Intelligent viewers,
welcome to this week’s
episode of Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home,
the first in a two-part
series where
we feature the thoughts
of famed American
environmental advocate
Lester Brown on global
ecological destruction
and the serious
consequences to
communities worldwide.
When I think about
national security today,
I think we need
a new definition,
a definition
for the 21st century.
When I sit with a pad of
paper and ask myself,
"What are the threats
today?"
Number one:
climate change.
Number two:
population growth.
Number three: spreading
water shortages.
Number four:
rising food prices.
Number five: a growing
number of failing states.
These are the threats
to our security today.
Mr. Brown holds
a masters degree in
agricultural economics
from the University of
Maryland, USA, and
in public administration
from Harvard University,
USA.
For over 40 years
he has dedicated himself
to work in environmental
conservation and
economic sustainability.
Mr. Brown has authored
and co-authored
more than 50 books,
including the best-selling
“Plan B” series
and his 2011 release,
“World on the Edge:
How to Prevent
Environmental and
Economic Collapse.”
His books have been
translated into
approximately
40 languages.
Regarded as the father
of modern grassroots
environmentalism,
the Washington Post says
he is “one of the most
influential thinkers
in the world” and
the Telegraph of Calcutta
calls him “the guru of the
environmental movement.”
He has also received
numerous honorary
degrees and prizes
such as the
MacArthur Fellowship,
the United Nations
Environment Prize, and
the World Wide Fund
for Nature Gold Medal.
I’ve been working with
environmental NGOs
for more than 40 years.
When I left
the US Department of
Agriculture in 1972,
I worked for a group
called the Overseas
Development Council.
And it worked on
development issues
including environmental
issues, though they were
not yet well defined.
And then in 1974,
I began to see a need for
a research institute that
would focus on global
environmental issues.
There was none
at the time.
With the help of the
Rockefeller Brothers fund,
and a half-million-dollar
start up grant, I started
The World Watch Institute.
And then a decade ago,
I started the Earth Policy
Institute, an organization
that focuses on
the “what to do” part
of the problem.
We know pretty much
what the problems are now.
The question is
what to do.
And we developed
the Plan B series
in response to that.
The book
“World on the Edge”
was written to convey
a sense of urgency,
not only talking about
what we need to do, but
the urgency of doing it.
I don’t think
we have a lot of time left.
The question is
how much time do we have
before the destruction
of the economy’s
environmental support
systems begins to
translate into negative
global economic trends.
The answer to
that question is
we don’t know.
But I think we have
perhaps less time than
most people realize.
Climate change is putting
our civilization
in tremendous peril.
Archeologists assert that,
based on historical records,
environmental decline
always occurs before
economic and societal
collapse.
Thus the current rate of
worldwide ecological
devastation is an alarm
for humanity
to take action now.
Our forests are shrinking.
Our soils are eroding.
Our aquifers
are being depleted.
Grasslands are
turning into desert. .
These are
very clear trends now.
What we know
from studying
earlier civilizations,
who were destroying
their environmental
support systems, is that
no civilization can
do that indefinitely
without eventually
declining and collapsing.
That’s what happened
to the Sumerians.
That’s what happened
to the Mayans.
The Mayans,
it was deforestation
and soil erosion and
shrinking food supply,
and eventually the
civilization disappeared.
The Sumerians,
it was salt levels
building in the soil.
As the salt levels went up,
yields went down, and
then the civilization itself
went down.
So, we’re doing
all the wrong things
environmentally.
Whether it’s climate change
or falling water tables,
deforestation, soil erosion,
all these things
are going to undermine
civilization unless
we can reverse them.
UK Foreign Secretary
William Hague states that
crop production
depends heavily on
a steady-state climate:
“You cannot have food,
water, or energy security
without climate security.
They are interconnected
and inseparable.
They form four resource
pillars on which global
security, prosperity
and equity stand.”
Russia’s heat wave of
2010, which was induced
by global warming,
is one of the most
devastating natural
disasters in recent memory
and had a very
large impact on the
international food market,
since Russia,
the world’s third largest
grain exporter, prohibited
exports during the crisis
to ensure sufficient food
for its citizens.
