Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet!

South China is currently experinecing servere drought, with the official economic loss totalling 19 billion yuan in March 2010. Regarding the causes of the drought, many victims content that this disaster is man-made rather than the work of the Nature. Victims from different parts of China responded to an American newspaper with the following comments:

"“Some gold mine companies took over the mountains and emptied them inside out. Trees were uprooted, and there was nothing to hold the soil. “, said Mr. Mo from the city of Wuzhou in Guangxi Province.

According to Mr Mo, the water shortage is very serious in his area, and the amount of water delivered by the authorities was not even close to being enough. There has not been even enough water for showers and laundry, let alone for farming."

"“There is a shortage of drinking water now which the authorities have not been able to resolve. They delivered tap water from the city once every few days. We have to wait in line in order to get a very limited amount. Domestic water shortage is a problem now, let alone water for farming. I have never seen such a serious drought before.”, said Mr. Mo from the city of Wuzhou in Guangxi Province.

"“The authorities did not provide any compensation to the drought victims. The cracks in the field are huge—even wild herbs cannot survive.”, said a resident in Fuyuan County of Yunnan Province.

"“Farmers had to sell their cattle cheaply because they have no water to raise them.”, said another resident in Yunnan Province.

According to the residents in Fuyuan County, they have been without tap water supply since the end of 2009, that their rationed water supply has not been steady, and that they have had to fetch water themselves from a village three miles away.

"“Each family is given four water tickets every two weeks and each ticket entitles the bearer to 100 kg (about 26 gallons) of water, which is not enough for daily use at all, especially for a large family of six or seven. So we have to fetch water from somewhere else. I haven’t taken a shower for a few months.”, said a resident in Fuyuan Country.

According to Mr. Mu from Chongqing, the climate in Chongqing has been erratic for several years and this erratic weather pattern could be a direct consequence of the Three Gorges Dam Project.

"“We have drought every year. I live in an urban area and haven’t seen any measures being taken. The peasants are the most disadvantaged group of people.”, said Mr. Mu.

SOURCE:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/32075/

Nitrous oxide, also called llaughing gas, is now the biggest threat to the Earth's ozone layer, scientists have said. CFCs deplete ozone in the ozone layer, and so does nitrous oxide. According to a study in the US, man-made nitrous oxide is an ozone-depleting substance that replaces CFCs. Unlike CFCs, however, emissions of man-made nitrous oxide are not regulated by international agreement:

"Published: 7:00PM BST 27 Aug 2009

"Nitrous oxide, better known as the dental anaesthetic "laughing gas", has replaced CFCs as the most potent destroyer of ozone in the upper atmosphere, a study has shown.

"Unlike CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), once extensively used in refrigerators, emissions of the gas are not limited by any international agreement.

""The dramatic reduction in CFCs over the last 20 years is an environmental success story," said Dr Akkihebbal Ravishankara, who led the US research. "But man-made nitrous oxide is now the elephant in the room among ozone-depleting substances."......

CLICK HERE FOR MORE 

Welcome，respected dignitaries，media members，notable speakers，and all noble conference participants，hallo. As a very concerned citizen of the world，I humbly greet you，thank you and respectfully salute all of you here today who have come with open hearts and minds for the welfare of this beautiful and beloved planet that we call home.

I am deeply grateful for the conference that is being held here today in Veracruz，Mexico，to address the urgency of global warming due to climate change which，sadly，has killed hundreds of thousands and affects hundreds of millions of humans，not included other species. It is my hope that it will raise higher awareness and inspire action toward the most serious international issue of our time.

The information communicated and the noble work being done here today is of paramount importance.

It is an honor to share the planet with dedicated people such as yourselves，who strive for the betterment of others. We all know that climate change is a grave issue; we all know what it is，and that the current critical condition of our planet calls for immediate and wise action from every one of us.

Please do take note of all info from this conference today and spread them far and wide to save our world from perishing. I take the opportunity to inform you the general urgent scenario，though perhaps some of you or many of you have already known.

URGENT SCENARIO

You see，Our current course of climate change is worse than the worst case scenario projected by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)，with the damaging and often fatal effects already being seen through such extreme events as hurricanes，flooding，droughts and heat waves.

Even if the world reduces greenhouse gas emissions，the planet will take time to recover from the gases already in the atmosphere.

This is why it is necessary to focus on short-lived gases，namely methane. Methane traps at least ７２ times more heat than CO２，averaged over a ２０ year period. Methane's biggest source is the livestock industry，which is indeed one of the top causes of global warming that must be stopped.

But first，please allow me to share just some of the latest evidence of the impacts of climate change on humans’ and animals’ lives.

A) ARCTIC MELT

Here we have first，Arctic melt. The Arctic，or North Pole，may be ice-free by ２０１２，７０ years ahead of IPCC estimations. Without the protective ice to reflect sunlight，９０ percent of the sun's heat can enter the open water，thus accelerating global warming.

The change in Arctic ice cover is dramatic，with climatologists saying that only １０ percent now is older and thick ice，while over ９０ percent is newly formed and thin.

Another Arctic change is the thawing of permafrost，a normally frozen layer of earth containing methane stores. The thawing of this layer in recent years has caused methane to be released，with atmospheric levels that have risen sharply since ２００４. Further global warming beyond a ２ degree Celsius rise could cause billions of tons more of methane to be released into the atmosphere，leading to mass extinctions of life

on this planet.

As the massive ice sheets of Greenland and the Antarctic continue to melt as well，catastrophic sea level rise and stronger storms are expected to follow.

If the entire West Antarctic sheet melts，global average sea levels would rise at least by ３.３，３.５ meters，affecting over ３.２ billion people - that is half of the world population - who live within ２００ miles of coastline. And US scientists from the National Snow and Ice Data Center now say that if all of Antarctica were to melt，the sea level could rise to a much higher level than expected，some say even up to ７０ meters，which means more deadly to all lives on Earth.

B) LANDS SINKING & CLIMATE REFUGEES

Next problem: We have lands sinking and climate refugees. Right now，at least １８ islands have completely submerged around the world，with more than ４０ other island nations at risk from rising sea levels. A report from the International Organization for Migration stated that there may be ２００ million，or even up to １ billion people will be climate refugees by ２０５０，or within our lifetime.

These are people who must leave their island or coastal homes due to rising sea levels or permafrost melts that cause entire communities or nations to sink and collapse.

C) GLACIER RETREAT & WATER SHORTAGE

Next problem we have: Glacier retreat and water shortage. Most of the planet’s glaciers will be gone within a few decades，jeopardizing the survival of more than ２ billion people.

One billion of these people will suffer the effects of the Himalayan glacier retreats，which have been occurring at a pace more rapid than anywhere in the world，with two-thirds of the region's more than １８，０００ glaciers receding. The initial effects of glacier melt are destructive floods and landslides.

As the glacial ice retreat continues，reduced rainfall，devastating droughts and water shortages are the result.

D) OCEANIC DEAD ZONES

Next: Oceanic dead zones. Climate change is creating areas of sea known as dead zones，which now number more than ４００. These arise due to fertilizer runoff largely from livestock，contributing to the lack of oxygen which is necessary to support life.

E) RECORD HEAT

Now，we have also record heat. The past decade has twice，at least，seen the hottest average annual temperatures ever recorded in our planet’s history. In ２００３，a record heat wave hit Europe，

claiming tens of thousands of lives. Heat waves also preceded the worst wildfires ever in Australia’s history.

F) STORMS INCREASING

Next: Storms increasing. The intensity and duration of hurricanes and tropical storms have been noted to increase by １００％ over the past ３０ years，which scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA say is likely due to climate-related increases in ocean temperature.

G) WILDLIFE DISAPPEARING

Next we have wildlife disappearance. Leading ecologists say that the decline of wildlife due to species extinction is so rapid that there is no modern comparison.

Scientists also now predicted that the Earth’s １６，０００ endangered species may become extinct １００ times faster than previously thought.

H) DROUGHT & DESERTIFICATION

Next，we have drought，desertification. In Nepal and Australia，wildfires this year have been severely intensified by drought conditions.

In Africa，people in Somalia，Ethiopia and Sudan，to name just a few，have been crippled by drought. According to the United Nations，desertification，which often results from felling too many trees and damages that occurs from such activities as cattle grazing，is affecting the well-being of more than １.２ billion people in more than １００ countries at risk.

Precious fresh water supplies are also drying up，such as aquifers under the major cities of Beijing，Delhi，Bangkok，and dozens of other regions such as the Midwestern United States; while the rivers Ganges，Jordan，Nile，and Yangtze have been reduced to a trickle for much of the year.

In China’s worst drought in five decades，vital crops were lost in at least １２ northern provinces，costing the nation billions of US dollars in drought relief to farmers with losses.

I) HUMAN HEALTH

Next we have the human health problem. According to Swiss-based research，climate change is already responsible for some ３１５，０００ deaths a year，with another ３２５ million people who are severely affected. This comes in addition to an economic loss of US$１２５ billion every year.

The worst affected are developing nations in Africa，with other very threatened areas being in South Asia and small island nations.

SOLUTION

Okay，We have enough with problem，but we have solutions to this problem. It might not be that early，but it’s still not too late，we still can rescue our home，planet home. Okay，Number one solutionis vegan，

organic vegan. Veganism will save our world.

I will report to you one by one how vegan would save our world. Luckily，there are easy actions we can take.

I will list them for your reference. Now，many of these areas where we are seeing such devastating effects of climate change，such as Arctic melt，lands sinking，water shortage from glacier melt，and even storms increasing are all directly related to the Earth’s temperature increasing.

So，we must cool the planet，first and foremost. And the best way to stop global warming is to stop producing the greenhouse gases that create the heat.

Logical，no？ Yes.We already know about the efforts to reduce emissions such as from industry and transportation. But changes in these sectors are taking too much time – more than we can afford at this rate，at this hour. One of the most effective and fastest ways to reduce the heat

in the atmosphere is to eliminate methane production.

Methane not only traps up to ７２ times more heat than carbon，it also goes away from the atmosphere much faster than CO２. So if we stop producing methane，the atmosphere will cool more quickly than if we stop producing carbon dioxide.

See what I mean？Organic vegan will produce beneficial cooling effect as it will cut down methane and other greenhouse gases which are fatal to our survival.

１) Eliminating Methane

We can start by cutting down on the biggest methane producer in the world，that is，animal raising. So，to cool the planet most quickly，we have to stop consuming meat in order to stop the livestock raising industry，and thus stop greenhouse gases，methane and other toxic gases from the animal industry.

If everyone in the world would adopt this simple but most powerful practice of an animal-free diet，then we could reverse the effect of global warming in no time. We would then have time to actually be able to adopt longer-term measures such as more green technology，to also remove the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

In fact，if we neglect to stop meat production，either all these green efforts will be cancelled out in effect，or we may lose the planet before we are even having a chance to install any green technology such as the wind power or solar power，or more hybrid cars，for that reason.

