Most people would like to reduce their carbon footprint. What difference would it make if they change to a vegetarian or a vegan diet? A very big difference, Ben, big difference.

One 6-ounce beefsteak costs 16 times as much gasoline, or fossil fuel energy, as one vegan meal: one cup of broccoli, one cup of eggplant, 4 ounces of cauliflower and eight ounces of rice, to be exact, according to research. Sixteen times — 6 ounce beefsteak only, costs 16 times more than that whole vegan meal. Now, many scientists would thus describe meat as being hugely carbon intensive, including Dr. Pachauri, the chief of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). If all the people in the world became veg, vegan, we would eliminate at least 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. Fifty percent, Ben, greenhouse gas emissions! But I know it’s more than that, karmically speaking as well. It would be significantly more than removing all the world’s transportation which is only 13.5 %. Really?

Yes. So, if we are vegan we don’t even need to worry about CO2 yet. We do worry – it’s better to have cleaner air – but CO2 by transportation and all that is not the grave urgency like methane gas and nitrous oxide and all the gases that are produced out of animal industry. From my calculations, from my inside knowledge, and also scientifically speaking, 80% of global warming would be stopped if we stopped the animal industry. The well-known study by Eshel and Martin at the University of Chicago found that being vegan saves more in emissions than switching to a hybrid car. Scientists from Japan calculated that not eating one kilogram of beef saved the equivalent of driving an average European car for 250 kilometers.

Can you imagine one kilogram of beef is equivalent to driving 250 kilometers and burning a 100-watt light bulb for 20 days non-stop?! So we should know where our problem lies. Now, a study by the Institute for Ecological Economy Research in Germany found that emissions from an animal-free vegan diet are 87% less than those of a meat-based diet, while emissions from an organic vegan diet are reduced by 94%. Again, as the top climatologist Dr. James Hansen said being veg is the single most effective thing a person can do to stop global warming; that’s without government even, without ado, without protocol, without any trouble.

If the goal is to be a truly carbon-free society, we should consider all the major sources of greenhouse gases emissions. You see, we are emitting greenhouse gases not just through the fumes from factories, houses, and cars, but also through the products that we choose to consume. Besides, CO2 is cancelled out by aerosols, which are released at the same time from burning fossil fuels. So it means that even though we have CO2, the CO2 also has been cancelled out by the aerosols at the same time. Even though aerosols are very detrimental to our health, they actually have a cooling effect that cancels out the CO2 heat in the atmosphere. So up to now, the climate warming heat is not from CO2 – is not from CO2. The warming climate problem is not from CO2, is not from carbon dioxide. I repeat, it’s not from carbon dioxide. It is from other sources, mainly methane.

At least 50% of total greenhouse gas emissions are coming from animal meat and dairy products. And it’s not I who said this; it’s all proven, researched, confirmed and published by the top scientists of the whole world.

If we only focus on the green energies, like solar panel, wind power, etc., it won’t have much of an effect, I’m so sorry to say. I have to tell you the truth because this is also my planet. Your island could be my residence at any time in the future. I might love your island, I might want to go there. So, I want to protect your island, I want to protect my planet, so I have to tell you everything, although I might offend somebody or I might not be very popular for doing this, but I have to tell you the truth because green energy is not an urgent task for us to handle right now, because green energy only tackles the effect of, maybe, aerosol or CO2, which is not the urgent issue of global warming, the producer.

The global warming effect comes from raising livestock, from animals. So if we continue on the green energy, then we don’t have much of an effect to stop global warming. Because their effectiveness will be cancelled out by the large amounts of greenhouse gases that we generate by consuming meat, and the meat industry. Besides the livestock methane that is responsible for a portion of 50% of greenhouse gas emissions – but 50% is still a low estimate, I would say 80% – there is also the burning of forests to make pasture land, to grow food for the animals, and making the chemical fertilizer and pollution to grow the feed, the transportation involved, the constant refrigeration involved, etc., etc. And all the medical effects, all the costs of the sickness of the people – billions, trillions of dollars goes into the treatment of the people for meat-related diseases.

And it’s not always even effective, it doesn’t always even cure people permanently or perfectly even. Even we spend so much money and people have to go through so much suffering, the diseases are not always completely cured, or in many cases, not at all. So people suffer, people die for nothing, also, because of the meat diet. So, to produce the meat for consumption, it costs us too much: it costs sorrow, it costs suffering, it costs trillions of dollars. All these add up to many more times greenhouse gas emissions than all the world’s transportation combined, and apparently, more than all the heavy industries and fossil fuel power stations combined even.

So, in order to call ourselves a low-carbon or carbon-free society, we must eliminate our meat consumption because that is the number one cause, we could say that is the only cause, for our climate change – that is, our meat consumption. This is in line with the recommendation of the world’s leading climate experts, like the Chair of the IPCC, Dr. Pachauri, who is a vegetarian himself for the environment’s sake. In fact, if we focus on shifting people to be vegetarian or vegan, it will save us much more money than green technology, and of course it’s much more effective. And I urge you, the government leaders, because our time is running out, we have to act on this now.

