Scientist Confirm Veg Solution

Scientists Confirm Veg Solution

As the human-made causes of global warming are better understood, so is the solution. Meat is an extremely carbon intensive commodity. Thus, being veg is the fastest way to cool the planet. The following excerpts are just a few from scientists worldwide who confirm that reducing meat consumption is the single most effective thing an individual can do.

Dr. Dale Jamieson - Director of Environmental Studies at New York University, USA, Vegetarian (M): Reducing our meat is probably the single most effective thing that individuals can do immediately to reduce their greenhouse gas impact.

Dr. John Schellnhuber – Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany (M): It would be one of the almost silver bullets, really. It would be very good for the planet!

Dr. James Hansen – World leading climatologist, Chief of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, USA (M): On a personal basis, perhaps the most important thing you can do is change your diet to a more vegetarian diet, because that is a major contributor to not only carbon dioxide, but also methane and other greenhouse gases.

Professor Pete Smith – Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen (M): We could definitely have a significant dent on those agricultural greenhouse gas emissions if people consume less livestock products in the diet.

Professor Tim Lang – Professor of Food Policy at City University, Advisor to World Health Organisation (M): Meat consumption globally needs to come down; the evidence seems to point to that unequivocally; animal production is going to have to come down.

Dr. Vandana Shiva – World renowned environmental activist and author, Vegetarian (F): Definitely an absolute phasing out of factory farming and a minimizing of meat eating.

Professor Andreas Fischlin - Head of Terrestrial Systems Ecology Group, ETH Zurich (M): That’s actually true. By reducing your meat consumption, you can a make a difference.
And even good for your health!


Rebroadcast of Live Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai
“Climate Change International Conference”
July 26, 2008 – West Hollywood, California, USA

Supreme Master Ching Hai: I have only one solution, that is being vegetarian, and the sooner the better, and then everything else we will have time to take care. We will have time to develop different technology, we will have time to invent new cars, we will have time to tackle many other things that right now are not that urgent as the planetary warming. Because truly it might destroy the whole planet and we will all go.
And this is still a very beautiful planet, it’s still repairable. So just one request: vegetarian diet. And that’s the best thing we can do for the planet and for our children.

Be Veg. Go Green.
Save the Planet.

Brazil's rainforest shrinking fast

Read about why the rainforest in Brazil is shrinking faster than our glaciers!
Trees and natural vegetation are our first-line of defence against global warming acting as 'sinks' for carbon dioxide.

BRAZIL'S RAINFOREST

Ahead of the global climate talks in December 2009, nine photographers from the photo agency NOOR photographed climate stories from around the world. Their goal: to document some of the causes and consequences, from deforestation to changing sea levels, as well as the people whose lives and jobs are part of the carbon culture.When forests are cleared in Brazil's Amazon, the trees end up as lumber or charcoal, the latter produced in ovens like these outside the city of Rondon do Para.

The clearing of forests by fire and logging releases carbon dioxide earlier than would occur naturally, adding to greenhouse gas emissions.

The charcoal operation in Rondon do Para had 47 ovens when photographed and plans were to increase that to 200 in the near future. The charcoal is used at a steel smelter in Maraba, Brazil.

These ovens, and the once-forested land they are on, are owned by a cattle rancher. That's a typical scenario here, and often one whose legality is clouded.

Brazil's Amazon still accounts for more than half of the world's standing forest.

While gaps in climate science exist, leading some to question the degree of mankind’s impact as well as whether anything should be done, most governments as well as the science academies of the U.S. and other industrial nations agree that mankind is a significant factor and that greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced.

Brazil says a larger environmental police force reduced illegal logging in 2009 to its lowest level in two decades. The slumping economy, and reduced demand for beef and timber, could also be a factor.

Deforestation peaked in 2004 at 10,000 square miles, but it still happens. The 2,700 square miles cleared in 12 months through August 2009 is nine times the size of New York City.

The Terra do Meio nature reserve in Para state has been partly deforested and burned for illegal cattle ranches. Ironically, the reserve was created in 2005 after the murder by cattle ranching interests of Dorothy Stang, a U.S. nun.

