Groups advocate the “Copenvegan” solution. During the two-week climate change conference in Denmark, the organization Veg Climate Alliance, a coalition of environmental, vegetarian, animal rights, health and other groups, has been working to raise awareness that a global shift to the veg lifestyle is essential to avoid an unprecedented global climate catastrophe.
Joining the call as he cited the devastating tolls of meat and dairy to our planet, Peter Melchett, policy director of the UK-based Soil Association, also asked that global decision-makers at Copenhagen adopt organic farming practices to begin replacing meat and dairy production.
Patrick Holden, Director of the British Soil Association: Organic food is now the preferred choice of more and more people who feel reassured that after all the recent food scares, from BSE (Mad Cow Disease) to genetic engineering, that organic farming best meets their needs as consumers. And as a membership charity,
the Soil Association is committed to upholding the principles and standards of organic agriculture.
VOICE: Many thanks, Veg Climate Alliance and all organizations working to bring recognition of the planet-cooling vegan solution. Blessed be all efforts to finalize an international agreement that supports truly sustainable living to preserve lives and our Earth. This urgent call for a swift transition to a plant-based diet has been frequently highlighted by Supreme Master Ching Hai, who, during an October 2009 videoconference
in Germany, again expressed the dire need for a vegan decision at the Copenhagen summit.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: I hope the Copenhagen leaders understand where to put their finger. Not just talking around the subject and try to avoid the burning spot, which is livestock raising.
Animal industry is number one killer of all killers on this planet. Meat industry is the number one killer, is the number one murderer, an illegal murderer, and we endorse it.
We must stop the livestock industry. I hope the leaders of the Copenhagen conference will do this. Otherwise I don’t know what else to say anymore. Stop the livestock industry; that would be the most effective way to halt global warming and restore our planet.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8403745.stmClimate change’s most vulnerable nations call for urgent action. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that climate change is already forcing large-scale human movement, mostly to other regions within the same country or to neighboring countries.
For instance, migrations due to drought have become common in places such as Ethiopia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and even Syria. The IOM predicts that at least one billion people will be forced from their homes due to global warming by 2050.
At the Cop15, the United Nations’ Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, negotiators for the small island nation of Tuvalu warned that the current emission reduction goal of stabilizing CO2 at 450 parts per billion is too high to assure the survival of island nations, which in some cases have become uninhabitable and
in others are experiencing the adverse effects of rising sea levels. Representatives from other island states also presented their call for urgent mitigation as well as adaptation assistance.
Jacky Bryant – Secretary-General, Ecology Party of Tahiti (M): All water and the land, the taste is very salty, trees dead. All people must migrate to find a new island. We need to say to all the world it is a very very big problem.
VOICE: Without effective action, all countries will sooner or later be impacted by the ravages of global warming. According to the American Medical Association, more than half the US population alone will be at risk of increased hospitalizations for climate change-induced diseases such as pneumonia, asthma and
other lung diseases, with potentially worsening health of people already weakened by illness.
International Organization for Migration, island nation leaders and American Medical Association, we are grateful for your concerned voice and endeavors to protect fellow citizens. Our prayers that all climate change negotiators and leaders choose wisely for the sake of ourselves and future generations on Earth. Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently spoken with concern about the need for leadership to focus on saving human lives made fragile due to global warming, as in a videoconference with our Association’s New Zealand Center in August 2008.
Q (f): What encouragement can we give [government leaders] to stand up and spread the message to the people to be vegetarian?
Supreme Master Ching Hai: I think they will have to, in time. And I hope they do it soon, so that we still have a chance to save millions, billions of people or the whole planet. What is the use of having economy or political power when everybody is dead? Even if the leaderis still alive, whom would he or she rule if there’s no citizen left? I am worried about your country; it’s a small island surrounded by water.
And if the water level rise then… I don’t want to talk about it. But I’m sure your leader will realize it sooner or later, that survival is number one. Political position, economic power is number ten, very low, low, low, low down there. First we have to survive.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8403745.stmhttp://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33175&Cr=copenhagen&Cr1=http://interdiscussion.blogspot.com/2009/12/future-of-humanity-hinges-on-copenhagen.htmlhttp://unfccc.int/2860.phphttp://www.france24.com/en/node/4943273http://www.france24.com/en/node/4943525http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6745203/Copenhagen-climate-summit-Nearly-half-the-world-will-suffer-from-water-shortages-within-30-years.htmlExtra NewsNature Foundation South Australia supporters donate funds for the delivery of 7 megaliters of water to save River Red gum trees in Australia, which in turn will aid the survival of the endangered Regent parrots that depend on them.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/04/2761887.htm?site=news http://parrotscockatoomydiary.blogspot.com/2009/09/water-bought-to-rescue-rare-parrots.html http://www.naturefoundation.org.au/ http://campingsouthaustralia.com/hogwash-bend.phpA comprehensive study in the US reveals a link between human-caused biodiversity loss and the recent rise in infectious diseases such as West Nile Virus, Lyme disease, malaria, parasitic schistosomiasis, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and others.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091203132157.htmGuyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo, whose country still maintains 75 percent of her pristine rainforest, presents a development model for international application that ensures tree preservation while investing in clean industries such as organic agriculture, sustainable forestry and ecotourism.
http://www.sknvibes.com/News/NewsDetails.cfm/12351 A new report states that of the 11 most endangered species in the United States, such as the Elkhorn Coral, Canada Lynx, Pacific Salmon, Grizzly Bear, Bog Turtle, Western Prairie Fringed Orchid and Arctic Polar Bear, all now face additional threat from global warming and are in jeopardy of disappearing forever.
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/12/01/Global-warming-threatens-Hawaiian-songbird/UPI-27961259695472/ http://www.stopextinction.org/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_custom&cause_id=1704&page=HottestSpecies