My question is:
If more and more people
give up meat eating but
keep on eating fish only
one or two times a week,
with this, how much can
it help to save our planet?
And could you also tell us
how we can
more effectively
advise people to stop
fish eating? Thank you.
It's
already very good that
they stop eating red meat
and big animals’ meat.
It's already very good.
You tell them that,
“Bravo! Bravo!
Thank you very much.
You are very brave.
And I thank you and
the planet thanks you!
And many animals
thank you!”
And after that,
you give them a flyer.
You gather
all the information about
the harm of fish eating
and you give it to them.
You say, “Now,
if you go one step further,
and no more fish eating,
then you'll be perfect!
You'll be my hero.”
Okay. Good!
Because, fish eating
is also very depleting
to planetary ecosystem.
They have proven that
overfishing of sardines
has resulted
in many dead zones.
Because they are there
for some reason.
They are there for maybe
oxidizing the ocean
or give life to some
other kind of species or
cleaning the environment.
Whatever the species that
God has left on the planet,
they have work to do.
The species
has work to do.
Just like humans,
we have work to do,
animals,
they have work to do.
Even little fish
like sardines,
they have work to do.
It's just many humans
are ignorant.
They think
it is a little fish,
they're helpless anyway,
“they're useless.”
No, they're not useless.
They think they're useless
so they fish them up
and eat them;
but they're
very, very useful
to our ecosystem and
to the health of the planet
and, consequently,
to the health of humans
and all beings on it.
So you gather
all these facts
from Supreme Master
Television or any internet,
or information
you can find in the library
or anywhere,
and then you print it
all on the flyer, and you
give it to the fish eater.
This is a quick running
report that you can
find on the internet
and elsewhere.
This is mostly concerning
Mexico alone.
Disappearing glaciers:
the glacier on
the Iztaccihuatl volcano
in Central Mexico
lost 30 meters in 6 years.
And the temperature
of the glaciers is
close to freezing,
but it’s not freezing.
So the temperature does
not preserve the glacier,
so the glacier
on the Iztaccihuatl ,
Pico de Orizaba volcanoes,
the glaciers there are
expected to disappear
in the next 10
or something years.
You can look that up on
the National
Autonomous University
of Mexico.
There’s another one:
eroding beaches.
Hurricanes
and rising seas
are eroding beaches in
at least five Mexican states,
including Quintana Roo,
Yucatan Peninsula,
home to Cancun and
other famous tourist areas;
and Tamaulipas,
Veracruz and Tabasco
on the Gulf of Mexico;
Sinaloa on the Pacific
and some locations of
coastal resort in Mazatlan.
These beaches
are eroding.
Hurricane Wilma
took much of the sand
off Cancun’s beaches.
The government has
spent US$21 million
to restore the beach,
but much of these efforts
were undone
by the nonstop erosion.
Not that we could even
repair the damage.
The eroding beaches
threaten
the tourism industry
which employs
2 million people
and is Mexico’s
third greatest source
of foreign exchange.
A report of the sea-level
rise found that 46.2%
of Mexico’s Gulf coast is
at risk of rising sea levels.
Coastal lakes,
marsh lands
and agriculture areas
are most at risk
across central and
southern portions of the
Mexican Gulf of Mexico.
And in Mexico, we
experience more frequent
and stronger hurricanes
in the Gulf of Mexico
and Caribbean Sea.
Powerful hurricanes have
increased significantly
in the past few decades.
The US National Center
for Atmospheric Research
has identified warming
sea surface temperatures
as the main cause
and correlated
the warmer seas
with global warming.
Warmer water leads to
more water evaporation,
giving the storms
more fuel to create
stronger storms which
destroy some counties.
Hurricane Stan
from October 4, 2005
visited seven Mexican states,
leading to loss of homes,
deaths, and some
entire communities being
wiped out completely.
Over 100,000 people
were sent to shelters.
Fatalities were estimated
at 1,620, making Stan
the 29th deadliest
Atlantic hurricane.
August and September
2007: intensive
240 rainstorms
came to northern states,
with rainfall 19%
above historical average.
In June and July 2008,
the country was struck
with 184 storms
with rainfall exceeding
the average
by more than 50%.
Hurricane Dean,
August 21, 2007,
made landfall
on the Yucatán Peninsula
as a Category 5,
with gusts of 200 miles
per hour.
