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[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

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Global warming could lead to ocean circulation shutdown -28 Jun 2010

A new study by US scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that the amount of fresh water cycling through the Arctic is increasing due to global warming. This has raised the concern that the large volumes of ice melt from Greenland and other sources could dilute the normally salty Arctic waters to the point that the circulation of the North Atlantic, also known as the thermohaline circulation, could be slowed or even halted, with disastrous consequences for the global climate.

Explaining this immense potential tipping point in a telephone interview with Supreme Master Television was Professor Anders Levermann from Potsdam University, a senior researcher at the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research in Germany and the lead author of the Sea Level Change chapter for the coming 5th report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Professor Anders Levermann – Senior researcher, Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research, Germany (M): If you put additional fresh water into the North Atlantic by melting Greenland or by having more discharge from Siberian rivers, then you can freshen the North Atlantic so strongly that there won’t be any sinking of water anymore, and that would disrupt this thermohaline circulation, and could make it stop. Because there’s so much heat transport associated with this thermohaline circulation, it’s going to disturb the entire climate system.

VOICE: The thermohaline circulation acts as the “conveyor belt” bringing heat from the lower to higher parts of the northern hemisphere. A collapse of this vital system could decrease North Atlantic temperatures by up to 8 degrees Celsius, severely affecting agriculture in Europe. Sea level rise and disrupted ecosystems and rainfall patterns are the other consequences that could hugely impact human life.

Professor Anders Levermann (M): The estimates are such that this kind of sea level rise that we would get from the collapse of the thermohaline circulation would be 10 times, 20 times quicker than what we see at the moment. The sea level would, more or less, instantaneously rise in the North Atlantic by up to a meter. Then, you disrupt the heat uptake of the ocean, which would further increase global warming.

Then the rain belt in the tropics would shift by a few hundreds kilometers. If you look where people live in West Africa, and also in the Amazon region, then this is where the rainfall is, and that would change enough to disturb these communities.

VOICE: We thank Professor Levermann and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research colleagues as well as the University of Massachusetts Amherst scientists for alerting us to this potential catastrophe of the ocean as it affects the ecosphere. May we act swiftly to avert such disastrously large-scale changes and protect lives. During a September 2009 videoconference in Peru, as on many previous occasions, Supreme Master Ching Hai urged for direct action that effectively addresses such complex climate problems at their root.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : We are not ready for the changes that are coming. We are not ready at all. We are not prepared enough. Some of the changes are even anticipated to be unexpected, because there are many complicated interacting factors. The wisest action would be to fix the situation we have now and prevent further damage, then we won’t even have to worry about the future.

The smartest way would be to stop the worsening of global warming by being vegan. It sounds very simple but it is the best solution, the most effective and the effect of it will be felt almost immediately. So please, before the situation gets any more out of hand - let’s choose the vegan diet.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/arc...-marks-warming

http://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press...a-level-change

http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~anders/

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/oc...=2022&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Bleaching in Australia’s Coral Sea part of severe global blight - 27 Jul 2010

The Coral Sea, east of the Great Barrier Reef in the Pacific Ocean, is one of the few places in the world where large fish such as sharks, tuna, and billfish, still abound in large numbers. Its diverse range of habitats are formed by 30 separate coral reefs that are different from those of the Great Barrier Reef, with many of the inhabitant species still to be discovered.

Recently, however, this sea has become one of countless other major coral reefs worldwide falling victim to coral bleaching, in which they are destroyed by ocean temperatures reaching record high levels.

In locations around the globe, experts are reporting coral bleaching this year as the worst since 1998, when a similar event caused 16% of the world’s coral reefs to perish. In Thailand’s waters, up to 90% of the reefs have been bleached and 20% have already died. Meanwhile, places like the Coral Sea face another global warming-related threat in increased levels of carbon dioxide that are acidifying the waters.

Marine Biologist Nicola Temple of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, a group that is working to protect the Coral Sea from these threats, spoke about the problem during a recent event to raise public awareness and support.