The Amazon's trees are a major natural defense against global warming, acting as "sinks" by absorbing carbon dioxide. But burning those trees to make room for ranches and farms releases that CO2. About 75 percent of Brazil's CO2 emissions come from rain forest clearing.

Globally, deforestation accounts for up to 20 percent of carbon emissions -- more than all the world's cars, ships and planes combined.

Cattle are transported from one pasture to another. While providing food and jobs, cattle are also greenhouse gas culprits, belching out methane as part of their digestive process. Methane is released in much smaller amounts globally than carbon dioxide but is some 30 times more potent.

Amazon cowboy joins fight to save rainforest
Sept. 10, 2008: Cattle rancher John Carter works to get higher prices for food producers who farm in an environmentally responsible way in an effort to salvage what's left of the Amazon rainforest. NBC's Anne Thompson reports. (refer to link for slide)

Slaughterhouses like this one in Xinguara, Para state, export much of their product to Europe and the United States. Brazil is the world's biggest exporter of beef, with the largest herd as well: 200 million cattle.

This area was recently cleared to use for cattle ranching. "In the dry season, the forest is set on fire, leaving a graveyard of burned trees," says photographer Kadir Van Lohuizen. "These forest fires are also a serious contributor to global warming. After the burning, bulldozers clear the area. Wood that remains is often used to produce charcoal in ovens, which are scattered in the states of Para and Mato Grosso. The charcoal is used in blast furnaces in and outside Brazil. After the land has been cleared, planes drop grass seeds to create the pastures.

At the charcoal ovens near Rondon do Para, workers often live in barracks on the property along with their families. Most of the 25 million people who live in the Amazon make a living off logging, ranching or farming.

Para state has become the epicenter of illegal logging in Brazil. For the 20 years before that it was Mato Grosso, which is now mostly cattle ranches and soy farms.

Go to this link for the pictures accompanying the above article..
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34114989/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1

MALDIVES - in danger of sinking

Check out how non-industrial nations have to bear the brunt of climatic changes brought about by the rest of the industrial world!

MALDIVES RISING OCEANS.
...
Ahead of the global climate talks in December 2009, nine photographers from the photo agency NOOR photographed climate stories from around the world. Their goal: to document some of the causes and consequences, from deforestation to changing sea levels, as well as the people whose lives and jobs are part of the carbon culture.

While the sources of greenhouse gases are often in the industrial world, consequences often are visible in non-industrial areas. The Indian Ocean nation of Maldives, which is struggling to hold back rising seas, is one such example. The capital Malé, seen here, is one of the world's most densely populated cities. Nearly 104,000 people are crammed onto an island about a square mile in size.

Malé sits on an island just three feet above sea level. The natural shape was added to by filling shallow waters with sand and rocks. That took the land closer to an outside coral reef, reducing the reef's ability to buffer the island from storms and rising seas.

To counter the tides and storms, a $60 million concrete barrier system, part of it seen here, now rings Malé.

"I chose Maldives because it's the country which is the closest to sea level," says photographer Francesco Zizola. "If it's true what the majority of scientists claim regarding global warming, then Maldives would be the first country to disappear underwater."

Residents often take advantage of low tide to collect rocks and other material to reinforce exposed areas near their homes or businesses.

Over the last century, sea levels globally have risen about eight inches, much of that from melting ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic Peninsula, as well as thermal expansion of warmer waters. Eight inches might not sound like much, but for Maldives every inch counts.

Maldives plans to move toward renewable energy but still uses a diesel-powered plant to produce electricity for Malé.

The $60 million seawall was financed by Japan and runs nearly four miles around Malé. It's about 11 feet tall.

Rising sea levels are not the only worry here. Warming seas, and more acidic seas due to CO2 emissions, have the potential to impact fisheries and the coral reefs on which many fish rely. Fishing makes up 20 percent of Maldives' gross domestic product and provides an estimated 22,000 jobs.

While gaps in climate science exist, leading some to question the degree of mankind’s impact as well as whether anything should be done, most governments as well as the science academies of the U.S. and other industrial nations agree that mankind is a significant factor and that greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced.


