What effect does
meat consumption have
on biodiversity?
Charlie,
meat consumption has
a huge destructive impact
on biodiversity, which is
essential for our Earth
to function and thus
must be preserved.
No matter how small,
each species has a role
to help balance
our ecosystem,
scientifically proven.
And yet,
consumption of both fish
and animal flesh continue
and are wreaking
havoc on biodiversity
around the globe.
In the oceans
and fresh waterways,
so many species of fish
have already been lost,
with complete
aquatic environments
such as coral reefs
being decimated by such
practices as trawling and
fishing with explosives.
On land,
meat consumption
is responsible for
vast regions being
cleared for grazing crops,
such as soy, that
are fed to livestock.
One example is seen
in the deforested Amazon
areas that have gone from
lush forest to bare fields
used for cattle grazing
or primarily
animal-feed crops.
With these activities
essentially robbing
our biodiversity, there
has been an alarming rise
in the disappearance
of plants and animals.
The 2005 Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
Report noted that
some 30% of
the mammal, bird,
and amphibian species
currently are threatened
with extinction–
all due to human actions.
And one of the most
comprehensive studies
ever conducted
in the field is now
forecasting that
over a million species
will be lost
in the coming 50 years.
Isn’t that a sad affair?
Besides the land
being cleared
for livestock raising,
the livestock itself causes
further biodiversity loss
due to potent
greenhouse emissions,
which accelerate
global warming.
Many studies
have documented
declining populations of
penguins, polar bears,
plants, trees, migratory
birds and many others –
all linked to
rising temperatures
on the planet.
Even desert animals
have been affected, like
the Malian elephants
that have been perishing
in high numbers
because their trunks
can no longer reach
the sinking ground water.
The answer to all of this
is quite clear:
Stop the meat consumption.
Stop it yesterday.
This will eliminate
the so-called need for
livestock raising, which
will immediately return
immense amounts of land
to natural sustainability
or to natural
growing methods that
allow biodiversity
to be replenished.
This is the way
we need to go, and fast.
Are the recent disasters
around the world
somehow connected with
the billions of animals
slaughtered every year
for human consumption?
Of course it is.
“As you sow,
so shall you reap”;
“like attracts like” –
scientifically speaking,
spiritually speaking,
we have been warned.
So, all the disasters that
have happened around
the world, of course,
are connected with
the human unkindness
to the co-inhabitants.
That was the price
we have to pay
for what we have done
to the innocents who
have done us no harm,
who are also the children
of God, who have been
sent to Earth to help us
and to cheer our days.
Because, generally,
humans also have
very good merit before
they came to Earth,
and that’s why they
became human, because
of their good merit.
So, from their good merit,
there has been “give
and take” and deductions
and additions.
Otherwise, if
things had not been
canceling out some of
the bad retribution, then
it would have been worse;
or the Earth might
have been disappeared
altogether already. But
luckily, the humans also
do have some good merit
and it has not run out yet.
Some of their good merit
has not run out yet
and that’s why we are
still hanging in here.