It completely destroyed
the town of Majahual.
The government’s
preparations
and ample warning by
forecasters is credited
with saving lives,
although its aftermath
did bring fatalities.
The storm brought rain
all the way to the country’s
Pacific Coast,
including up to 200 millimeters
in Jalisco and Nayarit.
In September 2008,
Tropical Depression
Lowell landed in the states
of Michoacán, Sonora
and Sinaloa with almost
27,000 people affected
by flooding who were
rendered homeless.
Tropical Storm Marco
landed in Veracruz
during the first week
of October 2008; caused
flooding in the city
with high winds and
heavy rains in Veracruz
and surrounding regions.
Veracruz officials
opened 200 shelters
to accommodate
the homeless people.
Some 400,000 people
were affected –
that’s almost
half a million people –
with 800 towns flooded
by water levels
up to 3 meters.
Hurricane Norbert hit
the Mexican Peninsula
in October 2008,
with winds of
165 kilometers per hour;
hundreds of people were
evacuated from their
homes due to flooding.
Now, droughts
and desertification:
Mexico experienced
the worst drought
in living memory
during 1999,
with five northwestern
Mexican states
having been declared
disaster areas,
drinking supplies
dangerously low, and
the area was turned into
a fire-prone area –
in danger of fire.
Mexico’s
National Institute
of Ecology states that
between 50-70% of
the nation is afflicted by
some degree of drought.
The Lerma Chapala
Santiago River Basin
is one of
the most significant
water areas of Mexico.
It has lost 61%
of its water drainage and
99.7% of the reservoirs.
Usable water volume
increased 142%,
indicating
the population centers,
including Mexico City
have been drawing
too much water.
The environmentalists
are very concerned
for the biodiversity
of the region, which has
historically been home to
7,000 species of plants,
170 species of mammals,
and 525 bird species
and 300 aquatic species.
Rain-fed corn, maize, is
the most important
food crop for Mexicans,
and has been vulnerable
to drought.
In 2003,
over 200,000 farmers
were affected
by climate change,
most of which
was drought related.
Of course, that’s
due to climate change.
Forty-seven percent
of Mexico has some
degree of desertification,
with 70% of the nation
vulnerable.
Between 700,000
to 900,000 Mexicans
are estimated to leave
their homes each year
in search of
better opportunities
elsewhere, maybe
in the United States,
even.
Puebla State has seen
increased forest fires
over the past few years;
rainfall decreased
by 200 liters
per square meter;
increase in average
annual temperatures
to 17.5 degrees Celsius.
The winter temperatures
are now also
above normal.
Rapid deforestation
between 1980 and 2002
on the Puebla mountain,
La Malinche,
has decreased forest area
by 5,355
square kilometers,
and it’s believed to have
resulted in lower rainfall
of up to 100 millimeters.
By July 2007, the
deforestation in Puebla
led to a landslide,
burying and killing
32 passengers in a bus.
Harbingers
of global warming:
we have dengue fever,
which has historically
been found at elevation
below 1,000 meters
in Mexico,
has now spread
up to 1,700 meters.
Forty percent of
Mexico’s coral reefs are
experiencing bleaching
on both the Eastern
and Western coasts.
Intensity of wild fires:
Mexico had
the worst fire season
in recorded history
in 1998 affecting
505,857 hectares
during a drought,
bringing smoke across
the border into Texas
where it triggered
a statewide health alert.
Now, we even have
extreme cold weather.
Between October 2008
and February 2009,
over 36 people in Mexico
died due to
extreme cold weather,
with 22 of them
having suffered from
carbon monoxide
poisoning from burning
firewood and charcoal
to warm themselves.
The average temperature
in the north of Mexico
during this cold spell was
minus 5 degrees Celsius
for four months.
The Gulf of Mexico’s
dead zone is created
primarily by runoff
from US agriculture.
The Gulf of Mexico’s
dead zone is expected
to increase.
Oceanography Professor
Steven DiMarco of
Texas A&M University,
USA, stated that
the increase river runoff
from recent flooding
in the United States
is likely to cause
the Gulf of Mexico’s
7,900 square mile
dead zone
to become even larger.
It’s already an almost
8,000-square-mile dead zone
and now it’s going to
increase larger.
Dead zones are
ocean areas that
no longer contain
enough oxygen
to support marine life.
