You are watching Words of Wisdom Rebroadcast of Live Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai “Children's Health & Sustainable Planet” Jeju International Conference Jeju Island, S. Korea - September 21, 2009

Grace (f): Hallo and welcome to the gorgeous Jeju Island, South Korea, a world famous tourist site known as the “Hawaii” of Korea. Thank you for joining us for the “Children's Health & Sustainable Planet” Jeju International Conference!

Callie (f): This amazing and historic conference is being broadcast live throughout the world through Supreme Master Television via 14 satellite platforms, IPTV, and the internet.

Grace (f): Hallo, all the viewers around the world! Grace (f): I am Grace from Canada.

Callie (f): 잘 오셔수과! This is the local Jeju way of saying “welcome.” So, welcome! I'm Callie from South Korea and we are very honored to be part of this historic conference. Grace, so how do you like Jeju so far? Grace (f): It's an amazingly beautiful place.

Callie (f): Well, glad to hear that. It's not only beautiful, but it's also unique as well. Three places on this Jeju Island are UNESCO World Heritage sites, and those represent over 10% of the island.

Grace (f): Let's introduce Jeju Island to the rest of the world through this video.

Jeju is a beautiful island located in the southwest sea of South Korea. Jeju Island, the largest island in Korea, is a historical island with natural beauty. In the center of the island is Mt. Halla, reaching a height of 1,950 meters. Small volcanoes of different sizes and shapes are located all over the island. Jeju's volcanic land and lava tubes provide much academic value and panoramic views. Because of this, they were registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2007.

The UNESCO World Heritage Sites registered in Jeju include Mt. Halla Natural Monument zone, Sungsan Ilchulbong tuff cone, and the Geomunoreum lava tube system of caves, all of which make up 10% of Jeju Island. Mt. Halla is a prominent landmark in Jeju and is the highest mountain in Korea. Due to its beauty and biological value, Mt. Halla has been protected as a UNESCO's Biosphere Reserve since 2002 and has 360 `oreums', which are systems of lava tube caves.

At its crater on top is Lake Bakrokdam. Geomunoreum system of lava tube caves is another natural monument of Jeju showing the history of the Earth's formation. Geomunoreum has a total of 9 caves created 300,000 years ago. Although they were created long ago, their beautiful scenery is well preserved. They are rich in lime and display different features, making themselves very unique among the world's lava tubes.

Lastly, Sungsan Ilchulbong turf cone is a volcano located on the shore. Sungsan Ilchulbong tuff cone, due to its unique structure and features, provides world class value in understanding the formation of a water-volcano. Jeju Island is noted for not only its natural heritage sites but also for its efforts to protect them. Moreover, Jeju Island enacted an eco-friendly school meal act in July 2007, the first of its kind in Korea and started serving eco-friendly produce for school group meals. Jeju strives to protect nature and the people who live there.

However, climate change, a world crisis, is awakening people to the need for new efforts. The changes in the ecosystem being caused by global warming are happening silently in Jeju's green forests and blue sea. “The most distinctive phenomenon manifesting on Jeju shores is the decline of seaweed. We discovered from the data collected over the past 80 years that the temperature has increased 1.5 degrees on Jeju Island. This figure is relatively high compared to other areas. We call it “sea desertification.” Since seaweed itself photosynthesizes, it plays a major role in balancing atmospheric CO2 levels.

Moreover, as the spawning location for diverse marine species, when secluded places and submarine forests decrease, seaweed, in turn, decreases.” “At 1950 meters high, and located in the center of Jeju Island, Mt. Halla is the best place in Korea to study the movement of vegetation due to global warming. When the temperature goes up 1 degree, the vegetation moves up 150 meters vertically.

As climate change, such as global warming, continues, vegetation moves up, and the unique plants growing in the subarctic zone, especially alpine plants like “Leontopodium hallaisanense Hand.- Mazz” found only on Mt. Halla, could become extinct.” The blue sky, the clean sea, the high mountains, the deep caves, and beautiful people. Despite the impact of climate change, Jeju will take the lead in protecting not only its natural habitat but also the Earth by actively tackling global warming.

Grace (f): What an amazing island, Callie!

Callie (f): Well, yes, Koreans sure are proud of Jeju. But you know what? Grace (f): What?

Callie (f): Jeju is already noticing the effects of climate change.

Grace (f): Yes, climate change is becoming more evident all over the world, causing rising sea levels, floods, droughts, and many other serious imbalances to our ecosystem. We will have to halt climate change if we want to preserve this wondrous beauty of Jeju's landscape, and if we want to protect the most precious resource of this island.

Callie (f): And what would that be? Grace and Callie together: CHILDREN!

