What effect does meat consumption have on biodiversity? Charlie, meat consumption has a huge destructive impact on biodiversity, which is essential for our Earth to function and thus must be preserved. No matter how small, each species has a role to help balance our ecosystem, scientifically proven. And yet, consumption of both fish and animal flesh continue and are wreaking havoc on biodiversity around the globe. In the oceans and fresh waterways, so many species of fish have already been lost, with complete aquatic environments such as coral reefs being decimated by such practices as trawling and fishing with explosives. On land, meat consumption is responsible for vast regions being cleared for grazing crops, such as soy, that are fed to livestock. One example is seen in the deforested Amazon areas that have gone from lush forest to bare fields used for cattle grazing or primarily animal-feed crops. With these activities essentially robbing our biodiversity, there has been an alarming rise in the disappearance of plants and animals. The 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report noted that some 30% of the mammal, bird, and amphibian species currently are threatened with extinction– all due to human actions. And one of the most comprehensive studies ever conducted in the field is now forecasting that over a million species will be lost in the coming 50 years. Isn’t that a sad affair? Besides the land being cleared for livestock raising, the livestock itself causes further biodiversity loss due to potent greenhouse emissions, which accelerate global warming. Many studies have documented declining populations of penguins, polar bears, plants, trees, migratory birds and many others – all linked to rising temperatures on the planet. Even desert animals have been affected, like the Malian elephants that have been perishing in high numbers because their trunks can no longer reach the sinking ground water. The answer to all of this is quite clear: Stop the meat consumption. Stop it yesterday. This will eliminate the so-called need for livestock raising, which will immediately return immense amounts of land to natural sustainability or to natural growing methods that allow biodiversity to be replenished. This is the way we need to go, and fast. Are the recent disasters around the world somehow connected with the billions of animals slaughtered every year for human consumption? Of course it is. “As you sow, so shall you reap”; “like attracts like” – scientifically speaking, spiritually speaking, we have been warned. So, all the disasters that have happened around the world, of course, are connected with the human unkindness to the co-inhabitants. That was the price we have to pay for what we have done to the innocents who have done us no harm, who are also the children of God, who have been sent to Earth to help us and to cheer our days. Because, generally, humans also have very good merit before they came to Earth, and that’s why they became human, because of their good merit. So, from their good merit, there has been “give and take” and deductions and additions. Otherwise, if things had not been canceling out some of the bad retribution, then it would have been worse; or the Earth might have been disappeared altogether already. But luckily, the humans also do have some good merit and it has not run out yet. Some of their good merit has not run out yet and that’s why we are still hanging in here.

Like yesterday I told one of my assistants, I said, “We should feel very lucky that we’re here, still have water to drink.” Oh my God, many countries in the world are short of water. Do you understand this? Just the basic thing. Not a luxury. Water! Keep getting shorter and shorter every day. Can you imagine? Some people go even 10 plus kilometers every day just to get water to bring it back to their family. Truly it’s like that. In Africa, many countries are like that. And now in India and China, even America, many places became short of water. Basic necessity only. Why? Because they use up all the water from the river to divert it into big farms, factories, like animal farm factories. They have to use a lot of water to give the animals to drink, and then, use water to grow the crops for the animals to eat, and when they kill the animals, or before they kill the animals they have to use water to clean their pens every day and wash it down into the stream. And when they kill the animals, they need a lot of water to clean up also, and when people eat it at home, they also use water again to clean it and to cook it. So there’s no end. There was enough water for all of us, plus over for everyone! We began this industry of meat diet, then everything got worse – more hospitals, more medicines, more sicknesses, more shortage of any kind, more temperature rise, and more suffering, more disasters, more hunger, more war.

I said killing is never right. Yes, I have told the journalist I wish I could say otherwise, that would make me even more popular. I told him meat is one of the most powerful industries in every country.

If I have not forbidden you to eat meat I would have had more disciples. Easy. Everybody come in, just kowtow and that’s it – Ching Hai-ism! And I would amass all kind of fortune, fame, whatever, but I never, I never go in that direction. Not at the cost of my life even. We can’t. I said the truth cannot be altered no matter what. I said to him I put myself even in danger for telling the truth, but I have to save my planet.

I don’t know if you want to save your planet, but I want to save my planet – I want to save my people. I don’t know if you want to save your people, I want to save my people. My “people” is whom? It’s you, your relatives, your friends, your countrymen, your world’s citizens, your pets, your children, your future great, great, great grandchildren, the animals, all the harmless meek, weak innocent animals – these are all my people. I want to save them all yesterday already. I can’t tell otherwise. Even if we have another alternative plan to save the planet without the whole country being vegan, how? How many more people have to die? You understand me? For that? Because of meat diet, because of the harmful effect of meat industry, how many more countries have to be eroded, financially kaput, for a piece of meat that we put in our mouth? How many more islands, nations have to sink for that piece of meat that we put in our mouth?

How many million more refugees, climate refugees, do we want to look at for that piece of meat that we put in our mouth? How many billion more animals do we want to see crammed, suffering, agonizing in those crammed small-crate factories? We want to see? For that little piece of meat that we put in our mouth – that we could change it. We have tofu, we have all kinds of protein nowadays even. It’s not like we are starving without meat. It’s not. It’s not necessary at all to eat meat. Besides, it’s poisonous! It’s been proven already. Not to talk about climate change, climate refugees or anything – how many more patients do we want to see languishing in the hospitals between life and death, or dead, because of that piece of meat that we put in our mouth? How many more families we want to break up due to this kind of disease and death caused by meat? How many more children do we want to see suffer with heart disease, cancers at a young age already, because of the meat diet? How many more families do we want to see childless because women who eat meat have very less chance to conceive children? And then, how many of these young aspiring mothers do we want to see going through, this kind of “poke and picks,” what they call IVF pregnancy? It is a painful procedure for a husband and wife who have no children, have to go through, like artificial insemination. It’s very painful, time consuming, agonizing, and suffering – and the hope is not 100% even. Not like you spend a lot of money – a lot of time, stressful, fighting inside with each other, even, because of stress for a child. Not that you go through all that then you have a child, 100%. No. Not all of them are working.

And how much more suffering do we want to see just for that piece of meat that we could change for a better piece of protein? It’s the same protein, it’s just one is second-hand from animals, the other is direct from what the animals eat and digest and then becomes the meat. It’s such a waste. And how much more energies do we want to waste in producing meat? How much more grain, food do we want to waste to raise animals at the cost of starvation of millions of other people? Right now we have 1 billion people already going to bed hungry. Every 5 seconds a child dies from hunger - every 5 seconds, while I’m sitting here talking to you. How many children dying or dead already? How many more do we want to see? How long we can afford to bargain in the face of these sufferings of our own kind and of the animals, of the environment. I can go on forever, forever but I didn’t prepare my speech.

It’s all really not worth it. It’s all really a degrading choice to eat meat. We can’t bargain. We can’t say, “Well, let’s take it easy, we’ll probably have a better idea, a better plan than ‘be vegan’.” What better plan? What better plan? Even if we have a better plan – suppose we have a better plan – should we choose it? Should we choose a better plan than vegan, which saves billions of lives, saves the animals, saves our children, saves our planet? Should we choose a second plan? A plan B? There is no plan B. Even if there is a plan B it’s not humane to choose a plan in disregarding the suffering of our own kind, of other beings on this planet, and the danger that we’re facing, the climate change, which will easily destroy the whole planet and probably all or most of the beings on this planet.