River run off laden with
nitrates of farm fertilizers
is a main cause of these
oxygen-deprived areas,
with this year’s
Gulf of Mexico zone
expected to extend beyond
10,000 square miles.
There are surely
more terrible situations
in Mexico
that are not checked,
due to our carelessness
in taking care of
the environment,
and the global warming
resulting thereof.
I’ve finished my report,
but the damage
is not finished here.
Please do something
for your country at least.
Thank you so much
for your patience and
for sharing the concern
with me for Mexico.
God bless you.
God bless
and protect Mexico.
Hallo, I’m honored to be
in this exchange and
it’s an opportunity that
I enjoy. (Hi, love.)
My name is Ray Fred.
(Hi.)
Many people say that we
can just stop eating beef
and we can switch to
chicken and fish instead,
and lower our emissions.
What would you respond
to somebody considering
that as a choice?
You agree to that, sir?
No, I just hear a lot of it.
How would I
respond to someone
who is going that route?
Switching to anything
at all other than
a purely plant-based diet
will not really help at all.
This is
because of all the things
I mentioned above and,
first of all, eating both
fish and chickens does
not significantly reduce
global warming at all.
Eating chicken,
for example. Chickens
that are grown for food
are a huge source of
antibiotics, arsenic poison,
and fertilizer runoff
which increases pollution
and the global warming
effects.
For example,
in the United States alone,
the Centers for
Disease Control reports
that 76 million cases
of food-borne illnesses
are reported each year
with poultry – the chicken
that you mentioned –
triggering more cases
than any other
food group even.
Sometimes these are
also life-threatening or
they can leave permanent
damage in the person.
So, there really is no
reduced cost for eating
something like chicken.
As for fish, over-fishing
of the seas has already
resulted in imbalances
such as the so-called
“dead zones” everywhere
in the sea
that do not support life.
“Dead zone” is the area
of the sea, sometimes
as big as Texas, that
there’s no life in there
at all – no fish, no shrimp,
nothing live in there
because there’s no oxygen.
The reason is over-fishing.
There’s another condition
called “acidification” where
the lack of certain fish
has contributed to
higher ocean acidity
which, in turn, reduces
the capacity of the ocean
to absorb CO2.
And the ocean is a
very complex ecosystem
where every living thing
has a unique function,
so removing even
a small fish for humans
to eat creates
an imbalance in the sea.
In fact, we are already
seeing an effect of
this imbalance
on marine mammals.
As the ocean becomes
warmer and warmer and
more acidic, more toxins
are present in the water.
The whales and dolphins
are thus being driven
from the ocean
as conditions worsen.
It is suffocating them.
Sometimes
hundreds at a time,
they’re dying on the beach
because they cannot
tolerate this
toxic condition
in the seawater anymore.
What do we think,
why the dolphins
and the whales
beach on the sand?
You think they go there
for vacation?
They die hundreds
at a time because they
cannot suffer anymore
the water in which
they live.
Water means life to them
but now the water
becomes poison
so they have to go out.
They go out, they die.
They stay in the water,
they die.
They come to the beach,
but it doesn't help them
either.
They die either way.
So, even though fish and
chicken may not have the
obvious carbon impact
that other animals do,
everything is
interconnected;
and there is no way
to say that consuming
these things results in
lower carbon price
to the Earth at all. (Thank you.)
And, yes, sir,
you know according to
scientific research,
chickens are
very intelligent.
They have DNA
almost like humans.
And fish as well.
It has been proven that
fish are also intelligent.
They communicate with
each other, they can talk.
They lead
a very, very organized,
very, very intelligent life.
Even ants are talking to
each other, according to
new scientific discovery.
They talk to each other in
such inaudible languages
that it’s recorded
by the sophisticated
scientific apparatus.
So, even ants,
they're intelligent.
Look at the way
they build their city
and their palace;
we could not do that
compared to our size.
They’re building
like skyscrapers
by their own hand only.
But they talk to
each other even. Even
ants talk to each other,
fish talk to each other.
They do lead
an intelligent life and
they all have souls,
consciousness, in them.
Anything God puts
on Earth is for a purpose.
We should not
kill anything.
We should not
eat anything
except plant-based diet.
A vegetarian lifestyle
is almost all
that we need right now to
stop the global warming,
to balance the scale of
the negative consequences.
Even physically speaking,
most of the pollution
will be stopped
by being vegetarian, by
all the people on the planet
being vegetarian.