Francesco Zizola / Consequences by NOORSand is mined at Villingili Island and some of the other 1,200 that comprise Maldives. The practice is often done illegally, most of it to supply the cement industry, making the islands even more vulnerable to rising seas, high tides and storms.

Besides climate concerns, Maldives struggles with trash from locals and tourists. Most of its garbage is sent to Thilafushi Island, also known as "Rubbish Island." Originally a vast lagoon, it became an island in 1992 when garbage was used to fill it in.

Workers incinerate or bury most of the waste. Crushed cans, metals and cardboard are shipped to India, but any hazardous waste is not removed from regular garbage.

Malé's residents are hardly a symbol of green living. Besides burning diesel to make electricity and shipping trash to Thilafushi, the Maldives capital pumps sewage untreated into the sea.

Maldives has an international airport on Hulhulé Island. The runway is just 6 feet above sea level. At high tide, that can narrow to just 20 inches.

Residents of Malé and the rest of Maldives are part of an island culture that dates back at least 2,000 years. "We do not want to leave the Maldives," President Mohamed Nasheed has said, "but we also do not want to be climate refugees living in tents for decades."

Please go to this link for a view of the photos taken by the team from NOOR agency:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34115298/ns/news-picture_stories/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1

Himalayan Glacier Meltings... is there an error?

The latest article on climate change points out some errors made by scientists in their earlier 2007 year's projections on the rate of glacier melting in the Himalyans .....

Well, inspite of the brick-bats thrown at each other for the mistake made, we have to accept the fact that glaciers are not about to stop melting..... If the earth continues to get warmer day by day!

Read about it here and have your say....

U.N. panel: We erred on glacier warning
Himalayan ice melting, but not as fast as IPCC projection

GENEVA - Five glaring errors were discovered in one paragraph of the world's most authoritative report on global warming, forcing the Nobel Prize-winning panel of climate scientists who wrote it to apologize and promise to be more careful.

The errors are in a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N.-affiliated body. All the mistakes appear in a subsection that suggests glaciers in the Himalayas could melt away by the year 2035 — hundreds of years earlier than the data actually indicates. The year 2350 apparently was transposed as 2035.

The climate panel and even the scientist who publicized the errors said they are not significant in comparison to the entire report, nor were they intentional. And they do not negate the fact that worldwide, glaciers are melting faster than ever.

But the mistakes open the door for more attacks from climate change skeptics.

"The credibility of the IPCC depends on the thoroughness with which its procedures are adhered to," Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, told The Associated Press in an e-mail. "The procedures have been violated in this case. That must not be allowed to happen again because the credibility of climate change policy can only be based on credible science."

The incident follows a furor late last year over the release of stolen e-mails in which climate scientists talked about suppressing data and freezing out skeptics of global warming. And on top of that, an intense cold spell has some people questioning whether global warming exists.

'Poorly substantiated'
In a statement, the climate change panel expressed regret over what it called "poorly substantiated estimates" about the Himalayan glaciers.

"The IPCC has established a reputation as a real gold standard in assessment; this is an unfortunate black mark," said Chris Field, a Stanford University professor who in 2008 took over as head of this part of the IPCC research. "None of the experts picked up on the fact that these were poorly substantiated numbers. From my perspective, that's an area where we have an opportunity to do much better."

Patrick Michaels, a global warming skeptic and scholar at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, called on the head of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, to resign, adding: "I'd like to know how such an absurd statement made it through the review process. It is obviously wrong."

However, a number of scientists, including some critics of the IPCC, said the mistakes do not invalidate the main conclusion that global warming is without a doubt man-made and a threat.

The mistakes were found not by skeptics like Michaels, but by a few of the scientists themselves, including one who is an IPCC co-author

The report in question is the second of four issued by the IPCC in 2007 on global warming. This 838-page document had chapters on each continent. The errors were in a half-page section of the Asia chapter. The section got it wrong as to how fast the thousands of glaciers in the Himalayas are melting, scientists said.

Geography prof catches error:
"It is a very shoddily written section," said Graham Cogley, a professor of geography and glaciers at Trent University in Peterborough, Canada, who brought the error to everyone's attention. "It wasn't copy-edited properly."