Please also keep in mind that although livestock has been reported to generate １８% of global greenhouse gas emissions — which is more than the world's transportation sectors combined—this is actually an underestimate because recently revised calculations have placed it at generating possibly more than ５０% of total global emissions.

I repeat: Livestock has been recalculated as to generate possibly more than ５０% of total global emissions – more than ５０% is from livestock industry. So that was the number one solution.

２) Eliminating Other Gases Now，

number two: eliminating other gases. Besides methane，other lethal toxic gases are emitted by the livestock industry as well.

It is the largest source at ６５% of global nitrous oxide，a greenhouse gas with approximately ３００ times the warming potential of CO２; it emits also ６４% of all ammonia，which causes acid rain and hydrogen sulfide，a fatal gas. So to stop livestock production is to eliminate all these deadly gases，

as well as methane.

３) Halting Dead Zones

Number three: Halting dead zones. There are other huge benefits gained by halting livestock production. Oceanic dead zones，for example，are caused primarily by fertilizer runoff from agriculture that is mainly used for animal feed.

Dead zones are a serious threat to the ocean’s ecosystems，but they can be revived if we stop polluting them with our livestock-related activities.

Stop fishing，too，then marine life will rebound. Since the heavy fishing that caused the sardines to disappear from the coast of Namibia，eruptions of harmful gases have created a dead zone that is destroying the area's ecosystems due to the absence of that one humble but eco-beneficial，powerful species. Can you imagine？Just the sardines.

So we have to stop fishing as well as all animal products，to protect our living ocean and water bodies，which is crucial to our survival. You know it.

４) Stopping Desertification

Now number four: we have to stop desertification. We can. Desertification is another climate change effect that is linked to livestock，again.

For example，in Mexico，recent research stated that ４７% of your country has already taken the toil of desertification，has become desert，due to damage from the cattle industry.

you see And another ５０-７０% of the country of Mexico is also suffering from some degree of drought. Overgrazing by livestock，which occupies nearly a third of our Earth’s land surface worldwide，is a major cause of desertification and other damages，and is responsible for more than ５０% of land erosion.

Now，we must stop livestock grazing to protect our soil and protect our life.

５) Stopping Water shortage

Number five: We can stop water shortage.

While droughts are plaguing more populations，we cannot afford to waste water.

Meat production uses massive amounts of water，as you know. It takes up to １，２００ gallons of fresh and good clean water to produce just one serving of beef.

In contrast，a full vegan meal costs only ９８ gallons of water. That is like ９０ plus percent less. So，if we want to stop water shortage and to preserve precious water we have to stop animal products.

６) Banning Deforestation

Now，six: we can stop deforestation. We have to ban deforestation. And we have to plant more trees，of course. Wherever there’s erosion or empty land we have to plant trees. Ok. Now，Deforestation is also largely driven by meat production. With the United Nations estimating that deforestation accounts for approximately ２０% of all greenhouse gas emissions，nearly all deforestation itself is related to meat production.

Eighty percent of cleared Amazon forest is designated as a cattle grazing area to prepare the animals for slaughter，and the remainder is planted as soy crops used also largely for animal feed.

So to stop animal products is to protect our precious forest，the lungs of our Earth，and the crucial factor for our survival.

７) Alleviating Financial Cost Now，

seven: We have to alleviate financial cost. See，Our leaders are worried about the cost of mitigating climate change. However，the good news is，if the world shifted to a reduced，or meatless diet，animal-free diet，then we could reduce the cost by half or more. That means，that means we would reduce tens of trillions of US dollars.

If the world shifted to vegan diet we could save more than ８０% of the cost，or approximately US$３２ trillion.

８) Minimized Health Cost Number

eight: we must minimize health costs. The health risks of eating meat are more and more evident these days. Livestock are routinely given excessive hormones and antibiotics，which then，when consumed as meat can in turn endanger human health. There are also toxic byproducts in slaughter places such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.

These poisonous substances have caused deaths among workers due to their extreme toxicity.

As a so-called food，meat is simply one of the most unhealthy，poisonous，unhygienic items that could ever be ingested by humans.

We should never eat meat at all if we love and cherish our health and our life. We will live longer without meat，healthier，wiser without meat. Meat has been scientifically shown to cause all kinds of cancers，

also heart disease，high blood pressure，stroke and obesity. The list goes on and on and on.All these diseases kill millions of people every year. millions Millions of people die due to meat related diseases，and making millions of others seriously sick and disabled as well.

There is no end to tragedies caused by the meat diet. Meat eating is a no-no. We should know this by now through all the scientific and medical evidence. Please stop eating meat.

Just even for your health’s sake. You want to live long for your children and your grandchildren，and live healthily. We did not even mention the filthy condition，the confined environments where the animals are kept until their slaughter，which promote the transmission of diseases such as the swine flu virus. In fact，some meat-transmitted diseases，like the human form of mad cow disease，are tragically fatal in every case.

Whoever contracts mad cow disease is doomed to die，sadly and sorrowfully. sadly，etc.

Other contaminants such as E. coli，salmonella，etc.，

can also causeserious health problems，long-term damages，sometimes even leading to death. In short，simply saying no to meat will make us richer，healthier，and most importantly，it will make us a wiser person，and a great hero. Because it is the only timely way that we ensure the survival of our children and grandchildren.

CLOSING

To conclude my report:

Respected，honorable，wise，beloved，esteemed audience members，we now can see how imperative it is to stop the warming of the planet with the greenest of all green policies and actions，the most compassionate，the most heroic，the most life-saving action，that is: the vegan diet，organic vegan to be exact. It’s better for your health as well. It is the long-term insurance against climate change. We must be the solution and encourage others with all the convincing and supporting scientific，physical and moral data that is available to us so they do the same. Adopting a plant-based diet can halt as much as ８０% of global warming，eradicate world hunger，stop war，promote peace，and it will free up the Earth’s water as well as many other precious resources，offering a lifeline for the planet and for humanity.

In short，it will very quickly halt many of the global problems facing us right now. Therefore，it is vital that we change our lifestyle – it’s very easy to do it – setting a noble example for others to follow，and do our part to bring to the public’s attention the urgent climate change issues and its solutions;

the foremost being the vegan diet，to safeguard our precious planet. It is time to walk the talk，because there is not much time left now.

In coming here today，it is quite clear that all of you already know that the issues at hand are very urgent and need to resolve immediately.

Thank you all statespersons，media members，speakers，conference participants，ladies and gentlemen，for all your time and care in coming here today. And thank you all noble persons involved in organizing this awakening event.

I truly appreciate your sincerity and willingness to join with those who share the same goal，for taking initiatives to inform the public，and for wanting to implement prompt actions. Together we can usher in a new golden era where we can all live the noble qualities of love，compassion and benevolence as was intended，live up to the principles of nonviolence and forgiveness，exemplifying the human standard of virtuous living，righteous living，and live a more sustainable life in peace，joy and harmony with each other，with all our co-inhabitants - humans，animals，plants，trees alike.

I am quite sure that this conference will contribute greatly to the worldwide efforts of all nations to save our planet.

My most heartfelt gratitude to all who took part in making this a reality. May Heaven bless you，your loved ones and your countries. And may all your noble endeavors be graced with glorious success！

Now，due to my travel，regrettably it’s not feasible to reply to your questions. But should you have any，I will be glad to reply to the best of my knowledge on a later date on Supreme Master Television. Or you can log on to the internet，www.SupremeMasterTV.com，to get the required answer to your questions.

God bless us all. God loves us all.

Thank you for you attention. Thank you for everything you do for the planet.

SOURCE: http://www.suprememastertv.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=sos_video&wr_id=117&goto_url=&url= 

Scientists from Queensland University of Technology have discovered that stained glass windows painted with gold paint purify the air when heated by the sun. Gold paint in the glass windows contain trace of gold nanoparticles. in the presence of sunlight, electrons in these gold nanoparticles become activated and oscillate. The magnetic field strength of the electrons is magnified by resonance with the electromagnetic field of sunlight by up to 100 times, which is enough to destroy molecules of some airborne pollutants.....

CLICK HERE FOR MORE 

Poor man Solar Cooker made with Cardboard Sheets known as "Kyoto Box" wins a $75,000 worth climate change award. The inventor of this inventiion was Jon Bohmer, a Norwegian-born entrepreneur based in Kenya. According to the inventor, this prize-winning invention can be used to cook food and bring water to the boil under a sunny sky.

(credit due to http://news.sky.com)

09 April 2009

Poor man solar-powered cardboard oven, also known as the Kyoto Box, has won a $75,000 climate change award. The inventor of this inventiion was Jon Bohmer, a Norwegian-born entrepreneur based in Kenya. According to the inventor, this prize-winning invention can be used to cook food and bring water to the boil under a sunny sky.

The Kyoto Box is a simple invention made from two cardboard boxes, one inside the other with a transparent acrylic cover to let in the sun's energy. Between the inner box and the outer box is straw or newspaper which serves as an insulation. The reflective foil on the outer box and black paint in the interior of the inner box ensure maximum absorption of solar energy.

Bohmer named his invention the Kyoto Box, after the international environmental treaty to reduce global warming.

The cooker costs around $5.00 to make and will be given away for free to the 3 billion poor people who currently rely on firewood to cook.

Introducing the Kyoto Box to such communities would cut carbon emissions from burning wood. In addition, there are also sanitary benefits from boiling water to drink.

The invention was pitted against nearly 300 other entries, including a machine that turns wood and other organic material into charcoal, wheel covers that make trucks more fuel efficient by reducing drag, and a garlic-based feed supplement for livestock that reduces the methane they emit by 15 percent.

"A lot of scientists are working on ways to send people to Mars. I was looking for something a little more grassroots, a little simpler," Jon Bohmer said Thursday.

"In the West, we cook with electricity, so it's easy to ignore this problem," he said. "But half the world's population is still living in a stone age. The only way for them to cook is to make a fire.

"I don't want to see another 80-year-old woman carrying 20 kilos of firewood on her back. Maybe we don't have to."

