Ancient mega-drought 
 
parched Africa 
 
and Asia. 
 
New research by 
 
an international team 
 
of scientists indicates that 
 
a catastrophic drought 
 
that occurred 
 
some 15,000 years ago 
 
dramatically affected 
 
humans in ancient Africa 
 
and southern Asia,
 
and may indicate what 
 
future droughts could be 
 
like if global warming 
 
continues to worsen. 
 
Dr. Curt Stager of 
 
Paul Smith's College, 
 
New York USA 
 
led the study, which 
 
analyzed sediment cores 
 
from lakes in Africa 
 
to establish ancient 
 
climate conditions 
 
in what was one of 
 
the most intense and 
 
extensive dry periods
 
in the history 
 
of modern humans. 
 
During the mega-drought, 
 
Africa's legendary 
 
Lake Victoria and other 
 
water bodies dried up 
 
as the Nile, Congo 
 
and other major rivers 
 
shriveled. 
 
Although the cause of 
 
this massive change 
 
in climate is not known, 
 
the scientists say 
 
that the timing could 
 
link it to an occurrence 
 
known as 
 
the Heinrich Event 1 (H1), 
 
which coincided with 
 
a huge release of icebergs 
 
and melt-water that 
 
caused regional cooling 
 
as they entered 
 
the North Atlantic Ocean 
 
but also led to prolonged 
 
droughts in the tropics.
  
 
Our appreciation, 
 
Dr. Stager and colleagues 
 
on this study of 
 
past climate change 
 
which aids 
 
our understanding of the 
 
planet's current situation. 
 
May we avert such 
 
drastic impacts to all life 
 
on the planet by quickly 
 
turning to effective 
 
eco-protecting ways.
 
During a January 2011 
 
videoconference 
 
with Supreme Master 
 
Television staff 
 
in California, USA, 
 
Supreme Master Ching Hai 
 
spoke about 
 
mega-drought conditions 
 
being repeated now along 
 
with their root cause.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: As you know already 
 
from scientific
 
news reports, 
 
we have tens of thousands 
 
of people hungry due to 
 
the Amazon drought. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Also, such a severe, 
 
they call “mega-drought,” 
 
usually occurs only once 
 
in many decades, 
 
or century. 
 
Now, the latest one 
 
is only several years ago, 
 
five years ago,
 
scientists say that droughts 
 
related to global warming 
 
are very different 
 
from normal droughts. 
 
They are more permanent, 
 
more severe, 
 
and irreversible 
Trees die, 
 
not only the oldest ones, 
 
but of all ages, 
 
even the young ones,  
 
and all sizes. 
 
Regions most vulnerable 
 
are the US Southwest, 
 
southeast Asia, 
 
eastern South America, 
 
Western Australia, 
 
southern Europe, 
 
southern Africa, 
 
and northern Africa. 
 
And if we continue 
 
to live our lives the way 
 
most people do right now, 
 
it will get worse and worse.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Karma (retribution) 
 
changes so fast because 
 
we create new patterns 
 
of karma (retribution) 
 
all the time and that, 
 
in turn, affects the weather, 
 
and the weather 
 
affects us, of course.
 
And all this
are due to the consequences 
 
of the way 
 
we live our lives. 
 
Not benevolent enough. 
http://x-journals.com/2011/ancient-catastrophic-drought-leads-to-question-how-severe-can-climate-
change-become/,
 
http://www.livescience.com/12978-ancient-megadrought-climate-change-africa.htmlExtra NewsLaunched by internet 
 
company Google, 
 
start-up enterprise 
 
Transphorm is 
 
developing modules 
 
for electrical devices 
 
to reduce current 
 
conversion energy loss 
 
by up to 90%, a change 
 
that could save 
 
US$40 billion 
 
across the US electrical 
 
power grid alone.
http://www.france24.com/en/20110224-google-backed-startup-zaps-electricity-waste
 
 
Once thought to be 
 
a heat tolerant crop, 
 
recent scientific tests 
 
conducted by 
 
the International Maize 
 
and Wheat Improvement 
 
Center in Mexico have 
 
shown that the vital grain 
 
maize suffers pronounced 
 
 
declines with prolonged 
 
exposure to temperatures 
 
above 30 degrees Celsius, 
 
especially in combination 
 
with drought. 
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/857944-climate-rise-places-africas-vital-maize-crop-at-risk,
 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1366156/Global-warming-putting-Africas-vital-maize-crop-risk-claim-scientists.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
 
A study led by 
 
Germany's 
 
Potsdam Institute for 
 
Climate Impact Research 
 
finds expanded benefits 
 
for reducing 
 
European Union 
 
greenhouse gas emissions 
 
even further, as millions 
 
of extra jobs could be 
 
created that would help 
 
the continent recover 
 
from economic slowdowns 
 
and increase growth. 
http://www.spa.gov.sa/English/details.php?id=866720 , 
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2027916/deeper-emissions-cuts-pull-europe-economic-mire