Cogley, who wrote a letter about the problems to Science magazine that was published online Wednesday, cited these mistakes:

The paragraph starts, "Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world." Cogley and Michael Zemp of the World Glacier Monitoring System said Himalayan glaciers are melting at about the same rate as other glaciers.
It says that if the Earth continues to warm, the "likelihood of them disappearing by the 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high." Nowhere in peer-reviewed science literature is 2035 mentioned. However, there is a study from Russia that says glaciers could come close to disappearing by 2350. Probably the numbers in the date were transposed, Cogley said.

The paragraph says: "Its total area will likely shrink from the present 500,000 to 100,000 square kilometers by the year 2035." Cogley said there are only 33,000 square kilometers of glaciers in the Himalayas.

The entire paragraph is attributed to the World Wildlife Fund, when only one sentence came from the WWF, Cogley said. And further, the IPCC likes to brag that it is based on peer-reviewed science, not advocacy group reports. Cogley said the WWF cited the popular science press as its source.

A table says that between 1845 and 1965, the Pindari Glacier shrank by 2,840 meters. Then comes a math mistake: It says that's a rate of 135.2 meters a year, when it really is only 23.5 meters a year.

Still, Cogley said: "I'm convinced that the great bulk of the work reported in the IPCC volumes was trustworthy and is trustworthy now as it was before the detection of this mistake." He credited Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon with telling him about the errors.

However, Colorado University environmental science and policy professor Roger Pielke Jr. said the errors point to a "systematic breakdown in IPCC procedures," and that means there could be more mistakes.

A number of scientists pointed out that at the end of the day, no one is disputing the Himalayan glaciers are shrinking.

"What is happening now is comparable with the Titanic sinking more slowly than expected," de Boer said in his e-mail. "But that does not alter the inevitable consequences, unless rigorous action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is taken."

Source : Associated Press dated 20th Jan, 2010

Link for this article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34958926/ns/us_news-environment/

Here's the latest update glacier melting in the Antarctic .....

Major Antarctic glacier is 'past its tipping point'
18:16 13 January 2010 by Shanta Barley

A major Antarctic glacier has passed its tipping point, according to a new modelling study. After losing increasing amounts of ice over the past decades, it is poised to collapse in a catastrophe that could raise global sea levels by 24 centimetres.

Pine Island glacier (PIG) is one of many at the fringes of the West Antarctic ice sheet. In 2004, satellite observations showed that it had started to thin, and that ice was flowing into the Amundsen Sea 25 per cent faster than it had 30 years before.

Now, the first study to model changes in the ice sheet in three dimensions shows that PIG has probably passed a critical "tipping point" and is irreversibly on track to lose 50 per cent of its ice in as little as 100 years, significantly raising global sea levels.

The team that carried out the study admits their model can represent only a simplified version of the physics that govern changes in glaciers, but say that if anything, the model is optimistic and PIG will disappear faster than it projects.

Richard Katz of the University of Oxford and colleagues developed the model to explore whether the retreat of the "grounding line" – the undersea junction at which a floating ice shelf becomes an ice sheet grounded on the sea bed – could cause ice sheets to collapse.

The team that carried out the study admits their model can represent only a simplified version of the physics that govern changes in glaciers, but say that if anything, the model is optimistic and PIG will disappear faster than it projects.

Richard Katz of the University of Oxford and colleagues developed the model to explore whether the retreat of the "grounding line" – the undersea junction at which a floating ice shelf becomes an ice sheet grounded on the sea bed – could cause ice sheets to collapse.

Climate change is warming the Amundsen Sea, which is at the southern margin of the Pacific Ocean. As rising sea levels push the warm water beneath the ice shelves, it melts them from below, pushing the grounding line higher up the continental shelf.

By raising sea levels, and therefore the grounding line, in their model, Katz's team were able to find the point of no return beyond which the glacier would be unable to recover. That's because the Antarctic sea bed has a small lip in it: it rises slowly up the continental shelf, then makes a slight dip before rising again to the shoreline. The researchers found that as long as the grounding line is on the outer rise of the sea bed, before the lip, small changes in climate lead to correspondingly small changes in the glacier's ice volume.

