Our association is a non-profit and humanitarian spiritual organization involved with promoting
world peace through meditation and a vegetarian lifestyle based on compassion for all beings.
Our centers are in most Australian capital cities and some regional centres. Our membership
consists of people from all walks of life, dedicated to spiritual development through practicing
the Quan Yin method of meditation.
Around the world, the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association is comprised of
hundreds of thousands of people in over 300 countries on all continents, pursuing quiet lives
of Quan Yin meditation practice and compassionate humanitarian work wherever there is
desperate need.
CLIMATE EMERGENCY ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN
Funded entirely by members of the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association in
Australia, about 300 members contributed voluntarily to the campaign out of deep concern
regarding the current Climate Crisis and the survival of humanity and all species. It is run by
volunteers from our centres around the country.
"The logic is simple as it is clear, retold by science as well as all the world’s great
religions: We reap
the consequences of our actions, and that’s why we must live
in harmony with the world around us.
We have to tackle the root of problem. The root of the problem is the cause of
global warming, and that
root is our unkindness to our co-inhabitants. And we
have also been unkind to our environment. So we
have been massacring our
co-inhabitant animals, and we have been destroying our environment like
deforesting and destroying the water and destroying the air. So from all this we
cannot expect a better
outcome. 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." - The Supreme Master Ching Hai
ADVANTAGES OF VEGETARIANISM OVER CO2 REDUCTION
In addition to having the advantage of immediately reducing global warming, a shift away from
methane-emitting food sources is much easier than cutting carbon dioxide.
First, there is no limit to reductions in this source of greenhouse gas that can be achieved
through vegetarian diet. In principle, even 100% reduction could be achieved with little
negative impact. In contrast, similar cuts in carbon dioxide are impossible without devastating
effects on the economy. Even the most ambitious carbon dioxide reduction strategies fall short
of cutting emissions by half.
Second, shifts in diet lower greenhouse gas emissions much more quickly than shifts away
from the fossil fuel burning technologies that emit carbon dioxide. The turnover rate for most
ruminant farm animals is one or two years, so that decreases in meat consumption would result
in almost immediate drops in methane emissions. The turnover rate for cars and power plants,
on the other hand, can be decades. Even if cheap, zero-emission fuel sources were available
today, they would take many years to build and slowly replace the massive infrastructure our
economy depends upon today.
Similarly, unlike carbon dioxide which can remain in the air for more than a century, methane
cycles out of the atmosphere in just eight years, so that lower methane emissions quickly
translate to cooling of the earth.
Third, efforts to cut carbon dioxide involve fighting powerful and wealthy business interests like
the auto and oil
industries. Environmental groups have been lobbying for years to make
fuel-efficient SUVs available or phase out power plants that don’t meet modern environmental
standards without success. At the same time, vegetarian foods are readily available, and cuts
in agricultural methane emissions are achievable at every meal.
Also, polls show that concern about global warming is widespread, and environmental activists
often feel helpless to do anything about it. Unless they happen to be buying a car or major
appliance, most people wanting to make a difference are given little to do aside from writing
their legislators and turning off their lights. Reducing or eliminating meat consumption is
something concerned citizens can do every day to help the planet.
Finally, it is worth noting that reductions in this source of greenhouse gas have many
beneficial side effects for the environment. Less methane results in less tropospheric ozone, a
pollutant damaging to human health and agriculture. Moreover, the same factory farms
responsible for these methane emissions also use up most of the country’s water supply, and
denude most of its wilderness for rangeland and growing feed. Creating rangeland to feed
western nations’ growing appetite for meat has been a major source of deforestation and
desertification in third world countries. Factory farm waste lagoons are a leading source of
water pollution in the U.S. Indeed, because of animal agriculture’s high demand for fossil fuels,
the average American diet is far more CO2-polluting than a plant-based one.
Recommendations
Organizations should consider making advocating vegetarianism a major part of their
global warming
campaigns. At a minimum, environmental advocates should mention
vegetarianism in any information
about actions individuals can take to address global
warming.
Government policy should encourage vegetarian diets. Possible mechanisms include an
environmental tax
on meat similar to one already recommended on gasoline, a shift in
farm subsidies to encourage
plant agriculture over animal agriculture, or an increased
emphasis on vegetarian foods in
government-run programs like the school lunch
program or food stamps.
By Noam Mohr, a physicist with degrees from Yale and Penn who has worked on globa
l warming campaigns for
the U.S. Public Interest Research Group August 2005
