies water to seven Western states, is going dry. Famous river.

4. In fact, researchers say that the US West is facing a devastating drought crisis as snows from mountains are releasing vast reservoirs of water. 5. The sea level in North Carolina, USA, rose three times faster during the 20th century than during the previous 500 years. 6. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that for the first time on record, in 2008, six consecutive tropical cyclones made landfall on the US mainland. The North Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean are the two areas with the strongest hurricane trends.

You may ask, what is the main cause of this damage and destruction to the environment? Perhaps surprisingly, it’s not the coal industry or cars or planes or trains or boats or ships. It’s methane, which is produced primarily by the livestock industry. A new and just-published report from the respected Worldwatch Institute states that livestock is the largest single contributor to greenhouse gases, responsible for more than 51% of the total emitted. This report factors in an atmospheric heat-trapping effect of methane that is 72 times - 72 times! – larger than CO2, when averaged over a 20-year period.

Furthermore, just days after the Worldwatch Institute report was released, NASA announced that methane actually contributes much more to global warming than previously understood and it traps 100 times the atmospheric heat over 20 years. And the largest source of methane is? You know - livestock. Now, facts such as these have caused people like esteemed climate expert Lord Stern of the United Kingdom to state in an interview that “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.” So I quote exactly what he said.

There is an advantage of time here, because one aspect of methane is that it dissipates in around 12 years’ time, whereas carbon dioxide, CO2, stays in the atmosphere for up to thousands of years. So, we remove the livestock-generated methane and the planet cools fast! You see the logic? Yes.

Therefore, only the vegan lifestyle is truly sustainable. Now, once we become vegan and urge others to join through grassroots seminars, flyer distribution, letters, email, whatever, we could practice sustainability in other ways. As I have suggested before, we could plant organic vegetables and trees. Better still are those fruit trees and nut trees, and those vegetables or legumes like beans and stuff that need little water.

That, we can do research to know which ones need less water, because right now we’re short of water as well. We’re short of everything right now. So we should be frugal not to waste precious energy and water. Use our own shopping bags even. We encourage sustainable energy development. And we can write or talk to the government and the media, and the farmers even, because we really do need all the help from the government, from the media, to accelerate the trend. Another good way to quicken our movement to a sustainable planet is to generate more positive energy: do good deeds and be loving and kind. Expand our loving quality.

This is what will create a shield, invincible, to protect us and the planet. Finally, we can pray that divine power manifests on Earth to awaken leaders, media, influential people, and all the world citizens to take the right steps to preserve our planet, and fast – fast before it’s too late, because at this point, we do need Heaven’s intervention to save our planet. Not to pray to them to protect us; just to pray so that they awaken everybody to the solution of the vegan diet, because that is the solution that will save our planet. If we can do these things, starting with being veg, we would realize not just a sustainable planet, but a real paradise of peace in our lifetime.

Respected Master, thanks to your blessings, we have the opportunity to gather here today in this house full of love to discuss these important issues. I would like to ask: What would you like to convey to the leaders of nations, organizations, individuals and all humankind in this urgent time? Thank you, Master. Thank you, sir.

Yes, Mr. Nguyễn, my message is the same as I have spoken all along during this time together. To sum up, to all the leaders, I call on them once more to put their love first for their countrymen and women, and for all the children, to accept with courage the deed that must be done, to use the mighty power in their hands entrusted by people to save the world. The global livestock industry is now contributing almost about as much to global warming as the energy sector, or even more; and I know it contributes at least 80% of it.

Meat production is depleting your people’s water, damaging their health, pushing them to war and breeding new deadly diseases each day. It’s killing your people. Only you can stop it. They need your shining heroic vegan example because they really look to their governments, to their leaders. They would be greatly facilitated by your laws for organic vegan farming and campaigns or laws to make the much needed lifestyle vegan change. Your co-citizens, your subjects, will appreciate you, praise you, love you, support you and they will remember you for saving the world for generations to come even, for saving their lives and the lives of their loved ones, as well as their future children. And Heaven will reward you greatly.

Lead the veg change. Promote forgiveness and peace and then even all other troubles, like poverty, conflict, even financial crisis, pandemics, will also subside. I thank you, leaders of nations, for all the efforts in this direction so far. But if you allow me, I honestly say that what we are doing and planning now is not enough, and not fast enough, and I bid you the courage and faith to do more and faster. To the organizations of the world, including the media who understand the strength of a social movement, thank you for your work to inform and encourage people to the exciting and humane, beneficial, chic, animal-free, the vegan way of life.

To the individuals, thank you for doing your part to save our planet, but please, to make it in time, we have more to do and we have little time. We have to continue to urge our leaders and our fellow human beings, neighbors to change, be vegan to save themselves and their families and children and the animals, and everything they feel is worth living for. We can get out of the danger but through the right direction. Our house is on fire but the water hose is right there in front of us. Just pick it up and use it. It’s as simple as that. Just be vegan. And please, be quick. Our days are numbered. To all humankind, Heaven loves you so much, so we have hope for the planet’s survival, more than ever before. We shall awaken to a new compassionate vegan planet that is full of loving energy, kindness and blessings no end from Heaven. I pray you all will continue towards this peace in our reach. Thank you so much, all of you. Thank you.