But as soon as the grounding line moves over the lip and starts to move down into the dip in the sea bed, the situation changes critically. "Once the grounding line passes the crest, a small change in the climate causes a rapid and irreversible loss of ice," says Katz.

According to Katz's model, the grounding line probably passed over the crest in 1996 and is now poised to enter a period of accelerated shrinking.

The model suggests that within 100 years, PIG's grounding line could have retreated over 200 kilometres. "Before the retreating grounding line comes to a rest at some unknown point on the inner slope, PIG will have lost 50 per cent of its ice, contributing 24 centimetres to global sea levels," says Richard Hindmarsh of the British Antarctic Survey, who did not participate in the study.

This assumes that the grounding line does eventually stabilise, after much of PIG is gone. In reality, PIG could disappear entirely, says Hindmarsh. "If Thwaite's glacier, which sits alongside PIG, also retreats, PIG's grounding line could retreat even further back to a second crest, causing sea levels to rise by 52 centimetres." The model suggests Thwaite's glacier has also passed its tipping point.

Observations already show that the model severely underestimates the rate at
which PIG's grounding line is retreating, says Katz. "Ours is a simple model of an ice sheet that neglects some important physics," says Katz. "The take-home message is that we should be concerned about tipping points in West Antarctica and we should do a lot more work to investigate," he says.

Source - http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18383-major-antarctic-glacier-is-past-its-tipping-point.html

一封感人至深的信

好感人！愿世间有更多这样的孩子来引导唤醒他们的父母 ！

资料来源 :　中华素食网　２009年12月14日 作者：自航(翻译）　http://www.chinavegan.com/2009/welcome_to_china_vegan@20091214095259.htm

原文网址：http://www.foodrevolution.org/letter.htm 　　　　　

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～

约翰 . 罗宾斯首语： 在我写了“新世纪饮食”后收到的众多信中，我想跟您分享以下这一封。这封信是我在九十年代中旬收到的。作者是加利福尼亚旧金山的一位男士。这封信代表的是，至少对我来说，所有人都有希望。

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～

罗宾斯先生，

您的大作“新世纪饮食”对我们的家庭影响甚大。大约两年前，我可恨不得宰了您。请允许我解释。

我是一个非常成功的人，我要什么就得到什么。当我的女儿朱丽十几岁时，她宣布要吃素，因为她拜读了您的大作。我认为这纯属无稽之谈，并要她停止这种荒唐行为。当她不听话时，我很愤怒：“我是你爹，”我跟她说，“我比你懂。”

她却回答我：“我是你女儿，这是我的生活。”

我们为此事吵了无数次，我们相处的很不好。我们之间关系紧张，最终都归结到无止境的有关素食的争议。我简直为此疯狂。从我的角度看来，她不尊重我，又自行其事。她对我的评价也完全一样。

起初，我和我太太逼她吃肉，可是她非常抵抗，吃饭变成一件非常不愉快的事。到最后，我们只好让她吃她的素食。不过我总让她知道我自己的看法。当个理想主义者是可以，但是要脚踏大地。不过她跟我说，当律师是可以，但是要有开放的心。我们的关系日趋恶化。

有一年我过生日，她为我做了“床上早餐”，但是早餐中没有培根，没有香肠，连鸡蛋都没有。当然结局又是非常的不愉快。

我提醒她这是我的生日，不是她的生日。她却引用您书中的章节，开始告诉我鸡和猪是怎样过日的。唉，我的生日，一大早的头一桩事就是这个。

高中毕业后，朱丽搬了出去，我很高兴，因为我实在对此事很疲倦了。每顿饭都是个事。我让她吃肉她不肯，她让我别吃肉我不愿意。家里没有和平可言。但是当她离开后，我又想她。我当然不想我们吵的那些架。但是我想不到自己会那么想念她。

几年以后，朱丽找了个丈夫，不久后，她又怀孕了。当我的外孙出生后，我简直别提有多高兴了。当然好景不长。不用说，朱丽要她的儿子，我的外孙，从小就吃素。 这一次，我真的不再退让了。“你若要毁自己的生活也就罢了，”我跟她说，“但是你不能毁了这个无辜的小孩的健康。”就我来看，她简直是在虐待孩子。我还真 考虑要给儿童服务部门打电话。我相信他们若不逼我女儿正确的喂养孩子，就会把孩子从她的手中领走。在太太的极力劝阻下我才没走那一步。