If at the beginning of
last year, someone
had said to me that
the average temperature
in Moscow in July will be
14 degrees Fahrenheit,
eight degrees Celsius,
above the norm,
I would have said,
"I'm not a climate denier,
but that's beyond reason."
But it happened,
and now that we've seen
such a dramatic rise
in temperature
in one place in the world
for a sustained period
for a month,
we now know it can
happen somewhere else.
We saw night after night,
week after week,
smoke-filled streets in
Moscow, because things
were burning throughout
Western Russia.
Russia was literally
burning out of control
in a heat wave that
started in late June,
lasted through July,
and went into August.
In the end, it did
an estimated US$300-billion
worth of damage.
By comparison,
Hurricane Katrina
in the United States in 2005
did about US$100-billion
worth of damage.
The heat wave in Russia
claimed 56,000 lives with
a combination of heat,
stress and breathing
smoke-filled air,
which exacerbated
respiratory illnesses.
The grain harvest dropped
from 100-million tons,
which is what
they were hoping for,
to 60- million tons.
They lost 40% of
their grain harvest.
If that heat wave had
been centered in Chicago,
and if the United States
had lost 40% of
its grain harvest, that’s
40% of 400-million tons.
The United States and
the world would have lost
160- million tons of grain.
If that had happened,
there would have been
chaos in world grain
markets by late summer
and early fall of last year.
Grain prices would have
gone to levels
we’ve never seen before.
Food prices
would be rising
throughout the world.
Exporting countries would
be restricting exports
to try to keep their food
prices under control.
Mr. Brown notes that
the overt signs of
imminent civilization
collapse are large-scale
food shortages,
growing numbers of
environmental refugees
and failing states.
The food crisis that
occurred between
early 2007 and 2008
when the world’s wheat,
rice, soybean, and corn
prices jumped dramatically,
is being repeated in 2011.
Robert Zoellick,
president of the World
Bank thus cautioned in
April 2011 that the world
is just “one shock away
from a full-blown
[food price] crisis.”
If I were asked to identify
three indicators that will
tell us more about
our future and, where
civilization is headed,
the first would be
an economic indicator.
It would be grain prices,
and world grain prices
today are double what
they were five years ago,
and they're probably
going to go higher
in the next few years.
How much higher,
we don’t know.
The world food-price
index set an all-time high.
And it’s still very close
to that.
It has not subsided.
This was to be a year
in which we rebuilt
world grain stocks
after they were depleted
as a result of the heat
wave in Russia last year.
The price at harvest time,
at planting time
was very good.
It encouraged farmers.
They planted more grain.
They used more fertilizer,
but they were not able to
expand production
fast enough to keep up
with the growth in demand.
So this year, once again,
we’re going to see
a reduction
in world grain stocks.
The earliest relief
we can hope for now,
is next year (2012),
next fall’s grain harvest.
So we’re literally living
on the edge right now.
And the difficulties
in restoring stable
food prices and food
security for the world
are substantial.
It used to be that
the only source of
additional demand
for grain was basically
population growth.
And then some decades ago,
people started
moving up the food chain,
consuming more
grain-intensive
livestock products.
And the third thing is that
we are now converting
grain into fuel for cars.
We’ve set up
a competition between
automobile owners
and people
for the grain supply.
In the United States
last year we harvested
400- million tons of grain.
Of that, 124 million tons
went to
ethanol distilleries to
produce fuel for cars.
Approximately 70%
of available global
freshwater is being used
for agriculture and
over-pumping of water
for irrigation is
significantly draining
the world's
groundwater reserves.
Saudi Arabia announced
in 2007 it was giving up
wheat production due to
total depletion of
its fossil aquifer.
Deprived of
the three-million tons of
wheat it once produced
annually, the country
now has to import grain
from abroad.
Animal agriculture
consumes huge volumes
of water, and it has been
demonstrated by
numerous studies that
producing animal products
is enormously inefficient
as it puts a large,
unsustainable burden
on our natural resources
like water.