Grace (f): In North America, we have an ancient Native American saying that goes like this: “We do not inherit this Earth from our ancestors; we are borrowing it from our children.”

Callie (f): And yes, that is precisely the reason why we need to act right now.

Grace (f): Yes, but what should we do first? Let's find out what many distinguished VIPs from around the world are saying.

Callie (f): Very impressive and strong messages there. Grace, luckily we have right here in Jeju those who are working very hard to fight climate change and to protect our children.

Grace (f): Yes, and we are going to be hearing from several of them.

Callie (f): First, let's welcome Mr. Song Dae-Jin, the head of Jeju Coalition for Children's Health and the chief organizer of today's conference.

Mr. Song Dae-Jin (m) Thank you. As a chairman who organized this event, I'd like to thank Supreme Master Ching Hai and all the staff of Supreme Master Television who upported every aspect of the conference. Today, we are going to have a conversation with everyone around the globe who respects life, children's health and sustainability. People around the world need to unite as one and help children be healthy and help revive the agricultural villages. I hope the sacred work to make our planet clean for our next generation can be realized. Thank you.

Grace (f): Thank you very much, Mr. Song Dae-Jin.

Callie (f): This evening's event is particularly unique in that no less than 49 non-government organizations, 49 NGOs, all from Jeju, combined their efforts to organize this magnificent conference.

Grace (f): We also have many politicians, journalists, educators, organic farmers, and university students here this evening, too, all of whom are concerned about the future of Jeju and our planet.

Callie (f): We would like to introduce to you some of our very distinguished guests. Please welcome each of them with a warm round of applause: the Honorable Mr. Kim Tae-Hwan, the Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province; Mr. Yang Seong-Eon, Superintendent of Jeju Special Self-Governing Office of Education; Reverend Cha Heung-Do, Chief of People's Coalition for Children's Health; Professor Im Jae-Taek, Chief of Korean Society for Eco Early Childhood Education; Mr. Kim Tae-Seong, Chief of Jeju Agenda 21.

Grace (f): Thank you to our special guests and to each and every one of you for attending this important event. Let's now hear from some of our distinguished guests. First, we are deeply grateful to welcome the Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, the Honorable Mr. Kim Tae-Hwan. Please welcome him with your warmest applause.

Governor Kim Tae-Hwan (m): Hallo, I am the Provincial Governor. For viewers around the world who respect life and love nature, the “Children's Health and Sustainable Planet” Jeju Conference has set global warming, resource depletion, and children's weakened health as the 3 tasks for humankind and is being held to solve these problems. I am honored to participate in this event with everyone around the globe to share ideas and to solve these problems.

We would like to sincerely thank the honorable Dr. Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, for setting aside valuable time for this meaningful Jeju conference. In addition, it is very meaningful for us to listen to the precious words from world renowned scholars - Mr. Joop Oude Lohuis, Dr. Michael Greger, Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Neal Barnard, and Dr. Joel Fuhrman - because they can be reflected in the making of policy. Above all, we'd like to sincerely thank Dr. Hwang Seong-Soo, Mr. Lee Chang-Hong, and Mr. Lee Yong-Jung for all their efforts in preparing this event.

Being a natural treasure, beautiful Jeju is already recognized by international organizations such as World Natural Heritage, Biosphere Preservation Region, Ramsar Swamp, etc., especially the recognition as a “Healthy City” by WHO shows that we are putting in a lot of effort towards reaching a balance between nature and humanity. Lastly, on behalf of all Jeju citizens, I'd like to thank the members of Supreme Master Television who supported us in every aspect to hold this invaluable global event on Jeju Island.

The sky of Jeju is high, blue, and beautiful in autumn. I believe that this conference, which is being held in these beautiful surroundings, will reach fundamental and fruitful conclusions regarding the climate change issue and children's health problems. I'd like to give special thanks to everyone who is participating in the conference. I hope you have a great time today. Thank you.

Callie (f): Thank you, Governor, for your encouraging words.

Grace (f): Jeju Province is a Special Self-Governing Province, which can independently develop her own policies. As a result, Jeju has been able to take courageous and leading steps to halt climate change and has become a shining example for the world to follow.

Callie (f): Our next guest is Mr. Yang Seong-Eon, Superintendent of Jeju Special Self-Governing Office of Education.

Mr. Seong-Eon(m): Hallo. I would like to applaud all the people who are making an effort to ensure children's health and sustainable global communities. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Supreme Master Television personnel who helped to organize this international conference in Jeju. I agree with the three agendas - global warming, resource depletion, and children's weakened health - set as the top three global problems in the conference.