我接受女儿茹素已是勉为其难，她让我的外孙吃素，是我所完全不能接受的。最终，我们的关系日趋恶化，她完全不肯再见我。她对吃素的愚蠢坚持不仅毁了我和女儿的关系，也让我和外孙的关系损失惨重。她甚至不肯带他来，也不让我去看他。我完全被拒之门外。

我想我至少应该把自己的门打开，于是通过我太太 (这时朱丽已完全不肯跟我讲话)，我问她下一次过生日想要什么。她说她最想让我看您的书“新世纪饮食”。我跟她说这不可能，因为这太耗时间了。她说只要我 看，我每看一个小时，她就让我跟我的外孙相处一小时。她真聪明，知道我的弱点。

就这样，罗宾斯先生，我看了您的书，整本书我都看了，一字不漏。对我印象最深的是您对当今动物饲养条件的描述。我完全不知道是如此的严重，简直是恐怖。我完全同意您的观点。我们不能让这种情况再继续。当我看到残忍时，我认得。这简直是极端的残忍。

您肯定听过多次了。但是我所读过的书中，没有一本书以这样的方式影响过我。我真的不知所措。

我看完书后， 就打电话给她。“跟你说了别打电话给我。”她一听是我就这么说。“我知道”，我说，“我看完书了，我要你跟孩子过来吃饭。”

罗宾斯先生，我是一个傲气的男人，接下去说的话对我来说很难出口。但我知道我必须说。所以我就这样说了：“最亲爱的朱丽，请原谅我。你过来后我不会再跟你吵架了。我犯了一个可怕的错误，我现在明白了。” “若你过来，我们的桌上不会再有肉。”

电话的另一头是沉默。我后来才知道她在哭。但我当时不知道。我只知道我还必须说些什么。“从此以后，这个家里再也不会有肉了，那些从工厂式农场出产的肉。”

“您是在开玩笑吗？”她难以置信。

“我不开玩笑，”我说。“我说话算话。”“我们过来了。”她说。

我真的说话算话，我家里从此以后就没进过肉。我们不再买肉。朱丽在教我们如何做素食汉堡，豆腐，还有很多以前我讥笑的东西。我完全不在意，我把它当做一种探险。

从那时起，他们来吃了很多次快乐的晚餐，还有很多很多次别的快乐时光。罗宾斯先生，您能明白这事对我的涵义吗？我的女儿回来了，我的外孙也回来了。我的女 儿真是一个太好的人！我的外孙到现在为止，还没得过一次感冒，或耳道感染等常见的小儿病。她说是因为他吃的好。我说是因为他有全世界最好的母亲。

对动物的如此待遇是错的，大错而特错。您是对的。动物永远不应该受到这样的待遇，永远永远永远永远永远永远不应该。

我向您作我对朱丽所作的同样的承诺。我永远不会再让一口受如此待遇的动物身上来的肉碰到我的嘴唇。

如今，当朱丽说动物是她的朋友，而她不吃朋友时，我不再像过去那样跟她争辩。我只是微笑，很高兴的意识到我不再跟这样一位特殊的人物过不去。我也很高兴我可以跟我外孙的眼睛对视，很高兴知道我正在为把这个世界变成一个更美好的地方尽心力。

尊敬的，xxxx
（名字因作者的要求隐去了）

A VERY MOVING LETTER

This is very touching, no ?

Source :
http://www.foodrevolution.org/letter.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Among the many letters I have received since I wrote Diet for a New America, there is one that I would like to share with you. I received it in the mid-1990s, from a man in San Francisco, California. It represents, for me at least, a statement of hope for us all. — John Robbins

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Robbins,

Your book Diet for a New America has had quite an influence on my family. About two years ago, I would have liked to have killed you for it. Let me explain.