For example,
the Twente Water
Center in the Netherlands
estimates it takes up to
six times more water to
grow a kilogram of
animal protein
as plant protein and that
producing beef consumes
20 times more water
per calorie than
grain or potatoes.
We have spreading
shortages of
irrigation water.
Half the world’s people
live in countries where
water tables are falling
as a result of
over-pumping
for irrigation.
These countries,
18 in total, include
China and India.
The World Bank
estimates that
175-million people
in India are being fed
with grain produced
by over-pumping, by
depleting their aquifers,
which by definition is a
short-term phenomenon.
I estimate that in China
130-million people
are being fed with grain
produced by
over-pumping.
So the water issue that
was mostly underground
and out of sight, is
becoming a serious stress
on the world food economy
and making it
more difficult to
expand production
as fast as we would like.
Global adoption of a
plant-based diet can halt
80% of global warming,
end world hunger,
and free up the Earth’s
freshwater as well as
many other precious
natural resources.
It offers a sustainable and
secure lifeline for our
planet and humanity.
In short, it will quickly
solve the most serious
environmental issues
facing the world today.
Our heartfelt thanks
Lester Brown for your
excellent insights
on the current global
environmental crisis and
the resulting dangers posed
to the world community.
Leaders like you are
awakening governments
and individuals to
the fact that immediate
action is required to
halt the widespread abuse
of our planet’s gifts
to humanity.
For more information
on Lester Brown,
please visit
www.Earth-Policy.org
Hard copies and
free-to-download
PDF versions of
Lester Brown’s books
including
“World on the Edge:
How to Prevent
Environmental and
Economic Collapse”
are available at
www.Earth-Policy.org/books
Eco-wise viewers,
please join us again
next Wednesday
on Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home
for the conclusion of
our two-part program
featuring Lester Brown’s
expert perspectives on
the global environment.
Thank you for watching
today’s program.
May all humans receive
abundant, everlasting
love and grace
from Heaven.
Informed viewers,
welcome to this week’s
episode of Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home,
the conclusion of
a two-part series where
we feature the thoughts
of famed American
environmental advocate
Lester Brown on global
ecological destruction
and the serious
consequences to
communities worldwide.
Mr. Brown holds
a masters degree in
agricultural economics
from the University of
Maryland, USA, and
in public administration
from Harvard University,
USA.
For over 40 years
he has dedicated himself
to work in environmental
conservation and
economic sustainability.
Mr. Brown has authored
and co-authored
more than 50 books,
including the best-selling
“Plan B” series
and his 2011 release,
“World on the Edge:
How to Prevent
Environmental and
Economic Collapse.”
His books have been
translated into
approximately
40 languages.
Regarded as the father
of modern grassroots
environmentalism,
the Washington Post says
he is “one of the most
influential thinkers
in the world” and
the Telegraph of Calcutta
calls him “the guru of the
environmental movement.”
He has also received
numerous honorary
degrees and prizes
such as the
MacArthur Fellowship,
the United Nations
Environment Prize, and
the World Wide Fund
for Nature Gold Medal.
Lester Brown
has formulated
what he calls “Plan B”
to save our planet
and civilization.
It is called “Plan B”
because
“Plan A” is simply
as Mr. Brown puts it
“business as usual”
or no change as to
how we treat the Earth.
Let’s now hear about
some of the components
of Plan B.
Business as usual is
no longer a viable option
over the longer term..
The question is
what we do about this.
That’s why
we’ve developed Plan B.
One, reduce
carbon emissions 80%,
not by 2050,
which is what politicians
like to talk about,
but by 2020.
We didn’t ask the question,
“What would be
politically feasible or
politically acceptable ?”
We asked instead
the question,
starting with the science,
how fast do we have to
cut carbon emissions
if we want to save
the Greenland ice sheet?
And I used
the Greenland ice sheet
because
it’s sort of a metaphor
for the Earth itself.
Scientists have told us
that if the Greenland
ice sheet melts entirely,
the sea level rises
seven meters.
