Green Planet Awards launches eco-eating and eco-activity competitions.
A new non-profit green initiative, Green Planet Awards, is inviting the world to exciting competitions that are all about going green to cool the planet. Based in Europe, the Green Planet Award founders stated that they were originally inspired by watching Supreme Master Television to raise awareness especially toward how human eating habits are affecting the planet. In particular, their concern upon realizing that the meat industry adds more greenhouse gases to global warming than all transportation combined led to their theme of “Eco-Eating” for the 2009 Green Planet Awards competitions. In this premiere event, which is taking place throughout Ireland, university students are being asked to design the best awareness campaign on the environmental and health impacts of excessive meat consumption. Students displaying the most creative and diligent efforts through such media as flyers, songs, conferences, and other marketing techniques, will receive prizes, with the top award being an electric car.

Green Planet Awards is also hosting a second competition that is online and worldwide, called Green2Cool. This event’s first prize of €1,500 will go to the most active member of the social networking website at www.green2cool.org, meaning the person who is most influential in spreading the veg eco-eating trend and making the social space a success. Both the Green2Cool.org and GreenPlanetAwards.org websites provide media resources for those seeking up-to-date facts on climate change urgency and its relation to diet. Supreme Master Television is happy to be associated with Green Planet Awards as an information resource.

For more activity information, please visit www.GreenPlanetAwards.org or www.green2cool.org for English, and www.green2cool.org.tw for Chinese

A big round of applause and the best of luck to all the dedicated participants of the Green Planet Awards’ challenges! Our accolades and appreciation to this eco-worthy initiative for creating such exciting ways to spread the urgent message of climate change and the importance of plant-based eating as the fastest way to cool the planet.

For more activity information, please visit www.GreenPlanetAwards.org or www.green2cool.org. There is also a Chinese partner website at www.green2cool.org.tw.

Butterfly numbers plunge to lowest level in 25 years
Disturbance and disappearance of butterflies worldwide. Data collected since 1976 from the United Kingdom’s Butterfly Monitoring Scheme revealed that this past summer was the second worst for butterflies since 1981, with their overall numbers being the lowest in 25 years. With losses already having been recorded throughout Europe, some colonies in Britain are on the verge of extinction as climate change alters weather patterns, with conditions such as torrential rains making it difficult for them to find food. Across the globe, in the Katmandu Valley region of the Himalayas where over 350 butterfly species reside, a study conducted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has found that the delicate winged animals are flying to higher altitudes, as in the case of the Apollo butterfly, which has moved 500 meters above its usual grounds. Finally, research conducted in Germany has concluded that even with a best case scenario for climate change, meaning only a 2.4 degree Celsius temperature rise overall, 50 per cent of the areas currently occupied by nearly 150 different butterfly species in Europe would become too warm for them to continue to exist there.

Our appreciation, United Kingdom Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, World Wildlife Fund, German researchers and butterfly enthusiasts worldwide, for your careful observations alerting us to the threatened survival of these winged beauties. May such harbingers of potential loss awaken us toward greater care of the lovely butterfly and other precious planetary co-inhabitants. (*)

During a July 2008 radio interview with James Bean of the Spiritual Awakening Radio program based in the United States, Supreme Master Ching Hai explained that our care for all animal co-inhabitants has both physical and spiritual implications of great importance in this time of planetary crisis.

Bluefin Tuna Could Face Elimination In 3 Years
Bluefin tuna given three more years. The global conservation organization, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says that Atlantic bluefin tuna are likely to be eliminated in just three years’ time if current fishing practices do not cease. The report’s findings coincided with the opening of the two-month Mediterranean fishing season, amidst objections by environmental groups. As WWF’s Sergi Tudela, explained, “It is … inexcusable to open a fishing season when stocks of the target species are collapsing.” The WWF and other conservation groups are calling for complete protection of the bluefin, including the request for restaurants and supermarkets to join together in banning the sale of the imperiled fish.

World Wildlife Fund and other concerned advocates, we are heartened by your efforts to protect the Atlantic bluefin tuna. Our prayers that humanity will be touched to make plant-based dietary choices that protect the rich diversity of our planet for future generations.

Cure Finally Found For Honey Bee Colony Collapse
Cause and cure found for bee colony collapse disorder. Researchers in Spain have discovered that the phenomenon known as colony collapse, responsible for a massive decline in honey bees worldwide, is due to a fungal virus. Working in Spanish apiaries, they were able to isolate the parasitic fungi, for which they then found a cure. Through the use of an antibiotic, the bee colonies were able to recover.

Spanish scientists, our immense gratitude for your patient work and valued contributions. We look forward to welcoming the humble honeybee in restored numbers as we also are reminded to regard the precious health of these pollinators with more care.

Blinking tower lights could save birds
Study finds blinking tower lights could save birds' lives. With estimates ranging as high as 50 million birds that are lost each year in the US alone to night-time collisions with communication towers, a recent study has found that substituting blinking lights for the steady red illumination currently used for the towers could significantly reduce avian fatalities. In Michigan, USA, when the state’s highway patrol granted the Department of Natural Resources access to communication towers, researchers tried different lighting at 21 towers around the state. They found that substituting for the steady red lights resulted in avian mishaps that were reduced by as much as 70 percent. The researchers have recommended the Federal Aviation Administration to consider updating their regulations to include the use of blinking lights.

Our grateful thanks, Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the State Highway Patrol for your cooperative efforts that yielded this valuable report. We, too, wish that the blinking lights soon find their way to the top of all relevant structures to protect our cherished avian friends in their night-time journeys across the sky.