.... CLICK HERE FOR TECHNICAL DETAILS OF ANOTHER VERSION OF SOLAR BOX COOKER 

Chinese version of the news:

"助窮人太陽能煮食 「京都紙盒」奪環保大獎

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/article/090410/4/bmei.html

"助窮人太陽能煮食 「京都紙盒」奪環保大獎

"(明報)4月11日 星期六 05:05

"【明報專訊】想以廉價及環保方式煮食？只需買一個紙盒就可以。非洲肯尼亞一名發明家把常見紙盒改裝成太陽能煮食爐，可助全球數以億計窮人減少燒柴煮食，以減少排放溫室氣體。這項成本僅6美元（46.8港元）的發明，在環保大賽中贏得7.5萬美元（約58萬港元）獎金。

"兩紙盒製成 成本僅HK$46。

"這一設計獨特的煮食爐名為「京都紙盒」（取名源自規範溫室氣體排放的《京都議定書》）。它由兩個紙盒製成，盒蓋包上錫紙集中熱力，盒身塗上黑油吸熱，紙盒內有一個煮食用黑煲，透明煲蓋可助保存熱力及水分。

"在肯尼亞開設能源公司的發明家博默（Jon Bohmer）表示，他希望「京都紙盒」能把太陽能煮食推廣至發展中國家，取代燒柴，「發展中國家人口眾多，他們不可只靠木材及山火煮食，這會摧毁所有樹」。

"評審：有望改善數十億人生活

"在環保組織Forum for the Future舉辦的環保大賽上，評審對「京都紙盒」能在發展中國家立即大量生產，都感到印象深刻。評審馬登說﹕「紙盒有改善數十億人生活的潛力，是一項可大量生產的革新發明。」

(Note: Chinese version of this news is by no mean the exact translation of the English version.)

Keywords: be veg, go green, save the planet, vegan/vegetarian, vegan, vegetarian, ahimsa, vegan meat, vegan t-shirt, vegetarian-restaurant, vegan-restaurant, meat-free, non-dairy, dairy-free, egg-free, no-smoking, no-drinking

Apr 6 - A new survey indicates Arctic ice is thinner and melting away faster than ever before, while in the Antarctic, the Wilkins ice shelf is on the brink of collapse.

A six-year NASA report concludes Arctic ice is thinner and melting away faster than previously thought due to global warming.

The report was released as news that the Wilkins ice shelf in Antarctica was a on brink of disintegrating.

Satellite photos taken by the European Space Agency confirm that the thread of ice connecting the ice shelf to land had shattered leading scientists to warn that the entire ice shelf could soon break up and disappear.....

(VIDEO: Ice shelf brink of collapse included)

CLICK HERE FOR MORE 

Keywords: be veg, go green, save the planet, vegan/vegetarian, vegan, vegetarian, ahimsa, vegan meat, vegan t-shirt, vegetarian-restaurant, vegan-restaurant, meat-free, non-dairy, dairy-free, egg-free, no-smoking, no-drinking

A lot of stories are being circulated on the internet in an attempt to discredit the theory of man-made climate change. Some websites even challenge the conventional greenhouse theories. In the light of this problem, the author has conducted a very simple experiment that hopefully will help to clarify the basic understanding of man-made climate change.

In this experiment, a solar cooker  was used to observe the effects of greenhouse gases on temperature. The purpose of this experiment was to better understand the role of greenhouse gases on climate change.

Procedures

Step 1: Prepare the following materials:

* two metal cans, both of which are painted in black.

* two plastic bags.

* a solar cooker (for example, this one ).

* an infrared thermometer or any other non-contact temperature measuring device.

Step 2: Each metal can is placed in a tightly closed plastic bag. One bag is filled with air and the other bag is filled with predominately carbon dioxide.

Step 3: Use the solar cooker to heat up both cans under sunny and cloudy skies. The experimental setup is shown in the following figure:

 

Figure 1. Experimental setup for proving the role of carbon dioxide on climate change

Step 4. Use the infrared thermometer provided to measure the temperature of the metal cans under sunny and cloudy weathers.

Experimental results under a cloudy sky

The follwing figure shows the temperatures of both metal cans (that is, one enclosed in carbon dioxide and the other enclosed in air) under a cloudy sky.

Before the measurement, both cans have been carefully treated to the same temperature.

As shown in the following figure, the temperature of the can enclosed in carbon dioxide were noticably higher.

Figure 2. Temperature of the cans in cloudy weather

Experimental results under a sunny sky

Under a sunny sky, the temperatures of both cans rose up so quickly to the point that I could not manually record the temperature of each can.

Before the experment, both cans were at 36 degree C.

After about 5 minutes, I broke both plastic bags and removed both metal cans from the solar cooker, allowing the metal cans to cool down naturally. At that time, the temperature of the can enclosed in carbon dioxde gas reached 95 degree C, while the can enclosed in air reached 85 degree C.

During the cooling phase, I measured the temperature of each can again. The follwing figure shows the temperatures of both cans after being removed from the solar cooker.

As shown in the following figure, the temperature of the can enclosed in carbon dioxide were noticably higher.

Figure 3. Temperature of the cans in sunny weather

Concluding remarks

In this experiment, the gases inside each bag act as a greenhouse enclosure. Each black metal can acts as a blackbody radiator that absorbs solar radiations and that radiates predominately infrared light at room temperature. The results of this experiment suggest that greenhouse effects due to increased concentration of carbon dioxide contribute to a noticable heat gain in the blackbody radiator (i.e. the metal can enclosed in carbon dioxide).

In the earth context, the reflective surface of the solar cooker is equivalent to the icy glacier regions of the earth. The black metal can is the non-reflective surface of the earth. The gases inside each bag is our atmosphere. The heat gain in the black metal can as a result of increased carbon dioxide represents global warming (or climate change).

While this experiment may be easy to understand, the implication of the results is stunning. In the Arctic region, the sea ice is supposed to reflect solar radiations. However, it has been reported that, as shown in following figure, the northen hemisphere has experienced significant ice loss over the past few years. According to NASA, the total Arctic sea ice has decreased by 38% since 1979. This suggests that the area of the reflective surface on the northern hemisphere is shrinking, increasing exposing the non-reflective surface that serves as blackbody radiators. Therein, the blackbody radiators include not only the non-reflective surface, but also those surface and undersea volcanoes. Our experimental results have already demonstrated that increase in carbon dioxide level will lead to noticable heat gain in a blackbody radiator. It is not difficult to understand why some parts of the earth experience an unprecedented hot climate.

Figure 4. Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice Anomaly (credit due to Arctic Climate Research at the University of Illinois)

The ozone hole over Antarctic has not been patched, while some other regions of our ozone layer have experienced serve ozone loss during the past few years. In the absence of any sunshine, say during the evening time, some heat or other blackbody radiations on the planet lose to outerspace through the broken ozone layer, making some places unprecedentedly cold. However, when the sunshire reappears during the daytime, the solar radiations penetrate through the same thinned regions of the ozone layer, heating up the same places that are bitterly cold during the evening time.

It is important to understand that, at the time of this writing, we are still at a solar minimum. This means any rebound in solar radiations will potentially lead to further ice loss in the polar regions.

It is also important to understand that carbon dioxide is not the only greenhouse gas that contributes to atmospheric greenhouse effects. There are many other more potent greenhouse gases whose concentrations are on the rise as of right now. Methane is one of those. If this trend is to continue, and if the sun refuses to be quiet during the upcoming solar cycle 24, then we will be in deep deep trouble!

Keywords: be veg, go green, save the planet, vegan/vegetarian, vegan, vegetarian, ahimsa, vegan meat, vegan t-shirt, vegetarian-restaurant, vegan-restaurant, meat-free, non-dairy, dairy-free, egg-free, no-smoking, no-drinking

Since the launch of this blog, I have quoted a lot of literatures on the link between climate change and the ozone layer. This one is another example. The reason is because, I believe, the unprecedented coolness in many places is probably due to leakage of heat on earth through the broken ozone layer. (EDIT: Since the recent volcano eruption in Iceland, I discovered the ambient temperature is more stable than before. It is unclear whether or not this is due to the fact that the sulphur dioxide is shielding the earth surface from the solar UV radiations.

"BALTIMORE, Maryland, February 6, 2009 (ENS) - Increasing greenhouse gases could stall the recovery of stratospheric ozone in some regions of the Earth, according to new research by a team from Johns Hopkins University. The scientists warn that increased rates of skin cancer in those regions might result.

"Darryn Waugh, a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, and his colleagues reported Thursday that climate change could provoke variations in the circulation of air in the lower stratosphere in tropical and southern mid-latitudes, including Australia and South America.

"The circulation changes would cause ozone levels in these areas never to return to levels that were present before decline began, even after ozone-depleting substances have been wiped out from the atmosphere.

"In tropical and southern mid-latitudes, Waugh says, "Global warming causes changes in the speed that the air is transported into and through the lower stratosphere. You're moving the air through it quicker, so less ozone gets formed."

CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE 

CLICK HERE FOR THE LEAD RESEARCHER'S WEBSITE 

As pointed out by the following news article, the loss of ozone over the Arctic region is not new. The recent volcano eruption in Iceland releases about 400 tones of sulphur dioxide. Sulphur dioxide can also shield the earth surface from harmful solar radiations. Hopefully, the presence of sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere would alleviate the negative impacts due to the damage on the ozone layer:

"Huge Losses Found in Arctic Ozone Layer

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2000/2000-04-06-06.asp 

"By Cat Lazaroff

"WASHINGTON, DC, April 6, 2000 (ENS) - More than 60 percent of the ozone layer blanketing the Arctic Circle was lost this past winter, due to record cold and continued pollution by humans, scientists from the United States and the European Union said Wednesday. The researchers also warned that global warming may speed up ozone loss and slow the recovery of the ozone layer.

"arctic

"A computer generated image of the thinning ozone layer, with the thinnest areas shown in dark blue (All photos courtesy NASA)

"The ozone losses are likely to affect the ozone levels over Europe during spring, the scientists said.

"Studies by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Union have revealed ozone losses of over 60 percent in the Arctic stratosphere around 18 kilometers (11 miles) above the Earth, during one of the coldest stratospheric winters on record. This is one of the most substantial ozone losses at this altitude ever recorded in the Arctic.

""Last winter's results have heightened concerns that ozone levels over the north polar region may continue to decline despite the benefits of international agreements to stop production and release of ozone-destroying chemicals," said Dr. Hanjürg Jost of NASA's Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley.

"More than a decade ago scientists determined that ozone depletion is caused mostly by man-made chlorine and bromine compounds. Manufacturers made the chlorine compounds, chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs, for use as refrigerants, aerosol sprays, solvents and foam-blowing agents. Fire fighters used bromine-containing halons to put out fires. Manufacture of chlorofluorocarbons ceased in 1996 in developed countries under the terms of the Montreal Protocol and its amendments.

"But climate change in the stratosphere will likely result in increased ozone losses in the Arctic winter in the coming decades, even as the amount of chlorine and bromine introduced into the atmosphere is decreased, the researchers said. The buildup of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, tends to trap more heat near the Earth's surface, while at the same time colder than normal temperatures are experienced in the stratosphere, where the ozone breakdown occurs, scientists explained.

