The World Of Tzu Chi December 2019 (Vol.117)

21 TZU CHI 117 of Borneo, as the congested metropolis has been sinking several centimetres below sea level yearly in recent decades. These are only a few of the many instances of environmental crises taking place the world over. At the 2018 TIMA Convention held at the Jing Si Hall in Hualien, Taiwan, Nobel Peace Laureate Dr Rajendra Kumar Pachauri delivered a speech entitled “The Universe is One Family”, in which he addressed the pressing issue of climate change and warned against turning a blind eye to happenings around the world as they are bound to leave an impact. “We must take action because climate change has jeopardized the Earth,” he cautioned. Dr Rajendra served as the chairman of the IPCC from 2002 to 2015 and was jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice- president Al Gore. He leads many companies in India as well as abroad and has been actively championing research on energy resources and climate change. During the presentation, Dr Rajendra raised concerns over the increase in global temperatures and rising sea levels, as well as the frequent occurrences of severe flooding, wildfires and droughts around the world. As a vegetarian, he urged the audience to adopt a vegetarian diet to ensure the sustainability of not only the environment, but also food supply for the global population. The burden of greenhouse gases In a study by a group of researchers from the University of Oxford comparing the dietary greenhouse gas emitted by the production of meat-based and plant-based diets, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by meat-based diets is nearly double that of plant-based diets. The farming of cattle and other ruminant animals (animals whose stomach is composed of four segments, of which the rumen is the largest) is not only resource-intensive, but also a major source of greenhouse gases. A 2013 study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concluded that total annual emissions from animal agriculture accounted for approximately 14.5 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, of which cattle farming contributed 41 percent. These naturally-occurring, heat-trapping gases reside in the lower atmosphere of the Earth, allowing the sun’s rays to penetrate and warm the Earth – which would otherwise be too cold to sustain life – while preventing the warmth from escaping the atmosphere into space. However, greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere have reached an unprecedented high, as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned in a report. Excessive concentrations of greenhouse gases disrupt their temperature-regulating function and lead to the greenhouse effect, in which greenhouse gases trap the sun’s heat and warm the Earth’s surface. Ruminant animals emit methane – a potent greenhouse gas – in the digestive process as well as through manure. Raising cattle requires extensive plots of land, hence vast swathes of forests have been cleared to make way for the cultivation of pastures and forage crops to feed livestock, releasing carbon dioxide – another greenhouse gas – into the atmosphere besides affecting the role of forests in regulating water flows. Higher concentrations Green Meals for a Greener Earth