Especially, I feel deeply grateful that you have set children's health problems as one of the agendas. I am in a position that is responsible for children's safety, health and education in Jeju. Therefore, I am trying to provide school meals that are eco-friendly and locally grown so that children can grow up healthy. And I am also trying to implement the Students' Health and Strength Assessment Program in order to improve children's health, but that is not an easy task to work on.

Beyond our estimates, we find that our children display more and more habitual health problems such as obesity, ADHD [Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder], atopic dermatitis, and game addiction. According to health specialists, these diseases are caused by lifestyle. In order to solve these problems, I think all communities, nations, and peoples have to work together to change the paradigm.

I hope that this Jeju conference will take the initiative and help spread the important message all over the world that we should care about children's health. Hence, I hope we can build a bright global village where no child will cry from hunger and no child will suffer from habitual diseases. Thank you.

Grace (f): Thank you. Thanks to your tireless and dedicated efforts, we are very optimistic about the future.

Callie (f): And to mark this occasion, experts around the world have extended their personal greetings. We are highly honored to have a very special greeting from Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Dr. Pachauri (m): Greetings to you, all participants of the “Children's Health & Sustainable Planet” Conference,” which is being held in Jeju Island, South Korea, a beautiful part of this world. I've been to South Korea on several occasions and I'm sure that the beautiful surroundings in which you are meeting will inspire you to deal with this particular theme effectively so that not only can you in your own lives make a difference but actually spread the message whereby others can also make a difference. So my very best wishes to you. I hope you have an extremely successful conference.

I would, first, like to express my encouragement for the one day a week organic vegan program. I think anything we can do to move towards nature and closer to nature is going to be of great benefit to human society. I'm quite concerned about the lack of action and, in fact, the insensitivity to the problem of climate change. We know that if we don't take action early enough and adequately enough, we're going to see some very harmful impacts of climate change all over the world. Unfortunately, some of these will take place in the poorest, the most vulnerable regions and for the most vulnerable communities on Earth.

And, therefore, I think we have a moral and an ethical reason to take action by which we reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases. Now, one particular area where we can make a difference is in terms of changes in lifestyle. Of course, the question could be asked, “What changes in lifestyle?” There are lots of things that we can do in our daily lives, including the use of energy in the home, for transportation and for various other activities as efficiently as possible. But one particular area where I think there are huge benefits is in terms of reduction of meat consumption.

I personally believe that both human beings and the planet would be much healthier if we were to cut down on meat consumption, and in particular, I would suggest that the human race should gradually do away with eating red meat because that clearly has the largest emissions of greenhouse gases associated with the entire cycle of red meat production and consumption.

So, I think the time has come when we have to bring about a shift in our diets whereby we reduce the consumption of meat, particularly red meat. A lot of people ask me questions on how their children and how they themselves would get adequate protein if they are going to be dependent only on an organic vegetarian diet, and my answer is that I can get you two consultants who will give you that response, and those two consultants are called the elephant and the horse.

These are two animals who consume nothing but plant material and they certainly don't lack in proteins. So I would like to submit that if we can shift towards a much lower consumption of meat, we would be much happier; we would be much healthier and so would the planet. Of course, when it comes to changing diets, changing lifestyles, I think the feeling has to come from within. I don't think this is an area where government orders or government initiatives can really make a difference. Of course, governments should certainly impose taxes on those activities or those products which impose huge environmental costs on society, both locally as well as globally.

But in the ultimate analysis, I think it is NGOs, it is civil society, and it is the community itself that has to create awareness on what the benefits of a reduced meat consumption pattern would actually be. And I would submit that NGOs, civil society and people at large must get involved in this campaign to bring about the understanding of the benefits of eating much less meat.

And I want to compliment so many of the NGOs, so many of those who are carrying out this campaign and I'd like to give you my encouragement and my very best wishes. Thank you very much. We have to show particular sensitivity to children who are most vulnerable to climate change because we have to accept the fact that children whose future has to be safeguarded, who depend on the sustainability of natural resources and ecosystems on this planet, are also unfortunately the most vulnerable.

For instance, as a result of climate change, there will be much more disease, there'll be more floods, more droughts, more heat waves, and clearly children would be the most vulnerable subjects of this particular trend that we're going to see. It's also true that when it comes to planning the future of children, if this planet is going to see much worse impacts of climate change than we're witnessing today, we're not giving our children a good future, and I don't think it's fair for us to squander these opportunities for preserving all the natural resources of this planet by satisfying our own immediate needs, particularly since those needs are really misplaced; they don't really do the human race any good.

So, I would appeal to all those who are concerned about the future of their children to see that, firstly, we protect them from the worst impacts of climate change, and secondly, that we ensure we leave behind a planet where the natural resources, where all the beautiful things that nature has provided us, can be preserved and maintained for their benefit and for the benefit of their children. So this would be my appeal and I hope those of you who are viewing this would take that to heart and do something about it. Thank you very much.

