Indonesian 
 
Health Ministry's 
 
Director General 
 
of Disease Control and 
 
Environmental Health, 
 
Tjandra Yoga Aditama, 
 
recently warned that 
 
climate change 
 
is increasing people's 
 
vulnerability to illness 
 
across the nation. 
 
These include skin cancer 
 
and respiratory 
 
complications. 
 
Furthermore, continued 
 
land degradation and 
 
its associated biodiversity 
 
loss, leading to variations 
 
in previously steady 
 
ecosystem patterns, 
 
would speed the spread 
 
of disease and 
 
the dwindling 
 
of water resources. 
 
Rising temperatures 
 
along extremes of both 
 
rainy and dry seasons 
 
also creates conditions 
 
more conducive 
 
for waterborne, airborne, 
 
and animal-borne disease. 
 
Climate-related 
 
health hazards are also 
 
becoming increasingly 
 
apparent elsewhere 
 
in the world, 
 
as noted by Professor 
 
Tony McMichael 
 
of the National Center 
 
for Epidemiology 
 
and Population Health 
 
at Australian 
 
National University. 
 
Speaking with 
 
Supreme Master Television, 
 
Professor McMichael 
 
explained some of the 
 
fundamental necessities 
 
that are imperilled 
 
by climate change. 
 
Professor Tony McMichael, PhD, National Center for 
Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH), Australian National 
University (ANU) (M): 
 
The basic essentials 
 
for health I think, are: 
 
a secure food supply, 
 
a good fresh water supply, 
 
normal constraints, 
 
limitations on the spread 
 
of infectious agents, 
 
reasonable protections 
 
against physical hazards, 
 
sort of protection 
 
that's provided 
 
by intact coastal zones, 
 
mangrove swamps, 
 
forests, and so on, 
 
and a reasonable 
 
stable climate system. 
 
Those things are 
 
absolutely crucial 
 
in the long term for 
 
human wellbeing, health 
 
and, of course, survival. 
 
And those are the things 
 
that have been put at risk 
 
by climate change and 
 
by these other enormous 
 
environmental changes 
 
that we are seeing 
 
in these modern times. 
 
VOICE: 
 
Eco-conscious protective 
 
measures are thus 
 
vital to our future.
 
Professor Tony McMichael, PhD (M): 
 
This is a chance for us 
 
to think seriously about
 
how we can live 
 
sustainably in ways 
 
that are convivial 
 
and congenial, 
 
not competitive, don't 
 
involve unpleasantness 
 
and conflict, 
 
don't involve inequities 
 
whereby some people 
 
miss out on scarce 
 
resources because 
 
they're being overused 
 
and poorly managed. 
 
VOICE: 
 
Professor McMichael 
 
and Indonesia's 
 
Health Ministry, 
 
we appreciate 
 
your thoughtful efforts 
 
to raise awareness of 
 
such worrisome yet 
 
important information. 
 
Let us seek  to adopt 
 
the most eco-caring 
 
measures to benefit 
 
the environment and 
 
all beings with whom 
 
we share the Earth. 
 
Supreme Master Ching Hai 
 
has frequently 
 
highlighted the urgent 
 
necessity for a global 
 
shift to more wholesome, 
 
eco-friendly lifestyles, 
 
as during a July 2008 
 
videoconference 
 
with Supreme Master 
 
Television staff 
 
in California, USA. 
Supreme Master Ching Hai: According to 
 
the scientists, 
 
there could be more than 
 
just one disaster. 
 
Rising sea level is not 
 
the only worrying event, 
 
disease will also rise. 
 
They already do so 
 
in some parts of the world. 
 
If it has to happen, 
 
it happens. 
 
But please do not 
 
concentrate on these 
 
negative phenomena. 
 
Rather, we spend energy 
 
in constructive actions 
 
and positive thinking 
 
and we have to envision 
 
a more beautiful world. 
 
Unless people change 
 
to a more benevolent 
 
lifestyle that is 
 
respecting all lives, 
 
then we will beget life 
 
and our lives be spared. 
The more vegetarian 
 
people join the circle, 
 
the more chance we have 
 
to save the planet. 
 
http://www.vdh.state.va.us/epidemiology/DEE/Vectorborne/http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/01/21/climate-change-increases-health-risks.html