Please explain to your co-citizens this important truth and tell them we must work together to become animal-free consumers. We have a very short time to save our planet. We have a great planet to save. We have a great precious treasure – that is, our children – to save. And besides, the government and the people have nothing to lose by being vegan. For the environment, the absence of livestock will bring about much less pollution and less waste of water and food resources. For the citizens, there are perfectly nutritious, delicious alternatives to animal products nowadays, and, as we heard in the doctors’ lectures, the vegan diet is also the best for our children. It’s a win-win solution as stated by Dr. Pachauri, and necessary to save the planet.

Saving the world’s tropical forests, the lungs of the Earth, is one of the very important priorities, because when the tropical rainforests are destroyed, there are many frightening side effects. It’s not just the permanent changes to the world’s temperature, rainfall, and weather patterns which the forests regulate. It’s not just about the millions of people who might lose their livelihoods that depend on the forests. There is more to it than that. There is the extinction of plant and animal species that is 100 times faster than what is natural, and it ruins our ecosystems. And there’s also the rainforests themselves; this is important.

The rainforests themselves normally are our protectors, but as the climate gets warmer, instead of absorbing CO2 to protect our planet’s climate, they will be emitting back CO2 as well, and that will be harmful to us. By harming the rainforest, by destroying the planet by raising animals, we are turning our protector, which is the rainforest, into a harmful agent.

They will not be helping us, the rainforests. They will not be helping us, if the climate gets warmer, but instead, they will be worsening the global warming problem because they cannot absorb the CO2, but they will release all the CO2 that is already contained in their kingdom. Now, we need to look at the main reason why there is deforestation. Yes, we all know. There is a whole industry behind it in most of the cases, namely the livestock industry. For example, 91% of the Amazon deforested since 1970 was used for what? For grazing pasture, meaning that the number one reason for the deforestation of the Amazon – which is the greatest lung of our planet – is to raise cattle.

And the second biggest reason, also for cattle: they grow the soy to feed the cattle and, of course, other animals as well, by the way. NASA reported that once the forest is cleared for pasture or feed crops, the soil itself becomes a large source of emitting carbon – the soil itself even. So not only that, the fires that burn down the trees also release a lot of carbon dioxide, CO2. The Amazon rainforest alone contains more carbon dioxide than 10 years worth of all human-produced greenhouse gases. Plus, when we burn the forests, we release black carbon, which are particles of soot that trap 680 times the heat of the same amount of CO2. Now, blame whom? Don’t bother blaming CO2. (Yes.)

Especially because they are black – these soot from the burnt rainforest – they hold a lot of heat. According to researchers in Brazil, 60% of the black carbon measured at the Antarctic Peninsula came from burning the rainforest in Brazil for livestock raising. So, we have to put the blame, the finger on the right spot. I hope the leaders understand where to put their finger, not just talking around the subject and trying to avoid the burning spot, which is livestock raising, which is animal production.

How is the sun beneficial to our meditation practice?

If you sit in the sun to meditate, it's very, very, very good for your spiritual progress. It could increase hundreds of thousands or millions of spiritual points if you concentrate well, if you deserve it. But cover yourself, or you sit in the shade and with the sun nearby, is shining in, also good enough. Tune in to Supreme Master Television Tuesday, November 30 for the videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai titled “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe” on Between Master and Disciples.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television today for our program, “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe,” on Between Master and Disciples.

Any denomination – Catholic, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Islam, Buddhist – if they just sit in the sun and pray, they will get also the same, more or less 200,000 spiritual points per hour.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television Monday, December 6 for the videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai titled “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe” on Between Master and Disciples.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television today for our program, “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe,” on Between Master and Disciples.

During the videoconference with Supreme Master Television staff on October 3, 2010, Supreme Master Ching Hai revealed the practical function of wormholes.

It's like a portal that connects between different dimensions. If UFOs go, it's quicker through this way, like a universal highway, okay? – for material means only. For spiritual portal, we have to practice the Light and Sound.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television Monday, December 13 for the videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai titled “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe” on Between Master and Disciples.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television today for our program, “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe,” on Between Master and Disciples.

There are parallel universes, so that we can choose our action and choose the outcome. If we choose this, then it’s a different outcome, different future, for you. And if you choose that, then it’s a different future for you.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television Monday, December 20 for the videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai titled “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe” on Between Master and Disciples.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television today for our program, “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe,” on Between Master and Disciples.

How could we improve our techniques to travel further and discover more parts of universe?

Improve first moral standard and spiritual levels and then all will come. Just like in the Bible, it says, “Seek you first the Kingdom of God and all the things shall be added unto you.”

Tune in to Supreme Master Television Monday, December 27 for the videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai titled “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe” on Between Master and Disciples.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television today for our program, “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe,” on Between Master and Disciples.

If we practice spiritually, if we change our life into more morally fit, if we are more virtuous and more selfless, more spiritually elevated, then our destiny changes, even if it’s fixed.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television Monday, January 3 for the videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai titled “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe” on Between Master and Disciples.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television today for our program, “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe,” on Between Master and Disciples.

If we keep breaking Spiritual Blessing Lines and not making new ones, or lengthen or widen them, I don’t know if we have hope. We all have to work together to tell people, to let people know that it’s time to change.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television Monday, January 10 for the videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai titled “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe” on Between Master and Disciples.

Tune in to Supreme Master Television today for our program, “Revelations on the Magnanimous Sun and the Universe,” on Between Master and Disciples.