Nicola Temple – Marine biologist, Australian Marine Conservation Society (F): The pH has remained stable for millions of years, and its changing at a rate that is unbelievable in the last 150 years.
And, it’s going to essentially disintegrate our coral reefs. All of the animals and organisms that sequester carbon into their skeletons and into their shells are not going to be able to do so – including the very oxygen producers that we rely so heavily on.

VOICE: Ms. Temple urged for two main ways to reduce these devastating impacts, emphasizing the invaluable role of oceans in our own lives.

Nicola Temple (F): Oceans drive our climate, and our weather. They are responsible for producing the oxygen – one in every two breaths we take. One of the things we can do that’s within our power immediately is, of course, to reduce our footprint, to reduce our carbon emissions. And that’s something that’s essential and has to happen in conjunction with trying to protect what we can while we still have it.

So large marine reserves that protect a huge percentage of the population will instill some resilience into the ecosystems so that they can have a better chance at fighting things such as global climate change.

VOICE: Our thanks, Ms. Temple and the Australian Marine Conservation Society for your endeavors to protect the precious Coral Sea and our planet. May we each do our part to reduce our environmental impact by taking action to preserve our vital oceans.

Nicola Temple (F): Hi, my name is Nicola Temple. I’m the Coral Sea campaigner for the Australian Marine Conservation Society. Be Veg, Go Green 2 Save the Planet!

Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently urged for our conservation of the oceans and the lives they sustain, as during a May 2009 videoconference in Togo.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Balanced marine ecosystems are extremely important, as more than two-thirds of the planet is covered by oceans. They provide half of the world’s oxygen and play a major part in regulating the global climate.

So, life on Earth truly depends very much on the ocean for survival. In addition, oceans also absorb atmospheric CO2 – carbon dioxide – which directly helps to cool our planet.

From the oceans themselves, we are seeing warming temperatures, rising sea levels, increasing acidification and terrible levels of pollution. So global warming is affecting the oceans, which in turn is affecting the fish.

This is an equally urgent situation as the one presented by livestock industry, and it has the exact same solution. Stop eating the flesh; stop killing for food; stop eating the fish. This will help restore the balance of both the ocean and land, immediately.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-...723-10o22.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/ear...bleaching.html

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/oc...=2045&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

The Dead Sea is dying - 4 Aug 2010

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...iref=allsearch

http://www.israel21c.org/20100720816...dead-seas-link

http://www.jpost.com/LocalIsrael/Aro...aspx?id=182267

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/oc...=2051&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Ocean’s phytoplankton declines due to warming - 17 Aug 2010

Coordinating data from nearly half a million records, researchers at Dalhousie University in Canada have created the first historical climate account of phytoplankton, a nearly microscopic organism found abundantly in oceans worldwide.

As a vital component of life, phytoplankton currently accounts for half of all the oxygen-generating photosynthesis on Earth and is also at the very foundation of the ocean’s ability to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.

Alarmingly, however, the scientists discovered that the occurrence of ocean phytoplankton has declined by nearly 50% in the past half century alone.

Supreme Master Television spoke about the significance of this tiny organism with Dr. David Siegel, an oceanography professor at University of California-Santa Barbara in the USA who wrote an editorial on the Canadian research that was published in “Nature” magazine.

Dr. David Siegel – Professor of Oceanography, University of California-Santa Barbara, California, USA (M): As you do photosynthesis, you produce oxygen, all of it at one time came from the oceans and came from phytoplankton before land plants evolved.

Now, about 50% of that net partner production comes from the oceans, through phytoplankton, that oxygen supports all the animals, all the bacteria.

VOICE: The cause for phytoplankton’s decline has been attributed primarily to human-caused global warming as well as polluting fertilizer runoff arising largely from livestock production.
This worldwide loss has also been associated with large decreases in bird and marine mammal populations who depend upon its existence for life.