I am an extremely successful man. I am used to getting my way. When my daughter, Julie, was a teenager, she announced that she wanted to become a vegetarian. She had read your book. I thought this was ridiculous, and insisted that she stop this nonsense. When she did not obey, I became angry. “I am your father,” I told her, “and I know better than you.”

“I am your daughter,” she replied, “and it’s my life.”

We had many fights over this. We weren’t getting along very well, and there were tensions between us, but they seemed always to come to a head over the never-ending vegetarian debates. It drove me crazy. As far as I saw it, she was being disrespectful and willful, and just wanted to get her way. She said the same about me.

At first, my wife and I forced her to eat meat, but she made such a stink about it that meal times were completely ruined. So eventually, resenting it, we caved in and allowed her to eat her vegetarian meals. But I let her know how I felt about it. It’s okay to be an idealist, I told her, but you’ve got to keep your feet on the ground. It’s okay to be a lawyer, she told me, but you’ve got to keep your heart open. It was terribly aggravating.

For my birthday, one year, she made me breakfast in bed. But there was no bacon, no sausage, not even any eggs. It just turned into another bad situation.

I reminded her that it was my birthday, not hers. She set about telling me about how the pigs and chickens were treated, quoting chapter and verse from your book. This was not what I wanted to hear, first thing in the morning, on my birthday.

After she graduated from high school, Julie moved out. I was glad, actually, because I was sick and tired of it. Every meal it was an issue. I wanted her to eat meat, and she wouldn’t. She wanted me to stop eating meat, and I wouldn’t. There was no peace. But after she left, I missed her. Not the arguments, I didn’t miss them, but I missed her a lot more than I thought I would.

Several years later, Julie found herself a husband, and a short while after that she became pregnant. When our grandchild was born, I was on top of the world. But of course it didn’t last. Sure enough, Julie wanted to raise her son, our grandson, as a vegetarian. This time, I put my foot down. “You can ruin your own life if you want to,” I told her, “but you cannot ruin the health of this innocent boy.” As far as I was concerned, what she was doing was child abuse. I even considered calling the Department of Children’s Services. I believed they would either force her to feed our grandson properly, or remove him from her clutches. It was only because my wife prevented me that I didn’t take that step.

While I had found I could (barely) tolerate Julie being a vegetarian, I simply could not accept her doing this to our grandson. Eventually, it got so bad that she stopped seeing me entirely. Not only had this stupid vegetarian obsession of hers cost me my relationship with my daughter, it had also cost me my relationship with my grandson, because now she wouldn’t bring him by, nor would she let me visit. I was completely cut off.

I thought I should at least try to keep the door open, though, so through my wife (Julie wouldn’t even speak to me by then) I asked her what she wanted for her next birthday. She said what she most wanted was for me to read your book, Diet for a New America. I told her this would be impossible, because it would be too time consuming. She told me that if I would actually read it, for every hour it took me, she would let me see my grandson for an equal number of hours. She’s a smart one. She knows where my soft spots are.

So, Mr. Robbins, I read your book. I read the whole thing, every word. What impacted me the most was your description of how animals are raised nowadays. I had no idea it was so severe. It’s ghastly, and I totally agree with you that it must not be allowed to continue. I know cruelty when I see it, and this is extreme.

I’m sure you’ve heard this all before, but no book I have ever read has impacted me in this manner. I was overwhelmed.

I called her, when I was done reading. “I told you not to call me,” she said as soon as she knew it was me. “Yes,” I said, “but I’ve read the book, and I want you to come over for dinner and bring the boy.”

Mr. Robbins, I am a proud man, and what I said next did not come easily to me. But I knew what I must do, and so I did it. “Dearest Julie,” I said, “please forgive me. There won’t be a fight if you come over. I have made a terrible mistake, and I understand that, now. If you come, there will be no meat served, to anyone.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone. I learned later that she was crying, but I didn’t know it at the time. I only knew there was something else I had to say. “And there won’t be any meat served ever again in this house,” I told her, “that comes from factory farms.”

“Are you joking?” she asked in disbelief.

“I’m not joking,” I said. “I mean it.” “We’re coming,” she said.