"clouds

"Opalescent polar stratospheric clouds help turn chlorine into the ozone destroyer chlorine monoxide

"The cold air helps form high altitude clouds (at about 18 kilometers or 60,000 feet), called "polar stratospheric clouds" or PSCs, which play a unique role in atmospheric ozone loss. The opalescent clouds form only in the cold temperatures found at the poles. These clouds help trigger the conversion of chlorine from relatively non-reactive forms to a form (chlorine monoxide, or ClO) that, in combination with sunlight, destroys ozone.

"PSCs were observed to extend widely over the Arctic region from early December to early March. "We were somewhat surprised to see PSCs so early in December," said Dr. Mark Schoeberl, who was the SOLVE co-project scientist for observations made from NASA's DC-8 aircraft. "Some of the PSC types and their locations which we observed in December did not fit within our current understanding."

"The last PSCs were observed on March 8 by instruments aboard the DC-8, and on March 15 by satellite.

"The polar stratosphere temperatures were extremely low over the course of this last winter. At 20 kilometers (66,000 feet) on January 28, the area covered by temperatures low enough to form PSCs was 14.8 million square kilometers (5.7 million square miles), which is larger than the continental United States. This is the largest area coverage recorded in more than 40 years of Northern Hemisphere stratospheric analyses.

""The polar stratospheric clouds covered a larger area, and persisted for a longer period of time, than for any other Arctic winter during the past 20 years. These conditions heighten our concern regarding possible couplings between climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion," said ozone researcher Dr. Ross Salawitch of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

"DC-8

"One of NASA's DC-8 aircraft prepares for a data gathering flight

"The mixing of polar air into middle latitudes, both during the winter and as the polar circulation broke down in late March, influences ozone levels over the populated middle regions, particularly in Europe.

"In March, the World Meteorological Organisation Mapping Centre at the University of Thessaloniki reported that the average ozone amounts over Europe were 15 percent below the pre-1976 average, lending credence to concerns that thinning ozone will significantly impact species living outside the Arctic Circle.

"More than 350 researchers from the United States, Europe, Canada, Russia and Japan took part in the combined NASA/European Union-sponsored field campaign, said project manager Mike Craig of NASA Ames. Researchers measured ozone, other atmospheric gases, particle amounts and air motions in the Arctic stratosphere, the atmospheric layer between roughly eight and 50 kilometers (five to 31 miles) altitude.

"From November 1999 to March 2000, investigators used spacecraft, aircraft, large, small and long-duration balloons, and ground-based instruments to gather data. The aircraft and large balloon launch teams were based in Kiruna, Sweden.

"A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ozone instrument aboard NASA's high altitude ER-2 aircraft was used to measure ozone losses in the lower stratosphere. Data from the ER-2 show ozone in the Arctic decreasing by about 60 percent between January and mid-March, said ER-2 co-project scientist Paul Newman of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

"balloon

"Researchers prepare to send an instrument package up on a weather balloon

"These measurements are comparable to the large ozone losses in the lower stratosphere observed during several winters in the mid-1990s. Total ozone losses throughout the depth of the atmosphere were slightly reduced because ozone losses were smaller above 66,000 feet (20 kilometers). Spacecraft observations by NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer-Earth Probe clearly showed an area of low ozone over the polar region during February and March.

"The average total polar ozone for the first two weeks of March was 16 percent lower than scientists observed during the same time period in the early 1980s.

"The campaign - the biggest field measurement campaign yet undertaken - included the NASA-sponsored Stratospheric Aerosols and Gas Experiment (SAGE III) Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE), and European Union-sponsored Third European Stratospheric Experiment on Ozone (THESEO-2000).

"balloon

"A weather balloon heads for the Arctic stratosphere

"The joint investigations into the Arctic stratosphere have provided better insights into the processes that control polar ozone. These insights considerably add to scientists' ability to predict ozone levels in the future as chlorine levels decline and as greenhouse gases increase.

""European cooperation within an international team has made it possible to achieve these research results," said Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin. "They will provide the best possible scientific advice to the regulatory process concerning ozone depleting substances in the framework of the Montreal Protocol and, equally important, to the citizens."

As the world’s governments strive to implement solutions to combat climate change, its effects continue to increase and intensify with more frequent and severe storms, floods, droughts, heat waves, hurricanes and more.

The most prominent recent information shows that methane is up to 25 times more potent, per ton, than CO2 in causing global warming. These calculations are based on averaging the heating impact of methane over 100 years. However, after only a decade, methane is barely traceable and almost disappears after 20 years, thus averaging it over a century dramatically reduces its impact. And as we don’t have 100 years left to reduce our greenhouse gases, more recent calculations averaged over a period of 20 years rate methane as 72 times more potent.

Methane emissions are produced from natural sources such as oceans, permafrost, some wetlands, and also from human-made sources. Human-produced methane is one of the largest emitters especially from biomass burning (the burning of vegetation for land clearing and land-use change) and the livestock industry. Methane from the energy sector such as coal mines, oil refineries and leaking gas pipelines can be minimized through technological changes and advancements. But it is the methane from the livestock industry that is the worst human-derived emitter, as recently stated by Dr. Kirk Smith, Professor of Global Environmental Health at the University of California, Berkley. He said, “And that is something that we all contribute to, all of us who eat meat and I must say, drink milk as well.” Fortunately then, reducing methane levels is something that all of us can have a hand in right now by consuming less meat and dairy products. Professor Smith verifies this by boldly stating: “The immediate fix is to eat less meat.”

Currently, governments worldwide are focusing on strategies to reduce CO2 emissions; however, this latest information about methane points to the fact that we should be concentrating on methane reduction much more. Dr. Smith added, “Methane is the second most well-known greenhouse gas but is much more powerful.” He described it as an insidious gas; one that is not only an intense greenhouse gas but one that also helps create ground-level ozone, which is damaging to human health. If high levels of methane reduce oxygen concentration in the atmosphere to below 19.5% then asphyxia can occur. Increased levels can also be highly flammable forming explosive mixtures with air.

Dr. Kirk Smith believes that climate scientists need to stress the dire consequences of methane more. “Sure we have to deal with CO2, but if you want to make an impact on climate in the next 20 years, the place to do it is with the shorter-lived greenhouse gases, most important of which is methane.” Nations worldwide need to take heed of this advice and make the reduction of methane top priority by placing the animal-free diet at the forefront of all greenhouse gas reduction strategies; because, as Dr. Smith explained, “The biggest single source of human-caused methane emissions is livestock.” Reducing global methane levels right away will also buy us more time to transition into using sustainable energies.

Put simply, the science is now telling us that methane is several times more powerful in warming the planet than CO2 and that we need to drastically reduce our methane emissions immediately for the sake of the Earth and all her inhabitants. The quickest and most effective way to make this happen is something that all individuals can do and that is to adopt an animal-free or vegan diet.

To view Supreme Master Television’s full interview with Dr. Kirk Smith please go to:

http://video.Godsdirectcontact.net/magazine/AW643.php

References:

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/the-missing-link-in-the-garnaut-report-20080709-3cjh.html?page=-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane

The Living Planet has in October, 2008 published a report suggesting that the world is heading for an "ecological credit crunch" far worse than the current financial crisis because humans are over-using the natural resources of the planet. According to the following news article from Guardian, the report warns that humans are using 30% more resources than sustainable, and, at this consumption rate, two planets will be needed by 2010. The report is here:

"* Juliette Jowit

"* The Guardian,

"* Wednesday October 29 2008

"The world is heading for an "ecological credit crunch" far worse than the current financial crisis because humans are over-using the natural resources of the planet, an international study warns today.

"The Living Planet report calculates that humans are using 30% more resources than the Earth can replenish each year, which is leading to deforestation, degraded soils, polluted air and water, and dramatic declines in numbers of fish and other species. As a result, we are running up an ecological debt of $4tr (£2.5tr) to $4.5tr every year - double the estimated losses made by the world's financial institutions as a result of the credit crisis - say the report's authors, led by the conservation group WWF, formerly the World Wildlife Fund. The figure is based on a UN report which calculated the economic value of services provided by ecosystems destroyed annually, such as diminished rainfall for crops or reduced flood protection.

"The problem is also getting worse as populations and consumption keep growing faster than technology finds new ways of expanding what can be produced from the natural world. This had led the report to predict that by 2030, if nothing changes, mankind would need two planets to sustain its lifestyle. "The recent downturn in the global economy is a stark reminder of the consequences of living beyond our means," says James Leape, WWF International's director general. "But the possibility of financial recession pales in comparison to the looming ecological credit crunch."

"The report continues: "We have only one planet. Its capacity to support a thriving diversity of species, humans included, is large but fundamentally limited. When human demand on this capacity exceeds what is available - when we surpass ecological limits - we erode the health of the Earth's living systems. Ultimately this loss threatens human well-being." Speaking yesterday in London, the report's authors also called for politicians to mount a huge international response in line with the multibillion-dollar rescue plan for the economy. "They now need to turn their collective action to a far more pressing concern and that's the survival of all life on planet Earth," said Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the president of WWF International.

"Sir David King, the British government's former chief scientific adviser, said: "We all need to agree that there's a crisis of understanding, that we're removing the planet's biodiverse resources at a rate which is as fast if not faster than the world's last great extinction."

"At the heart of the Living Planet report is an index of the health of the world's natural systems, produced by the Zoological Society of London and based on 5,000 populations of more than 1,600 species, and on an "ecological footprint" of human demands for goods and services.

"For the first time the report also contains detailed information on the "water footprint" of every country, and claims 50 countries are already experiencing "moderate to severe water stress on a year-round basis". It also shows that 27 countries are "importing" more than half the water they consume - in the form of water used to produce goods from wheat to cotton - including the UK, Switzerland, Austria, Norway and the Netherlands.

"Based on figures from 2005, the index indicates global biodiversity has declined by nearly a third since 1970. Breakdowns of the overall figure show the tropical species index fell by half and the temperate index remained stable but at historically low levels. Divided up another way, indices for terrestrial, freshwater and marine species, and for tropical forests, drylands and grasslands all showed significant declines. Of the main geographic regions, only the Nearctic zone around the Arctic sea and covering much of North America showed no overall change.....

TO VIEW THE WHOLE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE 

This entry is about Sun's protective 'bubble' is shrinking detected by Nasa scientists. What follows are paragraphs extracted from the article entiled "Sun's protective 'bubble' is shrinking" by Richard Gray, Science Correspondent, Telegraph

"The protective bubble around the sun that helps to shield the Earth from harmful interstellar radiation is shrinking and getting weaker, Nasa scientists have warned.

"New data has revealed that the heliosphere, the protective shield of energy that surrounds our solar system, has weakened by 25 per cent over the past decade and is now at it lowest level since the space race began 50 years ago.

"Around 90 per cent of the galactic cosmic radiation is deflected by our heliosphere, so the boundary protects us from this harsh galactic environment."