I really mean it.
Eighty percent of the pollution
will be stopped.
Eighty percent of the global
warming will be stopped
if all people
begin to be vegetarian –
I mean, whole vegetarian,
or at least more than
two-thirds of the time
should be vegetarian.
But why not just
be vegetarian altogether?
It won’t hurt.
It will only do us good.
It helps the world,
it saves the planet
and it saves our children.
If we really
love our children,
this is what we must do,
because the governments
sometimes hesitate to
broadcast to limit people
to eat this or eat that.
Maybe the governments
are too polite.
But consider
the dangerous and urgent
situation of our planet.
This is the solution
that’s the best, the fastest
that we can do.
Meat diet consumes
more energy,
a lot, a lot more energy
than vegetarian diet,
and pollutes the planet
much more than any
other activities of humans,
if not most of it.
So a vegetarian lifestyle
is a must.
Truly, it is a must.
I’m not speaking as
a religious believer.
I’m speaking as a citizen
of the world, concerned
about our home,
loving our co-inhabitants,
human and animal.
I’m speaking as your
friend, as your co-citizen,
as the one who lives in
the same home that you do.
Please be vegetarian,
and go green.
That we can do also,
but go green takes a longer
time and it does not help
as much as being vegetarian.
If you really want
to know the truth of it,
just go on the research,
the scientific evidence
on the internet, or look up
on our Supreme Master
Television or
SupremeMasterTV.com.
If you cannot look
on your TV in your area,
we have internet access
24 hours
every day of the week,
every week of the month,
every month of the year.
Truly, we don’t need
to talk about bad karma (retribution)
or karmic consequences
anymore.
Physically speaking,
vegetarian diet
will save the planet:
the fastest and the easiest
and everyone can do it,
and it’s so easy.
We have to
stop killing people
and stop killing animals.
We also have to
stop using insecticides
and those substances
that are terribly harmful
to our health
and the environment.
And also,
if we stop global
warming, at least the gas
will stay put where it is
and do not release
into the atmosphere.
Also, it will not increase
due to animal-raising.
Because livestock raising,
animals breeding,
is the #1 cause of damage
to our planet,
and it is going
to destroy our world
if we do not stop.
I really mean it.
We have to stop this.
We have to stop the killing.
We have to stop
the meat eating.
We have to stop insecticides.
We have to go organic.
And vegetarian is a must.
Otherwise,
there will not be just the
dead zone in the ocean.
I repeat: otherwise, if
we don’t do anything now,
if we don’t be veggie and
we don’t stop polluting
our planet in many ways,
then there will not be
just the dead zones
in the ocean,
there will a dead planet.
And we also
will be dead beings, too.
In four or five years’ time,
the way it is,
we cannot survive.
Thank you, sir, for asking.
Please do something.
Good evening, Master.
Please accept
all my gratitude.
In the global warming
flyer, it is stated:
''Due to overfishing
and the loss of tens
of millions of sardines,
a vital chain, the waters
of the southwest African
coast are loaded with
a toxic gas that bubbles
from the bottom of the
ocean, killing marine life
on the surface.
The size of the area
is equivalent to that
of the city of New Jersey
(USA), and worsening
the greenhouse effect.”
What is the original
nature of this gas?
Thank you, Master.
Hallo.
Hallo.
Bonjour,
Madamoiselle Araba.
You came all the way
from Cotonou, Benin (Yes, Master.)
to be with us?
You’re from Radio
TOPKA, in Cotonou,
Benin, right? (Yes, Master.)
Thanks for coming
to share with us
your concern.
It is very disturbing to
know about the state
of the waters
off the western coast
of your continent.
You see,
this poisonous gas that
you are asking about is
formed from the elements
that create
oceanic dead zones.
Dead zones are exactly
as they sound:
they are areas of
the ocean that are dead,
the areas of the ocean
that are unable to support
any more life,
which arise mostly
from livestock feed
agricultural pollution,
as well as livestock manure
running into the ocean,
or some other kind
of imbalance.
Good evening, Master.
Please accept
all my gratitude.
In the global warming
flyer, it is stated:
''Due to overfishing
and the loss of tens
of millions of sardines,
a vital chain, the waters
of the southwest African
coast are loaded with
a toxic gas that bubbles
from the bottom of the
ocean, killing marine life
on the surface.
