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 vegetarian, meaning an animal-free ##diet, and practice sustainable living. Today we present to you a compilation of Supreme Master Ching Hai’s lectures titled “Save Our Planet: Eliminate the Production of Meat.”

Thank you for your caring presence for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Join us again tomorrow for Part 2 of “Save Our Planet: Eliminate the Production of Meat.” Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television for Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants coming up next right after Noteworthy News. May divine blessings fill your life with wonder and peace.

It’s been a joy to have you with us for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Join us again next Friday for Part 3 of “Save Our Planet: Eliminate the Production of Meat.” And now, Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants is coming up next, right after Noteworthy News. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television. May Providence guide our planet in wisdom and loving kindness for all beings.

Thank you, eco-conscious viewers, for your company for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Join us again tomorrow for part 4 of “Save Our Planet: Eliminate the Production of Meat.” Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants is coming up next after Noteworthy News on Supreme Master Television. Please stay tuned. We wish you and your loved ones an abundance of joy and fulfillment.

We appreciate your company for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples here on Supreme Master Television. Join us again next Friday for part 5 of “Save Our Planet: Eliminate the Production of Meat.” And now, Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants is coming up next, right after Noteworthy News. Please stay tuned. We wish you a safe and blessed weekend.

It’s been a pleasure to have you with us for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Part 6 of “Save Our Planet: Eliminate the Production of Meat” will continue tomorrow. Up next is Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants right after Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. Please stay tuned. God bless, and farewell for now.

Thank you, Earth-protective viewers, for your presence for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Up next is Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants right after Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. Please stay tuned. We wish you a joyous and peaceful weekend.

You aired an interview with Professor Kirk Smith at the University of California at Berkeley in the US who said, “Reducing methane would buy us critical time in the fight against climate change.” He also said that livestock were the greatest human-caused source of methane, and suggested governments tax meat to reduce consumption.

Supreme Master, can you please help us to understand how reducing human-caused methane will cool the planet faster than reducing CO2? Scientifically speaking, methane ends its effect much faster than CO2, and its warming potential is greater than CO2. So if the methane is gone out, then we cool the planet quicker. And, the methane dissipates out of the atmosphere in 9 to 15 years, but the CO2 lingers for an estimated range of 40 to 200 years. So, because methane goes out faster and heats up the climate more, so, if it goes out, then the Earth cools more and quicker compared to the CO2 effect. So some Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientists say that eliminating livestock farming would be the fastest way to bring down methane and cool the planet, thus buying critical time in the fight against global warming, as they said.

So, in the interview with the Supreme Master TV, Dr. Kirk Smith stated that the CO2 emissions could still be heating the planet a thousand years after they are emitted. Can you imagine? So, if we want to see the cooling of our planet in the next one or two decades, it’s more effective to reduce methane first. And because the greatest source of methane on the planet is from livestock, so to be a vegan is the fastest way to reduce methane, thus bring cooling to the planet successfully and fast.

Thank you so much for your work. Here in southern California, there’s a drought currently, and talking about water rationing, what do the experts in the interviews have to say? 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 fruit 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. Thank you.

Fishing contributes to global warming primarily by disturbing the complex ecosystems of the world’s oceans. Balanced marine ecosystems are extremely important, as more than two-thirds of the planet is covered by oceans. They provide half of the world’s oxygen and play a major part in regulating the global climate. So, life on Earth truly depends very much on the ocean for survival. In addition, oceans also absorb atmospheric CO2 carbon dioxide) which directly helps to cool our planet. These are just a few among the great things that the oceans do. To disturb the balance of the seas, thus, ultimately places our own lives in danger.

So, we could say that it is in our interest to care for the oceans if we want to survive, and all the life that they contain, including fish. Fish farms are like on-land factory farms. They have similar problems environmentally, with impacts that include polluting the bodies of waters. The farmed fish are contained in big netted areas off the ocean shores with uneaten food, fish waste, antibiotics, or other drugs and chemicals that pass into the surrounding waters where they harm our ecosystems and pollute our drinking sources. Depleting wild fish stocks also. Fish like salmon that are eaten by humans are usually fed huge amounts of other fish, like anchovies. Studies have found that for every kilo of salmon that is sold in a supermarket, four kilos of wild fish have to be caught to feed the salmon. This practice also endangers sea animals like sea lions and birds that are thought to be a threat, and are often harassed with firecrackers or loud underwater speakers, causing pain, disorientation and hearing loss to marine mammals. And others are often even shot dead.

These are just a few of the problems associated with fish farming, which have become bigger as the fishing has increased. So the issues arising from related industries like the production of food for salmon have also been on the rise. In Peru, for example, fish food is made from anchovies, which causes illness for the adults who are closely involved in its production, as well as asthma and skin disease in young children from the toxic smoke that pours out onto the streets from the factories, along with pollution to the nearby ocean waters, of course. This fish production also affects bird populations, with some like the guano bird having declined by 90% in number. So, the result is that consumers can buy cheap fish, but it comes with the very heavy, expensive cost to our children’s health, and a degraded environment. Meanwhile, if we say that the ocean ecosystems are dependent on fish populations to be balanced, then those ecosystems are extremely imbalanced right now. Scientists estimate that more than 90% of the oceans’ big fish have disappeared over the last 50 years due to commercial fishing.

They warned that at the present rate of fishing, there will be a global collapse of all species being fished by 2050 and say that recovery efforts need to be started immediately. So, what we are seeing from these fish and marine life are signs of distress. And from the oceans themselves, we are seeing other signs such as warming temperatures, rising sea levels, increasing acidification and terrible levels of pollution.

So global warming is affecting the oceans, which in turn is affecting the fish. This is an equally urgent situation as the one presented by livestock industry, and it has the exact same solution. Stop eating the flesh; stop killing for food; stop eating the fish. This will help restore the balance of both the ocean and land, immediately. Fish are God’s creations that we should also care for, respect, protect, not to eat. We should be looking for ways to help the fish, to protect them and all the marine life from the devastating effects of climate change. Once we start thinking in this way, we are in a better position for ourselves, for the fish and for the planet. Thank you.