"The heliosphere is created by the solar wind, a combination of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields that emanate a more than a million miles an hour from the sun, meet the intergalactic gas that fills the gaps in space between solar systems.

"At the boundary where they meet a shock wave is formed that deflects interstellar radiation around the solar system as it travels through the galaxy.

"Without the heliosphere the harmful intergalactic cosmic radiation would make life on Earth almost impossible by destroying DNA and making the climate uninhabitable.

"Measurements made by the Ulysses deep space probe, which was launched in 1990 to orbit the sun, have shown that the pressure created inside the heliosphere by the solar wind has been decreasing.

"If the heliosphere continues to weaken, scientists fear that the amount of cosmic radiation reaching the inner parts of our solar system, including Earth, will increase.

"This could result in growing levels of disruption to electrical equipment, damage satellites and potentially even harm life on Earth.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SOURCE 

Methane gas is now bubbling from the Artic ocean. It is now unclear if the recent volcano eruption in Iceland would accerlate the methane rellease from the ocean bed. While methane is a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, it is also a toxin. Its presence in the atmosphere will displace the oxygen which survives all the animal species on the planet. Most articles, like the following one, only highlight the issue of global warming:

"Rising Arctic methane threatens efforts to reverse global warming

"GWYNNE DYER

"Article Last Updated: 09/29/2008 12:12:16 AM MDT

"Scientists have their own way of putting things. This is how Dr Oerjan Gustafsson of Stockholm University announced the approach of a climate apocalypse in an e-mail sent last week from the Russian research ship "Jakob Smirnitskyi" in the Arctic Ocean.

""We had a hectic finishing of the sampling program yesterday and this past night. An extensive area of intense methane release was found. At earlier sites we had found elevated levels of dissolved methane. Yesterday, for the first time, we documented a field where the release was so intense that the methane did not have time to dissolve into the seawater but was rising as methane bubbles to the sea surface."

"Gustafsson's preliminary report, published in The Independent of Sept. 23, is a development far more frightening than the current financial crisis, although it will get only one-thousandth of the coverage. The worst that the financial crisis can bring is some years of recession. The worst that massive methane releases in the Arctic can bring us is runaway, irreversible global warming.

"Molecule for molecule, methane gas is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a warming agent. However, since methane doesn't stay in the atmosphere as long - around 12 years, on average, compared to a hundred years for CO2 - and human activities do not produce all that much of it, concerns about climate change have mostly been focused on carbon dioxide. The one big worry was that warmer temperatures might cause massive releases of methane from natural sources.

" There are thousands of megatons of methane stored underground in the Arctic region, trapped there by the permafrost (permanently frozen ground) that covers much of northern Russia, Alaska and Canada and extends far out under the seabed of the Arctic Ocean. If the permafrost melts and methane escapes into the atmosphere on a large scale, it would cause a rapid rise in temperature - which would melt more permafrost, releasing more methane, which would cause more warming, and so on.

"Fear of this runaway feedback is why most climate scientists (and the European Union) have set a rise of 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the average global temperature as the limit which we must never exceed. Somewhere between 3.5 and 5.2 degrees, they fear, and massive feedbacks like methane release would kick in and take the situation out of our hands.

"Unfortunately, the heating is much more intense in the Arctic region. The average global temperature has only risen 1.1 degrees so far, but the average temperature in the Arctic is up by 7 degrees. So the permafrost is starting to melt and the trapped methane is escaping.

"That is what the research ship "Jakob Smirnitskyi" has just found: areas of the Arctic Ocean off the Russian coast where "chimneys" of methane gas are bubbling to the surface. What this may mean is that we have no time left if we hope to avoid runaway global warming - and yet it will obviously take many years to get our own greenhouse gas emissions down. So what can we do?

"There is a way to cheat, for a while. Several techniques have been proposed for holding the global temperature down temporarily in order to avoid running into the feedbacks. They do not release us from the duty of getting our emissions down, but they could win us some time to work on that task without running into disaster.

"The leading candidate, suggested by Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen in 2006, is to inject sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere in order to reflect some incoming sunlight. (This mimics the action of large volcanic eruptions, which also lower the global temperature temporarily by putting huge amounts of sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere.

"Another, less intrusive approach, proposed by John Latham of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., and Prof. Stephen Salter of Edinburgh University, is to launch fleets of unmanned, wind-powered vessels, controlled by satellite, that would spray seawater up into low-lying marine clouds in order to increase the amount of sunlight that they reflect. The great attraction of this technique is that if there are unwelcome side effects, you can turn it off right away.

"These techniques are known as "geo-engineering," and discussing them has been taboo in most scientific circles because of the "moral hazard": the fear that if the public knows you can hold the global temperature down by direct intervention, people will not do the harder job of cutting their emissions. But if large-scale methane releases are getting under way, the time for such subtle calculations is past.

"Starting now, we need a crash program to investigate the feasibility of these and other techniques for geo-engineering the climate. Once the thawing starts, it is hard to stop, and we may need them very soon.

* GWYNNE DYER is an independent, London-based journalist.

Article source: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_10586023

The following news article highlights a very alarming issue: bubbling of methane from Artic ocean. Contrary to what Climategate is trying to demonize, the problem of climate change is not just about the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide or 1~2 degree change in temperature. But the oil industry has been trying to force us to focus on carbon dioxide and the definition of global warming only:

"Study Says Methane a New Climate Threat

"Scientists Find New Global Warming 'Time Bomb' - Methane Bubbling Up From Permafrost

SOURCE 

"By SETH BORENSTEIN

"The Associated Press

"September6, 2006

"WASHINGTON - Global warming gases trapped in the soil are bubbling out of the thawing permafrost in amounts far higher than previously thought and may trigger what researchers warn is a climate time bomb.

"Methane a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide is being released from the permafrost at a rate five times faster than thought, according to a study being published Thursday in the journal Nature. The findings are based on new, more accurate measuring techniques.

""The effects can be huge," said lead author Katey Walter of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks said. "It's coming out a lot and there's a lot more to come out."

"Scientists worry about a global warming vicious cycle that was not part of their already gloomy climate forecast: Warming already under way thaws permafrost, soil that has been continuously frozen for thousands of years. Thawed permafrost releases methane and carbon dioxide. Those gases reach the atmosphere and help trap heat on Earth in the greenhouse effect. The trapped heat thaws more permafrost and so on.

""The higher the temperature gets, the more permafrost we melt, the more tendency it is to become a more vicious cycle," said Chris Field, director of global ecology at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who was not part of the study. "That's the thing that is scary about this whole thing. There are lots of mechanisms that tend to be self-perpetuating and relatively few that tend to shut it off."

"Some scientists say this vicious cycle is already under way, but others disagree.

"Most of the methane-releasing permafrost is in Siberia. Another study earlier this summer in the journal Science found that the amount of carbon trapped in this type of permafrost called yedoma is much more prevalent than originally thought and may be 100 times the amount of carbon released into the air each year by the burning of fossil fuels.

"It won't all come out at once or even over several decades, but if temperatures increase, then the methane and carbon dioxide will escape the soil, scientists say.

"The permafrost issue has caused a quiet buzz of concern among climate scientists and geologists. Specialists in Arctic climate are coming up with research plans to study the permafrost effect, which is not well understood or observed, said Robert Corell, chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a study group of 300 scientists.

""It's kind of like a slow-motion time bomb," said Ted Schuur, a professor of ecosystem ecology at the University of Florida and co-author of the study in Science.

"Most of the yedoma is in little-studied areas of northern and eastern Siberia. What makes that permafrost special is that much of it lies under lakes; the carbon below gets released as methane. Carbon beneath dry permafrost is released as carbon dioxide.

"Using special underwater bubble traps, Walter and her colleagues found giant hot spots of bubbling methane that were never measured before because they were hard to reach.

"I don't think it can be easily stopped; we'd really have to have major cooling for it to stop," Walter said.

"Scientists aren't quite sure whether methane or carbon dioxide is worse. Methane is far more powerful in trapping heat, but only lasts about a decade before it dissipates into carbon dioxide and other chemicals. Carbon dioxide traps heat for about a century.

""The bottom line is it's better if it stays frozen in the ground," Schuur said. "But we're getting to the point where it's going more and more into the atmosphere."

"Vladimir Romanovsky, geophysics professor at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, said he thinks the big methane or carbon dioxide release hasn't started yet, but it's coming. In Alaska and Canada which have far less permafrost than Siberia it's closer to happening, he said. Already, the Alaskan permafrost is reaching the thawing point in many areas.

High in the atmosphere hovers the thin but important ozone layer, which absorbs most of the Earth's solar ultraviolet radiation and converts it into heat energy. Only a small portion of the ultraviolet radiation is left to reach the Earth. Now the ozone layer is undergoing severe destruction and becoming thinner and thinner. As a result, all life forms on Earth are being exposed to more ultraviolet radiation, which causes sunburn, disruption of DNA and other bio-molecules, an increased incidence of skin cancer and cataracts, and suppression of our immune systems. The attenuation of the ozone layer also tips the balance of the ecosystem and retards the growth of crops, leading to possible food shortages. It is also associated with the greenhouse effect, which causes global warming and, in turn, a rise in the sea level.

What is responsible for this consumption of the ozone layer? Scientists discovered that high flying supersonic jet aircraft, atomic weapons testing, chemicals such as CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) and halons are among the first of the culprits. The CFCs were once considered harmless and used extensively in spray cans, cleaners for electronic and optical components, foaming agents, styrofoam, and freon. Halons were used as an effective agent in fire extinguishers, and they are more potent than CFCs in damaging the ozone layer. International agreement is therefore required to effectively limit the use of CFCs and halons.

Apart from the tangible factors mentioned above, very few people have approached this problem in terms of invisible spiritual vibrations. Master has given some interesting opinions in this regard, in which She mentioned the axis of the Earth is changing its direction, and reminded us to repair the holes in the ozone layer with our spiritual energy. In these opinions, we can see that living a virtuous life is also a way to protect the world.

Today's Fairy Of The Ninth Heaven

Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai,

Hsihu Center, Formosa, June 18, 1995 (Originally In Chinese)

The climate has changed a lot in many countries. In Ireland, Britain and some other countries, there used to be a lot of fog and hardly any sun. The people often joked, "We only see the sun once a year in Britain." But now in these countries, people go to the hospital because of sunburns. Why? It's so strange and scary! Maybe it's because the protective layer around our planet is being damaged and has not been properly repaired. Maybe the Earth is turning and gradually changing the direction (of its axis). I heard the ancient Egyptian history recorded that it used to be very hot in the Arctic and Antarctic areas. That means where the sun comes up now is where the sun used to set. Maybe the Earth is about to change the direction (of its axis). I don't know. There are many possibilities!

Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai,

Chiayi, Formosa, January 16, 1989 (Originally In English)

Q: I heard that the atmosphere has been broken. What can we do about it?

M: It has been broken for a long time. Now you ask me. But the Fairy of the Ninth Heaven has come to repair it! (Laughter) We have to repair it! We should do it ourselves instead of just standing there asking what to do. We should practice the Quan Yin Method and patch those holes with our magnetic field, and drive the astral beings back to where they belong. Now our world is under a lot of influence from the astral world. That's why there are so many bad things such as gambling and drinking. We should try our best to control and resist this influence and protect our world as quickly as we can.

So, the time is right that everyone should push for peace now, at any price, because without peace we cannot build anything up. There are more pressing matters now than killing, my God! There’s global warming; there’s ice melting. And it’s not just the warming: after it has warmed it might get cold. And that’s even worse. If it’s warm, you can jump into the water, but if it’s too cold I don’t know if you have enough things to keep you warm when it’s freezing all the time. Because of the changes in the atmosphere, it might get worse and become freezing even, after the warming period. Sometimes the pollution damages the ozone layer and then maybe all the heat escapes. Then after a while we won’t have any heat, because then maybe too much pollution covers the sun and with too many changes then everything will get so bad and it might be freezing. That’s even worse also.

Start Now to Implement Life-sustaining Solutions for the Planet

I watched on one of the British channels before, there was a very scary documentary. They said that along with the global warming, the sun is also getting cooler somehow. So warming and cold: it’s too warm in some parts, and then some parts will be too cold. Or after the warm will be cold, and if it’s too warm then the ice will melt and then we’ll have floods. And if after that there’s no ice left to balance the things anyway, either the planet will become very heated or it could be very cold, because of too much cover or the ozone layer being broken.

So, many things can happen, and they could happen soon. Several decades are not long. So right now it’s time that all the people of every country should get together and think of the solutions quick, like biofuel or something with sustainable energy like solar power or wind power. You can install it in your home if you can afford it. Or, you can put money together and install one home at a time, OK! For instance, two of you could pitch money together and install it in your home. Draw a lotto to see who’s house gets installed first, so it’s fair. And then next time, pitch money together and install it in her home. When I lived in the, in the cave in the mountains I lived only with solar energy. I charge my phone with solar energy. I watched TV with solar energy. My fridge ran on solar energy. It’s a little complicated but you can learn. To save lives, we must learn. To save the planet, it’s worth it. It’s complicated but it’s not un-doable, you know. It’s simple enough to do it. You have to capture the solar energy into some batteries, and then you connect with those batteries to use it to run your household. At least you can save energy, and you save money in long run anyway. You can even sell it back to the government. In Spain it’s like that.

There’s wind power also; it might be difficult, but you can install a small wind mill. (D: A turbine, or wind mill.) A wind mill, the old fashioned way, it also does work. The turbine takes a longer time and a lot of money and maybe it’s not so ‘in’ yet, so you can’t get it so easily. But you can do that. Do what you can, OK? And go together in one car to work or go shop together, in one car. It saves money and saves energy. And if you can, buy a hybrid car,. They’re not that expensive. I got one; maybe it costs you in the beginning, but later it saves you a lot. It saves your life, too, and saves the life of everybody else! But you can check on the Internet to see which car is cheaper and more convenient for you. And soon in the future we will run it on biodiesel and biofuels like corn fuel, sugar cane or garbage. We can recycle garbage. And maybe we don’t even have to do that if they push the wave energy program! A long time ago in Norway they began that program, to use ocean waves as energy. That would be limitless. You can use it forever, just like the sun.

enews169-hi-226 (Small) Energy is free everywhere actually. You can even harness power from thunder and so on. And that would be limitless, limitless! There would be no cost for anybody. It should be free for everyone, the basic things in life, like water and electricity - should be free actually, yeah! And it soon will be free. All this money that’s put into war, my God we could build a paradise on Earth! It’s about time everyone should know about this. So if you know of any of government important persons, you can remind them by writing or doing something. Do something in your power. Or, if you know how and where, just write. Write to the government. Remind them; help them; support them. Support their idea of environmental protection.

If we don’t act now, we won’t have any Earth left to even fight over with each other: no land to possess, no land to put the guns on or to install the cannons. It’s about time; my God, it’s the 21st Century already and we so called civilized humans are still fighting. I cannot believe it! Sometimes when I sit down, I don’t know how it’s possible. It’s not possible that we live in an era in which humans kill humans. How can we do that? How do you train such a beautiful, pure, handsome, strong, heroic young man to go into battle and just shoot someone like that? There was no quarrelling and no cause before, except the ‘big one’ somewhere behind telling him to go and do it: “That guy is an enemy; you go and shoot him for me.” That’s it.

War Is Never a Solution

This is wasting human resource also. These soldiers are the most brilliant generation of our time! They’re there to pass down better DNA for the new generation. They’re not to go there; they’re not born to die. I don’t care if it’s to die a hero or die a what; it’s the same. It’s a waste of resource! Do you know how much money it costs to grow a man like that? At least a million dollars until he grows into maturity. Growing men is not like growing trees: it’s not cheap. And he has so much love from the family, so much friendship from companions, so much teaching from the teacher and the school - so much affection going on around him. He’s not just ‘nobody’ - he is somebody. He has family; he might even be married and have children already. But he is forced to go out there and shoot someone he doesn’t even have any enmity with. Isn’t that ridiculous? This is crazy, and we live in it!

My God, what kind of the world is this? It’s about time they stop all this - just stop it! We cannot tolerate this. It’s incredible that humans can kill humans! Even animals don’t do that. They might kill one for some reason, but they don’t go out and kill a whole mass like that. For the sake of whatever, I don’t care. I don’t care who is right, who is wrong; it’s all wrong.

For example, even now, I read in the media or saw on television that the number of deaths of American soldiers is exceeding the number of victims from 9-11. And that’s not counting the other people: the women and the children, the victims of war, the innocent bystanders. So war is never a solution. The more war, the more death; the more death, the more enemies; the more enemies, the more war, and so on. It’s a vicious circle, and there is no end to it. So we just have to stop. We just have to shake hands and forgive each other and then let’s go on with our lives, because there are so many pressing matters now. With all the money that’s spent on war, can you imagine? Africa would become like Europe if they used all that money on Africa, on one continent alone. And with all the money that’s still going into the war, we could build space ships. We could have more time, more energy and recruit more talent. Instead of all these young men dying, they would become living bodies of the future, building houses for the needy.

Let There Be Soldiers of Peace

If all the soldiers changed their jobs, we’d have soldiers of peace: buildings soldiers who bring medicine to the sick and build homes for the homeless. They are able-bodied, intelligent, strong and handsome. They are beautiful beings; it is a waste that that they go there and just die like that. Just one bullet like this. (Master gestures to show the small size of a bullet) Can you imagine? It can go anywhere from anywhere and kill one handsome, beautiful, aspiring, pure, energetic, young human being - just like that. Can you imagine? And it costs millions of dollars even, to raise him, and so much love from the family and friends so that he grows up like that. We cannot teach him hatred when he grows out of love. You cannot change that into hatred; this is not right.

You should continue to nurture the love that he has in him, the trust that he has with his family and friends, and with the nation that he’s born into. You cannot change that love into hatred and tell a young man who has been loved all his life until now, to come out and turn into a hateful person - and then use a gun to kill another person who has also grown out from the love of a mother and father somewhere, and who has somehow has been nourished and nurtured all this time like a beautiful flower in the garden with all love and care, attention and hope for the future. And then - boom, just like that - with one bullet, finished. Such a beautiful dream is gone, collapsed.

How many more generations until we can cultivate many young beautiful men like that? They are at their prime, and they are so inspired by heroism. We cannot use that to turn it into hatred for any reason at all, because it is wrong; it’s wrong. You who have children, you know that! You nurture your children up, not to just to die like that. Can you imagine all these mothers, all the fathers and all the loved ones, all his friends, even his neighbors - it’s terrible! It’s time we have to stop all this nonsense. Anyone with intelligence cannot tolerate this, cannot continue to support this kind of world, can we? (Audience: No) One doesn’t have to be a Quan Yin practitioner or a Zen monk to understand this. It’s just common for a human being to have this knowledge, this understanding that humans are born to live.

God’s Gift of Life Is for Love, Not War

There’s nothing worth dying for. Nothing! God doesn’t give birth to you so that you have to die for something. Except to find God, there is nothing really worth dying for. People should be given hope, inspiration to live, not to die. Remember in one of my poems, I said that I don’t ever want to grow up to be a hero, to keep the war and die? It’s not my job, is it? It’s nobody’s job. You’re not born to grow up just to keep a war and then die for it. Isn’t that ridiculous? We should never have a war anyway; we’re so backward. If it hadn’t been for you, the Quan Yin practitioners who grace this Earth, who bless the atmosphere with love and universal energy, this Earth would soon be ‘kaput’ (meaning “ended”) already. So, we’re just holding it and waiting for humankind to wake up more and do something. If not, it has to go. We can leave it sooner or later anyway; we don’t care. But it’s such a negative way.

Suppose the Earth became kaput now, we could go up to a higher level. We are already there and we already have our ’security card,’ but the people out there, if they die like that, they will be living in shock in such a state of stupor, for a long, long time - thousands of years - before they wake up. And then their atmosphere will manifest in another kind of world again, and they’ll war with each other again, because they haven’t finished their thinking process. They haven’t gotten to the understanding about peace and “Love thy neighbor.” They haven’t done that. So if they wake up again from their stupor after thousands of years, they’ll do the same thing again.

Peace Costs Far Less than War

I therefore really hope that this is the time they understand this very simple concept. Even a child understands peace at all costs. But peace doesn’t cost anything: that is the thing. Only war costs something. War costs human resource, war costs emotional upheaval, war costs tremendous financial resource and every other resource of humankind. All this equipment they build for war could be used to build houses, to build railways for the tram, to build underground train stations or build bridges for the poor countries.

enews182-hi-14 (Small) And all this money - billions of dollars - something like $7 million per day or week in Iraq, for example, and how many weeks or years have already gone by? Do you understand how much that is? You don’t because it’s too much. It’s too much for us to even want to think about. It’s just too ridiculous when people are hungry or starving and don’t even have the basic things like clean water to drink. And we spend tons of money and tons of human resources, tons of world metal resources or any resource just to build a killing weapon. This is beyond imagination! No wonder our world is lagging behind, compared to all others in the galaxy.

