The world of Tzu Chi April 2020 (Vol.121)

T he person-in-charge of Tzu Chi Jordan, Chen Qiu-hua hails from Taiwan. He was once employed in the military forces back in Taiwan and now holds the ninth-degree black belt in Taekwondo. The consummate martial arts practitioner, who is a force to be reckoned with in the international Taekwondo scene and has trained Jordan’s national- level Taekwondo exponents, used to have no qualms polishing off a rack of lamb in a single meal. In 2003, Qiu-hua decided to heed Master Cheng Yen’s teachings and embraced vegetarianism. “I constantly felt weak in the knees and light-headed,” he divulged as he recounted the beginnings of his foray into a vegetarian lifestyle. Yet, Qiu-hua persevered in honing both his combat skills and a compassionate spirit. He has since adopted vegetarianism as a way of life without compromising on the nutrition required to sustain his commitment to the physically- demanding sport of Taekwondo. In Buddhist teachings, vegetarianism derives from the religion’s core tenets of compassion, respect for all lives and equality among all sentient beings. Gautama Buddha first propagated the concept of vegetarianism as a means of discouraging the masses from the slaughter of animals for consumption. But as the global population swelled to the current 7 billion and the demand for food grew exponentially, the consumption of meat increased, resulting in the extensive loss of animal life in the livestock and fishery industries. Scientists have been striving to communicate the ecological damage caused by the widespread consumption of meat as well as its long-term implications, expanding the significance of vegetarianism beyond its religious context to a vote for environmental sustainability. Marco Springmann, a research fellow at the Oxford Martin School’s Future of Food programme, built computer models aimed at quantifiably predicting the impact on the environment if the world’s population became vegetarian by 2050. The results indicated that food-related emissions would drop by about 60 percent – largely owing to the elimination of red meat from our diets – followed by a further 10 percent reduction assuming the world went entirely vegan, culminating in a 70 percent decline in emissions. Springmann’s computer model study also projected a decrease in the global mortality rate by 6 to 10 percent – avoiding about 7 million deaths per year – should everyone go vegetarian by 2050, attributed to lower risks of coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer. The elimination of red meat accounts for half of the reported decline, while the remaining benefits are reaped from scaling back the amount of calories collectively consumed by the global population and an increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Taking the assumptions one step further, the aforementioned benefits are likely to be amplified if the world adopts a vegan diet, curbing up to 8 million deaths per year as well as keeping medical costs low due to a smaller number of the population afflicted with food-related chronic illnesses, ultimately saving about 2 to 3 percent of the global gross domestic product. Going green for better quality of life According to a study by the National TZU CHI 121 21 Coming Together in Times of Crisis