Grace (f): Thank you for those very inspiring words, Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri.

Callie (f): Dr. Pachauri has significantly inspired several of the actions taken up by Jeju Province, and we will hearing more about that later in the conference.

Grace (f): Next, we have Mr. Satinder Bindra, the Director of Communications of the United Nations Environmental Program, which established the IPCC.

Bindra(m): Well, I'm delighted to hear of this conference because if we live healthily, if the planet is nurtured by this current generation, that means people don't recklessly go about with their carbon habits. Then what it means for the next generation and for children is that they'll have a real crack at success. They'll live healthier lives. They'll live more meaningful lives. Because what they need really is clean water, fresh air, and if they don't get that, then what are we doing to the next generation? So I think this conference is really, really important. And I wish all the participants and the organizers great success. Callie (f): Thank you, thank you, Mr. Satinder Bindra.

Grace (f): Next is Dr. Carolyn Lukensmeyer, Founding President of Global Voices, an organization that supports decision makers. She was also a Consultant to the White House Chief of Staff for nine months during the Clinton years.

Carolyn Lukensmeyer(f): I'm delighted to honor your presence in Jeju Island for the conference. What I hope while you are working together, all thousand of you, is that you can develop a strong statement to the rest of the world about what we actually know. It is children's health indicators that show up most quickly in terms of the pollution and the issues of the way in which our environment is degraded.

In the famous metaphor of the canary in the mine, which is the bird who dies when the air is not strong enough, it's the same with our children and what you're doing together at the “Children's Health & Sustainable Planet” can make a difference to ensure that world leaders, governments, and everyone on the planet takes immediate short term and long term action to ensure that our young people's health is safe and that we live on a planet that is sustained. Thank you.

Callie (f): Thank you for your encouraging remarks, Dr. Lukensmeyer.

Kim Tae Hwan, Governor, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province The current international issue that humanity is concerned about is climate change. Jeju has carried out many eco-friendly projects and we plan to continue this trend. I'm the governor of Jeju Self- Governing Province. I'm honored to be here at such a wonderful event. I'd like to say that the government of Jeju is going to provide eco-friendly meals for all elementary school students.

Kim Min-Sun Director of Coalition for Children's Health Conference participant To save the planet and its the future, we should take care of children's well-being and create an environment where they can live in good health. I'm very happy that this “Childrens' Health & Sustainble Planet” Conference shows us the way through excellent lectures. It's great that I could get concrete information about the harms of animal products and the benefits of the vegetarian diet, especially for children.

Student Conference participant From this conference, I learned that only through the application of the vegetarian diet that we save the Earth, so I made a promise to myself to put in more effort from now on. We need our schools to work on that, too.

Jeju Representative of Korean Teachers & Educational Workers Union Conference participant Kim Sang Jin(m): I'm lucky to be a part of this conference. I became deeply convinced that the vegan diet is truly helpful in changing the Earth's environment for the better. Supreme Master Ching Hai is taking the initiative. We made this event happened due to her support, so we're very thankful and hope there will be more events like this.

Kim Sang Jin(m): I would like to become a committed vegan like many people here. I met Supreme Master Ching Hai for the first time through this conference. I was able to understand her profound thoughts on the vegan diet and the sustainable future of our planet. I could feel her affection towards children, animals and living beings. She is a great human being. Thanks to her support, such an international event is possible. I hope and pray that Supreme Master Ching Hai's ideal will spread globally. In this way, the planet can be safer, our children healthier, the world becomes happier and more peaceful.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Such a place as Jeju Island and, indeed, the entire globe we must do our best to save for our own sake and the future of the children. We already have the wisdom and Heaven's grace to overcome these challenges; we may just need to remind ourselves of the best steps to take.

VOICE: Tune in to Supreme Master Television this Tuesday, November 3, for part 3 of the rebroadcast of the videoconference “Children's Health & Sustainable Planet - Jeju International Conference” on Words of Wisdom.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television today for the rebroadcast of the videoconference “Children's Health & Sustainable Planet - Jeju International Conference” on Words of Wisdom.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Respected scientists recalculated and found that the meat industry is actually producing more than 50% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Meat is the number one cause of global warming. So, the number one solution is to stop producing it.

VOICE: Join us on Supreme Master Television this Friday, November 6, for part 5 of the rebroadcast of the videoconference with Guest of Honor, Supreme Master Ching Hai, entitled “Children's Health & Sustainable Planet - Jeju International Conference” on Words of Wisdom.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television today for the rebroadcast of the live videoconference “Children's Health & Sustainable Planet - Jeju International Conference” with Guest of Honor, Supreme Master Ching Hai, on Words of Wisdom.