Another adverse effect has been the reduced capability of the ocean to slow the pace of climate change because of being increasingly impaired in absorbing CO2 emissions.

Dr. David Siegel (M): The authors of the paper find through their statistical analysis that the amount of phytoplankton biomass has decreased by, globally, as much as 40% over the last 50 years. And that is just a huge number.

VOICE: We thank Dr. David Siegel and Dalhousie University researchers for helping us to further understand our interconnectedness with even the tiniest of ocean life.

May we all use this information wisely to quickly reverse such harmful declines and restore the balance of our Earth. During a July 2008 videoconference in Formosa (Taiwan), Supreme Master Ching Hai, as on many previous occasions, spoke of our irreplaceable ecosystems and the caring responsibility needed for their ultimate protection.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: You see, these things are very sad. It happens a lot and we still did not learn to be responsible and to feel for the environment and the helpless animals, which are our friends and helpers.

We have dumped so much chemicals and poisonous stuff into rivers and oceans. Our enduring, giving rivers and oceans have to take in daily so much. And they poison the marine life.

We just feel like it doesn’t concern us or that we are not responsible for their plight,for the death and disappearance of our precious co-inhabitants.

But the fact is that we are responsible. We have to stop the harmful effect of meat consumption, then we will see a happy, sufficient and satisfied world manifest in front of our eyes in a matter of weeks.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/New...w.php?id=23717

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sc...#ixzz0wKIPvAU4

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sc...#ixzz0wKIWDBpv

http://www.rosemerena.org/home/2009/...ember-11-2006/

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/oc...=2062&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Award-winning film shows the world’s oceans overwhelmed by plastic - 29 Aug 2010

French documentary 『The Mermaids´ Tears: Oceans of Plastic』 takes the viewer into the 『plastic soup』 that our global seas have become. In particular, the film focuses on the pollution that is affecting countless marine animals.

In the Netherlands, for example, scientists who were looking into the decline of the nation’s fulmar bird discovered plastic in ９５％ of the deceased birds’ stomachs, while in California, USA, dolphins and whales have been found to have died in extreme agony, with their digestive tracts completely blocked by plastic debris.

The phrase 『mermaid tears』 refers to the small pellets of plastic resembling fish eggs or even smaller that have been spilled in the transport of raw plastic materials, or have been broken down as granules of waste over the years.

With every square kilometer of ocean now containing an average of ７４,０００ pieces of plastic, these so-called mermaid’s tears are nearly impossible to clean up.

Directed by Sandrine Fevdel of France, the film’s thoughtful look at the destructive effects of plastic pollution has earned it numerous awards, including Best Environmental Film at the Prague Festival and the Greek Public Television Broadcasting Award at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival ２０１０.

Our heartfelt thanks, Ms. Feydel for this documentary, which makes clear the plight of marine animals in the face of human contamination of the oceans. May we all move rapidly to reverse these harmful effects and restore the health of our planet and oceans.

Ever-concerned for the balance of life on Earth, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often spoken of ways that humanity can show more care for the beings that depend on our actions for their survival, as during a May ２００８ videoconference in South Korea.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: In many places there are already bans on the use of plastic bags. So I think that’s a very good start, and maybe we should impose a little stricter ban on these harmful substances.

Maybe we can use a carton instead, something more disposable, something more eco-friendly. And then we have to change.

The root of the problem is the cause of global warming, and that root is our unkindness to our co-inhabitants.

So, in order to solve the problem that we are facing right now, we have to reverse our actions. We have to be kind to our co-inhabitants. Instead of killing them, massacring them, sacrificing them, we have to take care of them.

Just become vegetarian, refuse all the animal products, then nobody will raise animals anymore, nobody will kill them anymore. Then we stop the physical harmful effect of animal stock raising.

http://www.viadeCOuvertes.fr/pages/f...ence.php?id=86

http://www.javafilms.fr/spip.php?article268

http://www.indiewire.com/article/eye...ts_top_prize/#

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/oc...=2070&page=1#v