This
city of 10 million people, already prone to flooding, is one of 20
major urban regions named by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change as being vulnerable to submergence from climate
change caused rising sea levels.
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Most recently, research
conducted by the Asian Institute of Technology shows that Bangkok along
with 30 other Thai provinces could be devastated in the next 50 years.
Many families are already suffering from these effects and have been
forced to relocate frequently.
Thai citizen Khamron Deedok,
who has moved four times, said, "My original house was a few kilometers
away from the sea. Each time we have to move, it's with great sadness
but we are also happy that we are then safe from the storms. Then we
move again. It is an endless cycle.”
Affirming the situation’s
urgency, Professor Thanawat Jarupongsakul of Chulalongkom University
stated, “The effects of climate change have come very close to our
society, so there's no time to discuss whether it's real or not… It's
time now to … act.”
We thank Professor Jarupongsakul, the Asian
Institute of Technology and other researchers for this valuable
information. Our prayers for the safety of the Thai people as well as
other residents of the world’s threatened coastal regions. May we all
protect ourselves from these changes by quickly adopting lifestyles in
harmony with our ecosphere.
Supreme Master Ching Hai, who
often reminds of the increasingly urgent state of our planet, spoke
once more of the changes we must make to avoid disaster during an
interview published in the September 2009 edition of The House Magazine.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
It’s too serious. These are people forced from their homes and
communities due to rising sea levels and a host of other natural
disasters, so-called natural disasters, but in fact these are all
man-made. Sea level rise, for example, threatens half of the world's
population living within 200 kilometers of a coastline. These
situations will only worsen, not improve, until we stop the cause. This
means to halt the livestock production and meat consumption.
If
humans switch to the vegan diet, the Earth will begin cooling
immediately and many of these dilemmas can even be reversed. So please,
be veg and do good, to save the planet and all the beings on it,
including you and me.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8344311.stm http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-17-voa6.cfm http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/27596/rising-seas-threaten-nation http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=12844