But even a one-meter rise
in sea level would put
half of the rice land
in Bangladesh under water.
It would put a large piece
of the Mekong Delta
under water
and Âu Lạc (Vietnam)
is the world’s second
largest rice exporter.
There are 19 other
rice-growing river deltas
in Asia
where rice production
would shrink with
just a one-meter rise
in sea level.
Think of it;
ice melting on an island
in the far north Atlantic
can shrink the rice harvest
in Asia where half
the world’s people live.
We’re living
in a very complex world.
We have to
eradicate poverty.
And then
restore the economy’s
natural support systems.
The world now needs
to do a great job
of reforestation.
Each year the world’s
forests are shrinking.
We have less tree cover
than the year before.
And we can’t
continue that indefinitely.
The world’s soils
are eroding, including
the soils on our crop land.
We see today
the formation
of huge dust storms
in Northern and Western
China
and Western Mongolia
early each spring.
So we’re losing topsoil
big time.
Switching to
sustainable energy sources
can help reduce
toxic greenhouse gases
and other forms
of air pollution,
thus helping to
mitigate climate change.
In “World on the Edge,”
Lester Brown notes that
the North African nation
of Algeria maintains that
just by producing
solar power in its deserts,
the country could generate
sufficient electricity to
meet the energy needs of
the entire world economy.
In 2009,
several European firms
established
the Desertec Foundation
to build
solar thermal-generation
facilities in North Africa
and the Middle East
to provide power
to the countries
producing the electricity
as well as to supply Europe
with energy.
Let me talk for a minute
about new sources
of energy.
As of today there is
about 13,000 megawatts
of geothermal energy
in the world being used
for electricity.
Solar-generated electricity,
the capacity is about
37,000 megawatts;
wind, 240,000 megawatts.
For the last decade
wind has been growing
at nearly 30% per year
worldwide.
And it's beginning
to make a huge difference.
In some places
wind is an important
source of energy,
it's the major source
of electricity now.
For example, in the three
northernmost states
in Germany, from 40
to 60% of the electricity
is coming from wind farms.
Mr. Brown says that the
costs of global warming
and environmental
degradation are typically
not incorporated into
any given product’s
market price and thus
carbon taxes are needed
to achieve
an environmentally
honest market.
The key to restructuring
the world energy economy,
shifting from fossil fuels,
oil and coal
and natural gas
to clean sources of energy,
wind and solar
and geothermal, is to
restructure the tax system.
The market
does many things well.
But one thing
it does not do well is to
incorporate indirect cost
in market prices.
Market prices include
only the direct cost.
For example,
in the United States,
when we buy a gallon
of gasoline, it costs
nearly US$4 a gallon.
That covers the cost
of pumping the oil,
getting the oil to a refinery,
making the gasoline,
and getting the gasoline
to local service stations.
It does not cover the cost
of climate change.
It does not cover the cost
of treating
respiratory illnesses from
breathing the polluted air.
When you include
these indirect costs
in the price of gasoline,
it goes from US$4 a gallon
to US$12 a gallon.
We have deluded ourselves
in letting the market
set the price into thinking
that burning oil
or burning coal is cheap.
It is not. It is very costly.
And we’ve only paid
part of the bill so far.
The big part of the bill
will be coming due
in the years ahead.
It’s already coming due
now in many situations.
In “World on the Edge,”
Mr. Brown calculates
the budget needed
for global implementation
of “Plan B” to be
about US$200 billion.
Compared to the size of
the US military budget,
this is indeed
a relatively small figure.
When we look at
the US budget,
we see US$700 billion
for military purposes.
That US$200 billion
we need
to eradicate poverty and
restore the economy's
natural support systems,
reforestation, etc.,
that's less than a third of
the US military budget.
It's only an eighth of
the global military budget.
We can't say we don't
have the resources to do
what needs to be done.
We do. We know
what needs to be done.
And we have
the resources to do it.
What it's going to take
is a lot of NGOs,
(non-governmental
organizations)
like the ones I represent
and work with
in the (United) States
pushing for change.