And I did mean it. There has been no meat served here since then. We simply don’t buy it. Julie is teaching us how to eat vegetable burgers, tofu, and a variety of other things I used to mock. I don’t mind a bit. I look upon it as a kind of adventure.

Since then, they have come over for many happy dinners, and many other happy times, too. Mr. Robbins, can you understand what this means to me? I’ve got my daughter back, and my grandson, too. My daughter is a wonderful human being. And our grandson has not yet had a single cold or ear infection or any of the other ailments children often have. She says it’s because he eats so well. I say it’s because he’s got the best mother in the world.

What’s being done to these animals is wrong, terribly and horribly wrong. You are right. Animals should never be treated like that. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never.

I pledge to you what I have pledged to Julie. I will never again let a bite of flesh cross my lips that comes from an animal that has been treated like that.

Now, when Julie says that animals are her friends, and she doesn’t eat her friends, I don’t argue, as I used to. I just smile, happy to know that I am no longer at odds with such a special person. And glad that I can look my grandson in the eye, and know I am helping to make the world a better place for him.

Yours with great respect,

(Name withheld by request)

北半球‧冷冷冷‧迄今逾百人死

这么多实际的报道， 能不能唤醒人们的危机意识，进而听取各方的劝告和恳求， 改变个人之生活方式以对策 ？

关心者在尽其所能之后，唯有祈祷再祈祷，希望大家三思即使不为其他众生，也要为自己和至爱的人着想，地球可是我们这个肉身唯一的家啊　！


新闻来源：：　星洲日报　http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/144783?tid=2


（中國‧北京）好冷！北半球多個地方新年伊始，即受到寒流與暴雪襲擊，包括亞洲的北京、首爾、平壤、印度的克什米爾；歐洲的英國、波蘭、德國；美洲的加拿大、美國佛羅里達等地，氣溫都降至歷史新低。

酷寒及暴雪，也已導致100多人死亡。

中國：北京10分鐘變急凍人

大陸華北元旦期間遭遇近60年罕見的大風雪，內蒙古、河北、北京、天津降雪量驚人，部份地區破了歷史紀錄。北京氣溫今日（週二，1月5日）降至零下15.6度，為20多年來最低氣溫，10分鐘可讓人變急凍人。

酷寒天氣將持續至週四（1月7日），其中天津和內蒙古的氣溫可能下探零下32度。而未來幾天，南方將迎來大風、陰雨雪和強降溫天氣。

韓國、朝鮮、日本：百年最嚴重寒流

韓國首爾週一（1月4日）降雪27厘米，創下百年最嚴重暴雪紀錄後，週二凌晨再遭寒流襲擊，氣溫降至零下10度。

朝鮮也出現大範圍降雪，首都平壤最低氣溫只有攝氏零下16度。

日本的中部山區同樣遭遇大雪，已造成1死2失蹤。

印度：百人凍死

印度東部和北部地區大雪，克什米爾最低氣溫跌至攝氏零下15度，有100人凍死。

歐洲：黑色週一

英國週一錄得30年來最寒冷冬季，部份地區氣溫達零下12度，倫敦氣溫罕有地跌至零度，傳媒形容當日是30年一遇的“黑色週一”。

波蘭部份地方氣溫只有零下25度，23人死亡。德國未來幾日氣溫仍然俳徊在攝氏零下20度，以及持續有雪。

美洲：低溫創紀錄

加拿大最少兩人在嚴寒天氣下死亡，東岸積雪多達30厘米，多倫多氣溫普遍低於零下13度。

美東地區，北達科他州大叉市氣溫達到全美最低的攝氏零下46度。佛州傑克森維爾和奧蘭多氣溫降至零下6.7度與零下2.8度，雙雙創下新紀錄。

【熱點新聞：大風雪襲擊北半球】
星洲日報／國際‧2010.01.06


相关报道

英國‧經濟重創‧歐洲冰天雪地 http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/145041?tid=2

中國‧寒流吹襲‧中國農作物料欠收 http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/145048?tid=2

中國‧未來10天仍嚴寒‧供電緊張‧盯防暴雪 http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/144909?tid=2

英國‧數百萬人大受影響‧百年暴風雪陷癱瘓 http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/144908?tid=2