“Global Warming and Health” Summit held in Formosa (Taiwan). Findings on climate change presented by Dr. Liu Shaw-Chen, Director of the Environmental Change Research Center of Academia Sinica in Formosa showed that the duration and intensity of typhoons and rainstorms on the island have doubled within 45 years, while the rate of sea level rise in Formosa is higher than the world’s average.
In response to the urgency of these and other global warming effects, the National Taiwan University Hospital Yunlin Branch and the Yunlin County government held their first climate change forum in Yunlin.
Participants called on the government and medical professionals to act decisively in reducing meat consumption to halt global warming, while also averting a human health crisis.
Ming-Been Lee, President of Taiwan Medical Association, Formosa (M):From the medical field, we already found out that meat-eating is one of the factors that affects global warming. So as we talk specifically about health issues,of course we should emphasize vegan, plant-based food.
Dr. Rui-Yun Xu – Attending physician, Hua-Lian Tzu Chi Hospital , Formosa (F):Vegetarians have a purer and healthier body. We see that from many of our past surveys and many medical reports.
VOICE: Initiatives to encourage the veg trend, such as that already launched by the Yunlin County government, were also discussed.
Zhi-Fen Su, Yunlin County Magistrate, Formosa (F): We encourage all schools to go meatless at least one day a week. From Meatless Mondays, we gradually promote and extend to two days a week. We hope this would allow all of us humans to focus on our own health as well as the harmonious relationship with natural resources, and begin to take this kind of issue seriously.
VOICE: National Taiwan University Hospital, Yunlin County government, and all summit dignitaries and participants, many thanks for your efforts to encourage society toward the manifold benefits of the plant-based diet.
May everyone swiftly turn to this nutritious fare to halt climate change in time and ensure the health of all. As mentioned on previous occasions in addressing the urgent state of our Earth, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke during an October 2009 videoconference in Hong Kong of the personal and planet- saving benefits of the
organic vegan lifestyle.
Supreme Master Ching Hai :Everybody knows organic vegetables are very healthy. You see, if you eat organic vegetables, you will hardly have to go to the hospital and all the money we can save to better education for the children, better care for the elderly, and building more beautiful roads, more equipment, inventions, and use it more for sustainable energies, for free for everybody. The benefit has no ends.
It’s high time we turn away from the harmful, unsustainable meat business and go toward a more civilized, more efficient, more sustainable, more humane means, namely organic vegan. And it will save the planet.
In a letter to the United Nations, US climate envoy Todd Stern confirms the United States’ goal of reducing emissions 17% from 2005 levels by 2020.
http://www.france24.com/en/20100128-us-affirms-climate-goals-unExtra NewsThe United Arab Emirates' utility company Emirates Gas develops an alternative to acetylene for industrial metal work that is more eco-friendly, economical and safer.
http://www.wam.org.ae/servlet/Satellite?c=WamLocEnews&cid=1264322484422&pagename=WAM%2FWAM_E_Layout&parent=Query&parentid=1135099399852Interfaith Power and Light, a non-profit collective of churches and synagogues in Maine, USA organizes a gathering of more than 50 congregations to speak out about halting climate change, with hopes of influencing a federal climate bill.
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3827663South Korea announces plans for a 10-year project to build a nationwide network of bicycle paths that encourage both local green commuting as well as inter-city travel.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/02/113_60096.html