And what we’re
talking about now
is not just saving some
environmental system.
We're talking about the
future of civilization itself,
because no civilization
has ever survived
the ongoing destruction
of its natural support
systems, nor will ours.
Compared to a vegan diet,
a meat diet uses up to
17-times as much land,
14 -times as much water
and 10-times
as much energy.
And if all the grains
currently used to feed
livestock globally
were instead reserved
for humans,
the entire hungry and
malnourished population
of Earth could be fed.
There are
two good reasons for us
to eat less meat
and more plant foods.
One is the health reason.
In the United States,
we have obesity
and much of that’s from
consuming too much fat
and fat-rich
livestock products.
We have problems with
heart disease from that.
So, moving down
the food chain and
consuming less fat-rich
livestock products
would make us healthier.
It also would
make the planet healthier,
because it reduces
the demand on
the world’s grain supplies.
The amount of grain
required to produce
a kilogram of meat,
whether it’s poultry
or pork or beef, is three,
four, five, six pounds.
So it takes a lot of grain
to produce meat, and
milk and eggs as well.
It’s a fairly simple matter
of just consuming
less meat
and more plant products.
And it’s not
a major sacrifice.
We clearly need to
move down the food chain
and consume less,
particularly fat-rich
livestock products.
Livestock production is
the world’s single largest
emitter of methane,
which is 72-times
more powerful than
carbon dioxide in terms
of heating the atmosphere
over a 20-year period.
Also, methane dissipates
out of the atmosphere
in about 12 years,
whereas
carbon dioxide stays
for thousands of years.
Supreme Master Ching Hai
often speaks about
the importance
of the organic vegan diet
in eliminating shorter-lived
greenhouse gases
such as methane
from the air
as in this June 2011
videoconference hosted
by the Supreme Master
Ching Hai
International Association
in Mexico City, Mexico
titled
“From Crisis To Peace:
The Whole Universe
is Blessing Us.”
The founder of
the Earth Policy Institute,
Lester Brown, who is
a respected US
environmental leader,
stated that climate change
is happening so fast
right now that we need to
reduce emissions,
greenhouse gas emissions,
80% by 2020,
to protect global
food supplies even –
just food supplies even.
Not 80% by 2050,
as suggested before,
which is the date
discussed by many
politicians, but 80% now –
I mean, soon,
by 2020, maximum –
because if we lose
food security,
our civilization
could collapse.
Moral standards, even,
could collapse;
people’s health
could deteriorate;
happiness could also
collapse;
nations could collapse –
every other thing
might also collapse.
Lester Brown and
others point out
that the great Mayan
civilization in Mexico
may have fallen
when it lost control
over its food supply.
Climatologists say that
we are facing the same
danger now, today.
If it happened before,
it could happen again.
So how do we reduce
greenhouse gas emissions
80% by 2020?
How do we do that?
How do we keep
the global temperature
at safe levels?
There is a solution.
A few months ago,
the United Nations
proposed that the best way
to bring about cooling,
rather than focusing on
carbon dioxide,
would be to reduce
the shorter-lived
global warming agents.
These include methane,
black carbon, and
ground-level ozone.
And how?
Again, the fastest,
cheapest way to do this
is to stop raising animals
for human consumption.
We thank you,
Lester Brown
and your colleagues at
the Earth Policy Institute,
for analyzing
the root causes of
civilization’s current crisis
and developing “Plan B,”
as an action strategy
for humankind to follow
to protect our planet.
May you successfully
continue your
invaluable research
on preserving our world
and safeguarding
communities worldwide
in the years ahead.
For more information
on Lester Brown,
please visit
www.Earth-Policy.org
Hard copies
and free-to-download
PDF versions
of Lester Brown’s books
including
“World on the Edge:
How to Prevent
Environmental
and Economic Collapse”
are available at
www.Earth-Policy.org/books
Pleasant viewers,
thank you for watching
this week’s episode of
Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.
May the everlasting light
and love of Heaven
touch all beings.