After 30 years of
discussion India and Bangladesh regarding the territorial rights to an
island situated in a river that forms a shared border between India and
Bangladesh, the small land mass has been declared officially vanished.
Measuring
3.5 kilometers long and 3 kilometers wide, New Moore Island, or South
Talpatti to the Bengali people, was first noticed in 1974 on the
Hariabhanga River by satellite imaging, sitting at 2 meters above sea
level.
However, since 1987, the island’s surface has been
submerging due to the rising sea and now can only be seen at the lowest
tide. Professor Sugata Hazra, Director of School of Oceanographic
Studies in India stated, “There is no presence of the island now; recent
satellite images establish this.”
Moore Island thus joins other
isles regionally and worldwide that have succumbed or are effectively
sinking due to the rising sea levels of global warming. We are saddened
to know of yet another submerged island.
Meanwhile, we pray that the
people of India, Bangladesh and indeed the world make step in unity to
ease global warming via Earth-friendly decisions and compassionate
lifestyles.
Supreme Master Ching Hai has on several occasions
addressed the devastating effects of rising sea levels and what we can
urgently do to halt them, as during an October 2009 videoconference in
Indonesia.
Supreme Master Ching
Hai: The threats imposed by global warming are more than
imminent; they are already here, as you can see through many disasters,
upheavals, climate refugees, phenomena around the world.
It’s the
rising sea levels as well that force people to lose their home, their
ancestral home, to go begging elsewhere; losing also their dignity,
losing everything, not just physical possessions, but losing their loved
ones as well.
We must change while there is still time. If we
want to receive the mercy of Heaven for our life here on Earth, we must
first be merciful in granting the same dignity and freedom of life to
the animals.
So please, everyone, plant veg, be veg and we can go
green later when we’ve already saved the planet.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h98JL-wXyzAx-8TzzflOJ9h3e_wwD9EL0JUG1
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/0324/Global-warming-as-peacemaker-Disputed-island-disappears-under-rising-sea http://www.indianexpress.com/news/new-moore-no-more-rising-sea-claims-island-in-bay-of-bengal/594929/2