But mind you, be happy. Our Earth is getting better of course, number one. Number two, our Earth is still better than many other planets. There are worse planets. There are planets whose people are evil, just pure evil. And they will harass you day and night. Some of the warlords have been born there; I don’t know how much longer; I don’t want to see. It’s terrible. Even if they repent, they don’t even have time to pray. Can you understand that? That’s why they have to stay there forever, because they don’t have time for anything. They’re just running and running, running and hiding, running and hiding, all day long, with no time. It’s such mental torment that hell even sounds better. So at least we’re born on this planet, where it’s half-and-half, and we’re pushed to go nearer to God. But even then I don’t know if I could ever get used to the kind of people who go out and kill each other like that. I mean, if you want to be a soldier, you have to have instilled in you the hatred; otherwise how can you kill? Just killing at random like that, killing as ordered. There’s no turning back. If you turn back, then you are killed too, by your own people for betraying your country.

Use Earthly Resources to Build and Help Others

We should use all this money and intelligence and time and resource to train people to love and to build. This makes more sense, yes? We should use it for a peaceful purpose. The soldiers are so strong and healthy and in the prime of their life, and they also very idealistic. When we are young, we are very idealistic; we are heroes. We want to do good for the world. So this good and pure energy and enthusiasm has to be used for a peaceful purpose, for building the world and for helping the needy. That is the kind of heroism that the young people love to spend their energy on; they will love it. Suppose any government tells the soldiers, “Look here: no more war, you go out and build houses,” they’d be very, very happy. They would be relieved. They would feel that this is really what they want. I bet you that’s what would happen. Any soldier - you ask them - they would want to do that.

We can retrain them. There’s still time. Because they are young, they can learn fast. What I mean is that their youthful inspiration and heroism and idealism should not be misused. It’s a waste. The young people are the best. You tell them what to do, and they will do it. They are so eager to serve, they’re eager to learn, they’re eager to do something good because they’re full of energy. If they are used for war, it is a pity. It’s a misuse of their purity and their idealism. So it’s better to use the soldiers for peaceful purposes. We can keep the army. Keep it and use it to build things up. In the Philippines, they are trying to do that. That is a very good idea, and I hope they will. Maybe the Filipino soldiers should do that first, and everyone else will follow. We have to start somewhere.

Our world would have been a paradise a long time ago if we did not have so much war going on, which is wasting a lot of the energy, finances and resources of the Earth. There’s no need to believe me; you know it yourself. This is terrible; so now I hope that all signs of peace are coming our way. It is coming, and I hope more will come. The true peace really must come, because that’s the only way to survive on this planet, my God. We must use our time now, to change the course of history; otherwise we’ll all die together. The good and the bad, the powerful nations and the weak nations, will all be gone.

Being gone is no problem; the problem is that not all of the people on the planet are ready to integrate into paradise. After they’re gone they’ll still stay in shock or in misery. And that state of mind will keep them for a long time in a hellish existence, worse than this planet’s. They’ll be warring with each other in that kind of existence and then wake up and become human again, warring with each other again. Have you heard of those stories that in some of the big major battlefields, sometimes those who have psychic power can see that the soldiers in their astral forms are walking around and trying to fight each other still? Or, looking for the fighting or thinking that the war is still going on, because if you’re not enlightened now, you won’t ever be. Not after you die; you just suffer more, because you can see more. With a body you can shield yourself from some of the emotional distress, and recover or don’t see the suffering. But without the body you’ll see more; you’ll see the naked misery in hell and you will suffer more and more. And this is terrible.

Making a Model for the World

MASTER 92So the question is not whether I care that the planet is still alive or not, it’s just for the people who live in it. They have to know this concept; they have to awaken to this peaceful solution, to the real human purpose, to build up the peaceful atmosphere, to find God or to remember God at least, and to be at peace with each other, just like God wants us to be, like one time paradise. Otherwise if they die like this, they will suffer more than what they do now. You understand me? That is the reason why they have to stop the war and begin to build peace now. Otherwise if they die, it would be terrible: more terrible than being alive, more terrible than the war in Iraq, more terrible than 9-11, more terrible than any terrorism can ever cause you to feel.

So that’s the reason we practice hard, we really pray for peace in our way, and we’re pushing for it inside our hearts. And then peace has to come; people have to stop. Just stop like that! Just shake hands, with no conditions. There shouldn’t be any condition for peace at all because both sides will gain. Maybe you lose one piece of land but who cares? If Noah and the flood ever come again, you’ll lose everything. You’ll lose the whole land, not to talk about one piece! Because suppose a typhoon like Katrina comes, we would also lose billions of dollars for nothing. So if we lose billions of dollars or a piece of land or even a country for a peaceful purpose, let it be. Why do we need a frontier? Why do we need the country anyway? If you don’t have Egypt, you can go to live in Germany. If they dissolve the border, for example, between your countries and you become another citizen, why not! Just like me, I’m Aulacese and I’m British and now I’m in Germany, who cares? And you guys even come from England, Finland, Poland, Greece, Croatia, France, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Russia, Spain, Romania, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czechoslovakia, Africa, Ukraine - welcome! Bulgaria, Italy and Israel even. (Congratulations, your country is getting good. We celebrated your country’s peace with the Palestinians for one week. We had cakes and dancing, just to support more peace and make it more real, make it getting better, like a little push.) Where else? Sri Lanka, Columbia, Belgium, of course Germany, India, Armenia, Australia, New Zealand, Iran - Oh, wonderful. It’s international, a big United Nations, and we are happy together. (Applause)

This is a model for the world to follow. So your actions of coming here have many meanings. Number one, you of course want to see me, your lovely Princess; that I understand. (Applause) Second, you want to meditate together, which is very important, and third… eating! (Laughter) But the most important thing is that you make a model; I let you come so we can realize peace in one section of the world. Because we are all telepathic, I told you already. And if we are peaceful here, we will be peaceful everywhere. (Applause) This is a mini-model for the world to follow; this is how the world should be, and they should follow our example, that we live peacefully together. Here no one cares if we are from Iran or Czechoslovakia. We eat the same food and we sit on the same floor, if you have a seat at all. So here you fighting for property and also for food, but in a loving and peaceful way. And we are so happy; even you can sit in the corner like that. This is all we need, just a little square and we’re so happy! So whatever you do here with us together, it will affect the world. Whatever you do in your house, in your group meditation weekly, it will affect the world. And then it will change. Some people learn slowly; some people learn fast. They better learn fast! There’s not too much time. But they are learning fast.

Be Prepared to Act Positively and Quickly

I think the world is getting very aware now that they must do something. There’s no more excuse to say they don’t know; they do know, because what affects the neighbor affects you. Imagine if all the people from the lowlands, when the flood arrives, they don’t have time to build a Noah’s boat. They will not know and it will hit them quick, according to the reports, which is logical also unless a miracle happens. Imagine these people who have nowhere to go and who will then all run into the city, to higher land, where there’s no flood, no disaster - where do they go? They’ve lost everything by then. At that time there’s too many people for us even to go and rescue or to help because there’s so many, and then they will have no home. They will have lost everything; there’s nothing to lose anymore and they will be very chaotic. They will go looting the cities, and they might even have worse war than we’re having now.

enews180-hi-141 (Small)So, whatever affects them, affects everyone. It’s not like, “OK, I am the President, it doesn’t concern me.” Or, “I am the Governor, a high official; it doesn’t concern me,” or, “I live on the high land; I don’t live next to the sea; it doesn’t concern me.” It does concern everyone because if they come in hundreds of thousands at the same time, hungry, stressed, disoriented, starving and confused, they’ll do anything. They will be like so-called zombie soldiers and that’s the worst you could ever be confronted with. They don’t know anything anymore at that time. It’s too big a grievance for them to even keep their mind together. And there’s no weapon that can stop this kind of war. It will be terrible.

So we’d better be prepared, and whoever has the authority and the power must use it to change the way we live our life. We have to clean up our planet, and quick.

Greenhouse gas	Sources	Sinks	Importance for climate
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)	1) Burning of fossil fuel 2) Land-use change (deforestation)	1) Ocean Uptake 2) Plants!& photosynthesis	Absorbs infrared radiation; affects stratospheric O3
Methane (CH4)	1) Biomass burning 2) Enteric fermentation 3)Rice paddies	1) Reactions with OH 2) Microorganisms uptake by soils	Absorbs infrared radiation; affects tropospheric O3 and OH; affects stratospheric O3 and H2O; produces CO2
Nitrous Oxide (N2O)	1) Biomass burning 2) Fossil-fuel combustion 3) Fertilizers	1) Removal by soils 2) Stratospheric photolysis and reaction with O	Absorbs infrared radiation; affects stratospheric O3
Ozone (O3)	Photochemical reactions involving O2	Catalytic chemical reactions involving NOx, ClOx and HOx species.	Absorbs ultraviolet and infrared radiation
Carbon Monoxide (CO)	1) Plant emissions 2) Man-made release (transport, industrial)	1) Soil uptake 2) Reactions with OH	Affects stratospheric O3 and OH cycles; produces CO2
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)	Industrial production	Insignificant in troposphere, dissociated in stratosphere (photolysis and reaction with O)	Absorbs infrared radiation; affects stratospheric O3
Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)	1) Volcanoes 2) Coal and Biomass burning	1) Dry and wet deposition 2) Reactions with OH	Forms aerosols, which scatter solar radiation

* Adoration of Nature: Students! The progress of modern technology, by polluting the atmosphere with carbon dioxide smoke, is causing threat to the life on earth. The smoke has already created a hole in the ozone ring above the earth which has been serving a protecting cover against harmful radiation from the sun.

The Ozone layer above the earth faces great danger owing to atmospheric pollution and intensive afforestation is essential for controlling this pollution and safeguarding the ozone layer.

* Because of the advance of technology, several factories have sprung up, causing emission of harmful gases in the atmosphere and resulting in the ozone layer becoming thinner. If this goes on unchecked, it may have disastrous consequences. Scientists are trying to stop the breakup of the ozone layer but are unable to find a remedy. The cause of this situation is that more carbon dioxide is being let into the atmosphere. Normally, plants and trees absorb and assimilate the carbon dioxide and supply oxygen by the natural process of photosynthesis. But because there is deforestation to an alarming extent, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has considerably increased. The remedy for this situation is intensive afforestation, growing more trees everywhere, and protecting the existing trees without destroying them for other purposes. The relationship of man, nature, and God is very intimate, which scientists may not be able to realize. - Sathya Sai Baba, Sanathana Sarathi 36, February 1993, p. 45.

(Update: Sai Baba is not a scientist, and his language is not scientifically sound. But it is worth noting that many of his warnings regarding the climate abnormality and earthquakes were given in early 1990s. )

Mr. Roland Jung, Asia Affairs Advisor of the US Democratic Party: We are well aware that humankind’s daily habits and the changes of the sun are affecting the Earth’s climate in many ways. It is predicted that in 2010, the Earth’s climate will experience a massive change due to a great explosion of the sun’s sunspots. It has also been predicted the climate will cause an oil crisis, or kind of an oil shock. Therefore, it seems that there is a need for worldwide awareness and change concerning global warming. I would like to ask Your specific opinion and message concerning this. What do You think we need to do as preparation?