The size of the area
is equivalent to that
of the city of New Jersey
(USA), and worsening
the greenhouse effect.”
What is the original
nature of this gas?
Thank you, Master.
Hallo.
Hallo.
Bonjour,
Madamoiselle Araba.
You came all the way
from Cotonou, Benin (Yes, Master.)
to be with us?
You’re from Radio
TOPKA in Cotonou,
Benin, right? (Yes, Master.)
Thanks for coming
to share with us
your concern.
It is very disturbing to
know about the state
of the waters
off the western coast
of your continent.
You see,
this poisonous gas that
you are asking about is
formed from the elements
that create
oceanic dead zones.
Dead zones are exactly
as they sound:
they are areas of
the ocean that are dead,
the areas of the ocean
that are unable to support
any more life,
which arise mostly
from livestock feed
agricultural pollution,
as well as livestock manure
running into the ocean,
or some other kind
of imbalance.
The number of
dead zones observed
since 2003 has
more than tripled, with
now in excess of 400
that exist and
are growing worldwide.
The African dead zone,
according to scientists,
has been caused
by a combination of a
strong upwelling current
that brings
abundant plankton, along
with the loss of sardines
because of human fishing.
In the past
several decades, tens of
millions of these tiny fish
have been removed
from the ocean
for human consumption.
So now,
instead of sardines
helping to consume
the plankton,
the plankton just dies
in the water instead,
and sinks to the bottom
of the ocean where it
decays and contributes
to the formation of the
poisonous gases methane
and hydrogen sulfide.
While methane gas can
be volatile and explosive,
hydrogen sulfide
is poisonous to both
human and marine life.
So, this area has periodic
explosions of methane
and hydrogen sulfide,
and when these gases
erupt off the coast
of Africa, many other
fish die and animals
such as lobsters and crabs
run onto the shore, trying
to flee the poisonous gas.
But sometimes
they cannot avoid either.
Scientists are now
concerned that,
without a restoration of
the ecological balance,
dead zones like this will
just continue to be
more and more,
get bigger and bigger,
which of course
is lethal for all life.
So, this is a small
but very good example
of why we need to be
vegan, to renew the
rightful balance of life.
And, of course, we also
need to be organic vegan
because so many of
these dead zones are
caused and made worse
by chemical fertilizers
that are primarily used
for livestock feed.
So, yes, be organic vegan.
Supreme Master
and honorable guests,
(How are you?)
good evening.
I’m here to prove to you
that after being a vegetarian
for over 40 years,
ever since childhood,
a vegetarian diet
is good for our health!
When I was little,
I aspired to promote
environmental protection
when I grew up,
and I’ve now worked in this field
for over 20 years.
(Bravo!)
I’ve been promoting
changing organic waste
into food.
This is the result
of my previous work.
But I won’t talk about
my work today.
I’m here
to ask Master’s advice.
Global warming
has caused many changes
to planetary climate.
One area of humans’
negligence
is using clean water
to flush the toilet.
How can we call
on everyone to cherish
our water resources,
reduce water waste,
establish a system
for recycling water
and capture rainwater
for utilization? Thank you!
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Lai.
Thank you for being veg,
and thank you for
protecting the environment
all these decades.
We have tried to go
in your direction
all these years as well.
Recently,
we go a step further to try
to inform the people all this
on Supreme Master TV,
such as what foods
to plant to save water,
like edible plants that
don’t need much water
and can sustain us
with more than
enough nutrition.
We tell people
to do organic farming,
how to conserve rainwater,
ground water,
and conserve land,
planting trees
to attract rain, and the trees
also preserve water
in the soil so
it doesn’t erode the land
and run away, etc., etc.
And we also show
many of the organic
self-farmers everywhere
in different countries to
show people the examples
of how easy it is to plant
organic, nutritious, and
waterless vegetarian food.
For example, in Âu Lạc,
meaning Vietnam…
I like the name “Âu Lạc”
because it denotes a lucky,
auspicious meaning and
also wishing the people
of Vietnam well.
“Âu Lạc” means
“happy and prosperous,”
and also the name
of our ancestors.
Now, the farmers
in Âu Lạc,
meaning Vietnam,
discovered a way
to reap bountiful harvests
during their dry season,
which lasts
from November to May.
They plant
drought-resistant crops
like green peas, peanuts,
black sesame,
sweet potato leaves,
and creamy beans, etc.