Like yesterday I told one of my assistants, I said, “We should feel very lucky that we’re here, still have water to drink.” Oh my God, many countries in the world are short of water. Do you understand this? Just the basic thing. Not a luxury. Water! Keep getting shorter and shorter every day. Can you imagine? Some people go even 10 plus kilometers every day just to get water to bring it back to their family. Truly it’s like that. In Africa, many countries are like that. And now in India and China, even America, many places became short of water. Basic necessity only. Why? Because they use up all the water from the river to divert it into big farms, factories, like animal farm factories. They have to use a lot of water to give the animals to drink, and then, use water to grow the crops for the animals to eat, and when they kill the animals, or before they kill the animals they have to use water to clean their pens every day and wash it down into the stream. And when they kill the animals, they need a lot of water to clean up also, and when people eat it at home, they also use water again to clean it and to cook it. So there’s no end. There was enough water for all of us, plus over for everyone! We began this industry of meat diet, then everything got worse – more hospitals, more medicines, more sicknesses, more shortage of any kind, more temperature rise, and more suffering, more disasters, more hunger, more war. I said killing is never right. Yes, I have told the journalist I wish I could say otherwise, that would make me even more popular. I told him meat is one of the most powerful industries in every country. If I have not forbidden you to eat meat I would have had more disciples. Easy. Everybody come in, just kowtow and that’s it – Ching Hai-ism! And I would amass all kind of fortune, fame, whatever, but I never, I never go in that direction. Not at the cost of my life even. We can’t. I said the truth cannot be altered no matter what. I said to him I put myself even in danger for telling the truth, but I have to save my planet. I don’t know if you want to save your planet, but I want to save my planet – I want to save my people. I don’t know if you want to save your people, I want to save my people. My “people” is whom? It’s you, your relatives, your friends, your countrymen, your world’s citizens, your pets, your children, your future great, great, great grandchildren, the animals, all the harmless meek, weak innocent animals – these are all my people. I want to save them all yesterday already. I can’t tell otherwise. Even if we have another alternative plan to save the planet without the whole country being vegan, how? How many more people have to die? You understand me? For that? Because of meat diet, because of the harmful effect of meat industry, how many more countries have to be eroded, financially kaput, for a piece of meat that we put in our mouth? How many more islands, nations have to sink for that piece of meat that we put in our mouth? How many million more refugees, climate refugees, do we want to look at for that piece of meat that we put in our mouth? How many billion more animals do we want to see crammed, suffering, agonizing in those crammed small-crate factories? We want to see? For that little piece of meat that we put in our mouth – that we could change it. We have tofu, we have all kinds of protein nowadays even. It’s not like we are starving without meat. It’s not. It’s not necessary at all to eat meat. Besides, it’s poisonous! It’s been proven already. Not to talk about climate change, climate refugees or anything – how many more patients do we want to see languishing in the hospitals between life and death, or dead, because of that piece of meat that we put in our mouth? How many more families we want to break up due to this kind of disease and death caused by meat? How many more children do we want to see suffer with heart disease, cancers at a young age already, because of the meat diet? How many more families do we want to see childless because women who eat meat have very less chance to conceive children? And then, how many of these young aspiring mothers do we want to see going through, this kind of “poke and picks,” what they call IVF pregnancy? It is a painful procedure for a husband and wife who have no children, have to go through, like artificial insemination. It’s very painful, time consuming, agonizing, and suffering – and the hope is not 100% even. Not like you spend a lot of money – a lot of time, stressful, fighting inside with each other, even, because of stress for a child. Not that you go through all that then you have a child, 100%. No. Not all of them are working. And how much more suffering do we want to see just for that piece of meat that we could change for a better piece of protein? It’s the same protein, it’s just one is second-hand from animals, the other is direct from what the animals eat and digest and then becomes the meat. It’s such a waste. And how much more energies do we want to waste in producing meat? How much more grain, food do we want to waste to raise animals at the cost of starvation of millions of other people? Right now we have 1 billion people already going to bed hungry. Every 5 seconds a child dies from hunger - every 5 seconds, while I’m sitting here talking to you. How many children dying or dead already? How many more do we want to see? How long we can afford to bargain in the face of these sufferings of our own kind and of the animals, of the environment. I can go on forever, forever but I didn’t prepare my speech. It’s all really not worth it. It’s all really a degrading choice to eat meat. We can’t bargain. We can’t say, “Well, let’s take it easy, we’ll probably have a better idea, a better plan than ‘be vegan’.” What better plan? What better plan? Even if we have a better plan – suppose we have a better plan – should we choose it? Should we choose a better plan than vegan, which saves billions of lives, saves the animals, saves our children, saves our planet? Should we choose a second plan? A plan B? There is no plan B. Even if there is a plan B it’s not humane to choose a plan in disregarding the suffering of our own kind, of other beings on this planet, and the danger that we’re facing, the climate change, which will easily destroy the whole planet and probably all or most of the beings on this planet. |