ＵＮ report warns of worsening effects of climate change.
Culminating several years of research, a new document has been published by the ＵＮited Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). With conclusions linking extreme weather to climate change, the final version's release coincided with the COP １7 Ｕnited Nations Climate Change Conference that laＵＮched on Monday, November ２8 in Durban, South Africa. Dr. Rajendra Pachauri – Chair, ＵＮ IPCC; vegetarian (M):
Just a few days ago, we brought out a special report, which essentially deals with extreme events and disasters. And we’ve come up with a number of very profound findings. One of them was that a change in climate does lead to extreme weather and increasing severity and frequency of climate events.
VOICE: The comprehensive analysis providedin the “Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation” not only confirms adverse global warming effects observed by fellow scientists in recent years, it goes on to state that decisive mitigation is necessary to avoid significant worsening of conditions. For example, in forecasting emission scenarios based on human actions to halt climate change, the one resulting from the least intervention would increase hot days by a factor of １０ in most regions of the globe.Dr. Rajendra Pachauri (M):
If we don’t do anything, then by the end of this century, those heat waves which have been taking place once in ２０ years will now take place once in ２ years. And I don’t want to remind you of what happened in ２００３. When there was a severe heat wave in Europe, over 4０,０００ lives were lost.
VOICE: Citing the impacts of both past and current disaster events, the report also notes that the cost to both human lives and livelihoods have become steeper. Southern Europe, western Africa and even the ＵＮited States have been facing longer and worsening droughts, with the US experiencing one of the worst years ever in ２０１１ in terms of weather calamities, including massive wildfires in Texas following prolonged drought,
as well as harsh October snowstorms on the East Coast.
Meanwhile, Asia has seen ＵＮprecedented flooding in places like northern Thailand, claiming some 6００ lives, as Pakistan’s Sindh province was inundated once again as residents were still recovering from floods in ２０１０ that had left 6 million people homeless.
With 9５% of fatalities resulting from such disasters being in developing countries, the IPCC is calling for increased adaptive measures, while emphasizing the necessity of reducing of greenhouse gases to avert further catastrophes.Dr. Rajendra Pachauri (M):
I think the world has to realize the urgency of action, because if we delay action, then clearly we are incurring a much higher cost. Globally, we have to mitigate the emissions of greenhouse gases, because adaptation alone will not be adequate, and we will not have the capacity to be able to handle all these impacts in the future.
VOICE: Our appreciation, Dr. Pachauri, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and all scientists involved, for these further insights and forecasts on the increasingly severe effects of climate change. May leaders act now and adopt planet-cooling measures to ensure the safety of all lives on Earth.
During a January ２００9 videoconference in Mongolia, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke about the best way to rapidly mitigate climate change and its dangerous impacts.
Supreme Master Ching Hai : We must, first of all and the most important thing, we have to stop global warming by choosing a sustainable diet that is vegan.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/science/earth/ＵＮ-panel-finds-climate-change-behind-some-extreme-weather-events.html?_r=１ http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/11/18/Climate-conference-warns-of-extremes/UPI-61611321639176/http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/more_violent_weather_lies_ahead_say_scientists_1_1974720http://www.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/docs/srex/SREX_slide_deck.pdfExtra News
This will almost immediately stabilize the planet, the weather, and then we can think about adapting to the changes. I hope we don’t have to adapt, but otherwise, it might be too late if we don’t take care of the problem at the root right now, we will have no planet to even adapt to.
It’s a very sad affair and very urgent. So, in order to neutralize the effects resulting from the evermore severe climate, we must stop the raising of livestock to kill for food. We must live a vegan, animal-free, cruelty-free lifestyle according to Buddhist teaching, and according to scientific evidence that this is the best way for us to stop the global warming, and the fastest and the most efficient and the most long-lasting.
Coinciding with the laＵＮch of the climate change summit in South Africa on November ２8, ２０１１, chief negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) Selwin Hart called for decisive action, saying that it might be too late for small islands, which could be submerged by the rising sea levels if an international agreement is delayed.
As temperatures in the nation's capital of Washington, DC USA reach record highs of 7０ degrees Fahrenheit (２１ degrees Celsius) on November ２7, ２０１１, scientists warn of the wider implications of such warming, based on a recent report from the ＵＮ World Meteorological Organization, which states that １３ of the hottest years on record occurred within the last １５ years.