They don’t need
any water for this.
They just plant them
on dry land,
or even watermelons and
some other melons, etc. –
no watering, no irrigating,
nothing needed.
The farmers explain
that the leaves
from the bean plants
and other plants
spread over the soil
to keep the moisture in.
The leaves also later
become part of the soil
and help the soil stay rich.
So, there is no need even
for fertilizer
as they would need for
rice or corn, for example.
It’s nature’s miracle
at work. And there is a
bare minimum to almost
no labor required even,
until it’s time to harvest,
which is also very easy.
They don’t even need
much work.
They just pull the plant
up. That’s it.
As you mentioned, Mr. Lai,
there are also good ways
to harvest the rainwater,
by guiding the rain
into the soil to be used
by the trees and the plants.
The trees are
like living pumps to use
the water to give fruits,
and prevent erosion, etc.
They use
these water-conserving
techniques
in dry parts of Africa
and India and, as a result,
the water level rises
more than they take out
from their wells.
And the villagers
in the Alwar district
of Rajasthan, India,
where one Indian village
was able to
guide the water enough
that it brought back to life
five flowing rivers –
five flowing rivers –
that had been dead before,
been dried up before
due to withdrawing
too much water.
Now they bring back to life
five flowing,
abundant rivers,
five, which had been
dried up before – you see? –
because of withdrawing
too much water
and deforestation.
So now, the Indian villagers,
they have organized and
they have done their best
to revive
these five dead rivers.
We could learn from them
as well.
But even these water losses
pale in comparison to
the incredible amount
of water that is wasted
for animal production.
It takes approximately
4,664 liters of water to
produce just one serving
of beef,
but an entire vegan meal
can be produced with
only 371 liters of water.
The livestock sector
is probably
the world's biggest source
of water pollution as well,
Mr. Lai. I am sure
you know all this,
being an environmentalist.
Excessive animal waste,
chemical fertilizers,
and pesticides
degrade waterways,
killing aquatic organisms
by creating algae blooms,
which in turn
choke the oxygen
from water systems
and help form
these oceanic dead zones.
The number of
oxygen-depleted
oceanic dead zones
has increased
from only 49 in the 1960s
to 405 in 2008,
and I am sure
there are more now,
there are much more
sea dead zones right now.
The dead zone
in the Gulf of Mexico
is one of the largest
in the world.
It is 22,000
square kilometers
and was created mainly
from agriculture runoff,
including food raised
for livestock and manure.
Around 212,000
metric tons of fish
are estimated to die
in the Gulf of Mexico
dead zone every year,
Mr. Lai.
I’m sure you know this.
I am just saying all this
for the knowledge
of the audience.
However sad it is, we must
be informed of the facts.
Mr. Lai,
in addition to these
useful farming programs,
we try our best
to inform people
of the numerous,
contaminated, drying or
disappeared dead rivers
and lakes
all over the world.
There are tens of thousands
of rivers and lakes
dying all over the world.
People are dying
from droughts, people are
leaving their villages,
their hometowns,
because they don’t have
any more water to drink.
Just because we
Formosan (Taiwanese)
still have water,
just because
where I am sitting, I am
lucky to still have water,
doesn’t mean
tens of millions of
other people are as lucky.
Some die on the road
because of starvation,
some die on the road
looking for water.
This is very, very tragic,
Mr. Lai.
I hope we all wake up
and wake up quick
to save our people,
to save our home.
We have listed some on the
for your reference.
Please copy at no cost
and send it to
all other people
who you can come
in touch with - by mail,
by email, by post,
leaflets, poster, whatever
may be suitable to you.
I also encourage the
audience to do the same.
Please help.
Please help each other,
please help us.
Because many of
our world co-citizens
are not aware that many
of our other co-citizens
are dying because of
lack of water,
and lack of water
means lack of food,
lack of security.
Water means everything
to our existence.
We must
conserve the water.
We must do everything
we can,
and the first step to begin
is to be vegan.
Because animal industry
uses 70 more percent
of our clean water
of our planet!
It takes approximately
4,664 liters of water to
produce just one serving
of beef,
but an entire vegan meal
can be produced with
only 371 liters of water.
The livestock sector
is probably
the world's biggest source
of water pollution as well,
Mr. Lai. I am sure
you know all this,
being an environmentalist.
