The
unique water body, also the deepest hypersaline lake in the world, has
attracted visitors to its shores for thousands of years where its
mineral-rich waters and temperate climate are said to have therapeutic
properties.
In recent decades, however, the sea level has been
dropping at a rate of over a meter per year because the Jordan River,
its main tributary, is being diverted along with reduced rainfall and
drought further drying its waters.
Only around 2% of the Jordan
River’s natural freshwater reaches the Dead Sea, where it now mixes only
with wastewater diverted from fish ponds and salt springs.
Jordan
and Israel have been working with the World Bank on a plan to save the
Dead Sea that involves bringing water from the less-saline Red Sea;
however environmentalists fear that mixing the two water body sources
could be an ecological disaster.
Environmental organization
Friends of the Earth Middle East has instead proposed restoring at least
30% of the Jordan River’s flow, saying that this could replenish the
Dead Sea at a lower financial cost without the potentially adverse
environmental consequences.
Our appreciation Friends of the
Earth Middle East, World Bank, Israel and Jordan for this alert to the
precarious situation as well as your efforts to find a way to save the
fragile Dead Sea.
Let us all step vigorously toward the most
eco-friendly solutions for the sake of both human and animal life.
Supreme Master Ching Hai has often discussed how the precious resource
of water could be best preserved, as in this October 2009
videoconference in Formosa (Taiwan).
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
We tell people to do organic farming, how to conserve rainwater, ground
water, and conserve land, planting trees to attract rain, etc In the
Alwar district of Rajasthan, India, 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.
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.
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.
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/07/30/mme.jordan.red.sea.project.cnn?iref=allsearchhttp://www.israel21c.org/201007208166/social-action/environmentalists-say-no-to-red-dead-seas-linkhttp://www.jpost.com/LocalIsrael/AroundIsrael/Article.aspx?id=182267