Media reports on major greenhouse gas and livestock source.
On November 16 , a climate change conference was held in Orizaba, a city located in a fertile valley in Veracruz, Mexico. Titled “SOS – A Quick Action to Stop Global Warming,” the conference was hosted by the Veracruz state government, who specially invited Supreme Master Ching Hai as the honored guest
to elaborate on practical ways to address climate change, especially relating to Mexico.


VOICE: The videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai was discussed with much interest by major Mexican media, even prior to the conference. Mexico’s second largest newspaper, “La Jornada Veracruz,” published an article titled “Alarming Levels of Pollution,” also reflecting methane’s primary role in global warming:



VOICE: We thank “La Jornada Veracruz” and other media, as well as the Veracruz government, for doing their part to spread this vital information. We also appreciate Supreme Master Ching Hai for her thoughts shared with the Mexican people and all world citizens. Blessed be every endeavor that leads to the swiftest, strongest actions to save our planet.

Fish farming destroys important carbon sinks.
Coastal habitats, such as mangroves, sea grasses and salt marshes are being cleared at a rapid rate for shrimp farms as well as agriculture and other forms of human development. Now a new study by Dr. Emily Pidgeon, Director of the Conservation International’s Marine Climate Change advocates for the immediate preservation of these vanishing habitats, due to their ability to sequester as much as 50 times the amount of carbon as tropical forests.

Dr. Pidgeon explained that unlike forests, which store carbon primarily in the living flora, plants in salt marshes are very efficient at burying carbon in the soil itself so that it is not released when the plant dies and can remain underground for thousands of years.

She stated, “The simple implication of this is that the long-term sequestration of carbon by one square kilometer of mangrove area is equivalent to that occurring in fifty square kilometers of tropical forest.”

Dr. Pidgeon and colleagues at Conservation International, many thanks for shedding further light on the value of our coastal ecosystems. Let us all strive to tread more lightly and preserve nature’s balance.
Supreme Master Ching Hai has long highlighted the need for humanity’s greater protection of our marine environment, as during a November 2008 interview with Ireland’s East Coast Radio FM.

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1117-hance_coastalveg.html

Extra News
Professor Barry Brook at the University of Adelaide in Australia recommends reduced meat consumption, stating that livestock raising is responsible for more of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions than the coal industry.
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2009/11/12/131931_national-news.html

US-based charity Save the Children reports that infants and youth in Africa are already perishing due to climate change-induced drought, with another 250,000 who could succumb as global warming becomes the biggest health threat facing children this century.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6469700/Climate-change-could-kill-250000-children.html


Emulating an ancient Incan technique, German scientists with the NGO Alimon help bring water to more than 1 million in Lima, Peru, through the construction of plastic netting that collects water from the dense fog for later household and gardening use.
http://www.france24.com/en/node/4923281


The World Wildlife Fund Pakistan reports that the Pai Forest, a protected area located in one of the world’s 40 most biologically diverse regions, is highly threatened by a combination of human encroachment, illegal poaching and climate-related water shortages.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=207814