Excessive animal waste,
chemical fertilizers,
and pesticides
degrade waterways,
killing aquatic organisms
by creating algae blooms,
which in turn
choke the oxygen
from water systems
and help form
these oceanic dead zones.
There are tens of thousands
of rivers and lakes
dying all over the world.
People are dying
from droughts, people are
leaving their villages,
their hometowns,
because they don’t have
any more water to drink.
Please help.
Please help each other,
please help us.
Because many of
our world co-citizens
are not aware that many
of our other co-citizens
are dying because of
lack of water,
and lack of water
means lack of food,
lack of security.
Water means everything
to our existence.
We must
conserve the water.
We must do everything
we can,
and the first step to begin
is to be vegan.
Because animal industry
uses 70 more percent
of our clean water
of our planet!
In one lecture
that was shown on
Supreme Master
Television, I saw
Master saying that if
we all become vegan,
then within
a couple of weeks only,
we could see the result.
Could you please
elaborate more on
how this can happen?
Thank you.
Yes, Mr. Sukadana.
How are you? Good.
I’m glad that you are here
and I’m glad that
you asked
a very good question.
I didn’t say
“a couple of weeks,”
I said a few weeks,
like eight weeks.
Okay, eight weeks, two months.
It’s nothing miraculous,
Mr. Sukadana.
But you know miracles
do happen as well.
Now, we talk
scientifically.
As I have said before,
if the world’s people all
become vegans, we will
see a dramatic change
in a short period of time,
a couple of months.
Nature will rebound
almost before our eyes,
almost overnight, and
we may see the oceans
healthy again,
the cyclones silenced,
earthquakes calmed,
forests regrowing, etc.
These changes would be
just the beginning signs
of a real Eden on Earth.
Actually, there is the
physical scientific reason,
as well as the spiritual
karmic explanation
for this.
First, for the scientific
reasons, is that
without any more meat
or dairy consumption,
the livestock industry
would shut down.
Without the mad breeding
of cows, pigs, sheep,
chickens, and other
animals, and fishing,
and without the need to
constantly grow crops
to feed them, we would
eliminate the biggest,
most urgent problems
of the environment –
that is the methane
and other gases
that heat up our planet.
The United Nations
Food and Agriculture
Organization said that
the livestock industry
is the major cause of
the most pressing
world problems, namely,
global warming,
land degradation,
air and water pollution,
and loss of biodiversity.
Can you believe this?
It’s like that.
For example,
global warming:
with no animal breeding
industries,
we immediately stop
the number one cause of
greenhouse gas emissions.
Not just CO2,
not just carbon dioxide,
but also methane, nitrous oxide,
black carbon from
burning down the trees
for the livestock,
and also toxic gases
like hydrogen sulfide.
This kind of gas, even
if you just breathe once,
you die immediately,
if it’s a strong enough
concentration.
Some of them are much
more potent than CO2,
like nitrous oxide.
The livestock sector is
the number one source of
nitrous oxide emissions,
and it is almost 300 times
more heat-trapping
than CO2
over a 100-year period.
Now, methane
and black carbon
are what scientists call
short-lived gases, meaning although
they are very potent
climate warmers, they
dissipate and exit the
atmosphere very quickly.
And it’s not just
global warming
we are talking about.
If we are vegan,
we don’t have to worry
about avian flu,
which was found in 22 out of 33 provinces
in Indonesia alone,
and has caused
millions of poultry deaths
and caused many human
fatalities in Indonesia –
more human deaths
in your country than
in any other country
due to the deadly form
of avian flu.
If we are vegan,
Indonesia’s coral reefs,
known as the
“Amazon of the Seas”
for their thousands
of marine species, will be
left in peace and beauty,
and they will protect us.
The coral reef is
a protector of our lives,
of the sea.
Right now it is endangered,
the coral reef,
due to overfishing,
which includes
a destructive form that
uses gruesome methods
like cyanide poisoning
and blasting the fish with
bombs and dynamite.
My God.
The World Resources
Institute stated that
these types of fishing
only bring short-term
profit and will cost
the Indonesian economy
more than
US$600 million
in losses over 20 years.
Moreover,
around the world,
countless enormous
ocean dead zones will
have a chance to return
to life, because the rivers
and the lakes that were
polluted by manure
and toxic fertilizers
for animal feed will be
left alone to purify
themselves and recover.
