According
to new data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), the year 2010 is turning out to be the hottest in the country's
recorded history.
Each month so far this year, from March
through June, has seen record-setting heat. NOAA experts stated that the
warm El Nino pattern for 2010 is amplifying the influence of climate
change.
In mid-August, the US National Weather Service issued
excessive heat warnings in nine states along the Mississippi River, and a
heat advisory for seven others as temperatures soared above 90 degrees
Fahrenheit on most days and exceeded 100 degrees in some areas.
Such
unusually hot weather over the past few months, which was seen
throughout the US and other notable regions such as Russia, poses a
significantly higher health risk especially to the frail elderly and
others who are vulnerable.
Indeed, it has claimed numerous lives
across the US this summer, with 10 people who were reported to have
succumbed to a Missouri heat wave in one week alone.
We thank
the US National Weather Service and other officials for your efforts to
inform the public of these increasingly dire conditions. Let us act now
as a global community to restore more harmonious patterns through our
united steps toward sustainable living.
Regarding the
unrelenting climb in temperatures due to global warming, Supreme Master
Ching Hai has frequently discussed a rapid way to relieve the planet of
the human-caused atmospheric heat, as in this March 2009 videoconference
in Mexico.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
The past decade has twice, at least, seen the hottest average annual
temperatures ever recorded in our planet’s history. So, we must cool the
planet, first and foremost. And one of the most effective and fastest
ways to reduce the heat in the atmosphere is to eliminate methane
production.
Methane not only traps up to 72 times more heat than
carbon,it also goes away from the atmosphere much faster than CO2. We
can start by cutting down on the biggest methane producer in the world,
that is, animal raising. So, to cool the planet most quickly, we have to
stop consuming meat in order to stop the livestock raising industry If
everyone in the world would adopt this simple but most powerful practice
of an animal-free diet, then we could reverse the effect of global
warming in no time.
http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/08/noaa_this_year_warmest_on_record_so_far.html