Master Ching Hai: Thank you, Mr. Jung. Against this kind of great upheaval of calamities, the only refuge that we can take is in Heaven’s grace, by being virtuous, compassionate and a true believer of God, and praying for God’s grace; then we can be saved. We should start to change our way of living now. We have to change. We have to. That’s the only way we can save ourselves and the planet, and the whole world and all the beings in it; because as the saying goes in ancient India, “Any nation that produces 10 great persons worthy in the eyes of Heaven will not know destruction.”

So, what is meant by 10 great personages? That means the person who is truly a human being: He is compassionate, he is spiritually elevated, and he is unconditional and selfless. He is serving others and remembers God. For doing that, we are a little bit far. So, if we really want to save the world, that’s the only way we can. Otherwise, even if we dig a hole into the mountain or under the ground to stay away from the sun’s heat, or we go up in the mountain to avoid the sea rising, there are other calamities that will be coming our way. Anyone who has any belief in any religion should study their scriptures again, and do exactly what is commanded therein because “As you sow, so shall you reap.” All the religions have told us that.

So, now we come back to the ancient saying in India that 10 persons who are virtuous can save a nation. How do we do this? In the ancient times, the nations were smaller than they are now and 10 persons in each country should be enough. But for our expanded community nowadays, we need more than 10 persons in a community. I would say it depends on the population also. New York, for example, we would call a nation in the old times. In New York, we probably need a million people to be virtuous, upright and spiritually elevated, in order to save New York.

So, I think we have to do it faster than what we are doing now. I’m glad the governments are doing something and all the celebrities, the distinguished people and organizations just like you today, are concerned and trying to push with all the vital actions to save the planet and to stop global warming. I’m very happy about that, but maybe we should move faster and take more action: The vegetarian diet is number one. Green energy is number two. Everyone must work together to be frugal and protect the environment and the animals. It’s not that difficult. It’s just the habits that we have to change, that’s all.

The following very dated news article suggests that the issue of today's climate change has already been predicted by scientists three decades ago. Contrary to what Climategate is trying to demonize, the issue of climate change is not really invented by the climate researchers. The problem is not just about the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, but the oil industry has been trying to force us to focus on carbon dioxide only:

"A sharp increase in methane gas in the atmosphere since 1978 will probably make the earth warmer and may worsen seasonal losses of protective ozone over Antarctica, scientists say.

"But the 11 percent increase in methane in the last decade may also slow depletion of the ozone shield over the rest of the planet, said F. Sherwood Rowland and Donald R. Blake, chemists at the University of California at Irvine.

"Their study, financed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was published Friday in the journal Science.

"Methane is the major component of natural gas, but about 80 percent of atmospheric methane comes from decomposition in rice paddies, swamps and the intestines of cows, with some contribution from wood digestion in termites, Mr. Rowland said.

"Humans are responsible for increased methane levels because they are raising more cows, growing more rice and chopping down tropical forests, which provides food for more termites, said atmospheric scientist Pat Zimmerman of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

(Update 1: According to The Earth Encyclopedia , methane emissions resulting from human activities are now thought to exceed those from natural sources, annual emissions being around 320 million tonnes. The main human-made sources arise from losses occurring during oil, coal and gas extraction, from ruminant livestock and waste treatment, from landfill sites, rice cultivation and biomass burning. )

(Update 2: In 2008, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that methane is on the rise again after nearly a decade of near stagnation. The rising level of methane may be caused by the increased rate of oil, coal and gas extraction.)

"Mr. Blake and Mr. Rowland collected air samples regularly from January 1978 to September 1987 at up to 60 locations around the Pacific to measure methane levels. Their study indicates the rate of increase in methane gas slowed slightly in the last five years. The Greenhouse Effect

"Researchers generally agree that by trapping solar heat like glass in a greenhouse, methane, carbon dioxide and other pollutants are likely to warm the earth's lower atmosphere by a few degrees in the next half century.

"They fear this greenhouse effect may cause crop-threatening droughts and partly melt polar ice caps, raising sea levels.

"Ozone is an air pollutant at low altitudes, but in the stratosphere it shields the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Scientists say reduction of the ozone layer will cause more skin cancers and ecological damage.

"In 1974, Mr. Rowland and a chemist, Mario Molina, first warned that the ozone layer was threatened by man-made chlorine compounds called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFC's, which are used as refrigeration coolants, aerosol propellants and for making plastic foams. The United States banned spray-can CFC's in 1978. A global treaty aims to reduce global output of CFC's and other ozone-destroying chemicals.

"Mounting evidence indicates CFC's are responsible for the worldwide loss of about 1 percent of the earth's ozone shield and drastic thinning of the ozone layer above Antarctica for a few months starting every September. Ice Clouds Over Antarctica

"Mr. Blake and Mr. Rowland said methane increases might worsen the Antarctic ozone hole by aiding formation of ice clouds above Antarctica. Studies by Molina and others suggest the clouds enhance chemical reactions that allow chlorine from CFC's to break down ozone.

"As methane rises into the polar stratosphere, it breaks down and releases hydrogen, which combines with a chemical called hydroxyl to form water, which in turn freezes into clouds, Mr. Blake explained.

"Outside Antarctica, wind and higher temperatures prevent formation of stratospheric clouds. Instead, by attacking chlorine from CFC's, methane may reduce the amount of chlorine available to destroy ozone, Mr. Blake said.

"The 11 percent methane increase ''will make the ozone hole over Antarctica more severe,'' said Mr. Molina, who is at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. ''It will probably make the ozone depletion in the rest of the world less severe,'' he said.

"Mr. Rowland and Mr. Blake also said that because increasing atmospheric methane reduces the amount of hydroxyl present, it may reduce the atmosphere's ability to cleanse itself of pollutants. Hydroxyl reacts with many pollutants and removes them from the atmosphere.

SOURCE OF THE ARTICLE 

In China, the highest temperature recorded in 2008 was 47 degree C (in Hunan). The western news media did not say very much about the heat wave in China, but the following news article is a piece of evidence. This year (2010), the climate would probably evolve differently, because of the recent volcano eruption in Iceland. At this stage, it is unclear whether there would be another bigger volcano eruption iin the coming future:

www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-26 20:31:08

"GUANGZHOU, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A heatwave swept through most of south China's Guangdong Province as Fung Wong, the eighth tropical storm of the year, intensified into full-scale typhoon late on Saturday.

"High temperatures occurred in 68 cities and counties, of which nine cities and counties were hit by temperatures exceeding 38 degrees Celsius. Many areas issued the orange warning heatwave signal, said Lin Liangxun, the Guangdong Provincial Meteorological Observatory chief forecaster.

"Guangzhou, the provincial capital, on Saturday hit 37.7 degrees Celsius, a record high this summer at Wushan Observatory. The highest temperature of 39.2 degrees Celsius was said to happen in Lianzhou, according to Lin.

(Update on 28 July 2008: Our body temperatures is only 37 degrees Celsius, but over the past few days, the highest temperature in Southern China has reached 41 degrees Celsius. Such a high temperature is either unprecedented or very rare in Chinese history. I think this problem deserves some attention.)

"By 5 p.m. on Saturday, the eye of typhoon Fung Wong, or "Phoenix", was monitored at 21.4 degrees north latitude and 126.4 degrees east longitude, or 560 km east of Taiwan, packing up to force-12 winds.

"The typhoon was expected to continue to move westward at a speed of 15 km to 20 km per hour and would approach Fujian Province after reaching Taiwan early on Monday, Lin said.

"Under the impact of the advancing typhoon, it will remain sunny for most parts of the southern province through Monday, and the maximum temperature in northern and eastern Guangdong will be as high as 37 to 38 degrees Celsius.

"Elsewhere, meteorological observatories in Fujian and Zhejiang, two provinces on the eastern seaboard, on Saturday issued warnings to ships at sea or ocean-going vessels for tropical storm Fung Wong.

"The storm first appeared in the ocean waters east of the Philippines at 2 p.m. on Friday and intensified into a strong tropical storm at 8 a.m. on Saturday. The eye of the storm was monitored at 21.8 degrees north latitude and 127.9 degrees east longitude.

"As Fung Wong moved westward, it brought about strong winds and a lot of rain in the areas it swept through.

"A Fujian provincial meteorological observatory forecast said it would make landfall head-on in Fujian late on Monday and early Tuesday.

"Before its arrival, Fujian was gripped by freak weather on Friday and most of Saturday: heatwave, thunder and lightning, torrential rain and hail stones.

"The local meteorological observatory in Fujian gave a blue-color warning before midday on Saturday, predicting there were more days of strong wind and rain ahead beginning on Sunday. It warned ships working in the Taiwan Strait and passing vessels to take special notice.

"The meteorological observatory in Zhejiang on Saturday also issued warnings to ocean-going ships for the approaching of Fung Wong and accompanying gale on the sea.

"The Zhejiang observatory said the eye of the tropical storm was moving westward at a speed of 15 km to 20 km per hour.

"The heatwave that had lingered in Zhejiang over the past several days was ended at midday on Saturday by showers, thunder showers, alongside strong wind.

"The forecast said the strong winds whipped up by Fung Wong would continue in the central and southern parts of Zhejiang until Tuesday.

"Editor: Sun Yunlong

The following paragraph was extracted from a newsletter published about six years ago. The warning in this newsletter was actually given by Sai Baba before the Y2K fever. The original newsletter can be found in here  :

".... In an interview that Ann and I had with Sai Baba last February Swami told us that the Earth was sick. He said that the hole in the ozone layer was getting bigger and that as a result the Earth was heating up. He also said that the Earth had a high temperature, a fever, and that she would have to cleanse herself of this fever. What form this cleansing will take I do not know, but I believe that we are witnessing the first symptoms of this fever in the extremes of weather that we are now experiencing all over the world.

Then Sai Baba warned us that Man was extracting far too many minerals and too much oil from the Earth for short term financial profit. He said that the Earth was hollow and was becoming unbalanced. He held his hand up, in the shape of a clenched fist, to look like a ball, and then he turned his hand sideways. What this portends I do not know, but it seems to me to imply that there will be a shift in the axis of rotation of the Earth. ... "

Some Facts on Oil Exploration/Exploitation: 1) The world has drilled about 5 million oil wells. 2) world uses about 86 million barrels of oil everyday. With this consumption rate, we have just about 40 years of oil remaining for consumption. 3) World extracts about 85 million barrels of oil from the ground everyday. In other words, world creates about 13 million cubic metres of underground voids everyday. 4) The undergound void spaces as result of oil extraction are being filled by either water or gases 5) The oil extracted from the ground is about 100 degree C.