Also, when we stop
vacuuming all the poor
fish out of the sea,
they will have a chance
to restore the balance
in the oceans.
We desperately need
the fish in the sea
to balance the ocean;
otherwise our lives
will be in danger.
God puts them there
for a reason.
By the way, at least
one-third of all the
world’s fish caught
and murdered today
is fed to livestock –
not to us humans even.
On land,
millions of hectares
will be spared
livestock’s serious effects
of soil erosion,
deforestation, poisonous
water pollution, and
displacement of wildlife,
if all turn to vegan.
Scientists found that
forests are resilient and
can grow back
if given a chance –
very fast.
We have seen
that evidence
in some parts of the world.
The scientists also
observed that when the
ocean is healthy again,
even the dead coral reefs
will revive themselves.
Imagine!
Nature is miraculous
and incredible;
but in order to witness
nature’s recovery,
we must not let
our current way of life
continue. We cannot
continue this way,
or else we will pass
the point of no return
and then we will have a
runaway planetary crisis.
Then we might lose
the whole planet
or the life on the planet.
Another factor
to consider is, sir,
the vegan solution is the
fastest and most effective
because any other
solution such as
sustainable technologies
will take too long
to perfect and use.
For example, in Indonesia,
your precious forests
are being cut down to
grow palm oil to be used
as biofuel energy, and
we thought that will help
to minimize the CO2.
We are wrong.
It’s a failure, causing
more destruction and
more greenhouse gas
emissions than it saves.
In fact, it’s releasing
the world’s
third largest amount of
carbon emissions,
because of biofuel…
in the wrong way.
You see,
the green technology
is not always reliable.
This is particularly
very tragic because
Indonesia has the world’s
third biggest rainforest,
only behind
the Amazon and the Congo,
yet your rainforest
is being lost
at an alarming rate of
one football field
per minute.
Every minute, Indonesia
loses one football-field-size
of rainforest.
God.
And the United Nations
says that 98% of
the whole forest could be
gone in just 15 years–
your forest, 15 years, sir –
the year of
your newborn child to
grow up as a teenager.
Ninety-eight percent –
so why don’t we just say
100% will be gone?
What’s the difference
two more percent
makes to us anymore?
Actually, not all of this
palm oil product is used
as biofuel even.
Part of the palm oil
products goes to
make livestock feed.
Imagine, everything
goes to the animals.
In the name of biofuel
even, it will also go there
to feed the livestock.
Everything goes to
the animals.
Everything to
the animal industry and
we don’t have much.
So we can see how many
activities are linked to
this destructive practice
of animal raising.
Fortunately, we have the
solution ready at hand,
sir, which is the
organic vegan solution.
It’s so simple, so easy,
we might overlook it.
We might not believe it.
But if we look into
all the scientific and the
physical evidence so far,
we have to accept this
organic vegan solution
as the one and only to
save our planet right now.
Instead of
spending more money
on new technology,
we even save money
from having to buy meat
and subsidize meat
with our tax dollars.
We simply cannot depend
on green technology
alone, sir.
Now, there is also
an invisible aspect
to the reversal
in the destruction.
A compassionate person
harms no one and,
therefore, brings no harm
upon himself.
That is why in Buddhism,
they say that
the moment we drop
the butcher’s knife, then
we are protected,
then we can become
the Buddha, the saint.
It’s really like that.
We hear real stories
about hospital patients
who had a terminal
sickness like cancer,
turned vegetarian
or vegan, and then
the tumor disappeared,
so operations were
cancelled and doctors
were very astonished.
So, people turned vegans
and the terminal cancer
situation was gone and
operations cancelled,
and the doctors were
very surprised.
Because the vegan diet
protects us from inside out,
starting immediately,
so that all kinds of
calamities will avoid us,
stay away from us;
and on a bigger scale,
our planet will also
be healed.
Just like an individual
being healed by
turning to
a compassionate diet;
like attracts like.
The good, loving,
compassionate energy
will ward off
the darkness that is
looming toward us, that
is next to us right now.
We will, in short, have
a paradise on Earth.
If you have
ever wondered
what that might be like,
we may soon live to see
the day when all beings
will truly live by your
nation’s motto, that is
“Unity in Diversity” –
in oneness,
understanding, caring,
faith, and happiness.
I invite everyone to share
the hopeful vision that
we will save the planet,
and will make it
a Heaven one.