Inspiration and change after videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai
Inspiration and change after videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai. As one audience member said, the “SOS” Save the Planet videoconference in Xalapa City, Veracruz, Mexico, was unlike many other climate change forums. The main solution offered was that of vegetarianism, for both its favorable physical as well as invisible effects. As the gathering’s honored guest, Supreme Master Ching Hai had graciously made time to share her insights, which resonated in the minds of many.

Conference attendee (M): I think a really effective solution we must look at is the diet, as the Master has said. Behind this, there are a series of studies that corroborate that a switch to this diet does indeed have very beneficial effects.

Conference attendee (F): I believe she is a very admirable woman, because since her youth she was concerned; recently, about global warming, not only for global warming but also for all the suffering of the world.

“SOS” Save the Planet
Live Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai
March 6, 2009 – Xalapa, Mexico

Dr. Judy Cano – Nutritionist (F): How can we convince our government authorities, so that they realize and help to stop all the damage that is destroying our planet? Thank you very much.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: You see, the government is aware. It just, perhaps, the government is putting priority elsewhere. So if you and other citizens who are concerned, you could contact your government, reminding them of the urgency of the situation that we and our future generations are facing. Also we can point out to the government leaders all the evidence of the global warming, terrifying effect due to animals production.

In Mexico alone, recent research indicates that 47% of your country has already changed into desert, which is known to be linked to damage from cattle industry. Fifty to 70% of the country is suffering from some degree of drought. These are serious warning signs that we should heed. The good leaders do care. They have children and they want to protect their children as well and the future generations and their citizens. So please remind them.

VOICE: Following the videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai, distinguished guests, Veracruz State Governor Fidel Herrera Beltrán and Xalapa City Mayor David Velasco Chedraui expressed their thoughts.

Mr. David Velasco Chedraui – Mayor of Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico (M): I gladly greet Supreme Master Ching Hai and I thank her, as well as her Association for inviting us to this extremely important videoconference on an issue that is a priority to us all.

Fidel Herrera Beltrán – Governor of Veracruz, Mexico (M): It’s a message of commitment. To our cause of taking care and preserving our soil, our sky, our air, our water - now joins the world leadership of Supreme Master Ching Hai, of this shared effort, that calls us to take care also of ourselves. By substituting the intake of protein from animal source with others of vegetable origin, we also make then a contribution, so that in the environment there can be reduced generation of methane and gases that create many problems, and that later make regions like Veracruz vulnerable.

Conference attendee (M): She and the governor also brought up that our ancestors were vegetarians and did not suffer the diseases we are seeing nowadays.

Supreme Master TV: Will you become vegetarian to sustain the planet?

Conference attendee (M): Yes.

Conference attendee (F): Yes, definitely.

VOICE: Our congratulations once again to the participants and attendees of the “SOS” Save the Planet conference, and we thank the Honorable Governor Beltrán and Mayor Chedraui for their commitment to ensuring the best for their co-citizens. Our deep gratitude goes to Supreme Master Ching Hai for her loving wisdom and encouragement. Together, let us strive and achieve the sustainable and compassionate world for all.

Please tune in at a future date for the full conference with Supreme Master Ching Hai on Words of Wisdom, with multi-language subtitles.

Water bike for the third world
 Water bike designed for easier access. People in developing nations will soon be able to use the Aquaduct, a three-wheeled bike containing a tank for water collection along with an onboard purification system. While pedaling, the collected water is drawn from the reservoir and is run through a carbon filter to purify it. Designed by global US-based design consultancy IDEO, the bike won an award at a recent innovative design competition.

What a smart and practical device! We applaud your ingenious work, IDEO, and wish the Aquaduct fruitful success in making safe drinking water more accessible to people worldwide.

 Baby seal hunting banned in Northern Russia
Russia bans hunting of baby seals. In response to calls from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) along with other ecological organizations, the government has ruled to prohibit baby seal hunting in areas surrounding the White Sea in northern Russia. With the seal population in the region highly endangered, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin commented on the change in policy, saying, “It is clear that it should have been banned a long time ago.”

Your Excellency and Russia, we are delighted to hear of this decision to save the baby seals of the White Sea. May the seals and indeed all marine life receive the protection they so deserve to once again grace our world in flourishing numbers.

 Marine life being over exploited
Sri Lanka’s marine treasures endangered. Environmentalists in southern Asian countries such as Sri Lanka report that the unsustainable use of marine resources is leading to the devastation of coral reefs, marine turtles, mangroves and more. Although illegal, activities such as coral mining, collecting turtle eggs and catching turtles are still widely practiced in some regions. Furthermore, trawlers who drag the sea bottom along with other non-sustainable activities are contributing to the rapid decline of marine life, sea grass beds, coral reefs and mangroves, creating changes that greatly upset the region’s ecosystem.

We share the environmentalists’ sense of deep alarm and pray that everyone begins now in truly caring for all beings on the Earth that we share. May Buddha bless the Sri Lankan people and their marine co-inhabitants with a green ecosphere always.

In a July 2008 videoconference with dignitaries and guests at the "Heart-Touch Tour" exhibition in Formosa (Taiwan), Supreme Master Ching Hai responded to concerns about how to resolve the current plight of our ecosystems.

Heart-Touch Tour of the Supreme Master Ching Hai:Eden on Earth Arts Gallery Exhibition
Formosa - July 5, 2008

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We should have more rules, more guidelines, to protect our natural habitat because sometimes we overlook the long run effect. We just see the immediate benefit or gain and we forget that in the long run, if we carelessly build or damage or interfere with nature, then the consequence is very, very detrimental to ourselves and to the planet, just like what we are facing right now. Above all, enlightenment is really what’s needed to govern. That’s number one. And vegetarian diet with right motive, number two. We offer more compassion and insight. Also we help preserve precious natural habitat for the wilds and protect the resources for humans.